Positioned for Transition

Isaiah 43:18-19

18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Remember: To call to mind, to be thought of, to hold in the mind, or to make a memorial. The latter is the one that I feel God is warning against in these verses. In other words, don’t enshrine something as so important or so big, that you cannot move past it. Why? Because we worship what we have enshrined.

The Lord asks in this passage, “shall ye not know it?”

I feel the Holy Ghost saying to His people today that He wants to do something new, something better, something greater, and more magnificent than we’ve ever seen or experienced before, but if we’re still worshipping at the enshrined memory of the past, we’re going to miss it.

When God says, "Remember not,” He is saying: don’t let enshrined memories of the past keep you from moving forward. Don’t misunderstand me, God doesn’t want us to forget the good things of the past, all the miracles we have seen, or the lessons that we have learned, that’s not what I am saying at all. We are to be thankful for the wonders that God has performed in our lives, but we must not become a prisoner of the past, good or bad.

It’s time for a new thing. God said: Behold I will do a new thing! We are quickly approaching the end of 2018, very soon we will be starting a new year. This morning I am feeling a stirring in my spirit about 2019. Some changes have taken place in my ministry in 2018, and I just feel the Holy Ghost telling me this morning that I am positioned for transition. I don't pretend that I know everything God has in store for me, but I do understand that the word "transition" implies movement. Not movement in a physical sense, I don’t see myself going anywhere geographically speaking. I am going to be in the same city, at the same church, being fed by the same shepherd – of that I am absolutely certain. God wants to do something new in me spiritually, and I feel this message is not just for me, but for the people of God.

Let me be even more specific: "Transition” speaks of movement, progress, of forward motion. Transition is always about leaving one place to go to another. Elisha couldn't get to Bethel without leaving Gilgal, and he Couldn't get to Jericho without leaving Bethel. Transition means, leaving some things behind, it requires participation, and it does not happen by accident. Transition is a choice to co-operate and move with the Holy spirit.

Transition has three main components: First, we must let go of the old. Second, we must trust that God is faithful. Thirdly, we have to take hold of the new.

Why is transition so hard? Because most of the time the Holy Spirit doesn't tell us exactly where we are going. He just speaks into our spirit that our environment is getting ready to change. Then we must decide if we want what God has prepared for us, or are we going to settle for the comfortable and familiar.

That was Elijah's role in Elisha's transition: Elijah was playing the devil's advocate. In other words-Elijah was speaking as the devil would, to try and discourage someone from receiving Gods best (see I Kings 19:19-21; 2 Kings 2). Elijah wanted Elisha to receive his mantle. He had poured into his life for over 10 years. But He knew Elisha had to want it enough to transition. in other words; He had to want it enough to let go of and leave the comfortable and the familiar to go after the unseen, and the unknown.

Transition is a difficult place many times because It is an in between place. It is the squeezing place. It's the place where you have left where you were, where you were adjusted, where you knew what to expect, where you had a pretty good handle on everything, and now you don't have a handle on anything. It is the place where faith is tested. It is the place where you are tempted to grumble and complain and start looking back to the old familiar comfort zone. It's the place where you either breakthrough or you break down.

Transition is a necessary place because it is the proving ground, it is where you prove to God by your actions and your attitude that you are more interested in following him than being comfortable. I think one of the most exciting and inspiring things that I learned from the story of Elijah and Elisha was Elisha went beyond his mentor, he pushed for more, he had developed his own spiritual appetite. Elisha wasn’t satisfied with the same things that Elijah had, he didn’t want a replication of the past, Elisha wanted more, he wanted double.

Elisha not only wanted what he had seen and experienced with Elijah, He wanted more, he wanted what he had never seen and never experienced. I believe that, that’s the way it should be. I want what God has for me through my pastor and mentor, and then I want my own. Because when I get ready to go, and it’s time for me to pass this mantle, it won't be another man of God’s mantle I'm passing, it will be mine.

I'm talking today about being positioned for transition. I've been talking about being positioned for transition because one of the most important ways to position ourselves for transition is to know what to expect: In other words; to know what transition looks like and feels like. The Holy spirit is giving as a sense of what to expect as we transition.

Positioning ourselves for transition begins by deciding that if there is more, I want it. If there is something better, I want it. If there is a better way, I want to learn it. If there is a greater anointing, Lord pour it on me, I want it.

I am positioned for something greater, and even if it means I have to go through the wilderness to get there, I am ready to let go of the past, I am trusting that God is faithful, and I am ready to move forward into a greater anointing.