Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry.

If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend.

We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.

Well God bless you. It is always a joy to come into your homes. We love you. We believe that this is going to be your best year so far. We pray for you every day. If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services. But thanks for tuning in today.

I like to get started each week with something kind of funny. I heard about this man and his wife. They argued for months over who should make the coffee in the morning.

The man definitely thought it was a wife's job. She just didn't agree. After several heated debates, she finally said, I can prove from the Bible that it's your job.

He said there's nothing in the Bible about making coffee. She said sure there isn't. She called him over and opened her Bible and pointed to the book of Hebrews.

All right. Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess. My mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus' name. God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about taking advantage of your God-given opportunities. God created every one of us to be successful. Before the foundation of the world, he laid out an exact plan for our life.

And in this plan, he has marked moments that are going to come across our path. These moments are not ordinary. They are destiny-altering moments. They are designed to thrust us years ahead.

And it says there in Ecclesiastes, chapter 9, verse 11, that time and chance come together for every person. That means you will have opportunities to meet the right people, opportunities to advance in your career, opportunities to fulfill your dreams.

God has already pre-arranged times of increase, times of blessing. You may not be seeing a lot of good breaks right now. Maybe you are stuck in a rut.

But let me encourage you, in your future, there are seasons of favor, seasons of increase. God ordained moments that he has already planned out for you.

But too many people miss these moments. They tried and failed, so they quit believing. Or they are distracted. They have got so much clutter in their life. They can't hear the still small voice telling them that it is their season.

The scripture talks about how Jesus wept over a certain city because they missed their hour of visitation. Every person has times of visitation. We may go five years, nothing big is happening. Then all of a sudden, a God ordained moment comes along, a person we meet, a house we shouldn't have qualified for. But we did.

A position at a new company in a split second were thrust years ahead. I can look back over my own life and see the moments that altered my destiny. Moments that propelled me to a higher level. When I was in my early 20s, I walked into a jewelry store to buy a battery for my watch. That's where I met Victoria, a marked moment.

Think about all the things that had to fall into place. There are hundreds of jewelry stores here in Houston. My watch battery had to die. Victoria had to be working that day. That wasn't a coincidence. That wasn't a lucky break. That was God bringing time and chance together. He ordained that moment before the foundation of the world.

That's why we don't have to worry. We don't have to go around frustrated because things aren't happening as fast as we would like. All we have to do is stay in faith knowing that God is directing our steps. As long as we keep believing, our marked moments are on their way.

I love what David said. God, my times are in your hands. He was saying, God already know you've got supernatural breaks planned out for me. You've got the right people, the right opportunities. So I'm not going to live stressed out. I'm going to stay in peace knowing that you will get me to my final destination.

We have to recognize the different seasons of our lives. It's easy to get frustrated when our dreams aren't coming to pass on our timetable. But every season is not harvest. There are plowing seasons. There are planting seasons. There are watering seasons.

And sure, we would love for every season to be a time of increase, left and right, good breaks here and there. But without the other seasons, we wouldn't be prepared. It's during the plowing seasons. When God's bringing issues to light that we need to deal with, that's what's getting us prepared for promotion.

...