God of Seasons

During the summer my orange tree in my front yard will be maturing fruit in its braches. It will also be growing new shoots that point straight up. These shoots don't bear fruit and only suck some of the vital resource from process of producing fruit. I cut off these shoots, called suckers, so the tree's resources go to bearing fruit rather than maintaining new growth that will never bear fruit. Again, being connected with God is critical for producing and maturing the fruit that God is giving you. Not only does He give all the resources for fruit bearing, but also He knows which activities are "suckers" and will cut them off if we allow Him.

During spiritual autumn, our spiritual growth will be shrinking back but the demands from us increase. It is interesting that the greatest harvest of fruit comes when the tree is heading for a season of rest. It is incorrect to say that a person in spiritual autumn does not have God's anointing; God anoints all the spiritual seasons. On a personal level, during spiritual autumn you may be feeling a need to return to the basics of the faith, or a new commitment to the spiritual disciplines of fasting, praying, solitude, individual worship and devotion; things which in themselves, seem to produce little fruit but are essential for our Christian walk. In ministry, you might have to cut back your commitments or there might be a downsizing. There might be external factors like reducing finances, attendance or time availability that reduces our ability to produce fruit.

Lastly, there is winter. Spiritual winter is the most uncomfortable time for many Christians, especially in the western church. In our western society, we tend to value people based on how much they produce. If you don't believe me, look at who gets recognized in your church. Usually it is the people that seem to live at church and are committed to many different activities. This work=value culture is not Godly and it is wrong to applaud people who are over committed as much as it is wrong to applaud people who are under committed. God values people not works and we should to... but that is another discussion.

Spiritual winter is like the Sabbath. Let's talk about Sabbath rest. It is not doing nothing. I know of many people who, when they go on vacation, skip their daily devotions. Some don't even bring their Bibles with them. They take a vacation from God. But this is not the rest of the Sabbath. During the Sabbath, God instructed people to keep the rest holy to God and reflect on the things that God had done for them. God says in Lev 23:27 we must "deny" (NIV, NASB) or "afflict" (KJ, NKJ) ourselves when observing the Sabbath. What would be denied? Whatever keeps our minds from reflecting on God's good deeds and keeping holy attitude before God are the exact things that we must deny. They might include watching TV or reading that novel. They could include sports or shopping. They might even include catching another bible study or getting involved with another ministry. We need to discipline ourselves to stay connected with God during our rest because our natural inclination is to wander spiritually when we are in a season of rest.

During spiritual winter, it is normal to feel like God is not hearing our prayers or speaking to us. We may feel like we are having a "wilderness" experience. Our inclination is to pray harder or more or anything but to remain; but must remain in the season of rest. We may feel like our ministry is unfruitful and assume it is dying. But during winter, there is no fruit bearing and it is a time or spiritual rest. In winter, reflect on God and God's faithfulness to you and maintain an attitude of reverence before God. It is God's perfect order that all creation rests periodically. God thinks so highly of rest that on the seventh day of creation, He rested too. When we don't rest, we've made our service an idol above God. When we squirm away from spiritual winter, we squirm away from Godliness.

Spiritual seasons are not spiritual conditions of the saint nor a way of measuring Godliness. God ordains spiritual seasons to provide the greatest spiritual fruit bearing and the greatest spiritual growth. God's seasonal plan includes periods of growth and periods of rest. Recognizing the season you're in and responding appropriately to that season, is the best way to insure continued spiritual growth and a life that bears Godly fruit.

Not only does this apply to you, but your congregation has seasons too. We must be sensitive to the season of the congregation and develop our worship sets accordingly. There are times of reflection so lead songs that speak of reflection. There are periods of vision, so lead song that visionary. There are times when the congregations mourns so lead worship that allows the expression of pain and desire for healing. In time of revival, lead song of refreshing, evangelism and spiritual desire. Learn to be comfortable with the season that God has ordained for your congregation and let God move the congregation from season to season. Minister according to the current season not according to the last or next season. Doing this maximizes the spiritual growth and the production spiritual fruit.