What Is God’s Timing For You In This New Year (Part 1)?

By: Richard Mirpuri

 

If a quarterback’s timing is off. . .he’s going to have a bad day with more interceptions than touchdowns. That’s clearly evident in some of the National Football League games you watch each week. If a basketball player, whether high school, college or professional, has his timing off. . .he won’t be able to make a free throw. . .no matter how big the rim is.

If life. . .if your timing is off. . .you can miss possibilities. . .and opportunities for success. Timing is critically important in life. Something can be a good idea. . .it can be a great idea. . .it can be a God idea but for it to be successful it must be in God’s timing.

Here are seven facts you ought to know about His timing.

1. The Holy Spirit gives you the timing.

Have you ever wondered if it was the right time to make a career change. . to ask someone to marry you. . .to present your ideas to your supervisors? Knowing when to speak is equally important to what you’re going to say. Acts 1:7-8 in the Message Bible says: “He told them, `You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.’”

There is one absolute key to making the right decisions at the right time. . .it’s the unction of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever started to do something. . .but something didn’t feel quite right? Itwasn’t because you ate too much guacamole. It was the unction of the Holy Spirit telling you it wasn’t the right time. . .to do what you were going to do. When we obey the voice of the Holy Spirit. . .we not only avoid trouble. . .but we make decisions that will succeed instead of fail.

2. Being in the wrong place. . .at the right time.

This is one of the devil’s favorite traps. . .having us where we shouldn’t be. . .at his right time to tempt us. 2Samuel 11:1-3 in theAmplifiedBible says: “In the spring, when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab with his servants and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites [country] and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house,when from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very lovely to behold. 3David sent and inquired about the woman.One said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliamand the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

King David’s greatest mistake didn’t start with the adultery with Bathsheba. . .the murder of Uriah or even the cover-up. His greatest mistake was that he was at the wrong place at the right time.Verse one says David was supposed to be at war. . .he wasn’t with his troops. . .he wasn’t directing their battles. In short, he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

He was in the wrong place. . .at the right time. It was the right time for the enemy to tempt him. It was the right time for the lust of the flesh to overwhelm him. Have you ever put yourself in a positionwhere you shouldn’t be?Talking to a co-worker of the opposite sex who gives you attention you feel you may not be receiving from your spouse.

Perhaps you’ve been in a position where you could take something from your employer that you think they’ll never miss. . .even as you reason. . .that they actually owe it to you since you are underpaid and not appreciated. You’re cruising the internet when you inadvertently land on a pornographic page but you stay for a visit and subsequently stop by the site from time to time. If King David had been in God’s timing. . . being where he was supposed to be. . .things would have been totally different for him, his family and Israel.

3. Delay doesn’t mean denial.

Habakkuk 2: 3 in the Amplified Bible says: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry,wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.” Over the 13 years after Ishmael was born. . .no doubt Abraham wondered if the promises of God would ever come to pass.

God wants us to understand that like Abraham we may have been awaiting the manifestation of our promise. . .but your time is coming. He directed me to write these words to you.“Tell my children to hold fast to the confession of their faith.

What I’ve promised will come to pass. Delay does notmean denial.” Remember, God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). Delay tactics are a favorite deception of the enemy because he seeks to trip us up by filling us with doubt.

The enemy wants you to believe that salvation will never come to your family. . .but that’s not what the Word says. The enemy wants you to believe that deliverance from debt will never manifest in your life. . .but that’s not what the Word says.The enemy wants you to believe that your healing or that of your loved one will never manifest. . .but that’s not what the Word says.

The enemy wants you to think the job market is hopeless and you’ll never get another job. . .but that’s not what the Word says. The enemy wants you to think that the Lord is not interested in your needs or in fulfilling the promises that He makes to each of us in theWord of God. 2 Peter 3:9 in the Amplified Bible says: “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering(extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.”

This scripture is often quoted as a verse to give hope to those who believe for a loved one to be saved. However, I think there is much more at work in this verse. “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises. . .”

If you’ve been going through the fire. . .if you feel like you’ve been to hell and back, then you need to hold onto the first part of this verse. God does not delay. . .but the enemy likes to see if he can hinder the arrival of God’s answer to the circumstances, situations and problems that you are facing. Daniel 10:12-14 in the New Living Translation says:“Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13But for twenty one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”

You need to know God has heard your prayer . . . that your answer . . . your deliverance is on the way. Our answer may have been delayed but it was not denied.That’s why it’s so important that you obey the Lord. . .follow His instructions for living the good life. . .never doubt. . .because answers, direction and deliverance are coming.Heed the words of Psalm119:60 in the New Living Translation which says: “I will hurry,without delay, to obey your commands.” Even though you’ve been waiting for an answer. . .a manifestation. . .don’t give up, give in, back up, back down or quit expecting. (by H.Herring)

Have a very blessed, joyful, peaceful and victorious 2016!