Finding Next

I Don’t Have a “Next”

“The seasons change whether you want them to or not. Winners take the memory of the old season with them they don't try to hold onto an old season.” Pastor Bob Yandian

              When I was first impressed to write this chapter by the Holy Spirit I was confused. I didn’t understand how anyone could think that there wasn’t a “next” for them. At first, I thought maybe this portion of the book was reserved for more elderly people who may be feeling that there was nothing significant left in front of them to achieve. But I believe there are more than just the elderly who may have gotten stuck in a place where they honestly can’t see a “next” for themselves.

              When the Apostle Paul was nearing the end of his life he said that “I've run my race I finished my course.” I believe that Paul got this insight from the Holy Spirit. There was nothing left that the Holy Spirit was putting in front of him and urging him to pursue.

              For the rest of us we may have either lost sight of God’s vision for us, become plateaued on our evolutionary journey or even possibly grown “dull in hour hearing.”

              Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says, “Where there is no vision the people perish.” When we don’t see a next, again it could be because we have lost sight of the vision God has given us or that we haven’t sought God afresh for how to move toward that vision during the season that we are in.

              In either case, the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, the one who helps us, will help us to grasp God’s vision for the season that we are in or the season we are entering. My pastor, Dr. Mike Maiden, said: “You can enter what you don’t see.” He went on to quote Jeremiah 1:11 when God asked Jeremiah “what do you see?” God was right there with Jeremiah helping him to see the vision for the season that was unfolding ahead of him.

              In a sermon, Pastor Sean Moore said, “We all have to keep evolving or become fossils,” and that we have to partner with God to bring forth our evolution.” He went on to ask, “Are you willing to evolve into the person that God wants you to be to enter into the reality that you see in your future?” He pointed out that evolution was necessary as “The Christian that we are today, may not be the Christian that we need to be to fulfill our assignment.” Pastor Moore also said that our evolution has a “best if used by date” and that we should “make time for our evolution” or risk missing a “Kairos moment” and find ourselves waiting for the opportunities in the cycle to “come back around” or worse, “get left behind.”

              Pastor Moore’s wife Erica, used the analogy of pesky software updates, to make the same point. She shared how we often postpone our software upgrades. When prompted to upgrade the software on our phone or computer we press delay or reject. In our journey of becoming all that God wants us to be and to evolve into, we often do the same thing. When the Holy Spirit is prompting to move forward and upgrade the quality of our relationship with Him or to move forward into the next season of what God has for us, we often reject it or select the remind me later option.

              The Bible refers to this process of ignoring the Holy Spirit, or “becoming dull of hearing.” (Matt 13:15, Heb 5:11, Acts 28:27). The cool thing is that if you have become dull of hearing, or become insensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you can choose to become sensitive again. I’m not saying that there aren’t consequences to ignoring or being insensitive to the Holy Spirit. I am saying that once you realize that this is your condition you can choose to be sensitive again.

              Your willingness to be sensitive again will be rewarded with a renewed vision for the season you are in or entering and a sense of the work, the evolution that is yet unfinished within you.