Our heavenly Father, we say thank You; thank You because of the way You’ve started with us this morning, thank You for life, thank You for Your presence here. Father, thank You for the realization that our lives, our times are in Your hands, and because our times are in Your hands, we know that we will make it, irrespective of the challenges around us, Father, we will make it in the mighty name of Jesus.
As we go through Your word this morning, Father, please open our eyes, open our hearts, reveal Yourself unto us, speak into our ears, let us hear the inaudible, give us understanding like never before and glorify Your name now and ever more, for in Jesus marvelous name we prayed. Praise the living Jesus!
Good morning daddies and mommies, once again my brethren, God bless you, let’s take our seats as I welcome you into the presence of the Most High God. I start first with an acknowledgement that I’m but clay, except that the breath of God is in me that makes man a living being, so I have life because of the breath of God. Thank You Jesus! And I believe that’s why you also are here. I’d like to also appreciate our father in the Lord for the privilege that I have to minister this morning.
Very quickly, prayer chain tomorrow at the same time 6:30; the theme is I am the Door, and the text is John 10: 9. Praise the living Jesus!
I want us to just go straight to the message this morning because of our time; turn with me to the book of Isaiah 46: 9 – 11. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there’s none else; I am God, and there is none like me.10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. (Another translation says I will fulfill all my purpose).
11Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my council from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Saith the Lord of hosts. Thank You, Jesus.
Our topic this morning, (I tweaked it a bit) is ‘Our Times Are in His Hands’, I want us to personalize that ‘My Time, My Life is in His Hands’. Praise the living Jesus! Hallelujah!
And by the grace of God, today is a day of a few stories, Bible stories like the book of my Bible story back in the days, so I’ll start with a story in the life of Joseph. Joseph was a young boy, innocent young boy, daddy’s boy, he knew nothing but God was taking him somewhere, God also was revealing it to him in dreams. Because he was a boy, he couldn’t care less, he was just expressing it to whoever cared to listen, his brothers and parents, but this got his brothers to be jealous and annoyed with him. What happened?
One day they had the opportunity and they decided that they should kill him, but intervention of one said don’t let us kill him, let us sell him. They threw him in a pit, sold him to Israelites who eventually sold him again to the house of Potiphar, and then from there he went into prison.
All these while Joseph will be saying but God You said to me that these people will come to bow down, I can’t even see them again, but one day God took him to the throne in Egypt, again that dream didn’t seem that it will come, but then one day came that the people came and did bow down to Joseph.
Now all through the period when he was maltreated, when he was in the pit, when he was sold, when he was in Potiphar’s house, when he was in the prison, they were not things that looked like somebody was going to be on the throne, but they were all part of God’s design until he came to the throne.
So in summary, you would say without Joseph doing anything to make it happen, he eventually became who God wanted him to be because his life, his time was in God’s hand. May I therefore say to someone here this morning, that thing that you are going through, that challenging situation, that turbulence, that family issue is all part of the story, brethren, it’s all part of God’s design for your life because your life, your time is in His hands. Praise the living Jesus!
Now, very quickly, we’ll take a few lessons from our passage generally and tell a bit more story. God is all powerful and our God is sovereign; from that passage, the Bible tells us that God will do everything that He pleases, from that our text, Isaiah 46:9-11, God will do everything that is pleasing and nobody, He said I will perform all my pleasure, all and everything that God pleases includes His plan for your life. Praise the living Jesus!
This is a very powerful declaration, brethren, and it’s a strong assurance, it should be a strong assurance to every one of us. According to Jeremiah 29:11, it says that the thought that I think towards you, they are thought of good and not of evil, to bring you to an expected end; it will look as if it’s talking to you as an individual, but then there’s also a general declaration, Isaiah 46: 9-11 that says, “I’ll perform all that I purpose.”
So when He formed you, when He brought you, when He created you, He had a purpose in mind, God is saying that which I want you to become, I will make sure you become it. Romans 8: 28 – 30, the Bible says, “All things work together for good for them that love God and have been called according to His purpose;” all things, the ups, the downs, the good, the bad, the ugly, the failures, the maltreatments, they are all part of the plan.
