It is no accident you have been born in this day and age. Like Esther, God has purposed and planned for you to be placed in this generation. “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). Yes you are here, living in this day, because God has a purpose for you. You have a vital part to play in God’s end-time plan to advance the kingdom of God.

When an army wants to break the strength of the enemy, it often makes a “coordinated strike” — an attack in which many different groups fulfill their part with precise timing. Similarly, if we are going to be used by God to break the enemy’s strongholds in our day and advance the kingdom of God, timing will be critically important. Many a war has been won or lost because of the timing of key battles.

We can see the importance of timing in almost every field of sports. Many basketball fans remember with relish an end-of-the-game shot released just before the buzzer sounded that brought the victory. But even a perfect swish is soon forgotten if it is shot after the buzzer goes off. In baseball, swinging just a little too soon or a little too late turns a home run hitters swing from a heroic homerun into an agonizing strikeout. Similarly, the doors of opportunity for advancing the kingdom of God are often like revolving doors — it is important not to be too early or too late. As the end of the age approaches, being able to discern the times and the timing of God will become essential to effectively advancing God’s kingdom.

Discerning the Times
When the religious leaders of Jesus’ day asked for a sign in the sky as proof of His divinity, His reply to them was that they needed to learn to read the signs of the times. “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3). Jesus had declared that He was the fulfilment of Isaiah 61, and then did the very deeds this verse declares — preaching the gospel to the poor; healing the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and bringing recovery of sight to the blind (see Luke 4:18). Yet, they could not see it. Though they had eyes with which to see, they could not read the signs of the times Jesus was clearly displaying.

Are we, too, better at telling what the weather is going to be today than what God is doing on the earth in our day? God desires the Church to have a “Sons of Issachar Anointing.” The Bible tells us that the sons of Issachar were “… men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). From their understanding of the Scriptures, the Sons of Issachar were gifted at knowing how to interpret what was going on around them from a Biblical perspective … and they knew what to do about it! God still desires to reveal to those who will have eyes to see and ears to hear, the gift to interpret the signs of our times.

Hearing God's Alarm Clock
While at a recent prayer meeting, I heard the Lord say, “Tick-tock, tick-tock can you hear the clock? Tick-tock, tick-tock can you hear the clock? The sands in the hour glass of time are quickly expiring! If the Church will stop dividing their time, they will start discerning the times!?

The Lord wants us to understand that time is running out. The Bible tells us that “The end of all things is near” (1 Peter 4:7). There is a day set when time will come to an end and endless eternity will begin, and the hourglass of heaven has nearly expired.

Vance Havner tells the story of a farmer who was awakened in the middle of the night when his clock went on a rampage and struck seventeen times. He rushed all over the house waking everybody up shouting, “Get up! It’s later than it ever has been before!" It is later than it's ever been for this world — later than most the Church thinks it is! "And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here” (Romans 13:11-12).

God is sounding an alarm clock across the body of Christ. “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14). Remember, these are not words to the Lost, but to the Lord's! This epistle was written to a New Testament Church filled with growth and miracles only a short time after it was birthed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. How quickly Satan sends his slumbering spirit to those whose hearts are on fire for God. Where once the signs of first-love's-passion were displayed, now there is only a “Do Not Disturb Sign.” But God is moving in His Church, disturbing all slumbering spirits! The Lord is calling us to come out of our coma of complacency — to awaken and arise from our apathy!

Laying Down the Idol of Time
God is not only desiring us to awaken, but to remove the idol of time from its elevated pedestal. Instead of rightly dividing the times, we have become dividers of time, nicely dividing time into little compartments: “this time is for me, this time is for my spouse, this time is for work, this time is for God, etc.” But God is saying, “stop dividing your time!” God doesn’t want a bigger portion of your time — He wants all of it! God died for you, all of you: your sins, your struggles, and your shame, yes, but also for your talents, your money, and your time! He wants you to live one seamless life before Him.

