The book of Genesis is a great book; the meaning of genesis in Hebrew is “in the beginning”.
It’s good to know the beginnings of things! Many people are lost, adrift, mislead, misplaced, and deceived because they don’t know how they’ve started their foundation! Or what would their foundations mean to their lives!
It’s very important for the branch to know how strong and deep the root is of the tree that it’s engrafted in, in order to know…identify… be certain…. And comprehend what kind of fruit its bearing. Because your root determents your fruit! Jesus said in john 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
When you understand that you are in the vine “Jesus” … you will understand that your fruit will be love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. You will understand what this scripture means!
This will naturally come out, because Jesus is living in the inside and is part of my life… and when the devil comes to peruse you otherwise, because some bad fruits, or bad produce that appeared in your branch... You would naturally think that this is not good because worms or disease would affect your fruit…so you should surrender all to the vinedresser who will cut that bad fruit off, do some pruning so the branch will bear good fruit! Because you have been engrafted in the good vine… the bible said: Ephesian 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.
God wants to reveal to us that we are Holy nations, which have great and unique roots!
This engrafting, pruning, and bearing fruit is greatly linked to the times and seasons. You cannot take a branch of banana and plant it in Tasmania… why? Because banana needs a warm climate and a lot of water, and lots of sun! You cannot take any fruit that grows in the summer and plant it in the winter and vice versa! To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven… its very important for you and me that God gives us a spiritual eye to see these times and seasons! Its very important for you and me that God gives us understanding to read these times and seasons!
Genesis 49…
Jacob means the "holder of the heel" or "supplanter… a person who replaces someone". There was something that God loved about Jacob!
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” There are doctors and scientist that research the life of the fetus who claim that the baby has a willpower, and choice, because God has put the destiny in this baby! They say: Be careful what you say around a pregnant woman. As a fetus grows inside a mother's belly, it can hear sounds from the outside world—and can understand them well enough to retain memories of them after birth, according to new research.
It may seem unbelievable that fetuses can listen to speech within the womb, but the sound-processing parts of their brain become active in the last trimester of pregnancy, and sound carries fairly well through the mother's abdomen. "If you put your hand over your mouth and speak, that's very similar to the situation the fetus is in".
A 1988 study suggested that newborns recognize the theme song from their mother's favourite soap opera. More recent studies have expanded on the idea of fetus learning, indicating that newborns already familiarized themselves with sounds of their parent’s native language; one showed that American newborns seem to perceive Swedish vowel sounds as unfamiliar. Swedish infants showed the same response to English vowels.
God loved Jacob more than Esau because his attitude in the womb as a fetus was the same when he grew! There are twins in Rebecca’s womb, when she gave birth… Jacob’s attitude was “I am the first-born, I am in the front, the blessing is mine, I have the portion of 2!”
How did he know all that? Through the “eternal purpose that is planted in us as a package”, everyone is born with a calling! You are not born by accident or by mistake.
When Esau was ready to come first, Jacob held his heel! Hey, I am first, I’m called for the blessing first, this is what I want, and this is mine! That’s why God said Isaiah 49:1Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother's womb he has spoken my name.
Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." the eternal purposes is in you and me!
When Jacob grew… the desire that was in him when he was born for that blessing was still inside of him! God loved the fact that Jacob was not going to let go of his blessing and was prepared to fight for it!
Yes his fighting ways and methods were not the best, but he had one purpose in life only…I want that blessing!
He knew that Esau didn’t care about the blessing; one day he made the best lintel soup in history… his older brother comes from hunting and smelt it and couldn’t resist it. Jacob buys the first birth right from Esau!
God sees everything, Jacob respects God’s values and God’s principles! Even when he didn’t know God that well… there are many people that live by integrity even if they don’t know God than those who know God!
When the time drew close to the blessing there was a plot and a conspiracy… because he wanted that blessing, he was chasing it all his life! He got it because he moved in the right time while Esau had a problem, he’s always late and slow mover!
Jacob new that if he had moved quicker than Esau at birth, he would’ve come first! So, he learned his lesson…I must move a step faster than my brother! He moved quickly as his father’s desire was to eat now and got that blessing! When Esau came back late again, he asked for a blessing, but there was none… because the blessing doesn’t come back!
Esau wanted to repent after that blessing was gone…but it was too late! Hebrews 12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birth right. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. He was rejected and found no place because he missed the timing of the blessing! He begged for that blessing, but he got curses instead! Why did he get curses because his heart wasn’t clean and because his root determined his fruit!