Let’s look at David; David was destined to be a king, that was God’s plan for him. That Jeremiah 29:11 for David was that he will become a king, but the first time the Bible introduced us to David, he was a shepherd boy, he was not just a shepherd boy, he was an unwanted member of a big family, he didn’t look good at that time. And out of the blues, 1st Samuel 16, God sent a Prophet, Samuel, and in the presence of all those who were maltreating him, anointed David king.
So David himself would have been saying okay eventually, maybe God has now remembered me. The next day or the next season, God made King Saul to have a problem, mental health issue and needed someone who could play, see how things are working, and then somebody said I know a son of Jesse who can perform well, so they went to call David and Saul engaged David.
At that point, David would say I’m closer to my destiny, but then what happened? One day, 1st Samuel 18: 8, Saul looked at this David and said I will kill this boy and he attempted javelin on him. Twice he escaped, and from that moment for 13 years, David kept running from Saul; Saul made 14 attempts altogether on the life of David, all through that period, David was running from pillar to.post, from mountain to cave, from one place to the other.
And I’m sure along the line he’ll be saying to himself, ‘God, but You said that I’ll be a king; God, where is Your face in all of these’? But then one day came, King Saul died, before King Saul died, David became first, king over Judah, and eventually king over Israel, altogether, it took him 20 years from the period when he was first anointed to be who God wanted him to be. But something was clear, as far as David was removed from where God wanted him to be, it appears to man he was as close in God’s plan.
Brethren, it may look today that you are so far away from the person that you have envisioned to be, but so long as you are a child of God, it is all part of the plan. Physically it may look as if you are far away from it, but in God’s plan you may be closer than ever. Hang on there because God is sovereign, once He has purposed to do a thing, no one can stop Him. Hallelujah!
The other thing that we need to look at very quickly is that life happens in seasons. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that sufficiently, there’s a time for everything, and another way to express that is that life happens in seasons – a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to run away from Saul, a time to be on the throne, a time to hide, a time to come out, a time to be miserable, but a time to laugh, life happens in seasons.
In Psalm 90:1-2, the Bible tells us that God existed before the mountains were; it says from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. What that is saying is that before time was, You have been God, and when time will be no more, You remain God. If anybody asks me for a definition or interpretation of time, I’ll say the broadest definition of time is God, because God transcends time, before time was God, after time will be God. Hallelujah!
Life happens in seasons, and because God will exist all through the seasons of life, we must therefore trust God. Revelation 1:8, the Bible tells us that He is alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. Now, let’s bring it back to our life situations; David was anointed but there was a waiting period for him, in that waiting period, a lot of things happened, but eventually he became king without them forcing anything.
If you look at the life of David or Paul or even our Lord Jesus Christ, everything worked according to the plan of God. It was not David that said now I want to be king, it was not Paul that said now I want to become an apostle, as a matter of fact, it was not even Jesus Christ that said now I want to start my ministry, it was God.
So in the waiting time, brethren, we must learn to trust God because time is defined in Him. Hallelujah! Also in that waiting time, there will be unexpected twists and turns. David never expected having become the one who plays for the king, he never expected that a time will come that he’ll be running away from this same king, is part of the twist of life.
He never expected that a time will come he will be banished totally from the palace, he will be in a cave, is part of the twist of life. In my language, the Yorubas will say, aye o lo bi opa ibon (literally, it says that life is not straight like that, a straightforward). In reality, what it means is that the things of life are unpredictable, there can be turns, there can be twists which are most unexpected.
Let’s take another story, Abraham in Genesis 12: 1 – 3, God called him and gave him seven blessings. If I was Abraham, I’ll say, “Oh, all these things are happening now,” but they waited, after 11 years his wife called him, Genesis 16, it appears God has traveled o, let us find a way out of this situation, you know women can think fast; the man said so, what can we do? Let’s say, ah, see that girl, I suspect that she can bring what we need.
So, long story short, Abraham went into Hagar and then they had a boy, Ishmael, but something happened; number one, God does not need your help; number two, God is not handicapped to do what He says He will do, Isaiah 59:1 & 2; number three is that God is not incapable of doing what He has purposed to do, Jeremiah 32:27, I am the Lord God of all flesh, is anything hard for me to do?
