Successfully Navigate the Changing Seasons of Life

Our lives and work ebb and flow. We must learn how to successfully navigate transition points and ever-changing seasons ahead. Like experienced sailors, it is possible to develop a sense of seen and unseen realms beyond and beneath us.

Merriam-Webster defines navigation as “the science of getting ships, aircraft, or spacecraft from place to place especially the method of determining position, course, and distance traveled.

Do you know your present position? Have you set a solid course — both a destination and process to arrive safely? How far along are you? How much farther do you have to go?

For the last week, God has been asking me these same questions. I believe these questions, and more important the answers, are relevant to all of us. The Christian church in general, and Christians in particular, are facing the fiercest storms yet known.

More than ever before, we must know our position, our course, and the distance traveled to reach our destination.

Wilderness

The Israelites traveled for forty years through the harsh desert. They learned to successfully navigate their unknown territory by following the Lord’s constant lead.

“The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.”
Exodus 13:21

When the cloud moved, they moved. When the cloud stayed, they stayed. Whether that was after a day or a year. God made His direction and timing for their lives obvious.

We don’t have a cloud and fire to lead the way, but we don’t need to blindly grope, fumbling through the maze of life, rushing when God calls us to wait. He invites us to stay on course. Do we seek some kind of supernatural sign or “handwriting on the wall” (Daniel 5:5) before we follow?

God does speak. He will make His ways and direction know.

Holy Spirit

As New Testament believers, God leads us not with a visible cloud or pillar of fire, but better yet, He has given us the indwelling Holy Spirit.

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come.”
John 16:13

What comforting words, “He will guide, and He will speak. He even promises to disclose to us things to come” — approaching circumstances and seasons. We are not blindly groping and fumbling in uncertainty. We are people of clear direction and purpose.

The closer we walk in intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the more tender and responsive we will become to the nudging of His wise counsel. He will give us, through the Holy Spirit, a strong sense of how to successfully navigate the stormy seas in the culture we sail.

Sensing

As a prisoner, Paul was transported via ship to Rome to stand trial before Caesar’s court. The ship encountered a severe storm, risking the lives of everyone on board.

“On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land.”
Acts 27:27

I wonder how they sensed approaching land. What gave clues to these seasoned mariners? What subtle shifts put them on alert? Whatever it was, this “sense” moved them into action.

“They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep.”
Acts 27:28

Their hunches were right. Immediately they dropped anchors and threw every non-essential overboard. To successfully navigate the season we find ourselves in, we too may have to slow our pace or lighten our load to keep the main things as the main things.

Take Soundings

For over a week, God has stirred this passage on my heart. “Take soundings!” He says to me. Don’t rely on past experience or feelings, “take soundings.” Past experiences don’t always equate to wisdom. Feelings shift faster than the prairie weather — steady one moment and wild the next.

Sailors would drop a lead weight attached to a measuring line to accurately determine the depth of the seas below. Twice these sailors took soundings to verify their position and direction. They confirmed their suspicion. Land was approaching.

These sailors operated in the natural realm. We live and operate in both the natural and spiritual realms. How much more imperative that we determine our position, establish our course, and know the distance traveled to successfully navigate our times?

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Psalm 143:11

Successfully Navigate

Father, whether we feel the gentleness of Your Presence or are facing the greatest storms of our lives, we turn our faces to You. We welcome Your Spirit to direct us. Reveal our present position clearly. Just as clearly, show us our true destination. The ONLY WAY we will successfully navigate these seasons will be by following Your direction and directives as clearly as the ancient wilderness wanderers. May we follow at the pace of Your grace. Give us wisdom and courage to “take soundings,” acknowledging our current condition and position. Strengthen us to adjust our lives to follow Your lead completely and wholeheartedly. May we face these disturbing times with confidence, not in our own wisdom or expertise, but relying totally upon You. We welcome the Spirit of Truth to invade every aspect of our lives, and to guide us to The Truth, Jesus Christ. May our lives become lighthouses of protection for those around us. Thank You for Your absolute faithfulness toward us.

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Easter — Why the Blood? Part 1— Surrender

Surrender

Easter, the greatest celebration of the Christian Church, correctly emphasises the resurrection. Though once dead, Jesus Christ lives! His resurrection signed the guarantee for each of us to now have the hope of eternal life.

Easter celebrates His life.

As we approach this Easter season, I again consider the significance of the shed blood of Jesus. Many believers today, hesitate to discuss this often-controversial subject. In so doing, we perhaps miss key truths and essential realities of our faith.

So pardon me while I briefly share a few thoughts. Each one only skims the surface, but hopefully it will help us to consider why the blood is so significant, both to us as individuals and also to the larger church “body.”

“For the life of the body is in the blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”
Leviticus 17:11

Baby Bird

Surrender of Will

Redemption began, not on the cross, but in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus travailed in prayer, calling to His Father and seeking another, even easier, way to accomplish His mission.

“‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'”
Mark 14:36

Jesus knew every detail within the impending hours. Being fully God, Jesus was also fully man. As a man, He felt, as intensely as you or I, the sting of betrayal, the isolation of abandonment, and the pain of physical suffering. Yet in great angst, He surrendered His will.

Baby bunny

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Luke 22:44

Our redemption began in the Garden. Because of the blood of Jesus, now our wills, too, may be fully surrendered to the authority of Lord.

Surrender of the Mind

“They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said.”
Matthew 27:28-29

The full cruelty of these soldiers is difficult to imagine. They wove a crown of thorns, pressings it into Jesus’ head, piercing his flesh, and releasing a flow of blood. But as they mocked, Jesus won for us the victory over the devil’s influence over our thoughts, shattering the negative strongholds over our minds.

Baby Kitten

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians10:4-5

Why the blood? Easter reminds us that through the blood, Jesus gave us the ability to surrender our minds completely to the authority and truth of God.

Surrender of Pride

The soldier continued to vent their full aggression upon Jesus.

“Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him.”
Mark 15:19

We scarcely want to believe the brutality Jesus experienced. They beat His face and head again and again with fists and rods. The prophet Isaiah spoke about the event hundreds of years prior,

“Just as there were many who were
appalled at him —
his appearance was so disfigured
beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond
human likeness —”
Isaian 52:14

Baby Chick

Why the blood? Jesus submitted to the soldiers beating as a symbol of surrendered pride and vanity. Through His blood, we now have the power to endure humiliation, reproach, and the loss of reputation. The blood of Jesus strengthens us to withstand persecution as His divine beauty shines through us.

Surrender of Position

Isaiah adds another detail to the soldier’s treatment of Jesus.

“I offered my back to those
who beat me,
my cheeks to those
who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.”
Isaiah 50:6

The beard represents priesthood, dignity, distinction, maturity, and position.

Baby Duckling

Why the blood? As the soldiers ripped the beard from Jesus’ face, His blood paved the way surrendering earthly position and prestige. Now, He brings us into a higher place of serving the Him as His priests.

” . . . To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”
Revelation 1:5-6

Easter

We celebrate Easter, rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. No one and nothing could hinder Him from completing our redemption to the fullest. Through the power of His blood, we gain the victory to surrender our wills, minds, pride, and position to Him completely.

Why the blood? Through Jesus shed blood, we join Him in overcoming, conquering, and triumphing.

“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
Revelation 12:11

As we prepare for family gatherings and celebrate Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, may we appreciate every way Jesus’ blood was shed.

“Thank You again, Jesus, for Your precious blood. Amen.”

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