WHEN THE FULNESS OF TIME COMES
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth His Son.
The World has just landed on an unexplored
landscape: Year 2023.
The Sun arose, as it did on 31
Dec. The things of world are just the
same. c. Yet, for many reasons, there is a sense of euphoria, ecstasy and
exuberance in having stepped into a New Year!
Many partied hard with high
spirits to swim into this day and many others prayed fervently and faithfully for
God to bless the new-year. Many of us have received a wonderful Word of Promise
from our respective churches and are elated and hopeful of a turnaround to take
place. May the Lord be with us and make
our ways prosper!
A
Set time and a season!
Ecc_3:11 He hath made every
thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so
that no man can find out the work that
God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Our God is a good God who always
works according to a timeline. Many a
time, we may not be able to find or even fix the times and seasons in which He
acts. He has his own timetable and it cannot
be advanced or postponed. Just as the
time of a sunrise or a sunset cannot be changed by humans, none can disturb the
plans and purposes of the Lord concerning us. When the fullness of His time
arrives, it will surely give birth!
Time
of fulfilment
Joh 7:8 Go ye up unto this
feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
In all the Gospels, Jesus kept
mentioning to his disciples and to those around him about HIS time. Yes, He waited for His time to come to not
only perform a miracle but also to participate in the feasts. His life on earth was directed and navigated by the plans of His heavenly father
and the clock set in by the heavenly calendar!
And now, after having ascended to heaven 2022 years ago, He is waiting
for the right time, the time appointed by His father, to return, to take his
Bride, the church. That is going to be a
time of great fulfilment. We are waiting!
Time
of favour
Psa 102:13 Thou shalt
arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time,
is come.
I do trust and believe that in
the lives of His own people, his own flock, his chosen generation, the
appointed time to show his favour has come.
Hallelujah! That is the Word of Promise that we have received from our
Lord for our ministry and in Christ, we pronounce, proclaim and prophesy the
same in your lives too. According to 2
Chronicles 20:20 if you, ‘Believe in the
LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye
prosper. Surely, if you receive this promise and claim it for you and
your family you shall be established.
Fulness
in Family
Joh 2:1,2 And the third day there was a marriage in
Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his
disciples, to the marriage.
The very first Miracle that Lord
Jesus Christ performed was in a wedding.
Marriage speaks of family.
Marriage speaks of families
coming together. Marriage also speaks of
joy and celebration (Jer 33:11).
However, on that day, in Cana,
the reason for joy and celebration was deprived. The wine, the centerpiece of a
Jewish wedding banquet, fell short! An uncommon situation which could not be
addressed by any alternative means. Jesus performed an incredible miracle by
turning water into a tasty wine and restoring the fullness in that marriage
party!
Just as it happened in Canaa, Lord
Jesus is going to restore the fullness in your family, in your career, in your
business, in your ministry! Believe, so that you shall prosper.
Five-dimensional
View
2Ch 16:9 For the eyes of
the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in
the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
Even though we pray, we petition
and make endless requests to God for many things in our life, we need to
understand the truth that whether we pray or not, the eyes of the Lord are
always seeking to bless, exalt, prosper those whose heart is perfect towards
him. In other words, those whose heart
is blameless toward him.
From the miracle of water turning
into wine in Cana, the Spirit of the Lord revealed to me five facets of a
family whose heart is perfect towards him.
Truly so, the Lord performed an incredible miracle by restoring fullness
in their life. Let us explore.
(a)Family Facing a Shortfall
Joh
2:1-3 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the
mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples,
to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him,
they have no wine.
Since Jesus, his mother, and even disciples were invited to this
marriage, this must have been an event of a close relative of Jesus. Yet, the
presence of Jesus did not prevent the shortfall. We all must come to an understanding
that shortages, sicknesses, sufferings and can
enter into the families of well-meaning believers too. The boat in which Jesus
travelled tossed up and down in storms, Jesus could not come in time to save
Lazarus, his close friend. from dying.
Winds and waves may come, problems and perils may arise. At the beginning of this new year, you don’t wish anything untoward to take place and neither
do I! But life presents to us both
‘hills and valleys’. One cannot bypass
the same. Just as the Psalmist is able to say, “Yes, eventhough I walk through the valley of shadow of death…” We
should not be surprised when shortfalls come in our life. Rather than lamenting “Why Lord?” we must be
able to say, “Fine Lord”.
(b)Family Coming to Jesus
Joh
2:1-3 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the
mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples,
to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him,
They have no wine.
A family which prays together stays together. In times of crisis, what do we do? Do we blame each other? Do we run to the
moneylender? Do we run to medicos? Do we try to work out our own schemes? That day Mary, in the very first instance, approached Jesus. Its speaks of seeking God early. Psalmist
says, ‘early will I seek thee’. The first step towards fulfilment is calling
out to Jesus. More often not, we will be tempted to work out our own crisis
management. In one accord, we should
get down on our knees and seek God’s face.
