The Appointed Time

THE APPOINTED TIME

Dr. D. K. Olukoya

The topic of our message this week is entitled, “The appointed time.” Job 14: 14 ; “If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”

A bus-stop is usually an interesting place and full of activities. You find some people who come there sluggishly; they are not really in a hurry. Such people pick and choose the vehicle to board. Whereas you find some people struggling to catch any vehicle going their direction because they are already late. Sometimes in their rush, they enter the wrong bus. Some would prefer to take taxis in order to meet their appointments. It all has to do with timing.

It is a bad thing when you miss the appointed time. Jesus said to the city of Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matthew 23: 37 – 39).

Jesus told Jerusalem that her house would be left desolate because she did not know her time of visitation. The Messiah was promised and they refused to recognise Him. They decided that the best thing for the Messiah was to kill Him. This is the reason Jerusalem is still in trouble now. When the Jews came to Jesus and said, “Look at this beautiful temple. Isn’t it wonderful?” Jesus said, “A time is coming when none of these stones shall stand on one another. They shall all be thrown down.” They did not believe Him because the temple was solidly built and had gold and different kinds of ornament in it. Eventually, the word of Jesus came to pass. The temple with everything in it was destroyed, and now there is a mosque there. It is a bad thing when you miss the appointed time.

Time is an important part of our lives. All the popular questions that we ask ourselves about time, for example, How old are you? What is your experience? How long is this or that, etc, are not of interest to God. Rather the question He is interested in is, “What have you done?” To God, every purpose of His has a time. Isaiah 55: 8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Verse 11 says, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Sometimes when you are pestering God concerning a particular thing and He does not grant it immediately, it is because His ways are higher than your ways and He knows the best time to grant your request. At times when it seemed as if God was not moving, it was not that He was not concerned. It could be that the time was not yet right. When the mother of Jesus told the people at the marriage at Cana of Galilee to approach Him for wine, He said to her, “Woman, my hour has not come,” and when His hour came, He said, “Father, this is the hour. Glorify Yourself.”

Beloved, one fact you must know is that if God is for you it does not matter who is against you. Anyone that is against you shall eat his flesh and drink his own blood. But if God is against you, no matter who your supporters are, they would be destroyed by fire. God has a purpose for making this message available to you. I believe that you are not reading it by chance but by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

It is a fruitless effort to bring your bucket out when the rain has stopped falling. Psalm 119: 126 says, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.” I counsel you to confess this scripture seven times and to pray it aggressively because it is time for God to bless you. If it were not time for God to work in your life, you would not come across this message. Now is the appointed time. Please pray the following prayer points:

1. Oh Lord, it is time for You to do a miracle in my life, in the name of Jesus.