New Year #3 - New Position?

As I mentioned in the last two messages-- How many of you are looking for a New Beginning? So many were waiting for their new beginning on January 1. For many, their New Beginning didn’t happen. What went wrong? Did you ever think that January 1st. is not the beginning of the year, according to God? The Romans made January 1st. the start of the year. I am not saying that you shouldn’t observe January 1 as the beginning of the year for business and tax purposes. What I am saying is that in your dealings with God you have to get on His timetable. He will not adjust to ours. He has particular seasons of how He wants to move and deal with us. We need to recognize them. The new year according to the Bible starts on Nissan 1 on the Jewish calendar (Exodus 12 v. 1). Nissan 1 fell at 6:00 P.M. on Mar. 13, on our calendar this year. Mar. 13 was the beginning of the year, according to God. January to March is a time where God is “preparing” some of His people for their New Beginning.

This a season of preparation, a season of making sure that we continue to allow God to conform us to the image of His dear Son. If we do it God’s way we will be prepared spiritually to receive His blessings in the natural. God can sovereignty give someone a New Beginning at anytime, but generally speaking he reserves His greatest blessings for His seasons! These last three months of the year could be the most prosperous of our lives. Don't close out the year on Dec. 31. Who are we to close out a year?  Only our heavenly Father can close out a year! He works with us on a year to year basis. Can a student tell a teacher when a course is completed? You could be closing out God's blessings which He hasn't done yet, in your mind. This can be translated into your spirit when you close out the year. Don't base your spiritual walk with Yahshua on man's schedule. So many "bring in the New Year" on Jan. 1 and they are really wasting their time and losing sleep. He says that he wants to crown our year with "fatness." Again, God could be ready to bless you so much in these last three months. Beginning with the first month of the year God has a timetable to do a work in our lives by the end of the year. Don't cut short His work by joining the majority of the world and closing out the year on Dec. 31. Again, don't base your spiritual walk with Yahshua on man's schedule.

This is why it is so important to know God’s seasons of dealing with us. In this season, He is trying to conform us to the image of His Son Jesus, with a greater urgency. He has already spoken someone’s removal from their position and He wants you to continue what you are doing. Even though you think your work is minimal for the Kingdom, God doesn’t think so! You have His heart and this is your season for replacing and promotion. Just like the angels were ascending and descending on the ladder that Jacob saw (Genesis 28 v. 12), angels are descending from heaven to you with new instructions for a new position. This is also why you seem to be thinking bigger now. God has expanded your vision. He has been getting you ready all along.

This season is also a season of God positioning and repositioning His people. God is drawing us into His presence in a greater way for at least three purposes:

       1) To know who we really are in Him.
       2) To know who He really is, in all His majesty.
       3) To know our real purpose.

So many of us have based what we are doing for the Body of Christ on what somebody else said. We may have gotten a prophetic word from a Prophet or some other minister or saint. Some have based their whole lives on a “Word from the Lord,” which wasn’t from the Lord. They never went into God’s presence and/or His word to confirm somebody’s “Thus saith the Lord.” This is why God is drawing us closer i.e. for us to make sure of our calling, our purpose. Sometimes God has to reposition us to make the places that got crooked to be straight! Also, God is starting to position us where He wants us to be, where He chose us to be before the foundation of the world. If you are seeking God to be what He wants you to be, you will feel His hand gently turning you spiritually. This turning will be reflected in the natural too. You are finding or will find that God is closing doors that you thought that He opened and felt very comfortable in. He is maneuvering you to place you where you will be the most effective. It may not be the place that you thought that He would move you.

 Let’s look at some of the examples in the word concerning God’s positioning and repositioning. In Luke 1 v. 26, the word records that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced to her that the Son of God would be conceived in her womb. She went to her cousin Elizabeth’s house where it is recorded in v. 46-49 that the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, just as the angel said. The Holy Spirit could not cause this conception to take place where she lived. He didn’t want Joseph near her, when this happened. She had to be repositioned. Her life was never the same after that day. Nor will yours be if you allow God to have His way, even if you don’t understand what He is doing. Mary couldn’t understand how it could happen but said in v. 38- “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word.” Just flow with the Holy Spirit and let Him have His way! In Genesis 26, Isaac started to dig up the wells of water that his father Abraham had previously dug and each time that he did, the Philistines would fight him and stop up with dirt what he dug. This may be the way you feel right now. Every step that you take is met with an adversary. In v. 22, the Bible records that he moved someplace else and the Philistines could not fight him over the wells. He dug up a new one and called it Rehoboth, which means room. God made room for him and He is doing the same for you. Even his enemies came to him and wanted to surrender and make a covenant with him (v. 26-30). He was repositioned and so are you. The pressure of the enemy caused the repositioning of Isaac by God. God is allowing the pressure in your life to position or maneuver you to your purpose or destiny. Allow Him to have His way. He is causing you and I to look beyond our comfort zone and our familiar territory. He may position you to where you never imagined you would be. 

In the book of Acts 14 v. 19, the word said that at Lystra, people from Antioch and Iconium stoned Paul and left him for dead. After this beating Paul did an amazing thing i.e. he returned to Lystra, where he was beaten (v. 21). He preached that they “must continue in the faith and that through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God”(v.21). He was qualified to preach this because he just returned to the people that wanted to kill him. O what courage! God repositioned Paul right back where his enemy didn’t want him to be. As a result of this repositioning, he was able to ordain elders in every church. God caught the enemy by surprise, by sending Paul back to a place where the enemy thought he won a victory. God could send you back to an area where you seemed to have been defeated and win back the territory, by catching the enemy by surprise. Be open to his moving! Just as the Israelites followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, so must we follow God’s leading, even when it doesn’t make sense.

In 1 Kings 19 after Elijah had run away from Jezebel he was hiding in a cave. He positioned himself. God repositioned him right back to where Jezebel was, right where his flesh didn’t want to go (v. 15). God could do the same with you and I. God may reposition you to confront some of your fears and deliver you once and all!

In Acts 9, Paul just got saved but got ahead of God and got himself in a situation where the enemies wanted to kill him at Damascus. God rescued him. He then went to Jerusalem and there the Jews wanted to kill him also. He had such a zeal for God but needed more wisdom, not knowing the timing of God. Finally they repositioned Paul back to where he came from, Tarsus. The bible says in v. 31 that after this repositioning, the churches throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria finally had rest. You see God will reposition us where we need to be because we could be affecting some people in a negative way. We could be out of the will of God and causing confusion. When you are in the center of God’s will people around you will be edified, recognize and appreciate your anointing.

This positioning and repositioning by God is so very important, especially at this season, because God is making sure we are at the correct battle stations in this final war of all wars! You will see that all that you have been through has trained you for your assigned battle station. No body else can do your assignment! Everything that has happened to you in your life was permitted by God and will work for your good and His glory! Praise Him!