Shifting gears

In my churchs' group chat, the topic of paradigm shifts was brought up recently. It took me back to a sermon I heard almost 25 years ago. I can remember exactly where I was: in my life, in my career, in my walk with God. I can remember who the preacher was, the church I was in, but I can not remember a single thing about that sermon other than the title. This comes after I spent weeks after I heard it rehashing every word and exploring more and more in-depth on what had been taught. 

I've heard the term of paradigm shifts in one way or another several times over the years but never gave a second thought to it.  What does a paradigm shift even mean? A paradigm shift is something fresh that can’t fit into the existing models conventionally available.  But what does that mean, fitting into existing models? Let me reflect a moment on where I came from in my walk with God to now.

From the time I was a child in vacation Bible Scool, I began to feel the drawing of God in my life. I walked an aisle to take the preacher by the hand to say I wanted to be "saved". He shook my hand and turned me over to a lady in the church that took me to a room. Once there, she lead me in a sinners prayer. When the prayer had been prayed and the card filled out, we went back out to the sanctuary where the preacher presented me as "saved" to the congregation. But this wasn't just a one time thing for me. From the time I was 6 or 7 years old (I know I was one of those because my grandmother was still alive. She passed the day before I turned 8) until I was an adult in my 40's, I made that walk so many times. As a young teen, I spent every altar call going forward to pray, begging God to forgive me because I didn't feel like I was good enough or that I was where I needed to be with Him. When it reached the point I felt I was too bad to pray on my own, I'd go back to taking that preacher by the hand to rededicate my life. But the cycle continued. 

From the first walking of the aisle, God through His Spirit began a new thing within me (although I didn't know it at the time). But each time the "new" began it was placed into a "used" vessel. Traditions and doctrines that I had lived within for my entire life told me that I had the "once saved, always saved fire insurance". They told me that regardless of what I done in my life from that point forward, even if I killed someone, that I would make it to heaven. If I had this assurance, then why was I so miserable all the time? This was the beginning of my paradigm shift, the start of becoming who God called me to be, only I didn't know it. 

When I began looking at definitions and what paradigm shifts mean, the scripture was used of the new cloth being put into an old garment and of new wine being put into old wineskins. In Matthew 9:16-17, we read "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." Let's look at that a minute. With either of these examples, you are taking something that is new and trying to put it into something that was already there. Let's look at each one of these independently. 

Say you have a garment that you tear and it needs repaired. You put a new piece of cloth that has not been laundered or tested in any way into it to repair the tear. You don't know how that piece is going to react. How will it shrink or will it completely deteriorate and fall apart? You spend your time to sew this patch into the garment and go about your day. Wash the garment and the corners of your patch roll up and pull away from the stitches you spent meticulously sewing. It shrinks and begins to do no good in repairing that tear, at times even making it tear even more. The tear worsens, not because the patch was added but because of the tension that has been placed upon the old fabric. 

The same holds true for the second part of the scripture. You have a wine that you have  crafted and are ready to pour into a wineskin for aging. You reach for an empty, used vessel and begin to pour what is brand new into something old. This brand new product has to breathe and expand within this skin, even absorbing notes of what had previously been within the skin. As the wine ferments, it also has gasses that it produces. If the wineskin has already been through this process before, seams and structural integrity are compromised which will lead to a rupture in the vessel, thus spilling the wine upon the ground. What you spent your time and effort on in producing is now spilled and you are left without anything for your efforts.

I have heard those parables taught pretty much my entire life and I never truly understood what they were speaking about. To be honest, I wasn't understanding the scripture at all until revelation dropped into my spirit on the way to church Wednesday evening. I was thinking about this writing and how it just wasn't coming together like I thought it would or should. I am going to do my best to explain how it was shown to me.

I shared earlier a bit of my walk in coming to Christ over the years.  As the years wore on, so too did the cycles: walk the aisle, pray the prayer, get involved, go back out into the world, repeat. Year after year it was the same thing and I, for the life of me, could not understand why. It was the "new wine" of Jesus Christ trying to be put into that old wineskin of my flesh. And those things of my flesh began being absorbed into the new of Christ causing the destruction. I did that so many times. I would get disgusted with myself, so much so that I gave up on trying. 

Wedsnesday night, pastor preached about the ugly ground.To someone that purchases land, it becomes "new ground" to them. But when you look at it, the land itself is not new, only the owner is what is new. As you begin to "work" the ground to get it ready for planting your crop, there are things you have to do. First you have to clear the obvious debris that is littered across the landscape. Next, you have to till the ground. This process takes time and effort because as that blade breaks through the surface of that soil it begins to expose what is underneath.  Oh, and don't think that this blade is barely scratching the surface. Nope, it's set deep to turn up the years that have been accumulated as top soil but is really nothing more than dirt which is useless. As that blade goes down deep, it begins to unearth rocks and boulders, cuts through old tree roots, exposes old stumps and many others artifacts. To some, it may look like antique treasures while to others its just a bunch of junk. Meticulously you hoe and rake, tug and pull making sure to remove every little scrap that could in any way prevent your crop from growing. Once the ground is right and all the obstacles are out of the way, then and only then can the true preparation begin. It is planted with the seed in anticipation of the harvest, it is fertilized with food and is watered to maximize growth and finally it is covered over to be protected until its plant begins to push upward through the soil and the roots spread out to anchor it in place. As you continue to watch the plant grow, the fruit of the vine begins to be evident until the day comes when it is harvest time. He didn't use this scripture in his message but I feel that it fits here: 2 Corinthians 5:17 "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold all things are made new." 