Meanwhile, many years later… God allowed Jacob’s name to be linked to his name, we read many times in the bible where it says the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Jacob the deceiver, Jacob the liar, Jacob the cheater, and Jacob the double dealer…. Call him whatever, but the end results was that he was called Israel! Genesis 32:28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have wrestled with God and with men and have prevailed.”
Why did he wrestle with God? “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!”
To me…Jacobs’s hand was the same, holding on to his brother’s heel before he was born and to God after he was born! Fighting for that blessing that God has planted in him! He was hungry for the blessing, and he didn’t let go of both man and God until he got it!
So, God blessed him, he changed his name and his destiny was changed with it!
Now Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days: “Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father. 3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. 4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it— He went up to my couch.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. 6 Let not my soul enter their council; Let not my honour be united to their assembly; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob And scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. 11 Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk. And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk. 13 “Zebulon shall dwell by the haven of the sea; He shall become a haven for ships, And his border shall adjoin Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between two burdens; He saw that rest was good, And that the land was pleasant; He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden, And became a band of slaves.
I’m not going to talk about Issachar, but he is a key person that I will use to understand the times and seasons!
His problem was that one day he came to a place and found it to be a place of rest for him… and when the time was ready for him to move to another place or another level, he said to himself the place that I know is better than the place that I don’t know… let me stay here!
God wants us to go from glory to glory, height to height, from grace to grace, from strength to strength, so in order for you to go through these places there will be pain, sacrifice, discomfort, agony, embarrassment, distress, suffering, grief, and an expense…. To get to the new glory there must be a suffering in your journey that accompanies you! Issachar stayed there refused the new glory and the new promotion because he was comfortable!
Meanwhile everyone has moved on but Issachar, he stayed last and became a donkey that carries what’s left from packages! He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden And became a band of slaves. When you don’t obey God’s commandments, and don’t do what God has asked of you… you will become a slave!
If you move in God’s timing you will feel His presence and you will know his will, you will feel light and able to cast your burden upon him! But if you delay and don’t move in God’s timing but stay back… you will feel heavy, burdened, and bound … this feeling will stop you from going forward, therefore you will live a life as a looser rather than victorious!
Issachar didn’t have spiritual eyes; he didn’t know how to read the times and seasons! He sat at his place, but the season wasn’t for resting it was rather for moving… my prayer is that there will be no one resting in times of moving!
There will be times when God will allow tests and sufferings coming your way… for the purpose of moving from the resting places!
In 2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, Paul is warning timothy in the same manner that Jacob warned Issachar…
The next level Timothy will be hard work… lots of suffering don’t be lazy, don’t stay back in your comfort zone, don’t get comfortable, don’t relax, and forget you purpose! 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began (this is the eternal purpose), look at this now…. 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…
What did Jesus bring? Light to our lives that made us children of the light… he gave me that light to see through my spiritual eyes the times and seasons like Jacob… even when my past was bad and full of evil stuff, a mess and not that wonderful to remember… the light of the lord that shined in my life… will reflect his life in me and I will become a new creation in Christ because the old me has died! Psalm 27:13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Now, today!
There are some believers still at the same place where God blessed them 20/30 years ago and have not moved on, they still feed from old glory, old testimonies … but God has moved on and wants you to move with him! Issachar’s blessings and place was a blessing from God but for that time!
The time and the season is very important in our lives as Christians, our God works by time and season… Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law… John2:4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”
There is time for healing, there is time for miracles and the greatest key is FAITH! Which causes God to interfere! By faith you can unlock heaven’s treasures and change times and seasons… through faith Mary asked him to do something about the wine which was finished then she walks to the servants and told them “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
John 7:30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
John 16:32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
Jesus knew the times and moved according to the plans of God in the right time and in the right season! I pray that if you get anything tonight let be that you seek the lord that he may give you by his grace… the spiritual eyes to know like Jesus the times and the seasons to move according to God’s timing!
Time has its value… if you hold a job with any company or individuals, they will pay you at an hourly rate not per day! That’s why the devil is after your time…he wants to steal it from you! Your health, your money, your relationship, your kids and belonging, your sleep is secondary thing for him… your time is primary target! Because if you allow him to steal your time, then he managed to steal your life! Yes that’s right... he is after your soul!
There are people that lost years of their lives and they are still licking their wounds! Dwelling in the past, stuck there, still trying to forgive someone that hurt them. If they had let go of whatever bondage in their lives, they would’ve been powerful people up to date with their walk with God, up to date with God’s purpose for them!
