Learning to thrive in your seasons with God.
There are seasons in the physical realm and seasons in the spiritual realm. Yet, the two do not always align. The smell of pumpkin chai could be filling the air with crisp leaves falling to the ground. Yet, spiritually, you may be in the spiritual season of winter.
As a child, I loved summer. Long days of play, no school, and mornings sleeping in. I hated winter. It was cold, dead and I didn’t like going outside.
It’s funny because many of us in our adult life may have the same feeling regarding our spiritual seasons.
Around this time two years ago, God started to open my eyes to a deeper understanding of the seasons of the spiritual realm. He taught me that just like physical seasons, each spiritual season we enter is just as important as the one prior and the one that will follow.
They are equally dependent on each other and each is important to every level of our spiritual growth. God doesn’t want you to just survive certain seasons, he wants you to thrive in them. He wants you to take the lesson and preparation that you learn in one and apply it to another so that you may fulfill your God-given purpose.
I want to provide you with the encouragement that He gave me so that you can understand and embrace every spiritual season.
So in this article, we will
- define the seasons of life spiritually
- understand your current spiritual season with God
- review scriptures about seasons
Let’s go.
What do seasons mean spiritually?
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Solomon was one of the wisest men on Earth and as the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, he is giving us some gems here.
In the verses above, He’s speaking on the importance of proper timing. God loves order. We see it in how the sun rises and the moon fades. We see it in how our physical seasons change.
He has established a time and place for every event that occurs on this Earth. Our problem is that sometimes, we try to rush it.
I speak more about this in my blog post on how to wait on God. Check it out after this one.
But, the point is that each season of your life is important and has been ordained by God. Each one He has given a purpose as He molds and guides you into the woman or man that He has called you to be.
So what are the spiritual seasons and what can we expect from each one? Let’s go through them.
The spiritual season of Winter
In the winter season, it’s cold, everything seems dead and maybe people feel isolated as they’re staying indoors trying to keep warm.
This is exactly what it may feel like spiritually. Thus, I call this the dormant season.
God may have given you a vision or task and it seems like no one understands or no one is hearing you. Thus, spiritually you feel cold and alone.
You’re not and this is exactly where God wants you.
It’s in this season where it’s only you and God. It’s the time to grow closer to Him for your warmth and it’s the time to learn to hear Him better. It’s the season where you will learn to adopt God’s mindset while walking as He walks all while building your spiritual muscles along the way.
Here’s an example…. David. God anointed David to be king when he was about 15 years old. Afterward, he went back to being a shepherd boy and wouldn’t take the throne until the age of about 30.
When he went back to being a shepherd, it may have seemed like he was in winter. God had anointed him, but here he was still in the fields. Where was the throne?
David needed to go through his winter season because it was during this season that God taught him how to be a good shepherd. He protected the sheep from lions and bears and made sure their needs were taken care of.
He learned to look above himself and this translates into him becoming king and shepherd of God’s people. His descendant Jesus would become the ultimate shepherd.
So embrace your spiritual season of winter. Learn what God is teaching you. I know it may be hard, but it’s for your good and God’s glory.
And remember, just like seasons come and go physically, they do so spiritually as well. It won’t always be winter. But, pass your tests.
The spiritual season of Spring
The spring season is what God introduced to me as the season of sowing. This is another season that may seem hard.
You’re planting, but you can’t see the fruits just yet. In this season discouragement can become one of your biggest enemies. You’ve been working tirelessly and giving your all and it seems like nothing is budging.
It’s like when Elijah was asking God for rain and it was seven times before his servant would come back and tell him that he saw a tiny rain cloud when God had promised more.
This is another season where God is building your faith. He wants to show you how to trust Him. What better way to do it than when you can’t see what’s in front of you, but have to trust His every word?
Let’s take a biblical example of someone in the spring season….Noah. God, broken-hearted, looked at the humans He created become filled with violence and evil. In His sorrow, He decided to destroy it all.
However, He noticed Noah, a righteous man. Thus, He decided to spare Noah and his descendants. Noah’s instructions were to build an ark to protect them from the flood.
