Adjusting the the Seasons of God - Part III
Embracing the Spirit of Change
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw that if we are going to effectively embrace the benefit of the kingdom we must embrace the nature of walking with the Lord which entails making constant adjustments to His seasons. When you adjust, you move, but when you don’t, you die—stagnated, unsuccessful and not walking in your inheritance. This month we will be talking about the curse of tradition that often hinders the spirit of change.

The Curse of Tradition

Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Matthew 15:6b

The curse of tradition is that we can’t adjust or we refuse to adjust to the things of God. But Christians are “pilgrims.” We don’t have a continuing city, but we are looking for a city whose Builder and Maker is God. We are on a continual spiritual pilgrimage. We have not arrived and we must keep moving. Unfortunately, many have lingered in yesterday’s moves due to the curse of tradition. The hardest area to change in a man is his religious area. Religion and tradition is an absolute stronghold which sometimes causes people to become fossilized. A fossil is a creature that failed to make the transition when change came. It became fossilized in its original state and did not adapt to the new, so we call it a fossil. This can be a person, a movement, a denomination or a church. It means we become fixed, set, and hardened against the changes that God desires to bring about in our lives.

And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys:

But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.
Exodus 40:36-37

God led the children of Israel in the wilderness by external mechanisms of the eye. Today, it is internalized for He leads us by His Spirit. God wants to lead us into His seasons with the knowledge that He is the One guiding us. Israel was the pattern. They went through a physical wilderness. We go through a spiritual wilderness by our daily experiences. As believers, we must understand that our active response to God’s will means constant adjustments. God’s will is progressive by nature. He never gives anything to you all at once. He never shows you a five-year program. Instead, God gives you enough headlights to see what is right around you and a few steps in front of you. He did not take Israel straight into the promised land. There was a journey. There was progress. There is a journey that God takes us through that builds character in us. This building of character comes with the willingness to adjust to God and His seasons.

The Refusal to Adjust

Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees [like wine] and has not been drawn off from one vessel to another, neither has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed.

Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall send to [Moab] tilters who shall tilt him up and shall empty his vessels and break his bottles (earthenware) in pieces.
Jeremiah 48:11-12 AMP

Jeremiah used natural things in the winery industry to convey a spiritual truth. Moab had never been emptied from bottle to bottle or from vessel to vessel. Therefore, he was unable to adjust to the seasons of God. He never changed and still smells and tastes the same. He still reacts out of the same old sediment and deposits of fleshiness because he has not adjusted himself to the seasons of God. Any time someone does not want to be adjusted to the seasons of God, you can taste and smell them. It is the taste and smell of flesh. As new wine, we must allow ourselves to be poured from vessel to vessel. When new wine is made and crushed it does not come out pure. It is a cloudy mixture due to the sediment that is in it when it is made. Then it is put into a bottle to allow the particles in the wine to settle at the bottom. Over time the old wine is poured from bottle to bottle causing the new wine to become purer while leaving sediment from “the self life” with each process. Go to the last season where you were adjusted and you will find a bottle of sediment or deposits from your flesh that was shed. Unless you see dead flesh that was sloughed off from the prior season, your flesh is too healthy and in tact and the foul scent of the flesh still remains in you.

Now watch God’s responsibility to these kinds of people [Moab]. God said if you don’t yield to the situation, that is, allow yourself to be poured from bottle to bottle and be adjusted to His seasons, He is going to send to you “tilters or tippers” of the vessels. The “tippers” are the circumstances that the Lord allows into our lives to adjust us to His timing and seasons. I would rather let the Lord pour me out from vessel to vessel. If God does not pour you out or adjust you, your taste remains the same. You will taste and smell like flesh. The curse of religion and tradition will stagnate and prevent you from making the transition when change comes. You don’t have to become fossilized in your original state by not adapting to the seasons of God. If you do, God will send circumstances in your life to help accomplish what you refuse to accomplish yourself. Make the necessary adjustments to God’s seasons in your life. Flexibility is the key to leaving the old behind and to embracing the new.

by Dr. John A. Tetsola