“And He changes the times and the seasons.” — Daniel 2:21.
Life is made up of dual seasons. There is this duality in everyone’s life. A sort of two seasons that interchange at God’s timing.
This duality is seen in most people’s lives in scriptures. This duality is explained in Ecclesiastes 3; 1-5. Let’s read it together. Again, you will see these dual seasons in many people’s lives in scriptures, and if you are painstaking, you will see a similar pattern in your life. Sometimes in June, the Lord spoke to my heart that the last six months of the year 2022 will trigger change of seasons for many of His children. If you are truly in Christ, and are connected to him, the Lord will change your season in Jesus name. And I decree and enforce this change upon your life in the mighty name of Jesus. Your sadness is turning to joy; your needs shall be met; your bills shall be paid; you will have more than enough in Jesus mighty name. Every season of bitterness shall be turned to season of sweetness in your life in Jesus name.
Now, in Jesus’s ministry, a day came when He needed to teach the Apostles some very serious principles for changing seasons. He needed to prepare them very well for what was coming. We can find this story in Mark 4: 35-39 and in Luke 8: 22-25. Our main focus shall be on Mark 4: 35-39.
“On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.”
In this scripture, I want to focus your attention on verse 36: “Now when they had left the multitude.” These guys were about to experience a change. They were about to cross over to the other side. But they needed to do something – they needed to be prepared, and to get them properly prepared, they needed to leave the multitude. First, you need to understand from this scripture that multitudes rarely change. This world is not wired around corporate transformation. But around personal transformation. It is the aggregation of personal transformation that leads to corporate transformation. And this explains why not everyone is at the top of their calling. Not everyone prays at the same level. Not everyone hears the voice of God at the same degree.
Not everyone makes impact at the same level. Some people just stand out. You will stand out in Jesus name. You must not expect everyone to change. Why? Not everyone is prepared enough for change. In the days of Jesus, He went to the pool of Bethesda in John 5:2-5, and in vs 3, the bible says “there was a multitude of sick people” in that place, but He only healed one person. Also, in Luke 8: 43-48, the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus among thousands of people who were thronging him. Do you think there were no other sick person among those thousands of people? But only one person drew out power and entered into a new season.
Today, God is telling me to tell you that for you to transit to your new season, you must understand that preparation is necessary, and one of the greatest types of preparation that God gives people is to detach them from the crowd. The capacity to retain a new season is often greater than the capacity to enter a new season. This is why you must be fully detached from men and be fully connected to God. Otherwise, the crowd will drag you down on your way up and their popular opinion may confuse God’s voice in your heart. You must see life as your personal adventure.
You must walk alone with God. It is very important for you to know that it is quite very hard to walk alone with God. It is easy to go to a dating site to pick a wife than to wait on God to hear His voice. It is easy to join a group of bad friends and make money than to trust God for an idea that will help you set up a business. And that is why God always prepares his children for a change of seasons by disconnecting them from familiar terrain and familiar people. Now, let’s dig further into the word of God and look at some of the people God changed their seasons. Let’s look at Jacob.
1. In Deuteronomy 32:12, the bible says: “So the Lord alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.”
2. Let’s read Genesis 32: 22-32. This is a classical example of how God uses loneliness as a preparatory tool to change seasons.
3. In Isaiah 51:2, the bible says about Abraham: “Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.” A lot of us are praying to God for a change of season, but do not want to be prepared. We just want to sleep and wake up and become married. We don’t want to leave the multitude of people around us. Change of seasons is a personal experience. And the only actors here are God and you. The opinions of multitudes don’t matter as God’s. The help of multitudes doesn’t matter as God’s. The guidance of multitudes doesn’t matter as God’s. The protection of multitudes doesn’t matter as God’s. Every single change of season in the scripture was deeply rooted in serious preparations using the principle of being alone with God. You have to understand that:
1. Joseph changed his season in the place of being alone with God, right in the prison from where he shot to limelight.
2. David changed his season in the place of being alone with God, right in the wilderness from where he shot to the limelight.
3. Abraham changed his season in the place of being alone with God, right in the wilderness when Lot left him.
4. Jacob changed his season in the place of being alone with God, right in the wilderness.
5. Daniel was taken away from his country, away from his people to a place where he knew no one—and from that experience he shot to limelight.
6. Job’s case is so relevant. The crowd was against him, his wife and friends, but he stuck to God and shut out the crowd. In Job 23:8-10, the bible says: “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. How did Job end? In Job 42:10, the bible says, “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
Even our Lord Jesus had his season of power changed in the wilderness when God allowed Satan to tempt him. He returned from that experience with the fulness of power.
God is set to transition you into a new season, but you must open up yourself to him to prepare you. And one major tool of His preparation is by shutting out the multitude from your life. You cannot go to a new season while your heart and mind are rooted to the crowd. Whether your new season is about getting married or changing location, or starting a ministry, you have to be prepared, by being detached from the crowd. You cannot desire to get married and then be connected to the popular opinions about marriage which are often against biblical models of marriage. You will either be connected to God’s principles and models of marriage and walk with him to groom you for your New Season, or you stay with the crowd.
You are not here on earth to please others. Your change of season will not be determined by men’s opinion. Who supports you or who doesn’t won’t matter as long as you are in the will of God. The multitude may distract you away from the will of God for your life; the multitude may hurry you ahead or behind God’s timing; the multitude may advise you contrary to the written word…There is a mindset for a new season. The mindset of Egypt cannot handle the realities of Canaan. With new seasons come new battles, and every new level in God always attracts new devils. New levels, New devils. This is exactly why God must detach you from the crowd and connect your heart to His heart so you can be well equipped to sustain your new season. It took God 1 day to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but it took God 40 years to get Egypt out of them. Why? He was dealing with multitudes. Eventually, only two people made it. Why?
Dr. Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist and minister of the word, holds a doctorate degree in employee turnover and human capital development from the prestigious Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. He is also a public speaker with twelve books to his credit. He is based in Canada and can be reached at: ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.