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Welcome to From House To House. Join us in the Word? Im Carol Brooke. We are happy you
are taking time as we continue in this series called Times and Seasons, dealing with life
in Ecclesiastes 3:1–you see 28 different experiences of human nature. Praise God, He
takes us through. Were not stuck. If we are, its because we chose to be. We move through
these phases of life, changing from winter to spring to summer, to fall and the symbolic
meaning–we see changes that God brings in our life, once we learn what God wants us
to out of a season. We are happy to have you ladies participate in our filming and we want
to thank Kevin and Talitha Bayerlein for sharing their beautiful home that we might film in
it. Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 says. Amplified: TO
EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: A time
to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Do you see the balance?
What we consider a difficult season balanced by its opposite–such as for mourning to
dancing, from weeping to laughing. We covered those, now in lesson 11, a time within a season–A
Time to Mourn. Many individuals have experienced, whether young or old, a time of grieving,
the loss of a loved one, someone dear and it has been hard to let go. Maybe a child;
because it doesnt seem natural to have them pass before you–it would be more natural
for a child to bury their parent. We understand that sorrow. It may be a parent that youve
had to bury and its grievous to think about that time. God uses these seasons to better
us, hopefully not to become bitter, but that we might become better as the Spirit works
in our lives in the midst of the experience we went through. The season of mourning can
be shorter and sometimes quite a while. It can be lengthy and you feel alone and wonder
if anybody understands the pain in your heart. The promise of God is that He will walk with
us, whether through fire or flood. Whatever it is, He said I will go with thee; Ill be
with thee through it. Thank God He takes us through it. He doesnt leave us stuck. Turn
to KJ, Isaiah 38:14. Isaiah, the prophet of God experienced unpleasant things. It made
him compassionate and understanding for the Lord. Like a crane or a swallow, so did I
chatter: Its the birds that chatter. I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking
upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. You hear the weight in him as he expresses,
out of the pit of His being, how he is hurting. He crys out to God and says Im oppressed,
undertake for me. Its like someone in a pit who has been lowered with ropes, like Jeremiah
was when they were persecuting him for speaking Gods Word. He cryed, O Lord, lift me out and
bring me where Im into the sunshine and daylight again. He likened his mourning was like that
of a mourning dove. Here we have a dove called a Mourning Dove. Were not talking about a
time of day but the mournfulness of soul. As this dove coos and woos even to its mate,
it sounds like ooooh, ooooh. We have a lot of Mourning Doves on our electric wires where
I live. I can hear them calling from one distance of property to another to call that mate.
Its such a strange sound. Its sorrowful, yet when I see those doves, the Spirit pleading.
His soul is mournful because of the sins of men, knowing that eternity is near and many
will perish if they do not respond, Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and
I will give you rest. Thats the call: Come, come, to the Lord. Jesus preached in the highways
and byways and used that grammar school word: c-o-m-e, come unto Me all you that thirst
and Ill give you water to drink freely. It is a mournful woo: eternity is a long time
and we will spend eternity somewhere. With the knowledge the Spirit has of what eternity
will be–have sorrow in it as it calls for the sinner to give their life to God. If youre
a backslider and listening, the Spirit is grieved because youve walked away from the
goodness of God and Hes wooing you, calling you: Come. Oh, Gods sorrow when a person turns
a deaf ear and says Not now-later. The prophet of God likens himself to these birds: the
crane, the swallow that chatter and teeth that chatter but the voice is mournful. Hes
saying My eyes almost fail for looking upward to you God and waiting for your deliverance
from oppression. Do you know what it is to feel oppressed? That heaviness like a dark
cloud about your head. You cant see yourself going further down the road because its a
fog. Its real to experience oppression. Depression is one thing, oppression another. Your oppression
is an outward force, usually satanic, coming against your soul, spirit, vision, hopes,
dreams, ambitions. But you sink to the basement of depression, it gets really serious. If
you experience oppression – the outer force coming against a child of God, thats a time
to call for help. If you dont get the victory to be lifted up out of that pit, you should
ask others to pray for you. People you trust, and get hold of God because its like walking
down to the base of a cellar, down steps and it can lead to serious life-threatening moments
if its allowed to go on. The prophet is crying out, God, undertake for me. If you experience
oppression or depression your soul will reach a point of desperate cry, God undertake. Thats
the good news is God can, cares and will. But youve got to call on Him. And if youre
not winning by yourself, get spiritual help and humble your heart. What does it mean to
mourn? The definition of mourning is to feel or express sorrow, such as over a death or
something regrettable in your life, like sin. It is an emotional, painful and bitter experience.