(c)Family Waiting for Jesus
Joh
2:4,5 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour
is not yet come. His mother saith unto
the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it
The moment Mary expressed the situation to Jesus, He did not act on it
immediately. He just said, my time is
yet to come. Mother Mary, did not beg,
plead or even pressurize Jesus to answer her request immediately. She returned
silently but told the servants to do as Jesus says. What a faithfilled woman Mary was?
How is our prayer life? How is our attitude towards prayer? Do we pray and pray and if we do not get the
answer immediately or inside a specific time span we get so dejected and wonder
whatever is happening to God? Do we
backslide in our prayer life? The
Psalmist asserts, “My expectation is from him (Ps 62:5). It is said that none of our prayers go unanswered. The answer is either Yes, No or Wait! This is
a sign of the family waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise. His time is coming!
(d)Family Trusting His Time
Joh
2:5,6,7 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do
it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the
purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus
saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the
brim
Mary, when she approached Jesus, did not get see him acting immediately
over the situation. There was a crisis
in the wedding and when there is no wine in the wedding banquet, the visitors
will not take it lightly. They may even
consider it as an insult. In our own
wedding ceremonies, just imagine, if we have run short of a key item in the
menu with few hundreds still left to dine, what would we do? We will not rest quietly. We will get down to the brass tack and try to
do something about it so as to save our face before our guests. Whatever needs to be done, it should be done
swiftly. But here Jesus’ reply sounds offensive. But Mary did not argue because she knows well
about her son and had incredible faith on him.
She trusted that Jesus would not let her down but would do something in
the right time. She went back passing
on the instructions to the servants. No
stress. No fuss. In Mary we see a person
who knew well what Jesus do, even without receiving any affirmative answer or
reaction. If we know our Lord well, if
our relationship with him as intimate as Mary with Jesus was, we will also not
bother but trust reassuringly. Put your
whole confidence in Him, he will not let you down!
(e)Family Obeying His Word
Joh
2:6,7 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner
of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up
to the brim.v
The Bible says, “Obedience is better than sacrifice”. However much we worship, give our offering or even do ministry for the
Lord, when we do not have the heart to obey God, when we do not have the
attitude to obey his commandments then our life continue to be empty, barren
and unfruitful. Saul even lost his
kingship due to disobedience.
Obedience, at times, may even sound irrational, illogical, and
impractical to us. But we need to trust
and obey, there is no other way. Peter
who tried all night in the same would have wondered at the advice of Jesus to
lay the net again. But he did obey and saw a great miracle which brought forth
an unprecedented catch which needed more than two boats to hold. That is the fruit of obedience. As a family, when you make up your mind to
obey God, obey to each other, obey
parents, obey elders, obey spiritual leaders, obey scriptures and thus develop
an attitude of implicit obedience, you will do whatever the Lord instructs and
in the end your water jars will turn into wine jars, your empty boats will
become overflowing boats. Is there any
area where you have not obeyed to God?
Dear in Christ, as a family when you walk through these steps, you will not
only witness a miracle, but your life
will draw other to Jesus.
Fulness of Blessings
Prophetically let me declare and decree that as a family, in this year
2023, when we inherit the fullness of God’s blessings the following shall come
to pass. Not only in your family, in
your career, in your business, in your ministry and in everything that you do.
(a)Shortage addressed:
By turning water into wine, Jesus made sure that there is no shortfall
in the marriage party. This would have
brought great relief and joy to the family.
Similarly, our Lord will redress all the issues of shortfall in your
life. Financial, health, emotional,
relational and educational shortfalls will be supernaturally addressed. Whatever is lacking in your life, will be
made good!
(b)Superiority asserted:
The water which turned into wine was not an ordinary one. The guests not only applauded the best taste
of the wine, they wondered as to how
such a best quality wine was kept till the last. Jesus when he blesses you will not only
make your vessel overflow, but will also
give you the best of the best! Best of
the jobs, promotions, clientele, orders, harvest are in store for you! Whatever he gives, it will be supreme,
superlative and supernatural!. Trust.
(c)Splendor awakened:
We know that this was the first of his many miracles. Even though it was
performed for the benefit of a wedding party, the Bible says that his glory was
manifested forth and that his disciples reposed their faith in him. When Jesus does something in your family, it
will draw the attention of even unbelievers to believe in him. Your family will become a source of blessing
to many. Your children shall go forth
and be a blessing to the world. Arise
and Shine for the Glory of God has risen upon thee (Isa 60:1)
Even in this year 2023, our precious Saviour Lord Jesus Christ would
make your life fulfilling by setting right all shortfalls and making your life
delightful and glorious, unto men and unto God!
The fullness of time has come….
Wishing a blessed new year 2023 to you and your family.
God bless you
Vinod Kumar and Nanthini Maria
God’s Shadow Ministries
