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The Holy Spirit and the empirical season of change.




Revelation, Reaction and Relationship.

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about the experience of change. How people process change in their lives and how they ensure that change sticks, rather than revert to the same old same old.

As a Christian leader I believe that change is seasonal. That God takes us through different seasons of our  lives and ministry cannot be in doubt. It is a time of frustration but also a time of blessing as we learn to hear and experience  what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. A new season always begins with a revelation. For Moses it was the burning bush, yet for his ancestor Joseph it was dreams that resulted at first in being thrown into a pit before being sold into slavery. In the New Testament for Saul it was the road to Damascus where Jesus made his presence known and set Paul on the road to great things.

With revelation comes reaction, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes it is physical at others it is spiritual. For Moses he complained he had a stammer a physical impediment yet God made him pick up his staff and showed him great things. For Paul, it was at first his fear of what the Apostles would think of him, but God sent Barnabas the son of comfort to intercede on Paul's behalf. From the start Paul was sure of his calling and mission.

The revelation only comes when we have successfully navigated the last season of God's blessing and the new revelation is always dependent on the way we react, but this can only be seen by what sort of relationship we have with our Lord and saviour. For Moses, God said my servant and my friend. This born out of a close fellowship with the one who called to him from the burning bush. For Paul it was the knowledge that he too was an apostle called by Jesus Christ himself to minister the word to the Gentiles. Willing to suffer curses, stoning and shipwreck to speak about the one who saved him.

In order for us as Christian leaders to make any lasting changes in our lives we must at first believe that we have received a clear revelation from the Holy Spirit. That our reaction to that revelation is borne out of a strong relationship with God. One that has been tested in the fire and has now resulted in our resting our heads in the bosom of our Lord and saviour.

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