Now what happens to you (just as we see in the life of Abraham) when you try to help God is like you are pressing a reset button, it’s like you are pressing a restart button, they had to wait for another 13 years before eventually the promise came, and when did it come? After God realized that now they trusted Him for who He was from Genesis 17, then God visited, Genesis 18, then in Genesis 21, Isaac, their laughter came.
What is the story here, brethren? In our waiting time, there will be twists, there will be turns, don’t flex, brethren, you are a child of God, just know that it’s part of the plan. Ask God, where are You in all of this? If God says I’m here with you, just ride on, that roller coaster will not kill you because it’s part of the plan, that roller coaster will end in testimony because it’s part of the plan. Hallelujah!
If you choose to assist God just like Uzzah tried to hold the ark, you know what happened to him, God does not need help to do what He has said He would do because He has the capacity. Praise the living Jesus!
Abraham and his wife failed to realize that the delay, the twist they were seeing, the turns they were seeing were all part of the plan. Brethren, the twist that you are seeing even while waiting, that’s when unbelievers will be buying new cars, that’s when people in your office will be promoted and you’re saying God this holiness is causing me something. So long as you are in God’s way, you are in His will, it is all part of the plan, brethren, don’t go and then meet your boss and say me too, I want to play game, please promote me, then you will press the restart button.
Now the third thing quickly is that if you now consider the fact that God is sovereign, He will perform all His pleasure, all His purpose, including His plan for your life. And you also know that time consists in God, meaning that it doesn’t matter how far time goes, God is at the end of it, God is beyond time.
Then we must come to a conclusion that my time, my life is in His hands. If you know that He is sovereign and is in control of seasons of life and time and I exist within time, my life is in His hands. Praise the living Jesus!
Therefore, brethren, I admonish us this morning that we must surrender our lives, don’t try to run your life on your own. Surrender all of your being to Him, stop struggling with Him, live your life with purpose; don’t press your pause button because somebody says you failed, don’t carry the title of failure. You say it may appear as if I failed today, but I know the plan of God for me, they are thoughts of good and not of evil to bring me to an expected end.
Don’t press the pause button and remain at the failed bus stop, move forward. Run your purpose still, knowing that God is working out something for you.
We’ll take another example here, Esther. Esther was an orphan, the Bible tells us in Esther 2 that her uncle, Mordecai, took her in. Now Mordecai was a gateman, I looked at it, if in all Esther’s family the only person who had capacity to say I’ll take on this extra burden was a gate man, it means every other person was below a gateman – my interpretation, so she came from a very lowly background.
And then if you look at her name, Esther 2:7, her original name is Hadassah; I went to look at the meaning of Hadassah, is a myrtle tree and it has a significance in Jew tradition, it symbolizes peace, prosperity, the presence of God and royalty. Now somebody who is royalty, who is prosperity, is a girl, a maid in the house of a gateman, just picture it, far from what her name says she was, it was enough for her, the day her uncle came and said, “Oh, there’s a competition, the best in the land to replace the queen,” what would somebody else have said?
Me, of all the girls in this city, I’m not the one they are looking for; is enough for her to say me a slave girl, how can I become a queen? But what did Esther do? Her name, her purpose resides in her name, she remembers that she’s royalty, she said yes, I will join them. Despite what you are going through, please continue to run your purpose. She said yes, I will join them, and like people say, the rest is history, she became the queen.
She came from a lowly background, don’t let your background keep you on the ground, run your purpose, make efforts, live life, trust God, move forward, trusting that one day, His timing according to Psalm 102:13 will come to manifest that which He has purposed for you. Praise the living Jesus!
Now in trying to summarize this, I’ll tell you a bit of a story – my story. Many of us go through challenges in life and at that moment we forget that God ever helped us, we also forget that there is a tomorrow, we only think of that time. I would have shared this here before, sometime in my office many years ago where I worked, I went on vacation and while I was on vacation, a friend schemed and they moved me out of my desk.