You say, I dont think a child of God should have to go through anything like that. Oh
really? Read your Bible through and youll find there is a time, a season, with no fault
of your own, you are allowed to walk through a season filled with mourning. This can be
turned into a blessing. It doesnt have to be a dead-end street and leave you for the
rest of your life. Another season is near. Many times Ive had to remind myself this wont
last forever. Not according to Gods Word because theres a time, a season, a purpose. What is
your purpose. Look for the purpose and move on when God opens the door to the new season.
Dont leave yourself there in the past. Why did Jesus come? To comfort those that are
mourning. KJ, Isaiah 61: 1-3 says, the Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort
all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that
they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be
glorified. Why the Lord has has come? One of the major reasons He came was to comfort
those that are experiencing grief, sorrow, regret in their souls. What He wants to do
with us is trade our ashes for the opposite, for beauty. Are you willing to give up your
ashes? If youre not careful, youll end up with a sorrow, youll hold on to it and play
with those ashes like some keep the ashes as a memorial. Im not opposed to that, but
be careful that in your spiritual and natural walk, you dont live in the past or things
that didnt turn out the way you thought. God has a tomorrow for us and He wants us to rise
up and move into a brand new day. If you get out of your bed of mourning and look to God
for strength to come into your legs and move forward by the Spirit, Hell usher you into
something new. Sometimes we have to rise up and walk. We do the rising up and say Im not
going to stay here. Im not going to stay a captive of my memories of what didnt work
out. Thats what oppression does. You cant afford to stay there. God wants to teach you
to experience His comfort in seasons of mourning. He wants to give you beauty if youll turn
over your ashes. I ask you: will you turn over those ashes? He wants to give this oil
of joy for your spirit of mourning; a beautiful garment in place of this old, damp, dark robe
youve been wearing. I met a man on the street, one day when the Spirit led me to go out to
take a walk. I thought it was such a strange time to be prompted. It was not my normal
pattern but the Spirit kept urging go. As I was walking there before my home, I say
Lord, what am I out here for? Soon a man came down the road. The Spirit quickened me speak
to him and I thought, Lord, what am I to say? I approached him and spoke a greeting, Hello,
how are you? All of a sudden, then his bicycle got a flat tire right in front of my house.
He sat down and I thought, Ok Lord, youve stopped him here for a reason. As I began
to chit-chat, looking to God Give me wisdom what to say, I found out he was filled with
grief. He had some problems in his life where all of his children were taken away; his wife
left and he was angry and felt God and Gods people, his whole family had turned against
him. He was so angry he was ready to explode. He could have become dangerous. He was so
bound with this oppression; as he opened his heart and shared with a total stranger, in
the street (we could do it because there wasnt traffic) the Spirit showed me I was to pray
for him. I asked his permission and the Spirit melted this away, because God cared about
this aching heart in this man who felt God had turned against him. Before we were through
it was wonderful. His face began to shine like the sun through the clouds and God gave
him a lift and freedom and that anger began to melt. It was wonderful. He left with tears
of joy running down his cheeks. He was wiping his nose. God did a miraculous thing. God
knows when hearts are pleading, desperate. A woman came into a meeting we were holding
and came for prayer. I didnt know her but the Spirit knew who she was and how she had
been crying in her grief without her telling me anything–the Spirit revealed that she
was oppressed and tormented with oppression-a child of God, beautiful, involved in the church.
