New Season?

Reading prophetic websites, I see many prophetic people saying that we are entering a new season. I am not sure what that means. It suggests that God is going to do something new that he was not doing before. It suggests that the Holy Spirit is working in one place and not in another. It makes it seems like God stops and starts, or moves in one place and not in another.
God is not fickle or capricious. He is not lazy. God does not speak like this.

I am not going to do much in India for the next fifty years, because they have had a good run.

I am going to move now in Russia now, because I have not done much there for the last 200 years.

I am not going to much in the United States, because I can’t be bothered.

I am going to more in New Zealand, because I have not been doing much until now.

God has released his Holy Spirit into the world. He is always at work. He does not turn the flow on and off according to his whim.

God does not engage in trial and error. He does not try things to see if they will work. He has a plan. He has been implementing that plan ever since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was released. He has not changed his plan.

The activity of the Holy Spirit depends on the degree of cooperation that he receives from humans. Humans have authority on earth, so he needs our permission to operate on earth. He has no arms and legs, so he needs people to work through. He has no mouth, so he needs people to speak through.

If the Holy Spirit begins to move in a place, it is because he has found people willing to do what he needs them to do. If the Holy Spirit stops moving in a place, it is because people have stopped cooperating with him. The problem is never with God. The problem is always with us.

So we should be careful about saying that a new season has started, because it makes it sound like God is going to start doing something that he was not doing before. It makes it sound like God is the reason why nothing was happening. This makes him the problem, which removes responsibility from us, but is not fair to God.

If a new level of activity begins in a place, it will be because people in that place have started cooperating with the Holy Spirit in a way that they were not before. It is not because God has changed his mind, and is doing something he was not doing before.

There are seasons in human history, but they are marked by epochal events that change the relationship between earth and heaven. For example, the giving of the law to Moses began a new season, because people on earth had something they did not have before. It gave God’s people the capability to live in peace with each other and with God. It also gave the spiritual powers of evil the right to accuse them of their failure to keep the law.

The death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus was the ultimate epochal event that brought in a new season, because it totally changed the relationship between God and humans Sins have been forgiven, and the way opened for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on all who believe.

Because the Jews, rejected Jesus, we a currently in a season called the Times of the Gentiles. The epochal event that will end this season is the Calling of the Jews. I have explained this at Times and Seasons.

Until that event occurs, we must be careful about calling a new season, when nothing has changed in the spiritual realms to bring about change on earth. If there is no epochal event, there is unlikely to be a new season. The powers of evil are just as defeated as they have been since the cross. God has not defeated them further.

God always wants to do something better on earth. Calling a new season makes it sound like he is going to do something new, regardless of the response of his people. However, he can only do something different, if people on earth cooperate with him more than they did in the past. There could be a new season of cooperation, but God cannot force that to happen.

God will not be doing something new. If something different happens on earth, it will be because people have allowed him to do what he always wanted to do.

Christians looking for a new season should understand that God will not change his mind and bless what they were doing previously. Rather, they should be asking him what they need to do differently to receive his blessing.