According to research, it took Noah 55-75 years to build the ark. In those years, he was sowing into God’s vision.
People may not have understood what he was doing. They may have mocked him (we don’t know this for sure). But, he kept his eyes on God’s instructions, continuing to get up each day and complete his tasks.
Same for you. Find courage, strength, resilience, and perseverance in God.
You should move when He says move and rest when He says rest. All of this while remembering that His word will never return to Him void. Keep planting and keep sowing.
The Harvest is coming.
The spiritual season of Summer
God introduced the spiritual season of summer to me as the season of monitoring.
It’s during this season that farmers are monitoring their crops. Spiritually this translates to the culmination of the work put in during the winter and spring season.
Patience is of utmost importance during this season. It’s a season of waiting and watching all that you and God had been planning grow and take the first breath of life.
This is not the season to lose your head and give up (although the enemy would love for you too). It’s also not the season to run ahead of God because you see a little rain cloud coming your way or a little sprout.
It’s the season of singing in anticipation because you know what’s coming next. Stay in the word and continue listening to God’s instructions.
Because what’s coming next is exceedingly, abundantly, and above all that we could ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20-21).
The spiritual season of Fall
Fall is everyone’s favorite season spiritually (it’s mine in both the physical and spiritual realm actually).
This is because Fall is the season of the Harvest. Satan tried to take you out during the Winter, Spring, and Summer seasons, but here you stand reaping the Harvest because you did not give up (Galatians 6:9).
Not that he won’t try to ruin your party.
Another thing about the season of the harvest is that it will become more apparent to you and the people around you that you’ve changed.
Your faith is stronger, you’re wiser and the things that used to get to you just don’t anymore. This change happens gradually as you go through each season with God. It’s what God had been working on all along.
You’re now a seasoned sailor in that specific area of your life. The enemy stirring up stormy waters is no match for what God has done in you and what He’s about to do through you.
Congrats! God has been preparing you and now you’re ready.
How to determine your spiritual season with God
So as we discussed, there are seasons in the physical realm and there are seasons in the spiritual realm, but the two will not always align.
In the dead of winter outside, you may be in the season of your harvest. It gets a bit more complicated when you’re in two different spiritual seasons in different areas of your life.
For example, as a physician, I’m in the harvest season. I’ve done years of schooling and passed all of my board exams. I now get to provide care as a board-certified physician.
However, the entrepreneur side of me is still in the spring season.
So how can you tell which season you’re in?
In each area of your life take an assessment.
- Are you in a season where it feels isolated and cold (the spiritual season of winter)?
- Are you in a season where you’re sowing (the spiritual season of spring)?
- Are you in a season of monitoring (the spiritual season of summer)?
- Are you in a season where you’re reaping the harvest (the spiritual season of fall)?
Use the explanations and examples of each season that I provided above and this should help you accurately pinpoint and embraces your seasons with God.
Bible verses about seasons
Before we wrap up, here are some bible verses in regard to seasons. The NIV translation is used.
Genesis 1:14 – And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.
Genesis 8:22 – As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 – There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
Psalm 74:17 – It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
Zechariah 10:1 – Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.
Matthew 24:32 – Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Psalm 104:19 – He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.
Jeremiah 8:7 – Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.
Acts 14:17 – Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.
James 5:7 – Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.
Song of Solomon 2:11-12 – See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Daniel 2:21 – He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
Joel 2:23 – Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Luke 21:30 – When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near.
Psalm 1:3 – That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.
Galatians 6:9 – Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Final thoughts on seasons with God
So there you have it. These are the spiritual seasons that every Christian, including Jesus, walks through. Embrace them. They have been set by God for your good.
No matter your season, know that He loves you, He will never forsake you and He goes before you.
Until next time,
Dr Jay.
Also, our Fall candles, which highlight the spiritual season of fall, will be released in just a few weeks. Candles inspired by Ruth and the Proverbs 31 woman will also be released soon.
Be sure to sign up for our email list and follow us on Instagram! These candles were created to help you on your journey with Christ by providing encouragement. They also make great gifts.
Hope you check them out in our shop.
Be blessed!