What does this mean in the context of shifting gears? Well, remember all that time I spent going to the altar time and time again? I plowed a field then but I was just scratching the surface and throwing seeds out hoping to get some type of harvest. In reality, the ground was so full of rocks that nothing could grow. If it did, it was that shallow surface deep stuff that fades away quickly because there were no roots. That's because that which I was being taught was only scratching the surface. With doctrine telling me that I was "eternally safe", why should I do all that work to reap the same reward?

There's the difference though. It's not the same reward. The way I was living my life had me on the highway to hell without ever stopping along the way. Once I started to hear the Truth of the gospel, of Acts 2:38, Jesus name baptisim and the in-dwelling power of the Holy Ghost, that clutch started poppin' as those gears began to shift! That blade on the plow dropped down deep to break up that hardened clay that had been denied water for so long. It was parched and dry and completely not suitable for life. But once that ground was broken and broken and broken again as that blade worked it over, the ground became good ground in which the seeds could be planted.

My friend, Chasity, made this observation when this discussion began that I feel is highly pertinent here. She wrote, "This got me to thinking about soil and it all makes so much sense with our walk with God.

#1- we have to feed the soil(prayer, study,fasting)

#2- it needs building structure.( if we continue to stay where we are and not build on our structure then what good is it doing us in our walk with God? We become stagnant. )

#3-the physical and chemical conditioning(what we listen to and put ourselves around does affect us whether we realize it or not. It is very important)

#4-natural and planned cycles( there are seasons that we face and that we will go through. There will be times where we face hard times and times where we just rest)

It said those steps help to transform heavy clay into well drained soil. So just like that in our spiritual life it helps us to have the good ground to where our fruit come naturally and is always good fruit. It made sense to me so I hope it does to yall😁."

In looking at those things which she wrote, I can see so much Truth in each statement.  I, in my own way, referenced these a bit but let's look at these a little more. As point one says, we have to feed the soil (fertilize). This is done through prayer, fasting and study of God's Word. As I sat in churches for all those years, that's exactly what I did: I sat. Day after day, week after week, my Bible would sit on the table where I would sit it when I walked in the door from church. There was no prayer in the home unless it was Thanksgiving or Christmas when grace was said. Fasting, what was that? Sure it was mentioned in sermons but at no time was there ever a called fast or any teaching on it. It wasn't until I think the third or fourth year I was at my previous church that a fast was called. Without knowing what it was, I went about doing what I thought I was supposed to do. But instead of using the time to focus on God, to lean into His Word and spend time in prayer, I was consumed with the fruits and veggies prep of the Daniel fast we were on. But now, I'm learning to lean into those times. While I don't have them often, it is in those times where I can dive deeper into Who He is and get revelation of what He is asking of me.

As for step 2, building upon structure: this is what we find when we do what we know to do. Besides the prayer, fasting and study of feeding the soil, we have to assemble together with our church family with in-house church attendance.  I spent years trying to build my walk with God by only doing on-line services. You cannot be a part of the assembly if you are not there. John 15:5 says "I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abide in me and I in Him; the same bringeth forth much fruit, but without me ye can do nothing." You are not part of the vine if you are not there so, as scripture says, you can do nothing and you have no fruit. The vine is shriveled up and dying. But you also build as you serve. You become a part of the house of God when you take ownership and responsibility.

The third point was the conditioning. That is determined by what we watch, what we listen to, where we go and overall how we spend our time. If we spend our time listening to secular music which glorifies sex, drugs and rock and roll or watching shows that displays lewd acts or alternative lifestyles, then that will be what consumes our thoughts. Carman had a song back in the 90's that started with the prayer which until 1962 started each school day, "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon thee and beg for thy blessing upon us, our teachers, our country and our world." Not long after prayer was banned, Roe vs Wade became law. In the early 80's, you saw the first televised scripted sex act in daytime television and by the mid- to late 90's we had our first homosexual main character in primetime television. When prayer conditioning was removed, so too was the moral compass which had shaped American society. As followers of the Apostolic faith, we try to point that compass more north to follow our Guide which is the Holy Ghost. Yet as we look to Him as our guide, we have the world trying to draw us away. 

This is where step 4 comes in. These are the seasons we go through. Some are things brought about by those in our close circles who do everything in their power to draw us away. Our decision in that moment determines our season. Is it something that we "wrestle" with to make a decision because it's something we want to do in our flesh but we know deep down that we shouldn't? Do we just haphazardly go along to keep the peace in the moment but then chaos ensues?  The enemy will use those closest to us to try to destroy our testimony. 

Other times, you can just be tooling along and everything is just going. There are no trials or temptations, it's just peace. This is God giving you a season of rest. It's easy in this time to let your guard down. You get lax on your praying. You don't stop to read your Bible.  There is no fasting. But it is this time when you need it the most. Its easy to pray, study and fast when you're in the midst of the fight. You are seeking Him for something so you are doing everything you can to get Him to hear you. But you need Him just as much when the battles are over and there is peace.

I know that this has been extremely long compared to what I usually write. As pastor was closing out his message on Wednesday night, he read Hosea 10:12, "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." This really epitomizes the gist of everything I have tried to share. Breaking up the fallow ground is the creation of that new wineskin that we read about in Matthew 9. Following the Acts 2:38 plan for salvation of repentance, Jesus name baptisim and the in filling of the Holy Ghost is the new wine being put into the vessel. As everything "grows" within the vessel, the shift occurs more and more. 

I look back to where it all started 42 or 43 years ago when I walked that aisle for the first time. I didn't think about anything back then other than the "fire insurance". It wasn't until I was 13-14 when the cycles started, when I felt there was more to this thing. The shift started slowly and it took many years but I am grateful for that shift. With the place I am now, it's not about shifting out of it but shifting into the next gear He has prepared for me.