New Seasons
“At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for Him, and when they came to Him, they tried to prevent Him from leaving them. But He said to them, ‘To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God because for this purpose I have been sent.’ And He was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” Luke 4: 42-44.
This scripture teaches us that there is a time and season for things in our lives. This applies to the stages in our relationships, our marriage, raising a family, and working in a job or career. It is the evolution of life. This evolution also applies to our prayer life and the ministries or services we are involved in.
Jesus demonstrates that the order of prayer and ministry is important. First, we see Jesus going off on His own to pray at daybreak. Jesus places prayer before His ministry. In prayer, He speaks with His Father to ensure He is following His Father’s Divine Will in his life. We know this is truth because throughout the gospels we hear Jesus say repeatedly, “I have come to do My Father’s will.”
As Christians, we are called to imitate Jesus which means we too are to follow God’s Divine Will in our lives. The only way to know the Father’s will is to spend time in prayer like Jesus who spent time in prayer speaking to God. Just like Jesus, I favor going off by myself in the morning to pray. It’s in the quiet solitude that I can put away the worldly thoughts and distractions of my life. In the quiet solitude, I can just speak with God. I think my morning tiredness places me in a more docile or receptive demeanor to just speak (or in my case journal) my thoughts and feelings with God. It allows me the ability to sit and listen to God speak to my heart.
Second, we see in this scripture there is an evolution of Jesus’ ministry as well. People find Jesus in His deserted place and try to prevent Him from leaving. They want Him to stay where He is and continue His preaching and healing. Jesus, however, knows that His ministry must evolve. To spread His message, He must go out to other areas and other people.
As Christians, again we must imitate Jesus and learn to evolve in our ministry or service work. We need to be able to know when it is time to begin or get involved in ministry or service. We also need to know when to continue in a ministry or service and when to move on. Jesus recognized that He must follow God’s will to go out and preach to others. We too must know God's will and be able to recognize when He is calling us to something and away from something.
This has been true in my life where God opens the door to a ministry for me and also closes a door to a ministry for me. It’s a cycle. I’ll become involved, give my time and talent, and see the blessings and fruits of “my labor” so to speak. Then usually when everything is flourishing in the ministry, God will close that door and open another. I started working in youth ministry with Life Teen years ago and then God called me away to begin a young adult ministry. As the young adult ministry was growing and we were putting on retreats, God called me away to start an Intercessory Prayer ministry. Later, when I moved from Louisiana to Houston, TX with my job, I began another Intercessory Prayer group. This group is flourishing and during the shutdown of COVID, God again called me to start a virtual women’s share group over Zoom. The evolution of my ministry continues to be a season that comes and then passes away or changes in the way I am involved.
I have learned through prayer to listen to when God is opening and shutting doors. Jesus said in scripture that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it will bear no fruit. I too must realize that often there comes a time when I must recognize that God is calling me to move on. I must move on so that others may move in and continue the ministry work I have begun. It is now their season, their calling from God. I must be a part of the evolution process and not resist. I need to recognize that God’s will may be closing a door, a time, a season for me. He may be opening the door for someone else to walk in behind me.
This evolution can only be discerned through the quiet time of prayer and solitude with God. I must be ready, like Jesus, to hear God tell me to move to another town. I am not alone as we are all called to serve others in one way or another.
Today let us take some quiet time to pray like Jesus did. Let us listen to what God is calling us to do for our families, our jobs, and our ministry or service. Let us also recognize God’s call to move on to sharing His gospel and love in a new season.
