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 (Written by Dr. Rudi Swanepoel) Have you ever felt out of step? Left behind? You hear what happened after the fact? You are not in the thick of things, especially the good, satisfying, life-transforming blessings other talk about? It could be that your calendar is not synchronized with God calendar. Did you know that we are in a Leap year? Yes, we all will have 24 hours extra this year. Do you know why? When Julius Caesar was Emperor, he adopted what was called the Julian calendar. People followed his calendar until the time of Pope Gregory around the 1560's. The scientist in the day of Gregory discovered that the Julian calendar was too slow and over the course of decades they were 11 days behind solar time. (Solar time is determined by the rotation of the earth around the sun). Gregory had to make a declaration that cut 11 days out of their calendar to get society caught up with real time. They also made some adjustments and introduced the Leap year concept in which we Leap forward every 4 years to keep up with solar time. It seems that historically we have been lagging behind in time. Our calendar loses roughly one minute a day, or 6 hours every year! It makes me wonder how up to date we are with God's timing. If we loose time in the natural, can it be that we are also running behind in the realm of the spirit? If God appointed a season of revival, can it be that we miss most of that season and maybe catch the end of it because we are not in time with Him? I mean, if you are to "catch" a flight at noon, and you show up late you would have missed that flight. How often do we miss blessings, miracles and outpourings because we are not in tune with heaven? We read in Ephesians 5:15-16 "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil." The Amplified Bible says, "Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil." There is a redemption component to our time. First, the Greek word used here for time is not "chronos" but "kairos". It does not speak of chronological time in terms of minutes and seconds, but of opportune times or seasons much like appointments and appointed times. Did you know that in the same way the Lord redeemed you He can redeem your time? You were lost in your sin, but because of the Savior's sacrifice, your faith and His saving grace you were born again. You received a second change at living a godly life. We all missed opportunities, appointments, and blessings because of bad timing. Well, I believe the Lord will allow us to redeem our time. To snatch back the glorious opportunities we missed. To leap forward into the timetable of God! Make every moment count. We should not just try to keep up, but we should leap forward into the timing of God. Think of Joshua in Joshua 10. He was fighting against 5 Amorite kings. Israel had the upper hand and with the help of God the enemy was retreating with Joshua in pursuit. Unfortunately for Joshua, the sun was setting. He knew the enemy would escape in the dark and would be able to regroup for another battle on another day. He wanted to prevent this at all costs. It seems like he should have started the current fight sooner, maybe earlier in the day. He was well able to win, but he was running out of time. Can you identify with him? The Word of God says that "you can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you." And that "you are more than a conqueror in Christ." So winning is within your ability, but time of often not on your side. The enemy tries to escape to fight another day. Do not let him slip through your fingers. Conquer that temptation / weakness / foe once and for all. What did Joshua do? He prayed a potent and very ambitious prayer. He spoke to the sun and moon to "stand still". He commanded real time to wait for him to catch up. What is amazing is that the Lord actually made it happen! The solar year was delayed for one day to give Joshua more time for a total victory. If the Lord allowed Joshua to "catch up" to God's timetable, He will do the same for you. Take a faith leap this Leap year! Step forward into the timing of God. Do not tolerate tardiness when it comes to destiny anymore. Stay in step with divine opportunities in your life. On a practical note, what are you going to do with your 24 extra hours this year? Instead of 365 days you'll have 366 days. Why not designate two hours a month to do something extraordinary for God. Use this time to do something you would not ordinarily do. Maybe extra Bible study, prayer, worship, community service, etc. Be a blessing to someone by donating two hours a month to their well being. What about devoting it to strategic spiritual planning, mapping out a path God wants you to walk and setting up deadlines and goals to achieve this? Make this year directional in an intentional way!
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