Article by: Denise Renner

Every single one of us has allotted times for different seasons or assignments in our lives.  In each of these seasons, the allotted time comes, and then it goes — and when that time is over, there is no way to get it back.  Now, I am a woman of faith, and I do believe that God redeems the time.  But I’m talking about a dangerous attitude we often nurture in our lives that says, “Oh, I’ll do that tomorrow.  I don’t need to get in a hurry; my situation isn’t so bad.” And we keep on saying that as the days and months and years go by.  Then all of a sudden, we look back and realize that the clock has run out for that particular season or assignment that God gave to us.  The allotted time we had is gone.  We wasted that time because we didn’t take it seriously.  And we ask in despair, “Where did the time go?”

The Lord may speak to our hearts and say:
“I want you to do something about your health.”
“I want you to spend more time in prayer and the Word every day.”
“I want you to witness to your neighbor.”
“I want you to further your education.”
“I want you to start exercising regularly.”
And too often we respond with these kinds of answers:
“Lord, I don’t want to do that.”
“Lord, I just don’t have time!”
“Lord, you know how I love Coke!”
“Lord, I have so many banquets and luncheons to attend.  How in the world could I ever fast?”

We give excuse after excuse after excuse, and the hours tick by; the days tick by; the weeks tick by; the months tick by; the years tick by.  Finally, the time comes when we are no longer able to do the thing that God asked us to do. 

The disciples’ missed opportunity
In Matthew 26:36-46, we see that the three disciples who were closest to Jesus missed their allotted time to help Him in His hour of greatest need:

Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth
betray me. 

One day I was reading this passage of Scripture, and I was captivated by Jesus’ words in verse 45:  …Sleep on now, and take your rest….  It hit my heart that, at that moment, the allotted time given to the three disciples to pray for Jesus and to help Him in His time of need was gone.  At that point, Jesus could only say to them, “Sleep on now.”
The disciples had been offered such a unique opportunity.  I don’t know of another place in the Scriptures where Jesus asked for personal help and attention from His disciples.  Never before in history and never again would Jesus make this particular request.  He was deep in the throes of the struggle for which He was born — to bear the sins, the sicknesses, and the poverty of all humanity — and He was saying yes to the Father’s will.  And for this one crucial hour, Jesus was asking His closest friends, “Would you please pray with Me?”

But these three disciples blew their opportunity.  They missed their allotted time.  Jesus didn’t have their prayers to help Him during His time of intense need because they fell asleep.  So when He returned to them and saw that they were sleeping, Jesus sadly said to the three men, “Go ahead and sleep; take your rest.  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of the sinners.”

I had read this passage many times through the years, but this time when I read it, the importance of time hit me in the face.  I realized in a way I never had before that there is an allotted time for us to do the different things God asks us to do.  And when that time is gone, the opportunity to fulfill a particular assignment is lost, never to be regained again. 

The power of being a parent
I’ll give you an example.  There is an allotted time for us to teach the Word to our young children.  Once they grow older, their hearts may not be as pliable as they are when they are five or eight or eleven years old. 
When our children are young, their little hearts are tender and we are better able to mold them according to the Word of God.  But once they are older, they have their own opinions and may be less than willing to listen to our counsel. 

Too many times, parents wish away the season when their children are young, thinking, I can’t wait till the kids go to school! Or they think, I can’t wait until the kids are grown and move out of the house! Then I’ll be on my own to do what I want to do. 

Because of this mindset, these parents neglect their responsibility to teach their children the Word as the years go by.  And as the children grow older, wrong attitudes that come straight from the world begin to form and harden in their hearts. 

Maybe you missed your season of raising your children under the Word of God while they were young.  As a result, your adult children may be experiencing problems in their lives.  If this is your situation, your season is intercession now. 

Don’t let someone else do your interceding for you.  Whether your children are very young, teenagers, or broken-hearted adults, carry them before the throne of God. 

Take advantage of the time allotted to you, for this is your season to intercede and say, “Lord, I refuse to let my children escape Your presence.  I declare in Jesus’ name that every one of my children will serve You, Lord.  I stand in the gap for them!”

You still have authority in your children’s lives, even after they are grown.  So take advantage of your season of intercession.  I’m telling you, your season will come and it will go, so don’t waste any more time!

Stop avoiding the message
Let’s look at one more example.  Perhaps God is speaking to you about your weight, and you have been refusing to do anything about it.  You may have been saying for three years, “I’m going to change my diet and start exercising,” but you keep putting it off.  Meanwhile, your risk for diabetes, hypoglycemia, and other types of diseases related to being overweight is growing stronger and stronger. 
You may have been thinking, Oh, well, I don’t need to get in a hurry.  My weight isn’t a serious issue.  No, it is serious.  If God is telling you to lose weight, He is doing it for some very good reasons!

The Holy Spirit is telling each one of us to do something.  It’s important that we obey Him and not say, “Oh, I have time to do that later.” The clock is ticking.  Time is not stopping.  And God does give allotted times for the things He tells us to do. 

Romans 13:11,12 says, And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 
These verses are still as true today as they were in Paul’s time.  Paul said that as Christians, we are supposed to “know the time.”  But do we know the time today?  Do we know what time it is?  Do we understand that it is high time to awake out of sleep and begin to pursue what God has called us to do with all our hearts?

It’s about time
We have to change our attitude about time.  We need to wake up and begin to count our time as precious.  Never should these words come out of our mouths:  “Well, I have some time to kill.”  Time is more valuable than money.  We can always get more money.  But when the time is gone for us to minister to our loved ones, witness to our neighbor, or put the Word of God into our children, we can’t get that time back. 

Friend, don’t let any more time pass without doing what God has already told you to do.  Take this precious time you have today to stop procrastinating and to start obeying!  That’s how to prepare for whatever is coming in the future — for each time you use your allotted time to do what God has asked you to do, you get yourself ready for the next step He wants you to take in His wonderful plan for your life!