(If you haven’t read Part 1 of this teaching, you can access it here.)
Today, I want to concentrate on time and speed as it relates to this next move of God that the Holy Spirit is ushering us into. Previously, in Part 1, our last thought emphasized the truth that God is not limited by time, space, and matter and if we want to take those limitations off or at the very least learn how to maximize these three areas, we need to understand their importance and then partner with the Holy Spirit so that we can get things done. Let’s concentrate on the time and speed portion today…
SPEED – TIME
Allow me to use as an example one of my favorite movies, The Pursuit of Happyness. In this biopic, Chris Gardner, portrayed by actor Will Smith, is a homeless salesman attempting to make it big as a stockbroker while raising his young son alone. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the one that involves another seemingly homeless man who has stolen Chris’ only source of income, a medical device used by doctors, which the transient man has labeled his “time machine.” Throughout the movie there are scenes of Chris running through the streets, flagging down taxis, catching up to buses, getting hit by cars, and sometimes in hot pursuit of his fellow homeless man and thief.
One day Chris spots the transient thief, and when he finally catches up with him, he retrieves his “time machine.” This turns out to be a “life-saving” situation and shifts the plot of the movie to a more hopeful ending because once sold, the “time machine” becomes the financial break that Chris needs to tie him over until his stockbroker dreams are realized.
The interesting part of this story is like so many others, Chris had put his hope in a dream that started out with many possibilities but ended up taking too long to manifest. The numerous medical devices in which he had invested were the last of his savings and were supposed to be his ticket to prosperity; his key to “happyness.” Although he eventually sold all of his “time machines,” the problem was that it took too long to sell them because the demand was not what he had originally expected.
Everyone knows that speed plays a very important part in a business’ success. Speed and money must go hand-in-hand if you’re going to turn a profit. Take for instance a restaurant that sells one thousand burgers. This figure sounds pretty good at first. But if I told you that it took an entire year, 365 days, to sell those thousand burgers, neither of us would need a lot of math intelligence to conclude that is not good. One thousand burgers in a year equates to selling 2.7 burgers a day and at that rate, unless the burgers are $100 each, that restaurant is going out of business! Like Chris Gardner in the Pursuit of Happyness, your dreams of a prosperous business selling hamburgers will turn into a nightmare venture if it takes that long to make a sale.
We need speed…
This is why I believe one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to get us in sync with the timing of God. His convicting power and presence in our lives leads us to repentance. Repentance, as we know, is “having a change of mind.” As we are transformed and our minds are renewed to think how God thinks, we begin to align ourselves and get in step with what God is doing and not just what He has done. We begin to experience a move of the Spirit as we have an encounter with His presence and are being refreshed.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19 (KJV)
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A change of mind leads to a change of actions, and this causes acceleration in our lives, because now we are in tune to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. There are three things that begin to happen when we get to this place in God:
- When we’re being led by the Spirit we walk to the beat of a different Drummer.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25 (KJV)
- And this Drummer will lead us exactly to where we need to be.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come.” John 16:13 (KJV)
- And this Drummer will get us to where we need to be at a speed that can transcend time.
“And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.” Acts 8:39-40 (KJV)
Verse 40 in the NIV says, “Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.”
The language here is indicative of a supernatural exit. The Greek word here representing Philip being found is harpazo and it implies “a sudden forceful action with no resistance.” This verb suggests that Philip is taken by force and is rendered in different translations as the following: “caught” (ASV, KJV, NKJV, RSV), “snatched” (NASB, NLT, NRSV), “took” (CEV, MSG, NIV) and “carried” (ESV, HCSB).
To further emphasize my point, the word harpazo is translated “caught up” or “caught away” in the five times (out of thirteen) that it appears in the Bible relating to rapture. The other eight times it is translated, “to forcibly seize upon, snatch away, take to oneself or use force on someone.”
Although some have interpreted that Philip merely had a strong inner compulsion to go to Azotus, I strongly believe that just like the Prophet Elijah was able to outrun the chariot with supernatural speed, the Evangelist Philip has a supernatural exit from one place and finds himself in another place because of the transcending ability of the Holy Spirit to defy the laws of time and speed things up!
Our next Part of our teaching will zero in on Capacity. How do we position ourselves so that we have the capacity to contain or should I say navigate this next move of God? Stay tuned to this blog to find out more.
[Get more of this teaching by staying tuned to this page as there are more parts that will be published. Also, if you haven’t already, listen to my podcast Mastering Your Message and to this episode, Partnering with the Holy Spirit: Being an Effective Witness HERE.]
Dr. Kisia Coleman serves as the Lead Pastor of Empowered People Church and the Co-Founder of Kingdom Church Int’l. Ministries, a non-denominational Christian ministry in which she and her husband founded. Her job has encompassed many roles in leadership and the organization’s development. She is a Certified Life and Leadership Coach and the Founder of KishKnows, Inc., which has several divisions including consulting, coaching, and book publishing services. Dr. Kisia is also the author of several books and stage productions. In both October 2012 and October 2013, she was the proud recipient of the Literary Award given by A.I.M. (Association of Independent Ministries) out of Houston, Texas.
Dr. Kisia and her husband live in a suburb of Chicago and are the blessed parents of five children: two boys and three girls, which include two orphaned nieces and a nephew that they have raised since the untimely deaths of the children’s parents.
DR. KISIA L. COLEMAN
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