News and Updates

October 1, 2011

David Copeland · October 1, 2011
Newsletter · Volume: 11 Issue: 10

Here we go again with more transition.

I preach about it quite often. I have blogged about it time and again. I seem to be going through it all the time!

It’s really more than a charismatic buzzword: I truly believe it is the cry of the Holy Spirit for this hour.

The World English Dictionary says transition is change or passage from one state or stage to another. Definition number two states transition is also the period of time during which something changes from one state or stage to another.

Transition is something Christian people have a hard time with. I can’t lie; there are times I absolutely despise it! It seems to be something we only embrace…if we are forced to. Even today as I write this, Facebook changed the look and settings and the whole network went crazy…because people only seem to embrace change and transition…when they are forced to.

The whole world is working through numerous transitions right now. Arab Spring has turned into Arab Fall as several muslim nations are in a transition period. Much of the world is hoping for democracy to birth, but islam is not going to stand for much freedom of expression, freedom of the press or freedom for women. Their stated goal is to rule the world for Mohammed and oppress the infidels…even if it means use force to see it happen.

The United States continues to grapple with a floundering economy that has affected every ministry in the US. There seems to be a perpetual campaign for public office; you end one election cycle and another begins the very next day.

Transition in the Body of Christ is never easy. I have been stating for several months, it is happening to Pam and I as we speak.  We can see it and feel it coming even if we can’t express and explain what it will look like.

As we approach this coming Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, this will be the most defining of all Jewish Holidays in our lifetime. As I write this blog, the Palestinian Authority is asking the UN for full statehood, along the pre-1967 borders. If it doesn’t go the way they want it, they will riot across the Middle East.

The president of Iran continues to declare openly the Holocaust never happened and Israel will soon be wiped off the earth. He literally mocked sane people all over the world by “…accusing the United States of using the “mysterious” Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as a pretext to launch wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States and its allies “view Zionism as a sacred notion and ideology…”  (Stand For Israel.com).

Hatred, acrimony and a great discontent have infected seemingly everyone in the world, especially those in the church.

This coming year we are going to see a massive increase in persecution against Christians in and from the media, and in the marketplace. But as we embrace Holy Spirit mandated change for our lives and ministries, God’s peace will flood us, we will experience a protection the Jews experienced during their wanderings in the wilderness, and I believe we will also experience a provision we didn’t think we could have.

It’s time for all we have learned about faith, worship and spiritual warfare to be applied to our life. It’s no longer just a good sermon or teaching series to enjoy; it’s time to walk it out!

Transition doesn’t always have to come in the form of conflict; but it will if we are self-absorbed with our own importance.

The Jews believe the Book of Life is opened on Rosh Hashanah and closed on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On that day (Yom Kippur), a person’s fate is sealed for the coming year. May we embrace God’s Holy Spirit mandated change for our lives; may we draw closer to Him in prayer, worship, spiritual warfare and faithfulness…that the coming season will be one of blessing and not a crisis that is used to move us along with His mandated transition.

In these days of great transition may we take hold of this promise from Hebrews:
18That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec    Blessings, David & Pam