You would never know, but the Spirit knew, in her soul was grief. The Spirit began to
deal with this grief that had come in and was overtaking her life. And when the Spirit
dealt with that, it was driven from her and it was as you could see it depart and go out
the back door. God miraculously lifted a spirit of grief off. I was amazed to find out that
her baby boy had been kidnapped. The husband took the child and ran away and she grieved
for this son. It was absorbing her whole life and eating her up with sorrow. But the Spirit
delivered her. The circumstances didnt change immediately but later it did and God brought
her joy and fulfillment. The Lord took that bondage off, being surrounded with this heavy
cloud. If youre oppressed, in the name of Jesus, He wants to set you free; to lift that
off. Cry out to Him and believe Him to lift this thing off so you can have the joy of
the Lord as your strength. Dont let the devil turn that into ropes where youre bound and
cant function because of what happened. The Lord wants to bring victory and He can do
it. Matthew tells us how those that mourn, theres a blessing. KJ, Matthew 5: 4, Blessed
are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Thats a Beatitude. When youre in the season
of mourning its an opportunity to get acquainted with the Comforter, the Spirit. When the Lord
said He had to ascend on High, He was sending the Comforter. The Comforter knows how to
comfort when no one else can – or no matter how hard they try. Its a time to get acquainted
with the power of the Spirit. KJ, Song of Solomon 3:6 says, Who is this that cometh
out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with
all powders of the merchant? Who is this? The Lords Church; His Bride–the individual
in the Church going through a wilderness, a barren place, a place desolate and deadly
and nothing beautiful, but the barrenness of soul and experience the wilderness. This
One is coming out of the wilderness and you notice theres pillars of smoke, a type of
the presence of the Holy God. This One is not only wrapped with the presence of God,
but has fragrance, the perfume of myrrh and frankincense. Not only these perfumes but
all the powders of the Merchant. He sells the the fragrance of the Spirit–like talc
with beautiful, sweet fragrance upon the body to refresh. Thats the Spirit, the One that
has the powders. Where do you get those–in a wilderness experience of mourning, going
through the time you could be swallowed up with oppression-and thats the time to buy
from the Spirit. Dedicate; consecrate yourself there in the middle of that. Dont wait till
you get out, but in the middle of that build an altar to God and make a fresh commitment,
deeper with God, through your tears. Let it be there the Spirit gives you powders of fragrance
of the Spirit. It says this One who came out of this wilderness–they not only had the
smoke of the presence of God, the perfumes of myrrh and frankincense, but it had all
of the powders that the merchant offered. Thats for you. KJ, Hosea 2:14-15 says, Therefore
behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness. The wilderness is a type of
mourning. And speak comfortably unto her. The Lord is going to speak to you, if you
go through mourning. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, Thats where youll get
vineyards, glean fruit. And the valley of Achor, a valley of trouble for a door of hope:
and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came
up out of the land of Egypt. Yes, thats a place of trouble, a wilderness, the Lord wants
to speak to you through the voice of the Spirit and youll get your vineyards. It will become
a door of hope. Let it be when you are blessed, for Blessed are they that mourn-they shall
be comforted by the Comforter. There you obtain all the powders of the merchant. Powder is
the result of crushing and of grinding ingredients to the point its powder. Sometime your soul
feels ground, crushed. Thats where the Spirit makes sweet fragrance in it. Those fragrances
are of frankincense which yields its sweet pleasant smell freely-when burned on the altar
of incense. That means our willing spirit. Myrrh is costly and bitter and drops like
tears in its resin gum. Gods going to work perfumes into your life in the season of mourning.
KJ, Song of Solomon 4:6, the Bride of Christ says, Until the day break, and the shadows
flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. Yes,
get your little old self up and go to that mountain that is hard to climb, in the flesh.
But you will climb it and the Lord will give you a mountain of myrrh. He will then give
you the hill easier to climb, frankincense if you get yourself there and make sure that
in the season of mourning good will come out of it. Its not the end of the story. In the
end remember Amplified–Psalms 42:11 David cried out to the Lord, Why are you cast down,
O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God
and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance,
and my God. The Lord is the help of your countenance and your God. Set your face like a flint to
go to victory. Next time is about
A time To Dance.