Adjusting the the Seasons of God - Part IV
The Pattern of Adjustment
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw how our refusal to adapt to the spirit of change places us at risk of becoming a spiritual fossil, one that never adjusted to the seasons of God. As believers we are destined to change. In order not to fail to make the transition when change comes, let's review God's established pattern of adjustment and His means of bringing about change in us.

⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day...⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day...¹³And the evening and the morning were the third day...¹⁹And the evening and the morning were the fourth day...²³And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23

In Scripture, God establishes a pattern for dealing with His creations and He ordered it so that first there is darkness and then light. First death, then life. First lose your life in the New Testament, then find it. First old wineskins, then new wineskins. This is a paradigm or a model that runs through many different Scriptures. God deals with us cyclically. Each new cycle begins with an apparent negative, if you will, which flows into a positive blessing. God's days always begin at night. The evening and the morning were the first day. God takes away to establish. He does not take away because He is mean. He takes away in order to establish the second, which is better.

Each new dealing of God in your life, church, and family begins with some sort of death, disorder, confusion, darkness, or other negative experience. In the progressive dealings of God in the Christian life, you are going to find this pattern on an ongoing basis. You are not getting resaved, but you are continually being sanctified-that is progressively becoming like Jesus. And He does not show and tell you everything the day you get saved. He starts by revealing one new part of Himself, and then when He is through with it, He shuts the door, turns off the light, and it gets real dark. Then you wonder what happened. It is simply to announce that there is coming a new day. God is about to do something new in your life and destiny. The problem is that we often fail to realize that as long as we live in the present dimension, we are destined for change. If you have accepted Jesus, you can be sure that the spirit of change will visit you. You are a marked man for change. God's progressive changes in creation always begin with darkness. In a very real sense, God does take away, but it is His initiation. The darkness and the taking away, whether it is defeat or failure, is just the initiating stage so that He may establish something better.

God's Preparation for Promotion

Each of our nights or adjustments is the beginning of a new day. Just as He leads us into the evening, He will complete the circle by bringing us into morning. Every time God takes something away, He is about to establish something better. But the "something better" never, ever looks better at the beginning. It always looks terrible, frightening and uncertain. But when all is said and done, it is always better. In the Christian life there is no "Charismatic Disneyland" where there is no pain or hurt, but God holds our destiny. God promised Joseph that He was going to make him a ruler and that his entire family would bow at his feet. Can you imagine how thrilled and excited Joseph must have felt when that promise was released to him? That must have been a lovely day-until the lights went out. Suddenly Joseph was thrust into darkness for seventeen years. But the seventeen years of darkness were preparation and initiation to bring Joseph to rulership. He had to go through some schooling for ruling. In the period of darkness Joseph learned how to serve and humble himself. He learned the difference between abuse and fairness. He learned how to serve under false accusation. He learned how to serve while in prison. But when he came out, he was ready. God turned the lights back on and he became prime minister in a day, just as God promised.

You may have had a powerful promise spoken over your life and maybe you blew it because of sin. Or maybe someone in the church took your job from you. Perhaps leadership refused to appoint you to a given position. You are always in the hand and destiny of God, if you are His child. No man can control your destiny. Man is only an instrument of God. Even Satan is only an instrument of God. He is strictly God's handyman. Make a commitment that you are going to go through your season of adjustment successfully.

 
by Dr. John A. Tetsola