lIVING iN day two
Day one is where you hear the promise, and its exciting, encouraging and creates an inner world of anticipation. Day three is where the promise and dream is fulfilled and realised. Day three is full of appreciation, gratitude and appreciation. But every promise and dream must pass through DAY TWO, it's on day two where all you have is the promise, and because its a promise only God can fulfil that dream is surrounded by impossible circumstances, deadness, and barrenness.
With God's promises and dreams there is always this day two moment. Day two often makes day three fulfilment look absolutely impossible. The disciples had the promise that Jesus would after three days rise from the dead, but on day two Jesus is still dead in the grave. They must have wrestled with real doubts, fears, and uncertainty. On day two they must have asked "is Jesus who he said he is? Will he rise? Have we just wasted the last three years? Should we run and leave Jerusalem, and escape from the risk of being execution too? Shall we give him one more day and wait? On day three all those questions are answered, but day two is often full of darkness, questions and the risk of spiralling into hopelessness.
Another example is Abraham and Sarah, on day one is the promise of being the father of the multitudes, having their own son, yet on day two all they have is deadness, and a barren womb, it looks impossible. Its in the in-between time, they had to answer the confusion with the promise, and so in hope against all hope Abraham believed. It's on day two that you have to fight.
On day two your dream, promise and vision looks dead, impossible, it appears dead in the grave. The doubts, confusion, questions, darkness needs to be addressed in the in-between time. 1 Timothy 1v18 is a verse for the day two moment, you must fight, and wage warfare using what God has promised. You need to take the promises that underpin the transition to day three (fulfilment, a hope realised). Enduring day two requires conviction, quiet trust and confidence in the one who promised. Maybe the followers of Jesus also said "He promised after three days He would rise from the dead, He promised resurrection, I know He is currently dead in the grave, but that's not where he will remain, tomorrow everything will be different"
Day two doesn't transition to day three by mere human wisdom, strategy, zeal, and passion. God's promises and dreams are always bigger than what we can do for God. Its always something he has to do in and through us. On day two all we can see is what's broken, impossible, dead and barren. Mere human reasoning, doubled efforts won't transition the days, but reminding yourself of the promise, and His faithfulness to supernaturally intervene will cultivate the faith and hope to remain trusting and expectant. We must declare, "I know the dream and promise is currently surrounded by deadness and barrenness, but I have a promise, there is a day three fulfilment moment coming and I'm nearer to it today than I was yesterday."
Far from being passive, day two is about being made ready to inherit day three. Don't despair, become discouraged, God said it, He will do it. Water the promise, cultivate the ground around the promise in order to keep trusting and believing God. Remember when He gave the promise He knew all about the moment the dream would be dead in the grave, He fully understood about the dead areas and barrenness in your life. Yet none of this put Him off, He knew all about it when He spoke the promise.
Day two doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong, its just the stage of the journey. You don't need to know how to transition the dream to day three (fulfilment). Day two convinces us that it's only through abiding that the impossible becomes possible. Day two protects us from faulty self-confidence. If you falsely conclude that by your own strength and gifting you brought about the transition to fulfilment, then by natural extension you'll conclude its up to you to sustain it, and the fear of failure will torment you. But if you know that both the promise and its fulfilment are sheer gift then you'll conclude that whatever surrounds you in day two, nothing can break, quench, or deter God from bringing about His intention. Hope is the crucial ingredient for living in day two and being ready to enjoy day three.
Whatever is currently surrounding your dream right now cultivate hope in the love, goodness, and kindness of God. He has said it, surely He will do it.
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Jamie Lee, 30/04/2017