Sunday, March 13, 2011

Transition and Change by Stephen Gray

What is God saying? This question has been raised a great deal lately as I travel. It seems like everyone knows there is a transition under way. To answer the question of “What is God saying," we must understand that often God is speaking about things that are coming and deal with future movements. We see this in the ministry of John the Baptist as he preached repentance and a coming kingdom. I personally find that God speaks on different levels. Such as He speaks to me personally and then about the things he wants me to do and then about the things He is doing.  I also believe God wants to share many things with us if we will take the time to press in and listen. My word to you is that God is speaking profoundly right now and you need to know what He is saying to you. So many struggle in the matter of knowing how to hear God. When in fact the real problem is taking the time to hear from God.

God is speaking directly to the church about change! There is a powerful move of transformation moving in the body of Christ today. Your spiritual growth is under God’s microscope and He is making the necessary changes to bring about faster and greater growth. Two words I heard this morning were sovereignty and providence.  It means God is everywhere and involved in everything. God does not cause tragedy although He does allow it even to His people. It is perhaps the greatest change agent not just for his people but also for civilization itself. Always has been and always will be. Today for the Christian trials and testing is epidemic in the church at a rate never before seen. Why? Because God is growing faith at an incredible rate because we will need it for the days ahead. Not to survive but to become the fruitful bride He desires. It is a time to examine your fruitfulness!

We must understand the pull of religious works and performance for value is at an all time high. Song of Solomon 1:6 warns us of the danger of such action.

“Do not look upon me, because I am dark, because the sun has tanned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards,
But my own vineyard I have not kept. “

“Mother’s sons” is a reference to man or religious people. They are angry because you desire intimacy from the king (Jesus) and are not caught up in their worldly pursuits. They put pressure on you to keep the “vineyards” plural meaning the works of man. “But my own vineyard, singular, I have not kept, meaning your true purpose.

Here we are warned of religious exercise that causes us to run around doing things for God and all the time forgetting that God’s priority for each of us is to be “CHANGED.”

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29

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