We’ve been continuing through the book of Ephesians. In my last post, I talked about clearing our schedules for a move of God. Did you know that this is how God operates through His people? It’s only when they turn over their time to Him that the Lord will move in a manifestation of His power.
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
Ephesians 1:9-10 NIV
We’re told in this passage, about the mystery of God’s will. Actually, Paul uses three different words to get this point across. He mentions God’s will, His good pleasure, and His purpose in Christ. These are the things that He wants to accomplish on the earth through His people.
If you remember, a few posts ago I talked about these things. In verse 5, Paul writes that we were adopted as sons according to His pleasure and will. This mystery has been given to us from the time of our salvation. We just need to learn to access it.
The question is, are we willing to position ourselves to let the Holy Spirit use us in this way? I’ve been saying that this requires our time. There’s no other commodity that will purchase God’s will.
How do I know this? The above passage is very interesting to read in the Greek. It says that this will, good pleasure, and purpose of God is put into effect in the economy of the filling of time.
Economy – that’s a financial term, like when we talk about the economy of the United States. Here we’re talking about the economy of the Kingdom of God. A large part of that economy is time.
In essence this verse tells us that God’s will is accomplished on earth as we deposit time into the bank of Heaven. God doesn’t need our money or our resources. What He really needs in order to do His work is our time.
Actually, who’s time is it? We like to think of it as all belonging to us. With that attitude, we schedule everything we want to do, then place the Lord’s work in any leftover spots.
I know there are things that we need to do. Scripture says that if we don’t work, we don’t eat. The Lord doesn’t want us to neglect our families either. There’s a place for all of these important matters in our schedules.
But are we really operating in the plan of God if there’s no time for the move of His Spirit? In our generation, we’ve learned to add so many good things to our schedules, that we’ve left no room for the best.
I’m truly convinced that if we want to see a move of God in our nation, it’s going to require us to make a sacrifice. Not of money, but of time. Peter puts it this way…
For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do…
1 Peter 4:3a NIV
The church needs revival – we may even want revival. But are we willing to do what it takes to initiate revival? If I said that revival would cost a million dollars, I’m sure that someone would come up with it.
If, on the other hand, I said revival will cost 2 weeks of your time, very few people would make the investment. Scripture is clear. To see the next move of God, it’s going to take our time – that’s the commodity of the next revival.
Ours is not the first generation to run into this problem. But it’s something that needs to be straightened out – quickly. Time is short. Now is the time. We are the people God is calling to turn this nation around.
Question: Why is our time so hard to turn over to the Lord?
© 2023 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 