February 2003
Page 1 - The Process of Transition by Graham Cooke
Page 2 - The ARC Culture by Paul Anderson
Page 3 - "Nevertheless..." by Mary Ann Herzan
The Process of Transition
by Graham CookeThe world around us is full of change. These changes are not just technological. Keeping pace with man's inventiveness is amazingly difficult. No sooner does a breakthrough piece of engineering hit the market than it is made smaller, more compact, and more powerful. Whatever you buy is out of date before you learn how to use it properly.
International boundaries are changing; different nations are forming or reforming. Economies everywhere are going through profound change with the realization that no economy will ever be safe again. Some changes affect not only the way we live but also our perception of who we are as human beings.Despite the immensity of change taking place in our world, very few of us have learned to deal with change in a healthy way. Without being aware of reasons why, we seem to put up instinctive and devious barriers to anything remotely looking like change. There is something in most people that profoundly dislikes transition, and it will cause them to do amazing things in order to not have to go through any change at all.
Transition is an adventure. But it is an adventure into the unknown with all the attendant risks that the uncharted can formulate around us. Change provokes our hearts because it challenges the status quo. It makes us feel uneasy and vulnerable because it takes us into territory where we have never before been. We are happy to talk about Abraham going out without knowing where he was going, simply trusting God to get him there (see Hebrews 11:8). However, when it is our turn to make the journey of faith, it is a different matter. God has His own road maps for times such as these. The old ones are useless to us, and the new ones are filled out as we go.
Every change involves a letting go of one thing to reach out for what is next. It is death by installments-the slow death of our mind-sets, our attitudes, perceptions, and paradigms with apparently nothing obvious to take their place. That is, we only see the replacement concept as we journey. We don't just see it, though; we experience it. Sometimes our experience is first, and we go through something that we understand only in retrospect. It is important therefore, if we are to journey with the Lord into new lands, that we build in time to reflect and review where we are and where we have come from. Our road map to faith must be kept up to date and relevant for anyone else coming after us.
Pioneers draw the maps; they seldom enjoy them! Every day's journey into the new is accomplished by a slow and, at times, painful letting go of the old. There is a death process to be worked through in transition. Future fruit comes from present death (see John 12:24).
The Holy Spirit will, if we allow Him, teach us how to be present to the moment with God. There is a God-consciousness that is so compelling that we need never worry again. There is a peace so profound that is it unshakable. There is a rest in God so potent that the enemy fears it. (Rest is a weapon against evil.)
In order to be alive to God in this way, we must surrender to Him and to everything He brings. He allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power. The dying daily that is Paul's description involves a death-to-self process. Change is the pivotal point of that process. If you enjoy God's life, you cannot fear change. Where He is present, resistance has died.
Death, the understanding of change, liberates us to experience the adventure of new things. We welcome the risk because His life fizzes in our bloodstream. He sparkles with new gifts, new realms, fresh anointing, and different challenges to faith and love.
His great power will pitch us into battle with no thought but that His great love will shield us from the enemy. He is careful and carefree at the same time. Change is an opportunity to grow more like Him and to continue the sampling of all He has to offer. He Himself never changes; that is part of His beauty. He is so utterly faithful and unchanging that we always know exactly where we are in His heart.
He wants to impart the same unchanging nature to us so that we can partake of this aspect of His divine nature. Though unchanging in Himself, He causes ceaseless change round about Him. To know Him is to be changed by Him. He loves the journey that we are on. He has carefully thought through all the stages that we will experience. Death and life combine in Him. Unchanging changeableness is part of His mystique. Find meaning in Him, and you will understand your journey so much better. Everything begins and ends in Him, the Alpha and Omega of change.The inevitability of change is made enjoyable by His presence. As we submit to each process, our appreciation of the journey grows and our faith increases. Change comes from within. Everything that God does in us comes from the inside to the outside. That is why our inward development is more important than the outward circumstances. If we give the Lord Jesus the ground He requires on the inside of our life, then each present set of external challenges shall diminish, if not disappear.
We will be excited about change because we are excited about the Lord. Our road map is being drawn as we experience life in Christ. If we keep hitting the same landmarks in our life, it is because we have probably resisted change from within.
Change helps us grow, and growth is part of life. Without challenge there is nothing to overcome, so faith cannot grow. This lack of expectation creates smallness in mind and heart.
Transition is about the discovery and connection of the inner man of the heart toward God (see Eph. 3:13-21). It is about discovering the rest of God (see Heb. 4) and being at peace in Him. It is restoring our relational paradigm with Almighty God. It is about breakthrough into an inner place of the spirit and learning how to remain there. Your inner man is the restful presence of Jesus in the external turmoil of your surroundings (see Mk. 4: 36- 39).
This is the opportunity that God is giving to us in the crisis of transition. He is holding out the very process of inward change and development. In crisis, we put our lives firmly into His care and we obey Him implicitly! Crisis, transition, and process open a door on a personal and corporate level for the people of God to come to know Him, experience Him, and be changed by Him. Crisis is the door of inward opportunity opening through the danger of external circumstances.
The Spirit searches all things in our lives and enables us to know the mind of the Lord (revelation) as well as to experience what God wants to give us in the situation (see I Cor. 2: 10-16).
Many times the storm breaks over us and we are unprepared for it. If we are used to living from our spirit, we can retreat there to our secret place and wait patiently for God. If we have not fully learned that discipline of grace, we may succumb to worry and fear. Then we will be tossed to and fro by circumstances and unsurrendered thought-processes. The inner man of the spirit is the anchor for the soul.
Here, in our distress, the kindness of God will reveal itself to us. He really wants us to succeed in crisis. He wants us to go through the door of opportunity and not be sidetracked by the difficulty in the situation. He will give us a second opportunity to succeed.
On a personal level, we may be going through tough circumstances that we are failing to process internally. We need to look and listen for the sweet voice of reason to come to us. It may come in a sermon, through a book we are reading, by a Scripture we are studying, from a prayer we receive in ministry, in a letter or card, through a prophetic word, or just in a telephone call from a concerned friend. The point, is, it will come! Many times, we miss it because our soul wants to hear only about deliverance, so we sift every word and discard those not compatible with our soulish desires. The inward man knows that process is the key to all God's dealing with His people. Life is a journey. A friend of mine, Mary Dennison, once told me, "Don't get so hung up on your destination that you forget to enjoy the journey!"
Graham Cooke is our speaker for our Mid-year Equipping Conference, February 20-21, 2003. Our theme is "Transition and the Journey of Faith." For more conference information, please call us at 651-490-1517, or print a brochure at www.lutheranrenewal.org.
(Taken from A Divine Confrontation by Graham Cooke, copyright 1999, used by permission of Destiny Image Publishers; 167 Walnut Bottom Road; Shippensburg, PA 17257; 800-722-6774; www.destinyimage.com)
