Pastor Hank has recently been ministering on what God has told him prophetically to announce to us all: “Shift! Change!” In this, God is telling us to pay attention to the times and seasons, much like the sons of Issachar, in 1 Chronicles 12:32, who discerned the times and knew how and when to act. The Lord is instructing us to pay attention and be ready to shift into a change.
This means we cannot put God in a box, so to speak. We must realize there are no limits as to what God can do and no boundaries as to what we may be called upon to do. So how can we prepare ourselves for the coming change?
We can take instruction from the Apostle Paul, who tells us in Philippians 4:13 (NKJV), “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The Amplified version says it like this: “I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]”
I’ve learned through the years to never say “never.” Literally every time I have done that, God has moved in a way to remind me of what He declared through the Prophet Isaiah: “‘My plans aren’t your plans, nor are your ways my ways,’ says the Lord. ‘Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my plans than your plans.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9, CEB)
One instance of this came back in 2013. For years, even though national politics and legislation were part of the everyday topics of discussion in my sales and marketing career, I had often stated that I would never work in Washington, DC. Unbeknownst to me, while I was out calling on clients one Friday, my wife decided to help with my job search and submit my resume for a position in DC. Before I got back to my driveway that evening, I received a call and was interviewed on the spot. Nine days later, I was on a flight to Los Angeles for a week of training, and nine days after that, my family was on the road and moving to DC. Within four months following that, I was working two blocks away from the White House and escorting business leaders on lobbying calls to the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
Certainly, I could have never predicted any of this would unfold in this way. I didn’t even think that I would ever desire any of it at the time, but my experiences there proved to be both rewarding and beneficial in many ways in the years since. And to think that I could have easily missed it all, by not accepting that interview, by being unwilling to leave the job I was in at the time, by choosing not to move to a new area that I had long considered objectionable, by choosing to stubbornly refuse to line up with God’s plan.
The blessing of leaving an old mindset, walking forward into your destiny, and shifting into the transformational change that God has for you comes with the willingness to be led by the Spirit, make choices that will allow the Lord to do the necessary work in your life, and rely on His “supernatural” to take you beyond your own “natural.”
If God is prompting you to do something that you think you can’t do or that you thought you would never do, but you know He’s calling you to make that decision, don’t delay — get out of His way and get out of your own way. Shift into your change today!
Pastor Marc Loomis is a staff member of Lord of Hosts Church.
