By Minister Thom Lounsbury
YOUR POSITION IN TRANSITION 
YOU CAN TELL SOMETHING OF YOUR FUTURE BY LOOKING AT YOUR PAST, OFTEN THE PROBLEMS WE FACE IN ADULTHOOD STARTED IN CHILDHOOD. MANY TIMES YOU HAVE TO GO BACK IN ORDER TO GO FORWARD.
GOD IS CYCLICAL AND AS GEN 1:26 SAYS, “WE ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGE AND ARE TO REFLECT HIS NATURE.” IT IS A FUNDEMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF GOD JUST AS SEED TIME AND HARVEST.
REV. 22:13: ‘I AM THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END.’ THUS THE VERY TITLE OF CHRIST EXPLAINS HIS NATURE THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THE FIRST AND THE LAST – IT IS ALL ENCOMPASSING – THE ANCIENT OF DAYS, THE GREAT I AM, HE WHO IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOREVER.
WHERE WE GET INTO TROUBLE IS WE TOO BECOME THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW – THUS THE INSIDIOUS CYCLE CONTINUES – NOTHING CHANGING BUT GETTING OLDER – WE WILL MANY TIMES TRADE OFF THINGS EXTERNALLY AND SAY WE HAVE CHANGED BUT ULTIMATELY INSIDE WE REMAIN THE SAME –
WHEN GOD WANTS TO MOVE US INTO NEW TRUTH (TOMORROW) MANY TIMES WE ABORT IT BY MOVING BACK INTO THE OLD, FAMILIAR (YESTERDAY). MATT 9:17 –‘NEW WINE IN OLD WINESKINS’ – WE ARE IN A POSITION OF TRANSITION AND GOD WANTS TO TAKE US FROM A PLACE OF HEARING THE PROMISE TO A PLACE OF OBTAINING THE PROMISE.
ISAIAH 46:10: ‘DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING AND FROM ANCIENT TIMES THINGS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN DONE, SAYING, ‘MY PURPOSE WILL BE ESTABLISHED, AND I WILL ACCOMPLISH ALL MY GOOD PLEASURE’.
JEREMIAH 29:11: ‘FOR I KNOW THE PLANS THAT I HAVE FOR YOU’, DECLARES THE LORD, ‘PLANS FOR WELFARE AND NOT FOR CALAMITY TO GIVE YOU A FUTURE AND A HOPE.’
THE WORDS “END” AND “FUTURE” ARE THE SAME HEBREW WORD, ACHARIYTH, AND WHEN TRANSLATED BRINGS POWERFUL INSIGHT. THE NKJV TRANSLATES THIS WORD AS DESTINY.
ZODHIATES SAYS THE FOLLOWING ABOUT IT: “THE GENERAL MEANING IS: AFTER, LATER, BEHIND, FOLLOWING.”
THE HEBREW WAY OF THINKING WAS LIKE A MAN ROWING A BOAT; HE BACKS INTO THE FUTURE. THEREFORE, WHAT IS BEHIND AND WHAT IS FUTURE COME FROM THE SAME ROOT WORD – “ACHAR”.
ECC. 3:15: THAT WHICH HAS BEEN IS THAT WHICH WILL BE.
SO THINK ABOUT IT THAT WHICH IS BEHIND AND WHAT IS FUTURE COMES FROM THE SAME WORD. THIS CAPTURES THE CONCEPT OF ETERNITY – IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, PAST AND FUTURE – DEPICTING THE ETERNAL NATURE OF GOD AND THE SPIRIT REALM.
THIS SHOULD ENCOURAGE US TO KNOW OUR DESTINY, OUR FUTURE, IS IN THE HANDS OF AN ETERNAL GOD, WHO DECLARES, “THE END FROM THE BEGINNING”.
AND WHILE IT DOES SEEM THAT WE ROW BACKWARD INTO OUR FUTURE – BY FAITH, WITHOUT FULLY SEEING IN ADVANCE WHAT IS COMING – WE NEVER THE LESS KNOW THAT OUR DESTINY IS SECURE IN GOD, AND THAT OUR END CAN ALWAYS BE GREATER THAN OUR BEGINNING.
