There is a particular group of men from Israel, who were known as the Sons of Issachar. God had given this group a unique gift. They had the unusual ability to understand the seasons and to know what to do, writes Pastor Paul Kauri of the ArePua Church.

It’s helpful for us to know that this unique gift given to the Sons of Issachar was from God, because it means that God can endow this same gift, (and any gift for that matter) upon anyone He chooses, regardless of gender, social status, or economics.

I believe we need this gift more than ever today, and not just for the Body of Christ, but for the world!

The policies that are passed within nations that not only divide parents from children, but robs parents of authority over their child, are executed in full within the education systems, around the world, including New Zealand. And the reading books that are within the primary school libraries in many countries including NZ, are explicit pornography with pictures. These books used to be on the top shelves of shops with censorship, now they are freely available in every school throughout many countries for a five-year-old to read, supported by governments using taxpayer dollars. Times have certainly changed.

The cry to withhold a child’s gender at birth (allowing for the child to choose their gender when they grow up) and to remove their gender from the NZ birth certificate, is ringing within Parliament’s corridors, while the Netherlands permits abortion after the child is born, under certain circumstances.

Anyone can change their gender whenever and as often as they want, depending on how they feel at the time. And after years of protests and cries for equality from the Women’s Liberation movement, they have now done a 180, to actively support Trans Women (someone born as a biological male who identifies as a female) in any sport they choose.

I understand these examples are hot topics in the world today. My intention is not to judge or condemn anyone who agrees with these examples, but it adds weight to my opening comment that we need the Sons of Issachar gift, to understand the times and to know what to do!

There are five things I want to say regarding ‘Understanding the Times’ we’re living in today and knowing what to do.

1.  The Gospel of The Kingdom of God must still be preached to all the world as Jesus commanded in Matt 24:14.
2. God’s love for those who are broken, lost, rejected, messed up, and have no hope, has not waivered!
3. His call to care for the poor, the neglected, the forgotten, the confused, the widows, the orphaned, and the oppressed rings consistently throughout the pages of His Word!
4. His desire to live with and completely transform the afflicted, the broken hearted, the addicted and the prisoners, changing their ‘ash lives’ into beauty, their mourning to joy, and shouts of praise for the deeply depressed, is still inscribed in Isaiah 61- the very text Jesus used to preach his first recorded sermon in Luke 4.
5. And finally, God’s agents to carry out the four points above is The Church, we read this in Ephesians 3:10 “His intent was that now, through the church His Manifold wisdom would be made known …”

I want to offer up two keys, for knowing what to do in these times, there are certainly others but due to the boundaries of this article I offer two.

Key 1

The Great Commandment is summed up in three parts with a fourth for summary.

1. Love God with everything
2. Love others
3. As you love yourself

Loving God with everything is first and foremost.

Then “Love Others” has a hook attached, “as you love yourself”.

It is difficult to love others if you can’t love yourself. Or another way of putting is, “to the degree that you have joy, forgiveness, love, security or freedom in you is the degree that you give joy, forgiveness, love, security and freedom to others”.

The order of these words I believe is also important to note. The command to “Love others” is first, and “As You Love Yourself” follows. Life has taught me that when things are not going well for you, and the brown stuff has hit the whirly thing in your life, helping someone else more often than not has either made me forget my issues, or has put them into perspective. In those times, loving others was a decision and commitment, not a feeling.

The fourth is this, Jesus said, His whole book, The Bible, hangs from these two commands. In other words, keep these two commands right, then everything else will follow His design.

Key 2

His Presence.

In Exodus 33 we read a beautiful conversation between God and Moses. God promises Moses that His Presence would go with them as He led them into His promises. Moses’ response was very moving, he said, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here, how will anyone know you are pleased with us unless you are with us? What else distinguishes us from all others, but Your Presences?”

It's beautiful to think that Moses considered the Promise to be nothing without His Presence, and that His Presence is what distinguishes us from all else.

At a time where the moral bar has fallen to the ground, that the sacredness of life is trodden on like a door mat, and that the identity of man or woman is now in their own imagination, instead of His image, and many other examples of modern ideology in the world today that would have forefathers and mothers in absolute aghast, I offer to our readers who are aware of world events, two things we can do in these days:

1. Loving God first, then others as we love ourselves.
2. Live for His Presence, it’s what distinguishes us from all else.

I pray this article blesses you.

For those who have ears, may you respond accordingly, Amen.