At the end of last year I heard the Lord say, “Things are going to be different.” This is was in answer to my prayer asking God what 2023 would hold. As I heard those words, some things I had been praying and believing for flashed before my eyes and I knew this was where the different would take place. But different is so vague… scary even…because different means change. And while we all claim to love change, we really don’t, at least not initially. This is because change means leaving behind the familiar, moving out of our comfort zones, and no longer being in control. Are you getting a little nervous? Well, the good news is, that when God is the one initiating the change we can be at peace, knowing that He’s good and so are His plans for us.
What have you been praying and believing God for? Maybe you’ve been waiting for years for the answers to your prayers. Maybe some of the things you’ve prayed for have seemed impossible to attain. Well thank God, we serve the One with whom ALL things are possible. I believe that the “different” God wants to do is not just for me, but for you too. If you take a moment and look with spiritual eyes, I believe you’ll see God is already doing something very different this year. You may not fully understand it, and that’s ok. Just know God is in the midst of it.
I thought the word “different” was an odd word to use, but God is God and everything He says and does has a deeper meaning. I’ve learned from experience that when God speaks, it usually doesn’t make sense at first. When He speaks to us, it’s a deposit of what’s to come, and He wants us to press in and seek Him for the full revelation. It’s in this seeking of Him that we not only gain understanding, but the Divine wisdom needed to walk out what He’s saying. It’s part of the process.
So I looked up the word different and it means “unlike something else; unusual, distinct, special.” This is exactly what God is doing in our lives personally and in the body of Christ as a whole right now. He’s doing something different from anything we’ve ever experienced before. Something no man can create or take credit for and something only He can get the glory for. Hallelujah! This is exciting and we can talk more about that another time, but this post is about the “different” God wants to do in us personally. I believe the two are related, however, because God starts in the individual and that becomes a catalyst for things to happen collectively. God is preparing, transforming and healing His people so they can sustain the glory that is coming.
So I ask you, what have you been believing God for personally? This is probably the very area God wants to do something “different.” As I continued to pray and seek God for greater understanding, He led me to Matthew 9:16-17:
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
This is a familiar verse and the concept in these verses is pretty straightforward so we’ll get right to the point – “The old and the new will NOT work together.” This “different” and “new” thing God wants to do in us, will not work with the old in our lives. Old mindsets, old paradigms, old belief systems, old habit patterns, old responses to life and people – they need to GO. God wants to change YOU. God wants to change ME. The problem is that most often when change is needed in our lives we look outward. We try and change our circumstances or the people around us. Some people change jobs, change states, change friends, and even change spouses all in the hopes of changing their lives. We don’t deal with the real issues and we end up in the same thing. Same problem, different spouse. Same problem, different job. Same problem, different state. God wants us to look inward. He wants us to surrender our lives to the change HE wants to do in US. It’s in doing this, we’ll begin to experience the “different” God wants to bring. As we change, things around us will begin to change. We’ll see God moving in ways we never experienced before. It will be “unlike something else; unusual, distinct, special.” It will be different! I want the different in my life, how about you?
So how do we go through this process? So often we want the whole picture. If you’re anything like me, you want ALL the steps NOW. But God doesn’t usually give us A, B and C of the plan. He reveals Himself step by step so that we don’t jump ahead and “do” something, but rather we “become” something as we move with Him. Does that make sense? He wants us to go through the process with Him and as I always say, “partner with Him” for the breakthrough we need in our lives.
I believe in this season that the Lord wants us to follow Him as the Israelites followed Him in the wilderness (minus the grumbling and complaining and idol worship along the way, lol). They were imperfect. But God was perfect in His leading of them. Let’s learn from their mistakes and follow the perfect leading of the Lord. The Israelites didn’t have “google maps” showing them the entire route to the promised land. All they knew was that God had promised to lead them someplace good. It was going to be different. It was a place they never saw before. They were encountering things they had never experienced before. In the natural, they didn’t know what to do, but God promised to lead them. Exodus 13:21-22 says:
21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
God went before them and led them each day. All they had to do was follow Him. This is what God is requiring of us in this season. We have the Holy Spirit to lead us each day. It’s up to us to follow Him. One step at a time. Listening for His voice each day. Making the right decisions each day.
Like all of us, the Israelites struggled with wanting to be in control, but God wanted their dependence to be on Him daily. One of the ways He taught them to depend on Him and stay in that place of surrender was by requiring them to rely on Him for the “daily” for manna from Heaven to sustain them. And friends, this is exactly where we need to be. The Word of God is our “manna.” We need to partake of it DAILY. His Word nourishes us and sustains us. It’s His Word that opens our eyes to the truth and protects us from falling into deception. It’s His word that heals and transforms us from the inside out. It’s His Word that keeps us in His perfect will for our lives. It’s way too easy to become “spiritually dull” and deceived by the constant bombardment of ungodly messages coming from the prince of this world each day. It’s no joke when the Bible says, “There’s a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). The Holy Spirit and the Word work together in our lives. John 16:13 says;
When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come.
God speaks to us through His Word and the Holy Spirit shows us how to walk it out. The Word of God does something on the inside of us and prepares us to respond differently to life. THIS is when the true growth and healing take place and we can experience the “different” God has for us. The “different” God wants to do in our lives is going to require an upgrade in our relationship with Him. We need to be in the Word and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit each and every day. There will be challenges, but stay the course friends. What God has for us is worth it. We’re not alone in it. God will walk with us each step of the way!
Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
No eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—
1 Corinthians 2:9
