Youth Convention 2022
Theme: Times and Seasons
Day 2: Saturday 2nd July, 2022
Evening Session
Message 3
Rev. Ojo Gbadegesin
Seasons change but God’s promises and plans remain as he has ordained them. When God speaks, He is not making a prediction; rather, He is announcing what has already occurred. The current situation of man might cause him to doubt God but that does not change God’s word. Whenever we stray away from God’s plan and programme, we will always bear the scar of our disobedience.
God who was, who is and is to come is the Almighty who speaks and is so sure of what He says. However, man is prone to doubt. As long as we wear this flesh, we have the tendency to doubt. Even Jesus reconsidered going to the cross in the garden of Gethsemane.
Abraham left Mesopotamia, which was the most developed region of the world at the time, to follow God anywhere He would lead him. Along the line, Abraham went to Egypt during a famine without asking God. That led to him acquiring Hagar which became a problem for him and his posterity. As we journey with God, we must understand the following facts.
We cannot hurry God up (Luke 10:24). Ancient kings, prophets and priests longed for the ultimate promise of God but they could not shunt the process because God is never in a hurry. From the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, it took 4000 years for Jesus to be born.
God always has a proposed time for every of His plans and no man’s activities or agenda can change it because God’s words are stable.
God does not do guess work: He says what he means, he means what he says (Genesis 37:5).
Joseph had dreams that showed that all his siblings and parents would bow to him as if being given the coat of many colours was not offensive enough to his family members. These caused a lot of problems for him but he believed in the stability of God’s promises and this helped him to live above sin.
Joseph’s steadfastness in the face of difficulties – from his issues with his brothers to servitude in Potiphar’s home to his life in prison – was due to his faith in the truth of God’s message. Despite all of his difficulties, Joseph remained positive and cheerful.
It is important to note that Joseph kept growing as a person even in the midst of his challenges. In addition to having the ability to dream, he developed the ability to interpret dreams. God used the gift of interpretation of tongues to take him out of the prison.
Joseph was cautious while in Potiphar’s house because he had a sense of divine timing and he kept trusting God. Humanly speaking, he should have been hurt and depressed when the cupbearer failed to inform the king about him as promised but he refrained because he knew God was in charge of His life.
Even when we don’t understand what God is doing, He is working. The Pharaohs of Egypt did not need Joseph but events happened that made Joseph the Prime Minister against all odds. God’s word finally came to pass and his brothers bowed to him.
God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).
Jesus stayed for thirty years doing carpentry, seemingly wasting his time. Yet, after three years of ministry, He was still able to say ‘it is finished’. We cannot pin God down; we cannot box Him in a corner.
When God’s time for a particular thing comes, He keeps sending us signals through various means (Esther 3:1,9).
There are programmes of God for Israel that ensures that they cannot be wiped out from the surface of the earth.
This was displayed in the life of Esther and Mordecai. By tradition, Esther was not supposed to be a queen because she was a stranger in Persia. This made the situation very complicated for her but through prayer, she was able to wait patiently for a favorable time and pleaded her case before the king.
When God instructs that a season has come, we must rise to the occasion in prayers.
We must always learn to birth God’s promises in the place of prayer. We must birth every new season with prayers; if not, we will delay God’s plan. Interestingly, God is not in a hurry. Israel spent 430 instead of 400 years in Egypt; they were in the Babylonian captivity for more than 70 years as prophesied until Daniel prayed.
Through prayer, Daniel was able to birth the promises of God to deliver the Isrealites from slavery. Whenever we sense a new season, we must take responsibility and birth it in prayer.
Hamman plotted against Mordecai, Esther and their people but his plots were turned against him because it was the right time for Mordecai to be promoted. Through prayers, things were turned around because Israel as a nation cannot be wiped out.
God is the controller of the universe. He is the God of every one but not the Father of all. He controls all things and everything responds to Him. When the season is ripe, He will cause all things to respond in our favor and the promises shall be birthed.