Are you ready for change? Because ‘Change is Coming’. At the end of last year, I prayed and asked the Lord about what to expect in 2022, and He said that change was coming. That did not surprise me; but as 2022 has unfolded ‘change’ is certainly in the ‘air’. The television drama, The Chosen, coined the phrase, ‘Get Used To Different’. The word ‘change’ designates difference; but what kind of difference is the Lord talking about?
For myself, there are many changes that I would like to see personally: growth in my relationship to the Lord; the salvation of family members; the unfolding of the Lord’s will for Christine and me, as we approach becoming an ‘octogenarian’. These changes are the same changes that many of you aspire too in your lives as you grow older (probably not 80 yet). Each of these changes bring difference. But there are other differences that all of us must wrestle with too.
We face struggling with spiritual, political, economic, and cultural changes going on in our nation, and in the world. We have struggled, some more, some less, with the Covid pandemic; but the truth is that none of us has been immune to the changes that the Covid pandemic has brought; the Covid pandemic continues to bring changes; and the Covid pandemic has caused many to seriously struggle with ‘Get Used To Different’, because we don’t like the changes that are being made. What sort of wakeup call has the Covid pandemic been to you personally? What struggles has it produced? How has your thinking changed going through this worldwide catastrophe? I wrote this blog prior to the events of February 23, 2022. The Russian aggression against the Ukraine has become a worldwide headline that we all are contending with in our daily lives. Now what?
Between the closing page of the Biblical text of Malachi in the Old Testament to the opening page of the Biblical text of Matthew in the New Testament, there is a span of 400 plus years of silence. The Old Testament had continually pointed to a moment in time when the Messiah would come. The silence was initially broken, spectacularly and majestically (Luke 2) the night Jesus, the Son of God, was born.
30 years after Jesus’ birth, a man burst onto the scene, a prophet about whom the Old Testament had prophesied would come and herald the coming of the Messiah. That prophet, John the Baptist, in Matthew 3, shouts into the silence of his day, “Change is Coming, Get Used to Different”. Well, we know, he didn’t really say those words, but that is the essence of the meaning of his words. What is recorded in Matthew 3:1-3 NKJV, says, “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:(Isaiah 40:3 NKJV), “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.” ” With these words that were shouted into the silence by John the Baptist, came ‘change’, and everyone had to ‘get used to different’. Have there been other recorded movements of change in the scripture that have made a difference? Absolutely, that is the essence of the Biblical narrative. As you read the Bible, ask yourself, what change does what I just read bring? How does that change make things different? In the Word of God, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly changes; and their results are good, bad, and ugly. God’s Word tells it like it is.
For instance, what change did Adam and Eve’s disobedience have in their relationship to God? What difference did it make? The answer to those two questions is found woven throughout the Biblical narrative. Did change come, as a result of their sin, to God’s creation? Has everything been changed? Did Adam and Eve need to ‘get used to different’? The good news is that Adam and Eve’s sin did not change God, nor did it make a difference in Who God is? If I may be so bold, sin has brought about the revelation of the Divine Nature of the Triune Holy God, our Most High God, our Creator of the Universe, our gracious and loving Heavenly Father; His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit. They are Holy, Holy, Holy.
I submit to you that the Church, the Body of Christ, the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16b) will undergo ‘change’ in 2022. It’s coming. The change will not be an ‘extra Biblical experience’; it will not be outside the text of scripture; but I believe it will be a catalyst that will initiate ‘change’ in the Church, as we know it today in our nation, and in the other nations of the world, making a difference that has been absent for some time. This will result in the Church being more dynamic and influential in its interaction with humanity throughout the world. This change is already beginning to happen.
Let me quote from a monthly letter (February 10, 2022) I receive from United Evangelical Churches, headed by Robert B. Fort, Chairman.
“I receive praise reports from pastors, evangelists, missionaries & Christian workers all the time via texts, e-mails & letters sharing about wonderful, often miraculous and definitely supernatural things God is doing in and through those who are struggling in their efforts to reach out to those in the field of their calling.”
God is working daily through His people.
“Jesus is still going about the cities and villages of this world and healing hurting people of their sickness and disease (physical, emotional & spiritual); it just that He’s now doing it through you and me! What a privilege it is to partner with you in bringing the gospel of the kingdom to his hurting world.!”
The truth is that this is going to increase throughout the world. Change is coming, ‘get used to different’.
At this time, I would like to share the following thoughts from Genesis 15::7-21.
The story of Abraham begins with God interacting with a man’s life in the city of Ur. That man’s name was Abram, later ‘changed’ to Abraham, because of the ‘differences’ God made in Abram’s life. God is saying to Abram, ‘change is coming, get used to different’.
