STAGES (INTRODUCTION)

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”. 

EcclesiaStes 3:1(KJV)

It’s been quite a while, I was held by some circumstances beyond my control. Thank God, that is in the past, I am ready to ride along with you on our next journey called “STAGES”. Lately, I have been wondering why Jesus Christ didn’t come as a grown up, with all His messianic majesty and glory so as to make the fallen human beings believe in Him easily, but He rather chose to come as a baby born to a very average family and in a humiliating situation.

As a baby, He went through all the stages every normal child goes through to attain maturity. As I reflect on this recurrent questions, a scripture passage that keeps popping up in my mind is Ecclesiastes 3:1(KJV) “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”. There are processes to everything under the sun and we must be able to understand the times and the season so as to stay afloat in the things of God- the scripture talks about the children of Issachar in 1Chronicles 12:32(KJV) “And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.”

 For us contemporary believer’s, we must also understand the specific timings and seasons of God for our lives, so that we do not fall into the trap of comparing ourselves with others. The time and seasons God have ordained for our lives is what I have coined as “STAGES”. I am very sure your obvious response to a 10 years old girl who comes to tell you she wants to get married and settle down, will be- this is not the time and the season for you to get married, but you must concentrate on your studies.

We are able to decipher season and timings in our physical space and put up the appropriate actions and attitude, but when it comes to our spiritual seasons and timings most of us find ourselves wanting. Spiritually we are sometimes like the 10 years old girl who has made her mind to do the right thing at the wrong time.

I trust that as you come along with me on this journey the spirit of the Lord will help you to understand your seasons and timings as well as give you the strength to mount up the correspondent actions. We must understand that most of the natural events and occurrences in our physical environment convey a lot of spiritual truth to us.

Recently one of my spiritual instructors sent me a very interesting story through my whatsup platform and I am sure you might have come across this story before; the story was a conversation that occurred between a dog and an elephant and I quote

 “An Elephant and a dog became pregnant at the same time, three months later the dog gave birth to six puppies, six months later the dog became pregnant again and gave birth to another dozen puppies, then the pattern continued. Then after eighteen months the dog approached the elephant and asked – are you sure that you are pregnant? We became pregnant on the same date, I have given births three times and you are still pregnant. What is going on? The elephants replied the dog and said “there is something I want you to understand, what I am carrying is not a puppy but an elephants, I only give birth to one in two years. When my baby hits the ground. The earth feels it, when my baby crosses the road, humans stop and watch in admiration. What I carry draws attention, so what I am carrying is mighty and great”.

Like the elephants do not lose faith when you see others prosper, do not be envious of others achievements, if you haven’t received your own blessings don’t despair, stay to yourself, your time is coming and when it hits the surface of the earth people shall yield in admiration”.

The bible says that “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12 :24 (KJV) Jesus Christ used this physical agrarian occurrence of sowing and reaping to establish and reinforce  a very deep spiritual truth relative to the seasons and the timings of God for his life.

By this illustration, He recognized he had to move to a very difficult stage of his assignment on earth; this was the stage he needed to get into, so as to secure the salvation of the whole human race. But let me not jump the gun and let’s stick to the introduction; looking at what Jesus Christ said in John 12: 24 we can deduce three stages from the corn of wheat illustration – The first stage is the sowing stage – where a corn of wheat has to fall to the ground.

There is always a sowing time in everybody’s live; we must come to terms with the fact that every good thing we want to have in life is a harvest, and every harvest must be preceded by sowing. Sowing sometimes can be very unconformable, but what makes us not feel the discomfort is the harvest we are looking forward to. The scriptures says “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” Psalm 126:5 (KJV).

Then comes the next stage which is the DYING STAGE the B part of John 22:24 says and I quote “and die, it abideth alone: but if it die”. The second stage is the most challenging stage of all the stages. Paradoxically, this is the stage, where one is supposed to die and then resurrect then after.  However, the saddest truth is that most people do not resurrect, and the reason is, either we do not understand what we are going through or we are refusing to yield to God’s process.

You can imagine what would have happen to you and I if Jesus Christ didn’t resurrect from the grave; it would have been catastrophic for the human race. This is the stage where the fiercest battle of your destiny is waged, and the goal of Satan is to keep you from resurrecting. The third and final Stage is what I call the “FRUITFUL STAGE” – the scripture says “it bringeth forth much fruit” it is the resurrection from the dead that yields fruit.

This is normally the stage that most of us want to be; this is the stage of your life where you will attract the attention of those around you because of the fruit in your life. This is the stage where people will want to associate themselves with you, because of the glory and the benefits that accompanies you.

This is where the world will look at you in admiration; this where those who disregarded you will give you the honor that you deserve. This is where you will be noticed by those who matter in society; this is where “Kings will come to the brightness of thy rising”. This is where although you “sowed in tears, you will be reaping in joy”.

The undercurrents of our stages and it's accompanying processes are not the same. How long one stays at a stage depends on two things- first, the kind of assignment you are carrying; like the story of the pregnant dog and the pregnant elephant, we must take note of the fact that we are not the same,

And because we are not the same, we must not put undue pressure on ourselves to be like others, and we must also not put unnecessary pressure on others who have not attained our levels of success. But rather, we can draw inspiration from those who have gone ahead of us and also encourage those we are ahead of. 

Through the passage of time I have come to terms with the fact that, understanding the timings of God is the greatest protector against undue pressure and the unnecessary habit of comparing yourself to others. Whether in our marriage, in our career, in business, in ministry or an in anything that concerns you, please accept the truth that there is a stage and every stage comes with its peculiar changes.

The truth is some of the changes that accompany the stage might not be Pleasant, but the reality is all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord. God bless you for coming along with me on this journey. If you have any questions or comments you can leave it below, or you can also send me an email via- wisafawubo@gmail.com or send me a whatsup message on +233233868205. But watch out for a subtopic under this series called “The Sowing Stage”