HAGGAI 2:9: HIS DESIRE IS THAT OUR LATTER ALWAYS BE GREATER THAN OUR FORMER.
SO WE NEED TO SEE THE PATTERN AND REDEMPTIVE PROCESS IS RELEVANT TO US ALL. GOD DOESN’T WANT US TO GET STUCK IN THE MIDDLE ( TODAY ) – HE WANTS US TO GO TO THE OTHERSIDE – ( TOMORROW ) – MARK 6:45-51.
GOD WANTS TO REVEAL HIS PURPOSES, EXPOSE THE TACTICS OF THE ENEMY TO ABORT THEM AND GIVE US HIS STRATEGY FOR RECOVERY AND FULFILLMENT.
REMEMBER GOD NEVER LOSES!
SO THEN IF WE ARE WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH GOD WE WILL SEE HIS ETERNAL PROMISES FULFILLED – HIS PLAN IS THAT WE ALWAYS MOVE FROM FAITH TO FAITH (ROM.1:17) AND GLORY TO GLORY (2 COR. 3:18). THIS SHOWS HE IS A GOD OF ORDER – PUTTING THINGS IN THEIR PROPER PLACES – STEP BY STEP – LINE BY LINE –
SO AS GOD DECREES THE END FROM THE BEGINNING (ACHARIYTH) – AS I ROW INTO MY FUTURE I WILL EVENTUALLY ROW INTO THAT WHICH HE PREDESTINED AND DECREED FOR ME. WE HAVE ALL EXPERIENCED THIS. GOD REVEALS TO US HIS INTENTIONS FOR OUR LIVES, SHOWS US THE END OF SOMETHING GREAT THAT HE INTENDS FOR US.
THE FRUSTRATION, THE CONFUSION OF THIS TRANSITION IS – YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN IT WILL OCCUR – GOD IS ETERNAL HE IS TIMELESS – ‘A DAY IS AS A THOUSAND YEARS, A THOUSAND YEARS IS AS A DAY’ – LOOK AT ABRAHAM, GOD PROMISED HIM A SON – HE DIDN’T REALIZE IT WOULD TAKE 25 YEARS TO GET HIS ISAAC – IN BETWEEN HE HAD HIS ISHMAEL – DAVID WAS PROMISED TO BE KING – THAT TOOK 20 YEARS TO BE REALIZED – WHAT WE MUST REMEMBER IS THAT GOD OFTEN SPEAKS FAR IN ADVANCE OF TIME’S FULFILLMENT AND IN THE MEANTIME, WE MUST KEEP ROWING – BY FAITH – INTO OUR FUTURE. AND JUST AS A ROWER STAYS ON COURSE BY USING A REFERENCE POINT BEHIND HIM, WE DO ALSO. FOR US OUR REFERENCE POINT IS OFTEN THE PROMISE OR WORD OF THE LORD FROM OUR PAST AND IF WE KEEP ROWING, TIME WILL CATCH UP WITH THE DECREE OF THE LORD, AND WE WILL ROW INTO OUR DESTINY.
IN CLOSING, JOB 22:28 STATES: YOU WILL ALSO DCREE A THING, AND IT WILL BE ESTABLISHED FOR YOU; AND LIGHT WILL SHINE ON YOUR WAYS. THE WORD “THING” IS OMER, AND MEANS A WORD, PROMISE OR DECREE. SO IN ESSENCE IT COULD READ, “YOU WILL DECREE A DECREE”. WHEN TIME CATCHES UP TO THE DECREE OF THE LORD FOR OUR LIVES – WE MUST DECREE THE DECREE – AGREE WITH AND DECREE WHAT GOD HAS SAID ABOUT US. AS WE COME INTO AGREEMENT WITH HIS PLANS BY DECLARING OUR FAITH IN THEM, WE ARE RELEASING THE CREATIVE POWER OF HIS WORD, WHICH AS THE VERSE GOES ON TO SAY, ‘WILL CAUSE THEM TO BE ESTABLISHED’.