Time is one of the major idols in America. The average worker is “working for the weekend.” And the average fifty-year-old is simply living for retirement. It isn’t surprising that many have made an idol out of time, for it is our most valuable earthly possession. The world is fond of saying that time is money. While there is some truth to this statement, time is by far more precious and valuable. How sad that it is often only as time runs to its natural end that we finally start to see its greater value in this lifetime over money. Many a thirty-year-old millionaire, if he lay dying on his death bed, would give away his entire fortune for just one more year of life. Remember, a lost fortune may be regained, but once time is lost it is gone forever!

Not Now
How can we tell if time has become an idol in our lives? One sure clue is when we begin to make excuses as to why we cannot give our time to God in service. Our first excuse is “Not now… it doesn't fit in my schedule!” Many have become slaves to their schedules. They cannot do this because it violates their bedtime. Others are going to miss something that’s coming up because they are going to be on vacation.

When our schedule or our vacation begin to exclude God’s ability to work in our lives, we are treading on thin ice. Are we taking a vacation from God? I hope He doesn’t choose to return when we have erased Him from our schedule. There is nothing wrong with having a schedule or taking a vacation. The real question is, “Do you possess them, or do they possess you!”

Louis Philippe lost his empire in France because he said “not now.” The Parisian mob gathered at the Tuilleries. The National Guard stood prepared to defend the palace. The commander said to King Louis, “Shall I order the troops to fire? One volley and the place will be cleared.”

“No,” answered Louis Philippe, “not yet.” The minutes ticked by, but just a few. Then the King said to his general, “Now it is time to fire.”

“Not so,” replied the general, “it is too late now. Don’t you see the soldiers are changing arms with the citizens? Our time has run out.” The House of Orleans was taken from the palace by force, and the empire melted away because a king had said, “Not yet.”

Fear of Burn-Out
The second excuse we hear from those whose knee is bowed to the idol of time is “I don't want to get burned out.” Have we become so afraid of burnout that we fail to work-out that which God has put within us? Smith Wigglesworth said “I’d rather burn-out than rust out!” Yet much of the Church stands frozen in the field rusting away like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.

Only those who are willing to burn give off a brilliant light. John Wesley traveled over 250 miles a day for 40 years, preached more than 40,000 sermons, produced 400 books, and learned ten languages to help spread the gospel. When he was in his eighties, he was annoyed that he could not write more than 15 hours a day without hurting his eyes, ashamed he could not preach more than twice a day, and complained in his diary that there was now a tendency to lie in bed until 5:30 in the morning! While we may laugh at the sounds of this, let us remember that God used John Wesley to change not only the entire Church, but to make a dramatic impact on the United States. He was not “burned-out” but “burned-up” as a holy firebrand of God.

The other day a minister said something to me that was quite profound, “The church fails to advance because we are giving God the leftovers of our time.” You see, you will do something with your time. You either will waste it, spend time, or invest time! I remember once when I missed the deadline for the Journal, I sat devastated. This was not because of failed performance orientation, but because a constant stream of regrets raced through my mind. If I had not wasted half-an-hour doing this, if I had not let that person take up so much of my time, etc. It is no fun to live in the land of regrets … thinking of what might have been. Let us not spend eternity wondering what would have happened if we would have been sold out in service to God.

D. L. Moody tells of a dream that had a deep impact on him. In the dream he died and was taken by an angel up to heaven where he beheld a beautiful temple. It was made of precious gemstones — diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, and opals. After admiring it for quite some time, he discovered that one stone was missing. He enquired, “What is this stone left out for?” The angel replied, “That was left for you, but you couldn't find the time!” He was startled and awoke, and resolved that he would become the servant of God he was called to be.

Jesus is either Lord of all of our lives, or He is not Lord at all in our lives. He is asking us this day to tear down the idols we have made of our time. If we will give Him our undivided lives, He will allow us to know the days and seasons of the kingdom of God, and will be able to use us for advancing His kingdom in such a time as this!