THE PROCESS OF TIME FOR LOVE:

Yesterday I saw a young boy and asked him, “How old are you?” he said, I am eleven years old”. I quickly remembered my childhood mistakes. While at age eleven was the first time I felt in love with a girl who was two years younger than me. For three years we were madly in FOOLISH LOVE not really knowing what we were doing. We had no knowledge about Love Responsibilities, Pregnancy or Marriage, but we were having fun and hoping to get married soon. In those days, our immature hearts lost concentration while in school. All we can think of was PLEASURE and getting married soon. My performance in school started dropping low. Five years later we parted ways because another man came and eloped her. I cried all night and could not eat for two weeks. My fragile heart was broken and I developed mistrust for women after I had five of such experiences, which resulted in me misusing and dumping ladies. Few years later, I met my first lover and could not believe what I saw. She looks older than me and not even the type of woman I could ever fall in love with.

In my recent research, I observed that 85% of the people we fell in love with while we were under 20, might not be our ideal partners. Because it was not the appropriate time for us to be in love, we will not have the capacity to sustain love and that is why we end up being misused, heart-broken and hating the opposite sex. 

Our Maker is the God of process, therefore, for anything to come to fruition it must pass through the process of time. It takes a process of time (nine months) before a baby is born. Even Christ could not come until at the fulness of time, before God presented Him to the world, Gal 4:4.

In Isa 9:6, the Prophet said, "For unto us a CHILD is born, Unto us a SON is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder". Until a child becomes a SON, the government will never be on his shoulder. He should still be under the leadership of his parents, waiting patiently for the fulfillment of the process of time – growing through the process of CHILDHOOD into SONSHIP. And when he become a SON, the Lord will then PERFECT that which concerns him, Ps 138:8. 

Because of lack of knowledge and impatience, we attract the wrong person and in the wrong timing and order. We don’t wait for God's timing, but instead we pick the one who is good enough and we pray for the best. We don’t take the time to grow up.

If any of these shortcuts are taken, then what happens is, we awaken love before it’s time. When we do that love awakens as immature and ill-prepared to handle the ups and downs of life. Love can’t sustain itself. Think of an orchid, there is a way to flick the petals where they open prematurely. It’s beautiful but it also withers sooner than it would have if it had opened during a natural progression of time. Just as that orchid can’t be closed again, love can’t be put back to sleep once it’s aroused. God is crying out to young people in these passages that you need to wait for correct timing. Everything done in order and right timing thrives. Love birthed in correct timing is lasting. God isn’t being a party pooper; instead He is saving you a hurt, pain and a broken heart. Take heed to what He is saying and let Him guide you through the process of love.

Don't excite love, don't stir it up, until the time is ripe--and you're ready. 

WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE READY: 

Statistics say that the average person spends 45-62 minutes of each day waiting for something. That’s about 4.2% of the average lifespan. Right now, you may be waiting for a document to download, for your turn to use the bathroom, for a ride to arrive, or for the right person to come along. According to a study on the psychology of waiting, emotions normally dominate the process. The way we feel affects our attitude about the waiting period. The more unpleasant the experience seems for you, the more frustrating and the longer the waiting period seems. Time filled with something else, other than the realization that you’re waiting, gives you the perception of a shorter, quicker wait. Holding your place at the amusement park queue is one thing; now, waiting for a person, a.k.a. God’s best, to come into your life is another story.

I wonder, how would a new concept of time change our culture of waiting? After all, waiting is a function of time. At the risk of sounding too naive, I will say what I know to be true: God’s timing is always perfect. He’s never a minute too early or too late. In Ecclesiastes 3:1, it says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”.

It clearly says that there is a right time for every single thing. As for love, it is written, “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires”. – Song of Songs 2:7
This means that until it is God’s appointed time, we are not to force the issue or attempt to speed up the process. In my own walk with the Lord, I have come to learn that there are four main reasons why God does not give us what we want when we want it:

An area of sin. It’s either there is an area of sin in our lives that He wants us to address first or what we are asking for AT THIS TIME may cause us to stumble in our own walk with God. This leads us to the issue of…

Unpreparedness. Sometimes, we are asking for something we’re not yet ready for. For instance, some of our single women in the church may be praying for a husband when their actions show they are not really ready to be a wife.

God is using the waiting season to mold our character. One of my favorite Scriptures tells me that “the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3). In the same way, as we wait for God’s Best, we gain wisdom and patience along the way, and these are essential for playing the role of a godly wife or husband.

No matter how far along we are in our waiting season, we are given a model of the right attitude to keep in James 5:7-9: “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains… Be patient and stand firm… Don’t grumble”.