Hub #1 - A New Season - A New Day - Fact or Fiction?

Today marks the first day of my writing marathon - 30 Hubs in 30 Days. Is this nuts? I don't think so. I truly believe that I am embarking on a new adventure that will bring both challenges and wonderful opportunities. Come join me as together we begin this exciting journey into the world of information, revelation, and, yes, even restorative.

Right where you are would you join me and say (If you can, say it out loud), "This is my season. It's a new season. I have never been this way before. Today marks the beginning of a new day. A fresh start. I have made a determined and quality decision to maximize my moments, to live my life to its fullest and to optimize my potential." Wow. Hearing yourself say those words has got to inspire you and encourage you that there's more to life than the mundane mediocrity of the status quo.

Now I know, by experience, that life in and of itself is a powerful "school master." It will teach you some things. It has a way of taking you, whether you want to go there or not, through some perilous times. Some long, dark nights and some difficult days. It has a way of introducing you to tests, trials and traumas that you did not anticipate or even prepare for. Then of course, there are those sudden storms, those challenges and choices, those dilemmas and those decisions that demand an answer. At the end of the day, life becomes your classroom.

We also know that the closer we get to the return of Canaan's King and Calvary's Lamb, hell itself is belching out assigned assassins to abort the plan of God in your life. These assassins have a carefully, calculated strategy to disturb, distress, depress, divide, distract and ultimately to destroy any possibility of you stepping into your new season. There are those dream abortionists who tell you that the way it is now is the way it always will be.

Each morning when you awake there has been deposited into the account of your life 86,400 seconds. Those moments have been alloted to you and placed there as a gift to enjoy. Though hell has it's assigned assassins, God is raising up a righteous remnant of believers who refuse to be refused. Who walk in an anointing of the Spirit that defies demons, moves heaven and impacts earth by being a living expression of a resurrected Christ.

Perhaps, as you read this you are saying, "That sounds good. I would love to live my life to the max. But you just don't know what I am going through right now." Some people focus so much on what they are going through (granted that's not hard to do when what you're going through is so difficult - been there done that and got the t-shirt) that they fail to see what they are going to. They fail to see they are soon to step into a new season and a new day in the eternal scheme of things. The very thing that is our test becomes our testimony.

In the book of Deuteronomy 33:26-29 there is a powerful text that is relevant for the 21st century believer. Please allow me to remind you that what you are going through even now does not take God by surprise. It doesn't make Him nervous, or cause Him to abandon His throne due to shock or fear. God still has it all in control. As a matter of fact, the Scriptures tell us that He holds us in the palm of His hand. Think about those implications.

The children of Israel in Deuteronomy were just about ready to step into a new season and a new day in their lives. They were about to "possess" that which God had promised them. Moses, that great man of God brought them all together and began to pronounce his final blessing upon them. To be sure, I believe there is power in "the blessing." He began to recount the prophetic Word that had been spoken over the tribes of Israel. From Reuben to Asher, Moses prophetically proclaimed the intention of God over their lives.

Allow me the freedom please to summarize these prophetic blessings and see how they might relate to you and me as we step into our new season:

1. Reuben - "Live and not die. Let not his men be few. Let his hands be sufficient for him and be a help to him from his enemies."
2. Levi - "Bless, Lord, his substance and accept the work of his hands..."
3. Benjamin - "The beloved of the Lord will life in safety by him. The Lord will cover him all day long and he will dwell between his covers.
4. Joseph - "Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun... for the precious things put forth by the moon... Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, upon him that was separated from his brethren."
5. Zebulon - "Rejoice in your going out." In other words, when you go out, rejoice.
6. Issachar - "Rejoice in your tents.... When you're at home rejoice."
7. Gad - "Blessed be he that enlarges Gad - he dwells as a lion."
8. Dan - "Dan is a lion's whelp, he shall leap from Bashan."
9. Naphtali - "Satisfied with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord."
10. Asher - "Let Asher be blessed with children. Let him be acceptable to his brethren. Let him dip his foot in oil." (To you preachers, that will preach.)

Moses begins to reveal some powerful truths that would catapult them into their new season filled with a sense of destiny and eternal purpose. There is no doubt in my mind, God's thoughts toward you are absolutely awesome and beyond comprehension. They are real and they are relevant. They are revolutionary and they are restorative. That's just how much He loves you.

In order to walk in this new season, maximizing those 86,400 seconds, optimizing your potential and fulfilling your purpose you must:

1. Understand the absolute greatness of the God you serve.

Our finite minds truly have a difficult time understanding the infinite mind of God. The writer of our text described Him this way, "There is none like unto the God of Jeshuran." No one can top His omniscience or His omnipotence. He rides on the wings of the wind and sits on the circumference of the earth. He comes to our help. As a matter of fact, He is the source of our help, our hope and our healing.

2. Know Beyond Any Doubt He is Your Protection

He is your refuge and dwelling place. A shelter from the storms of life. According to His Word, underneath us are His everlasting arms. It is a place of great security.

3. Recognize that God deals with your enemies.

Sometimes our enemies may be "two-legged." I call them the modern-day "Pharisees and Sadducees, the wouldn't see's and the couldn't sees." Then there are the enemies called sickness, disease and infirmity, fear, poverty, depression, ad infinitum. But God will prepare a table for us even in the presence of our enemies.

4. Understand that God is your source

This may sound simple but look at it this way. If God can take care of 2.5 million plus of His children in a wilderness where there was no Wal-mart, no Publix or Winn-Dixie, no hospital and no bottled water. If He could rain down fresh bread baked in the ovens of heaven, and pour water out of a flinty rock. If He can send ravens catering service to feed a prophet our God is able to "supply all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19)

Wave "bye-bye" to yesterday and "hello" to your new season and your new day. When you awake in the morning remember that 86,400 seconds have been given to you as something to be greatly treasured and used wisely. Don't waste even one of them. Enjoy the journey.