I've listened to this message no less than three times this week. My daughter-in-law, Katie, shared it with me and it has spoken to my heart on so many fronts. At first I listened with a personal view. The Lord has surely brought change and transition into my life on many counts personally. As I listened to the truth of this message God really moved in me to bring to light some of the real difficulties I've faced during times of transition in my own life. When the next transition comes, I want to weather it well...
The second time I listened, I listened with a heart toward the ministry God has called Steven and me into today. My mind moved into the season of change that those in our Life-group have gone through, are going through, and will go through very soon. I listened asking the Lord to speak into my spirit truth that would help me better understand where they are, where they are going and how to sow the truth of God into them through this time.
Then today, I listened again (I didn't really know why) and took some notes on the points that I wanted to remember. After listening the Lord began to reveal how this truth has been fulfilled in Grace's life.
The message says that transitions throughout history and the Word of God are:
- hard
- they are always a time of vulnerability
- and they require leadership
Grace has just come through the transition of all transitions in her young life. It was HARD, she was vulnerable and she needed HELP to get through it.
Many illustrations to back up these 3 points are given in the message but one that Robert relayed was that when a snake sheds it's skin they experience a temporary loss or inhibition of vision. In much the same way when we go through transition we often become blind to many aspects of what's going on around us.
God, in order to bring us through the change, leads us through a baptism. The transition always requires three things:
- a cutting off of the past
- a symbolic or literal transition
- a commitment to a new future
In I Corinthians 10:2, the bible says, "They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Think of the Flood in Noah's day as a baptism; and the crossing into the Red Sea was a baptism (cutting off the past; going through the baptism; then walking into a new future). In Joshua chapter 3 and 4, the people were baptized into the Jordan as they moved from the leadership of Moses to the leadership of Joshua, and in Romans 6:3, it says "don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"
Much more is said of this baptism in the message giving MUCH food for thought.
So, we have to make a decision to leave the past; we honor it but we leave it. The message then makes an amazing point! In Deuteronomy 34, verse 6 it says Moses died and God buried him, and no one knows to this day where his grave is. Why would God hide Moses' body? Could it be because everything inside of us wants to go back? In Jude, verse 9 we learn that the devil himself wanted Moses' body and fought with the archangel Michael for it. Why? Robert says in his message, "Satan always inhabits the carcass of the last move of God." He wants us to stay where we are; he never wants us to move forward into the new thing God is doing!!
We also have to have the wisdom to negotiate the present. Every change or transition suffers loss. When we are born, the comfort of the womb is lost. When we get married, singleness is lost. When children come into our home, freedom to do our own thing is lost. When we begin today, we lose yesterday. Loss is a part of life. We as human beings hate to suffer loss, so we hate change. We need wisdom to deal with the doubt, fear, potential to drift and become bitter...all of these things surface during times of transition and must be overcome.
Finally, the message says we need perception to see a new future. We need a different spirit like Caleb of old in Numbers 14:24. He saw the potential; he and Joshua perceived what others could not see!
The Lord so moved in my heart to think about all of these things and how He has given Grace the ability to leave her past; she's truly been given wisdom to negotiate the present and she's been given a new spirit...HALLELUJAH...to perceive a new future!!! She has gone into the waters of baptism and I give all the praise and glory to Jesus for continuing to give her wisdom and discernment to see all that He has in store for her life!!!
"Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare His praise? ~ Psalm 106:2
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