Seasons: Part I
Recently, I have gone through some changes in life that had me questioning my own faith, my own destiny, my own call, and even my own life and death. I have tried to press into the Word of God and attend Christian conferences, seminars, church services, and listen to sermons daily. What I have come to realize is that there is in fact a season for everything including death. Of course everyone dies but that is not what I am referring to in this post. What I am speaking of is not a physical death of the flesh, but a death to the flesh and even the spirit.
In the last six months or so I have heard and talked a lot about dying to self. What I didn't realize at the time was I needed to heed my own advice and learn to walk in the Spirit. Today I want to start a series of blogs I will title "Seasons," which will be primarily out of Ecclesiastes 3 verses 1-8, but I will probably end up going in other places of the Bible as well.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (ESV) says, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;"
The first thing I want to point out is that everything has a season. Good and bad, ups and downs, joy and pain. This includes birth and death. The question is, what kind of birth and what kind of death? We have the physical birth which we are cursed with from the very beginning because of our physical father in Adam, then we have our spiritual birth which is a gift from God in the form of Jesus. Many of us experience this spiritual birth or, being born again as it is called, but how many of us have experienced a spiritual death without the physical death? This occurs a lot more than we may think and for those who are sitting in the church and on social media and snubbing their noses at those who have fallen, you too have had a small part of your spirit experience this death.
I was at a Christian event this weekend and saw someone who use to attend the service I founded and grew until I stepped down because of my own spiritual struggles. I was completely ignored as they walked by me at least twice with an attitude of bigger than thou. Yes, it hurt. But I also realize that I am not the only one who experiences struggles of the flesh. The ironic part is, we were at a Christian event that was focused on recovering from your past and I was being judged based on, yep, my past.
The point in this story is we all experience a spiritual death in certain areas of our lives. The good news is Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." That means every single morning we have a change to be spiritually born again! It is a choice however. We must make that choice for ourselves regardless of what others think about our pasts because God says HE forgives and HE has new mercies every morning.
Sometimes we have to die, so we can live. What I am starting to understand is this life is a process after death. Like a baby in his mothers womb, the child has to have time to grow and mature so that he will be able to survive once he comes out into the world. Its the same with those of us who have experienced a spiritual death of sorts. We have to take time to heal, grow, and learn what it means to walk, talk, and even be in the environment God has called us to be in.
In this season of my life I have died but I am back in the womb of God trying to grow and learn how to be who HE has called me to be. I will fight, claw, scratch, kick, and bite my way out of this womb at the right time. Until then, my season of growth will continue until God decides its over, not man. So to anyone who ever fell or died a spiritual death, press into the Word. Allow God to work within you. Keep pushing your plow. God WILL restore you in due season.
Mike Lawson
In the last six months or so I have heard and talked a lot about dying to self. What I didn't realize at the time was I needed to heed my own advice and learn to walk in the Spirit. Today I want to start a series of blogs I will title "Seasons," which will be primarily out of Ecclesiastes 3 verses 1-8, but I will probably end up going in other places of the Bible as well.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (ESV) says, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;"
The first thing I want to point out is that everything has a season. Good and bad, ups and downs, joy and pain. This includes birth and death. The question is, what kind of birth and what kind of death? We have the physical birth which we are cursed with from the very beginning because of our physical father in Adam, then we have our spiritual birth which is a gift from God in the form of Jesus. Many of us experience this spiritual birth or, being born again as it is called, but how many of us have experienced a spiritual death without the physical death? This occurs a lot more than we may think and for those who are sitting in the church and on social media and snubbing their noses at those who have fallen, you too have had a small part of your spirit experience this death.
I was at a Christian event this weekend and saw someone who use to attend the service I founded and grew until I stepped down because of my own spiritual struggles. I was completely ignored as they walked by me at least twice with an attitude of bigger than thou. Yes, it hurt. But I also realize that I am not the only one who experiences struggles of the flesh. The ironic part is, we were at a Christian event that was focused on recovering from your past and I was being judged based on, yep, my past.
The point in this story is we all experience a spiritual death in certain areas of our lives. The good news is Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." That means every single morning we have a change to be spiritually born again! It is a choice however. We must make that choice for ourselves regardless of what others think about our pasts because God says HE forgives and HE has new mercies every morning.
Sometimes we have to die, so we can live. What I am starting to understand is this life is a process after death. Like a baby in his mothers womb, the child has to have time to grow and mature so that he will be able to survive once he comes out into the world. Its the same with those of us who have experienced a spiritual death of sorts. We have to take time to heal, grow, and learn what it means to walk, talk, and even be in the environment God has called us to be in.
In this season of my life I have died but I am back in the womb of God trying to grow and learn how to be who HE has called me to be. I will fight, claw, scratch, kick, and bite my way out of this womb at the right time. Until then, my season of growth will continue until God decides its over, not man. So to anyone who ever fell or died a spiritual death, press into the Word. Allow God to work within you. Keep pushing your plow. God WILL restore you in due season.
Mike Lawson
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