I believe the Lord is inviting us to a new season. Some have crossed over, while some are crossing over and others are about to crossover. And for each of us, there is an invitation to clean house. He’s inviting us to settle unresolved things and close chapters that he has deemed finished, even if they look incomplete. He’s requiring us to walk away from tables, rooms and places into the new. An invitation to open ourselves to receive new garments, new assignments and new instructions. It’s a season of transition. We’re not quite fully in the new but the old has certainly expired. And so we must take position, conclude chapters and get ready to move.

The need for new garments

I believe the Lord is inviting us to new ways. New roads, new rivers. New assignments. New alignments. And in many ways, the old simply cannot come with. As described by Craig Cooney, in this season the Lord is redressing us. Our old clothes don’t fit, nor are they useful for where we are or where we’re going. Although we like them and are comfortable in them, we must embrace change. Like a child, the father is giving us new garments. They’re a little big and likely look ill-fitting and awkward but like a good forward thinking parent, the Lord purchased garments we can grow into ans will serve us for the season to come.

I had a vision of many of his people particularly who for the past while were on the frontlines of spiritual battle and warfare, wearing warfare armor. And while this was necessary for the old assignment, the Lord had called them and invited them to a wedding feast, providing beautiful flowy dresses and suits for the feast. But many kept taking of the wedding attire wanting to put the war armour back on. It felt safe and familiar. They were unaware, and some were even unwilling to embrace the new place the Lord was leading them to and thus they were unwilling to retire the old clothes so as to take up the new.

In the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22, the king sent out an invitation and guests arrived but inappropriately dressed. May we discern the invitation and may we respond appropriately and dress accordingly. Truly in this season, He is preparing a table for his sons and daughters. Embrace the change of assignment and location, and pray for the wisdom to be dressed accordingly. Embrace the change in strategy and be willing to let go of the old, even though it’s all you’ve known. Rest in the Lord, thank him for this new place, and this new way and the new assignments and alignments. Agree and allow him to orientate you anew and teach you the new way you should go. Recognize the new and agree in heart, mind and action.

Practical considerations and prayer points:

I suggest you prayerfully and unhurriedly journal these with the Lord noting any words, impressions or responses He provides.

• Seek the Lord for clarity on your season. What season are you in? Is this true for all areas of life? Remember, it is possible to be in a pruning and purging season in one area of life, and a harvest season in another. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you discern and articulate which season each key area of your life is in so you respond accordingly.
• Ask the Lord to reveal what must go and what can stay in this new season. Just because it’s working now and possibly bearing fruit, doesn’t necessarily mean it can or will continue to. Nor does it ensure these ways and ideas and people still have place in this new season? With an open heart and mind, surrender all and allow the Lord to take inventory and provide instruction on who or what can stay.
• Lean into the new grace. For many, the mantle has shifted and there’s new grace in unfamiliar places. Perhaps your spiritual gifts don’t quite look the same. While you can still discern, perhaps there’s a greater measure of grace elsewhere. And while you’re not 100% sure how to operate in this new gifting and it may even feel like God isn’t speaking as clearly, it’s likely that it’s simply the growing pains of learning a new way of meeting with the Lord and being used by the Lord. Don’t be discouraged. Invite the Lord to clarify the new gifts, or the new office and let him teach you how to faithfully steward it. Seek him on the new rhythms and disciplines to walk out this new mantle faithfully. Be okay to learn anew and for many, to even start afresh. Let the Holy Spirit teach you.
• Stay in the word. Study those in the word who’ve operated in ways that resonate with your new assignments and garments. Perhaps as a prophet for many years you’ve studied the prophets but now there’s a grace to do more teaching. Study biblical teachers of the word. Seek out those who operate as teachers and learn. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you new insights and strategies. Be faithful with what’s been placed in your hand.
• Ask the Lord for a word pertaining to this transition. Invite the Holy Spirit to give you a word that will help keep you anchored as you navigate this transition. A word to keep hope alive when it’s shaky and unclear, and to keep you aligned when it’s hard to tell up from down. This may be a scripture, a phrase or even an image. Write it down and study its meaning so you have clarity on what the Lord is saying. Place it where you can access it often so you don’t forget. Keep taking it back to Him for greater clarity. He’s faithful and will carry you.

As we transition, say goodbye to the old and walk into the new may we remain joyful and full of gratitude. Refrain from complaining and overthinking. Refuse to partner with fear, doubt or small-mindedness. Let God lead and trust his leading. Obey and be diligent in completing the assignments so you transition well. Cling to Jesus. He is good, faithful and trustworthy.

Scriptures to ponder

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:1-14 – Parable of the wedding feast.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26:3-4

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:18-19