By the time I came back, one of my subordinates called me and hinted me because there was no official memo, no notification. By the time I came back, they said I should go and resume in Ibadan, in a struggling team, coming from a high-flyier team. What was my friend interested in? The high-flying team, so I went, I was there for only 6 weeks, they brought me back, back to my desk.
Something had happened within the six weeks, he did something very intolerable that anyone could have fallen into the same error, it cost the bank a lot of money and they had to sack him. In the six weeks when I was in Ibadan, if I had been groaning, God, why am I here? What is the issue here? But what did God do? He took me out of the way for that situation to go away, and when it has happened and finished, He brought me back. Only six weeks I was out and I was back.
Brethren, when you are going through challenges of life, it is not every time that you say, “God, where is Your face in this?” It’s actually God’s plan. That situation you are going through is part of God’s plan, that difficulty is part of God’s plan, trust in Him.
The day God gave me the hint of this message two Sundays ago, one of our members came here to give a testimony and that gave me the assurance that yes this is the message, I received it very early in the morning before coming to church. Now this is her testimony; she said that she got laid off in her place of work and after two months they invited her to return, and when they invited her, she now dictated the terms.
She said that I will want it this way and the company said come; she said I will not resume until you give me official car, they said come, and then when she came they promoted her again. In the period when she got laid off in the two months, she must have been saying God, but I was working faithfully, how come they laid me off? Meanwhile God was planning something, God wanted the company to see how valuable she was. So they took her away and they saw that without her things were failing and they had to go and call her and pay her more.
Brethren, that challenge, that situation is all part of God’s plan, it’s not every time that you go through ups and downs and you are complaining, God, where is Your face? Have You forsaken me? God has not forsaken you. Hallelujah!
In closing, our God is Sovereign, He will fulfill all His purpose, including His plan for your life. Remember that life is in seasons, everything under the heaven has a time, an appointed time, and the One who controls time without being prompted, without being helped, will make it happen in His time.
Time starts and ends in God, in Him, so your time is in His hands, your life is in His hands, don’t struggle, just spread your wings, fly in Him, and be who He wants you to be. And so it shall be in the mighty name of Jesus.
Brethren, I’d like us to stand up. Psalm 31:15, my times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me, because my times are in Your hand. For God to manage your life, for God to have responsibility for your life, you must first surrender that life unto Him, it is then that you can then say ‘my times are in Your hands.
If there are people in here, you are struggling with life, if you are not already a child of God, that struggle is for real. If you are struggling ordinarily in life and you are not a child of God yet, that struggle may probably also end up, if you are struggling with life and you are not already in Jesus Christ, that struggle will continue, but the way to put an end to that struggle or the way to ensure that one day it will end up in testimonies is to surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
You are here this morning, for you life has been up and down, it has been roller coaster, you don’t know of a way out but you also know that you are not in Him, meaning that these things we are talking about do not represent you…
[Altar call]
Let’s begin to give thanks to God. Father Lord, I thank You, thank You because my time, my life is in Your hands, I surrender all unto You. Thank You Lord, in Jesus mighty name we have given thanks.
Brethren, when you know that your time is in God’s hands, one key thing that you need to do is to trust Him, whatever happens, you know is part of the plan. You are going to ask the Lord Almighty and say Father, from today, please give me the grace to trust You, just to trust in You.
Whatever happens that I know is part of the plan, it’s part of Your plan for my life, give me the grace to trust in You, give me the grace to trust in You that whatever happens, I know it’s part of Your plan for my life in the mighty name of Jesus. Thank You, heavenly Father, in Jesus mighty name we have prayed.
And finally, the way to demonstrate that you trust Him is to surrender everything to Him. When you see people, everybody’s making a shift and God says don’t go, even if it appears that that shift is the right way to go and God says don’t go, you remain there. That is surrender.
You are going to ask the Lord Almighty this morning, say Father, I surrender my life, I surrender my all unto You because my times are in Your hands and I understand that You will not mismanage my life. Father, please make me the person You want me to be in the name of Jesus. I know You will not mismanage my life, make me that person You want me to be, oh Lord. Thank You heavenly Father.
