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If there’s one thing that this environment of change and chaos has taught us, it is that we need God’s peace and love more than ever. From the outside looking in, it’s appears as though things are unraveling at an alarming rate, but the Christian can take confidence in John 15:1(NLT), where Jesus Christ teaches, “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.” We can never lose faith in the truth that the earth belongs to God, and He is always and forever in control. Things are being shaken to their cores. The substance of them and true motives are being revealed. And that’s not all. Those of us in the faith are not exempt. We’re in this big shake-up as well. When it’s all over, the faithful in Christ will rise beyond our grandest expectations.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God is a Rewarder. This is part of His nature, and as partakers of His divine nature, we should understand that both giving and receiving are huge constructs of life. Don’t slip on this great foundational revelation. Whenever there is as much confusion and chaos as what we’re witnessing now in the world, something new emerges. Before it manifests completely, the pressure from new things coming together exists. We’re seeing this now.
Everyone is talking about making things great again, and they believe the way to achieve it is to go back to how things used to be. That will never happen. Our God is progressive. A precedent for going backwards can’t be found anywhere in His Word. This is very consequential for us to know, because to resist the change that God has unleashed is futile. Ultimately, it is the choice to go higher or to sink and fall away; many are choosing the latter. They do so because they are still clinging to what used to be, and have quite a bit of fear about embracing the newness of what is to come.
Love changes things for the better. This is its nature. 1John 4:8(NLT) tells us, “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Love is prompting us to surrender, move by faith, and love greater. While some things are breaking apart and falling away, take comfort that those desiring to walk in the purity and sureness of God’s love are coming together with a serious eye on the unity of Christ. Although you may not be seeing it, trust, it IS happening, and the Word declared it would.
We have gone on with business as usual far too long, and faith is now pressing us to release those things that are causing us to be too comfortable. The question we must ask ourselves is how will we pursue God in the face of all that we are bombarded with today. It is just beginning. It is inevitable that your eyes will see things as they will be shaken to their core all around you. Will you be moved from the core of your faith? Can you be counted upon to hold it together when no one else seems to? How will you respond when the authority of all those institutions and individuals you’ve counted on and followed is greatly, and maybe ashamedly, diminished?
The erosion of what many have considered the top rail is happening. This is not a ‘woes-me’ moment. It’s the transition you’ve been waiting on, and perhaps did not consciously know it. Some people would have us to believe that our God is angry at us, but I believe it is more about His propelling us forward, getting us to move out of paradigms and behaviors that have kept us stagnant for so long. When your grasp of those things is loosened, then your eyes will be open to the ‘YOU’ He’s destined you to be.
Many of us have been trying to reconcile the new thing that God wants to do in our lives with everything we’ve known up to this point, but that is the dilemma. The new place that God is taking you cannot be matched by any place you’ve been to before. It cannot be touched with sameness. It cannot be handled with the resources of yesterday. This means that in many ways, you must step into a territory that you’ve never seen before. You must embrace parts of you that you’ve never explored before. You have now been served the proclamation of your spiritual promotion. For Heaven’s sake, let it not be ignored. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“The Big Shake-Up!” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.
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