Know what happens when God gets ready to take you to a new season of your life?
YOU GET STRETCHED!!!
Ask any woman who has carried and birthed a child what it feels like to “get ready” for the new season that is about to take place in her life.
Mark 2:22 says: “ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
We all rejoice when we hear a Word that confirms or awakens something in us that God has placed there, but we do not often realize that, in order for us to reach the destiny God has for us, our capacity to walk in the things of God must be enlarged. We must be “stretched.” Most of the time, this stretching is NOT comfortable. It hurts and, in some cases, it even leaves scars. It is, however, necessary because the way we have been operating in the current season of our life will not be able to sustain us in the next season God has for us.
The funny thing about the “stretching” is that it is completely our choice. We have the ability, as creatures of choice, to call a halt to whatever journey God has laid before us and stay where we are. This is where frustration begins to take over our minds.
Let me put it this way. Have you ever seen someone complaining about being cold while only wearing shorts and a tank-top shirt in the dead of winter? Funny, huh? The season changed, but they chose to continue wearing what they wore in the previous season. Maybe they would say “But, I really like these shorts! They look good on me!” all the while, not realizing how ridiculous they look and sound. Frustration (in the form of shivering) comes when our season is changing, but we refuse to change our wardrobe to go along with it.
We must realize that there are many things that will not look right on us in or make the trip with us to our next season in God, whether they be thought patterns, habits, things we say to ourselves, or even some relationships. Parting with some of these things will come with a price, a price that will sometimes leave marks… scars, even.
This is what I believe Paul was talking about when he wrote in Hebrews 12:
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Paul Had experienced the maturing process of God in his life. He knew what it meant to have to let things and even people go in order to move forward with God. This why he could say, when he knew his life was about to come to an end:
2Timothy 4:7-8,
“7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Are you allowing God to stretch you in order to move you to the next place in your life? Or are you frantically jumping around trying to get warm because you still have on summer clothes when it’s snowing outside?
“Father, help me today to know what to hold on to and what to let go of in my life. Help me to keep my focus on you as you lead me through this journey each day. Help me to be quick to repent and even quicker to realize that your plan is perfect for me. I trust you. I give myself to you. Make me the person you want me to be.”