Moses told the lord in Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. This heart of wisdom is the one that can read and understand the times and the seasons that remain in someone’s life…so they can do the right thing in the eyes of the lord!
This Issachar the strong donkey… the one that is always late and lazy, did something in his life to break this curse that his father spoke to his life in the past… 1chronicles 12:32 of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. This section needs a shout of hallelujah! This tribe that was called a strong donkey because of his laziness… has turned to an expert of times and seasons for the benefit of the whole of Israel, everyone that needed to do something or plant something or sell something would go to the sons of Issachar for advice! Our God can change the curse into blessing!
Don’t get upset about what you have lost in the past, because what’s waiting for you is greater!
What’s the difference between the wise and foolish virgins? As I mentioned before a heart of wisdom is connected and linked to knowledge of times and seasons! Matthew 25: 10 And while they went to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
My prayer is …lord, save me and my brothers and sisters lest we fall behind and get lazy, lest we miss reading the times and seasons!
Luke 19:41-44 Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Jerusalem is waiting for another time, for another opportunity…
I want to tell you tonight, maybe God has paid you a visit, maybe he has come your way, maybe he has considered your prayer, maybe he has spoken to your, or maybe God has passed by you…
But you have missed it because you have miss-calculated the times and the seasons! I pray that God gives you grace to have knowledge of God’s timing… stop and consider the work of God in your life, start asking some serious questions… what’s God doing in your life? Is God preparing your ground for the seed to be planted or has he prepared it for the harvest?
I want to be like my pastor or like this brother or that sister, but God has worked on us differently we are in a different time and season… we had our share of tilling and ploughing… have you seen the ground when its getting prepared? all the tilling and ploughing? It looks ugly! Its very messy! Dry land, wetland, some rocks, some worms… tilling is a messy procedure! But you cannot plant any seed without preparing the ground first!
When you understand by the grace of God the times and seasons, you will know…
• If it’s time for tilling your ground… you will be asking God for patients,
• If it’s time for planting seeds… you will be asking God for rain,
• If it’s time to pray…you will ask the Holy Spirit to intercede in you!
• If it’s time for the harvest… you will be asking God for labourers!
Do you know that there will be no hard work in the harvest season! Because the hard work is in the past, the tilling, and the preparation… Psalms 126:5 Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.
Never think that when you sow in tears that your heavenly father is hidden and far away from you, that the almighty God has no clue on what going on in your life, he is just telling wait…have patience…
* You are watering the seeds with your tears….
* You are working with your hands even though they are cut and dry…. The sun has struck your head….
* You have toiled with pain, with hard work, with ache, with agony, with discomfort, with distress, but know that the time will come when You will reap great harvest because its guaranteed… and you will reap it in the times and seasons of God which he appointed to you!
Deuteronomy 32:11 As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings,
That’s how you know it’s your season when you rest where you’re used to rest and God gets you out of your comfort zone… you can’t rest where you used to rest, things are changing on your job, things are changing in your life, things are changing at home, at church, they make you pray more…fast more… serve more…. be under authority and submission…. Why is my name not mentioned? This is all new the nest is being stirred up and I’m being taking up and have to use my wings to begin to fly!
Ezekiel describes God as a wheel within a wheel a circle because it’s eternal, that’s why we get wedding rings as a sign of committed love…your saying I love you endlessly.
God spoke circles, the earth, the sun, planets are all circles, and all circles move in circles, so we have solar system and galaxies all moving in circle that movements gave us times! And the evening and morning…that’s a first day, etc. that’s what you will find in the watch when you open it up…. circles moving in circles, how fast they move indicates how fast the second past.
What man made on my wrist is an imitation of what God did in the heavens!
We are running out of time! What are you going to do with the time you have left?
If you don’t reposition yourself, you could miss the best time in your life… if you don’t know what time it is, time will get away from you, and you will not know where it went! The worst possible thing that you can lose is not money, or people, but IT’S TIME! WHERE DID IT GO?
Moses said: teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
Give me the courage to do whatever it takes to change, to get order, reposition, reorganised, and not to miss my season!
Some people are better off with a big 10 on their level than start from one again but in a different level…. that’s why we are stuck were we are!
There are 88 keys in piano; if you play 8 then you can play all. There is one Holy Spirit and if you are connected to Him… he will update you with his moves and will give you understanding of Times and Seasons!
