I made no New Year's resolutions but mentally there were several areas I wanted to work on during 2014. I waited until the end of February to start. I set a goal to lose forty pounds between then and December 31st. This morning when I weighed I fell short by twenty pounds. I let myself slide during this month, and it showed up on the scales. It's not the end of the world because I still have a brand-new year to reach my goal. At least, I'm not carrying around the equivalent of four 5 pound bags of sugar. My goal now is to lose two more bags by the end of June. Those are only 1.66 pounds of weight each month. If I move the goal date to the end of March, I need to lose 3.33 pounds each month. I can do this.
During this year, I had hoped to know more clearly what the Lord was leading me to do in ministry. It was a year of transition, but I needed more clarity. The majority of my days were spent in writing two books for publication. I thought the prophecies I had received over the years would become reality. Today I have been meditating on this Scripture from Habakkuk 2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
Visions have an appointed time. What God has prophesied to you has an appointed time. It is great to receive service at your appointment time. For instance, you make an appointment to visit your doctor and you are immediately seen at that exact time. Very rarely does that happen. Appointments are made for a delivery to your home and rarely do the delivery arrive precisely at that moment. In real-life appointments may or may not happen when you expect them. Vision from God does happen at the appointment time. It is not a day early or a second late. The vision happens when God appointed it to take place. Only the Lord knows the day and year. It will surely come says the word of the Lord.
Hasten comes from the word, haste, which means "excessive speed or urgency." The words hurry and hasten are synonyms. Hasten can also mean "to make happen quickly," like when you open a window in the kitchen when you are cooking to hasten the rooms cooling down. Hasten means, "to be quick," like when you hasten to tell everyone that the rumor going around about you isn't true.
This means that the reason my prophecies did not happen in 2014 is that they are waiting for their appointed time. Personally, I hope the appointment is during 2015. I must wait for them with faith.
