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“Spring” Forward to Abundance
God sends seasons by way of plans He has for us, and those plans are His promise to us — for new life, new increase and new abounding in our lives today
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Whatever is the “winter” of your own soul, whatever “rain” of circumstance, we are summoned to rise and come away with our Lord to new dimensions of intimacy and abundance; to new “reign” of His life in ours.
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The beauty of this tender call is that we embrace our Beloved’s summons to step forward into the future and lay hold of all that God has for us. Just as the seasons change in the physical world, our Beloved is calling us to “spring” forward out of the winter past and into abundance — to a new season of advancing with our risen Savior, to the time of Resurrection and life, of victory and rejoicing, and a time of reaching to others with the love of our living Lord.
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Written by Jack Hayford
It was during a recent
time of fasting, confession and repentance the Lord brought to my attention
that my sense of personal intimacy with Him in my private devotions had
diminished.
I was still praying,
still walking faithfully with Him — my sense of who I am in Jesus Christ had
not changed.
But out of the challenges
of the season just behind me, I hadn’t been spending the amount of intimate
time I had been accustomed to — just “being with Jesus” and feeling the
nearness of His presence.
With my confession of
that neglect there came the tremendous release of a tender sense of the Lord’s
nearness, as well as a clarity I hadn’t even realized had been dulled.
It was as if my soul had
been in a state of “winter,” and now I sensed His loving call to “spring”
forward.
“Tell the people the winter is past,” the whisper of Jesus came,
“the ‘winter’ that would come and chill anything in your own soul or your
relationships with others… the ‘winter’ that would bury you under an avalanche
of circumstance and dull your sense of nearness to Me.”
Dear ones, I believe the
Lord’s word to “spring” forward to abundance will rejoice, encourage and lift
our hearts toward the prospect of the season ahead.
Answer the Call of Our Beloved
The Song of Solomon is
agreed on by Bible scholars to be an Old Testament depiction of the love of
Jesus, the King, for the Church — the deep affection and commitment of intimate
spiritual relationship is presented in the natural figure of romantic love
within the context of marriage between King Solomon and his dearest wife.
It is our Beloved Savior
who calls us today to “come away”
with Him, just as He does in His love song to His bride, the Church.
There is a time to “rise”
to the call of our Beloved — a new season is opening before you: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come
away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear
on the earth…” (Song of Solomon 2:10-12).
Whatever is the “winter”
of your own soul, whatever “rain” of circumstance, we are summoned to rise and
come away with our Lord to new dimensions of intimacy and abundance; to new
“reign” of His life in ours.
There is a time to “sing”
— a new blossoming is breaking forth: “… the
time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes
give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!” (Song
of Solomon 2:12-13).
Even in the natural,
spring anticipates new life.
Along with the blossoming
that is breaking forth there is a fragrance that forecasts fruitfulness.
The beauty of this tender
call is that we embrace our Beloved’s summons to step forward into the future
and lay hold of all that God has for us.
Just as the seasons
change in the physical world, our Beloved is calling us to “spring” forward out
of the winter past and into abundance — to a new season of advancing with our
risen Savior, to the time of Resurrection and life, of victory and rejoicing, and
a time of reaching to others with the love of our living Lord.
Receive the Promise of Our Father
God sends seasons by way
of plans He has for us, and those plans are His promise to us — for new life,
new increase and new abounding in our lives today. Look with me at Psalm 65:
A promise for opening a “New
Year”: “You crown the year
with Your goodness, Your paths drip with abundance” (verse
11).
Though this passage of
Scripture is often associated with a new calendar year, when the Lord
established the Passover and led His people to deliverance by the blood of a
lamb, He said very clearly to them that this would be to them a beginning of
days (Exodus 12:2).
Passover occurs in the
Spring — the fresh start of a new cycle of fruitfulness.
A promise of Life amid the
barren places: “They drop on the
pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side” (verse
12).
God promises fruitfulness
in areas that have been underdeveloped — places that He has created and that we
have done nothing to tend.
Whatever that barrenness
may be in our lives, He says He’s going to breathe life there.
A promise of abounding flocks,
of abundant harvest, and of abiding joy!
“The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys are also
covered with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing” (verse
13).
These things all herald
new life, new increase and new abounding.
The Lord says in His Word
how sweetly His goodness will bring His abundance of flow and abounding of
flocks — a perfect picture of increased numbers of people that come to Him — the
sheep of His pasture that have been lost and are now found and brought back to
the Great Shepherd.
They are the harvest of
John 4:35: “Behold, I say to you, lift up
your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”
With that comes abiding
joy!
I pray there comes a stir
of the Holy Spirit into every heart reading this, bringing the expectation that
God’s Word warrants to our embracing His grand promise.
May every person be able
to lay hold of God’s promise of opening a new year, His promise of life amid
the barren places, and His promise of abounding of sheep coming into His
Kingdom — born again and born anew.
May there also come a sense of God’s promise abounding in the harvest of your own soul and life, and let His abiding joy become strength to you as you “spring” forward, out of the coldness of winter, and into the abundance and advance of our risen Savior.
Jack Hayford knows the awesome
power of God firsthand. When he was a baby, he was gripped by a
life-threatening illness. But as a result of the earnest prayers of friends and
family, he was miraculously healed. The doctors had no other explanation except
that the grace of God snatched him back from the brink of death. Several years
later, Jack was struck down again by sickness. This time it was polio. The
church elders anointed him and prayed for his recovery. God heard their
petitions and granted a second miracle. These two extraordinary events ignited
in Jack’s heart a passion for God and convinced him that the Holy Spirit is
alive and active in the contemporary church. “Contrary to our preconceptions,
God is not economical with healings and miracles. Such wondrous works are
frequently attending the proclamation of truth in Jesus’ name,” asserts Pastor
Jack.
Jack
Hayford serves as Chancellor of The Kings University (formerly The King’s
College and Seminary) in Los Angeles and Dallas, which he founded in 1997. From
2004 to 2009, he also served as President of The International Church of the
Foursquare Gospel. He is probably best known, however, as “Pastor Jack,”
founding pastor of The Church On The Way in Van Nuys, California, where he
served as senior pastor for more than three decades. A prolific and
best-selling writer, Pastor Hayford is the author (or co-author) of more than
fifty books and has composed 500 hymns and choruses, including the
internationally known and widely recorded “Majesty.”
He
is an acknowledged “bridge-builder,” helping to forge healthy bonds among all
segments of the Body of Christ. He is recognized for his balance in preaching
the Word, avoiding extremes while not diluting or compromising the demands of
truth. Pastor Jack’s heart to bring unity across all denominational and racial
boundaries has given him an open door to minister in all kinds of settings
https://www.jackhayford.org/teaching/articles/spring-forward-to-abundance/
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https://puricarechronicles.blogspot.com/2019/11/blog-post_23.html
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