God came to Abram and gave him directions about leaving his homeland and his father’s house. Abram left but did not completely separate himself from his family at this time. The narrative continues to this turning point in Abram’s life. Genesis 15:1-6 records a conversation between God and Abram, initiated by God, through a vision. God promises Abram an heir from his own body; and that heir would become a nation of people that would grow innumerable. These words are an expansion of what God originally said to Abram in Genesis 12. In Genesis 15:7-15, God enters into a covenant relationship with Abram. Abram, under God’s direction, gathers and prepares the sacrifice. The scripture says, (verses 12-16) that “a deep sleep fell upon Abram”. At that time God spoke these words, (verse 13), “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years”. (NKJV).
May I, humorously interject again, Abram, when you wakeup, ‘change is coming, get used to different’. Genesis is the book of beginnings. One of the major beginnings is the history of Israel that began with the choosing of Abram. That history continues throughout the book of Genesis. It’s story records how the descendants of Abram became “strangers in a land that is not theirs”, serving those who lived in that land, and afflicted them there for four hundred years. Note, remember that there were 400 plus years of silence between the closing of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.
At the end of Genesis, Joseph, a descended of Abram, who had had his life altered by a dream that he received from God as a youth, is coming to end of his life. He had not understood the dream when he received it as a youth; but it set in motion ‘a change is coming, get ready for different’. Joseph lived out that dream and now in Genesis 50:24-25 (NKJV), Joseph says to his brothers, “…I am dying; but God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” The story continues for years, changes keep coming, and differences keep occurring. They are all in God’s plan for the nation of Israel.
Joseph’s last words remind us of what God had promised to Abram, who became Abraham. They look prophetically to the book of Exodus. The title of the book, Exodus, radiates our theme, ‘change is coming, get used to different’. Moses will step into the scene, declare to Israel, and to Pharaoh, God says, ‘change is coming, get used to different’. Again, we know God didn’t really say those words, but Moses will enter ‘center stage’ into the life of the nation of Israel in a dynamic way, and through him, God will bring about change, and differences both in Israel and Egypt. How much more will God do now through His Son, via the Church, the Israel of God in our land of Egypt, the world.
I believe the Church needs to embrace these words, ‘Change is Coming, Get Used To Different’. As I shared earlier in this blog, the world has certainly been subjected to change because of the Covid pandemic. I am not looking to make a political statement regarding the handling of the pandemic. The realization is that the Church, the Body of Christ, the Israel of God has been affected with change and its ensuing differences with ramifications. Christians have sought to understand the implications of ‘change’ and ‘different’. Christians have and are wrestling with, now what, just like the rest of humanity.
My question to myself, and my question to you is: Have you pressed into the Lord? or have you focused on the problem? I am not advocating sweeping the problem under the rug and ignore it. I am exhorting us, encouraging us, to remember Jesus’s words found in John 16:31-33 (NKJV), “Jesus answered them (the disciples in the Upper Room prior to His arrest), “Do you now believe? “(Believe what? What He had been telling Him about Himself, His purpose for coming, His necessity of leaving, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and His revelation of the Father.) “Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet, I am not alone because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I wonder how many have been scattered to their own, and/or felt alone?
Jesus has just told them, ‘change is coming, get used to different’.
Am I, are we, is the Church ready for change? I believe there is change coming to the Church. I recently posted on Facebook a comment from a Spurgeon devotional, edited by Alistar Begg, that said, “The church will never prosper until more reverently it believes in the Holy Ghost.” I accept that assessment. How much of the Church is governed by the wisdom of man and not the wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the C.E.O. of the Church. The Third Person of the Trinity is Christ’s, Chief Executive Officer. That is what Jesus was instructing His disciples in the Upper Room discourse prior to His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.
Who is the agent of change? The Holy Spirit.
Change is Coming, Get Used To Different, because the Holy Spirit is going to bring dramatic changes to how things are conducted by the Church.
Change is Coming!
TBC, a brother in Christ, deo
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FYI, I have written a blog entitled, ‘The Lord’s C.E.O.’ visit livingwordsofencouragement.com if you would like to read that blog.
The phrase, Get Used to Different, was, I believe, created by The Chosen. It is printed on a T-shirt I received as a gift at Christmas from my daughter. The Chosen, 295 W. center Street, Provo, Utah, 84601, Copyright 2022 The Chosen, All rights reserved.
The letter I quoted from is from the National Office of United Evangelical Churches, P.O. Box 1000, San Juan Bautista, CA. 95045-1000; e-mail: admin@uecol.org; website is at http://www.eucol.org
P.S. As I inserted earlier, since the original writing of this blog, things have dramatically changed. Russia has declared war on the Ukraine. The world is changing; but our God is Sovereign, and He is working out all things according to the council of His will. Let us press into the Lord; let us pray for God’s intervention between Russia and the Ukraine; and let us pray for our brothers and sisters caught in the midst of this aggression.
Living Words of Encouragement 