Speaker 1Hello and welcome to Intimacy 30. This is day 21. I really want you to believe that this short teaching series, more like a devotional series, has helped you in your journey with the Lord. And so what I've tried to do is just to take a concept, just one concept per day, make it as easy as possible to digest and to practicalize as we quest, as we drive and push for a deeper walk with the Lord. Now I want to talk about, I mean, we've talked about different aspects of intimacy, but I want to talk about the seasons of intimacy. You know, just like every natural relationship, there are different seasons in the relationship, okay? And the same way when it comes to your walk with the Lord, there are different seasons within your walk with the Lord. And understanding what season you're in would help you take advantage of that season and make the most of your walk with the Lord. And so I'm going to start out by talking, and what I want to use, just doing what Jesus did. You know, in teaching, Jesus would use natural analogies. He said the kingdom of God is like onto a man's casting net. He used things that people were acquainted with. And so in praying and thinking about this, I thought of comparing our relationship with the Lord with the cyclical nature of seasons. And I'd use something that is, I mean, maybe not so African, but generally around the Western world, people are more acquainted with it. All right, so we have, and you know, you have the spring, you have the summer, you have the fall, and then you have winter. In the same way, you can, the experiences we have in our walk with the Lord can actually be qualified by these themes. And I want to start with the spring season. Spring is the most exciting season. You know, that's the season of new life. All right, spring represents the awakening that happens after a period of deadness and all of the rest. So spring refers to the season of awakening, a period of revival. All right, another word for it will be first love. You know, when you, it's like in the natural, when you get acquainted with someone and you are really excited about that person. All right, so we're talking about fresh hunger for God. We're talking about the excitement and the joy that you feel in the presence of the Lord. Usually this comes just right after you give your heart to the Lord. Maybe you get born again. You know, the excitement that a new believer has in God, or it could be after a revival, a renewal experience, an awakening, an encounter with the Lord, you know, and then your heart just begins to burn afresh for God. All right. Everything excites you. Everything feels so exciting. You're in love with God. All right. It's like, you know, that stage in relationships where they say butterflies are flying in the belly. All right. You lift your hands in prayer and you can sense God so strongly. All right. There's a burning hunger and desire in your heart. And some of you, I may be describing a face where you are currently. And you know why this isn't, it's important to understand our relationship in the light of seasons. If you don't, the enemy will take advantage of your emotions in certain seasons. For example, um, um, when you don't seem to feel God or you don't seem excited, the enemy could take advantage of that and bring you into condemnation, not realizing that relationships mature. All right. Relationships mature at that initial face. There's the butterfly in your belly, but after a while, there's a sense of responsibility. All right. And now your love is defined more by commitment and responsibility than just by, um, you know, love lines and things like that, you know, so understanding the seasons is critical in our walk with the Lord. If you look at a scripture, like songs of Solomon, chapter two, verse 10 to 11. All right. He says, I rise my love, my beautiful one come away. And then he says something. If you read further down there, it says for behold, the winter is so it's the winter is past. And you know, usually right after winter is spring. The winter is past now is spring. So I rise calm. All right. Into, um, um, it's, it's a renewal of love and all the rest. Now, the first thing I need to say to you about these experience in God or this phase of your relationship with God is enjoy it. Oh yes. Enjoy it. All right. Maybe you just, um, for like rain conference and everything just becomes exciting. It's a renewing. All right. Your heart begins to pump with fresh, vegan, fresh excitement. Enjoy it. But I must say as well that make sure you start building disciplines and routine at this time. And the reason is this with excitement comes the, um, spontaneity with excitement comes the, you know, the fact that you just enjoy all right. Fellowship, the fact that you just want to spend time with the Lord and all the rest. But can I be very sincere with you? And if you have been a believer long enough, you know, that you're not always going to feel excited that, that, um, that theory passion burning passion. All right. You're not always going to feel it. Doesn't mean you have lost it, but you're not always going to feel it. So when you are in this phase, one of the things you want to build, you want to build is a routine. You want to build disciplines of consistency. Let me state this clearly. Emotions don't last forever. It is discipline that lasts. All right. So whilst you're feeling God so strong and all the rest, what you want to do is to start building disciplines. All right. Of consistency. And I've said it over and over again, that consistency, um, you know, people say variety is the spice of life. But I always say this, that consistency is actually the spice of life, the willingness and the readiness to do the same thing over and over and over again. Why is it that people go in for meetings? They go in for a conference, they go in for a revival, they go in for a crusade, they return revived, they return excited about God, they return with, um, you know, and all things like that. They return with, um, renewed vigor and all the rest. And just two months down the line, sometimes not even that far, two weeks down the line, you're wondering if they ever had an encounter with the Lord. The reason is very simple. They did not build roots in consistent consistency and discipline. They enjoyed the euphoria of what that encounter and that experience with God has brought to them. But they did not build disciplines of consistency. No wonder the Bible tells us too many who encountered God in the New Testament. What was the immediate thing they did? The moment the heavens opened over Jesus, we see him building a discipline, a routine around prayer and fasting. The moment Saul encountered God on the way to Damascus, we see him going back in prayer and fasting as well. In essence, the spring season is the most exciting season, the most exciting phase, but it doesn't always last forever. Just in the same way, all right, in the natural, seasons are never forever. The only way to take advantage of a season is to ask yourself, what is the reason and the good for this season? All right, so during the raining season, you plant your seed so that you can harvest during the dry season. And if you don't do what you should do in one season, you would always find out that there's a gap in the next season. So for adventure, you're in that place in your walk with the Lord, you're in that place, all right, where everything is anew, everything is afresh, you're revived, you're excited about God, can I tell you something? Excitement is great, but build discipline. Now, here is the assignment for you today. I want you to structure your 24 hours around God and not God around your 24 hours. God bless you. I'll see you same time tomorrow as we keep studying on the seasons, the cyclical seasons of intimacy.
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