Jun 18
DISCIPLINE: The SECOND PHASE of TRANSITION
Discipline, the second phase of Transition is the most difficult phase and, like it or not, can last months or even years. That is precisely why it takes discipline. Not only will you have to keep your eyes on the vision ahead, you will have to navigate through the land mines of discouragement the enemy will lob your way. Consequently, you will actually determine the length of the delay. Few there are who will go through this phase unscathed. Fewer still who do not end up blaming someone or something else for the delay.
The courageous will look toward themselves before they blame others and realize the peripheral issues were not the problem. The thread of truth that God is addressing lies within ourselves; no matter what the external problem might seem to be.
THE MAGNETIC PULL
In this phase the magnetic pull of our “tomorrow” seems to be contrary to the circumstances of our life and/or the situations we find our self in. These outside events may even seem to war against God’s call, but it is all a part of God’s preparation for our transition. During the Discipline stage we are taught to overcome the last of our weaknesses that will limit our success on the other side of transition. We cannot become what God created us to become if we do not let go of the baggage that will drown us in the waters ahead.
Even if we are not overjoyed at the thought of transition, we eventually begin to feel like we just want to get it over with. So many matters seem out of our control. This is just where God wants us to be – out of our control. Once we give up the need to control our destiny, God looses us to go there.
THE DISCIPLINE OF “BEING”
Here we also learn the discipline of “being” where we are. The act of “being” keeps our focus on today. In “being” we learn not to overlook the mundane of today for the supposed joy of tomorrow. The Bible calls this “occupy,” and it is hard to keep doing, but it does build leadership in us.
WHEN GOD IS SILENT
Yes, as is often the case, in the discipline phase God does seem to be silent – why? Because, we have yet to fulfill the last thing He directed us to do. It is not necessarily disobedience; it is usually a matter of timing or finishing the process needed for the transition to occur. In either case, here we learn a major attribute of broad leadership – a double dose of patience!
For the prophetically gifted – this is a true “death to self” process and there are no short cuts. For those so gifted, I empathize, it is hard to see the future and then have to wait for it to come.
The next post will be on “The Delight of Transition”
Blessings,
John Paul
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Thanks for sharing with us the wise counsel of one who has been there. May we all navigate well this transitional phase of God’s amazing plan for our lives.
Z
Could you give some real life examples or stories of these things? Or even better, some of your own personal experiences? I think it would bring a lot more clarity and understanding.
Interesting what you’re sharing at this time, our family and our church are going through a transition stage that is so difficult and painful it’s like ‘Lord help I want to be somewhere else or I’d like to be transported to the future’… The ‘being’ is the hard bit JP, I guess what you’re saying is, deal with the issues of right now .. ‘Patience’ in the storm is normally excrutiatingly painful, but like you say there are no short cuts for us only the one step at a time pilgrimage of our lives.
Blessings!
“For the prophetically gifted – this is a true “death to self” process and there are no short cuts. For those so gifted, I empathize, it is hard to see the future and then have to wait for it to come.”
This I can relate to. I see where God wants to take me, but the waiting is hard, and at times the things I go through want to tell me I’ll never get there. The beauty in that is, because I have seen it, I know that I will make it there, and the only thing that can stop me is me.
“Few there are who will go through this phase unscathed.”
Isn’t the point of this phase to BE scathed? (Is that a word?) It seems to me the whole point of this phase is to rid you of what you have brought from the past, let you adjust to the past being history, and fit you for your future. If you were ready for your future, there would be no need for this phase, yes?
I neglected to ask, but you were kind enough to answer anyway, if there was anything we could do to prolong or accelerate this process. It seems like staying focused on what God has asked us to get done is the key. F O C U S.
Gotta go. Things to do so I can get on with this thing!!!
I appreciate all y’all!!!
After the “Delight” phase, do we get a post on the “You’ve crossed the Jordan and are now in your destiny” phase? Is there anyone on that side? It seems like we’re all over here on the desert side.
” Not only will you have to keep your eyes on the vision ahead, you will have to navigate through the land mines of discouragement the enemy will lob your way.”
I am navigating through a mine field at the moment. Tell me John Paul, when that issue you need to overcome is how to handle conflict, how do you navigate through it? I spend all my energy trying to avoid conflict and trying to stay out of trouble, because I dont know how to handle conflict and get really fearful when I have to deal with an issue with someone. I start shaking and go into trauma-land! So how to you get through that mine field in tact and more whole than when you went in. It’s the hurdle I need to jump. Inner healing needed.
Thank-you John Paul for your obedience to the Spirit of the Living God. I believe that this blog is one of the blue-prints from heaven for leaders today. It is a blue-print of preparation and tracking. It is God’s homing device so people can track where they are and where they are going in the Holy Ghost.
It seems to coincide with the events that are happening in Lakeland, Florida and all over the world and personally in our life and ministry. I have been in the discipline of transition for the longest time. Primariy, because the Lord was putting into position some divine order into my personal/spiritual life and my family life.
At the same time the Lord himself was also preparing me on the inner man through formal and informal training over the years in order to hear Him more for the finer details and it is still growing.
I have spent many years in this desert and the desert had actually become a place of comfort, ironically to the point that, the desert started to feel like a room in the “Kings Palace” (lol), until one day the Lord took the blinder’s off of my eyes, and I started to see………
Because of this formation/inner transformation, I have a desire to impart to other’s what God has done through me especially in leader’s that were once victims of domestic violence, children who were survivors of these families, especially those who have and are rearing children with special needs and of course christian woman who had to carry the cross of single-parenting for a “particular” season of their lives.
I believe that I am at a place where there is an actual graduation into the next phase of my life which is delight of ministry, mission and purpose.
I have been in divine delay to the point that I am feeling a magnetic pull to the next phase of my life which is the transferring of all the things that I have learnt while in the desert to this third phase that you are about to talk about. It seems that this pull has increased since I have joined this blog and since I have been following the Outpouring in Lakeland, Florida. Please pray for us as we make this transition from the desert into the third phase. Thank-you for being obedient when you picked up the phone the day you listeing to the radio when Ruth Ward Heflin gave that prophetic word, year’s ago!
Blessings To You Always!
Shirley C.
the joy of being crushed in the wine press of the Fathers loving hand to be baked in the fire of His love and come out shining in His glory the best of times and the worst of times He brought me into a broad place and delights in me and you,Take courage you will live in the secret place and be weighed in the scales and not be found wanting more of you Father more of your love more of your power grace grace grace grace grace thank you Father we,i surrender yet again blow winds blow to be what you have called us to be lovers of the Father and lovers one to another love is patient resting in the arms of Jesus as He carries us from glory to glory line upon line Shalom
Well now you’ve confirmed it! It’s discipline for me! I really don’t want to spend 40 more years going around the mountain waiting for the promise. Thanks for the language and insight, John Paul. I recognize what it is He’s doing in me and my family, and we’re getting after it. I see now after reading this installment the matter in our lives He is addressing, where we are in process, and I also see we are getting closer to the end phase. (Thank You God!)
So… as I’m writing this, a fox just ran across my lawn. Foxes have come to represent the presence of theives in our life. My family will not be robbed of the promise! And the justice we’ve cried out for will surely come!
I have found it so difficult at times to do the “BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD,” part. And yet, that seems to be what He speaks to me most and when He speaks to me most. A little whirlwind now and then would be nice … at least to my way of thinking, it seems so… I’m thankful He knows best.
Oh dear! Could this blog post describe my position any more clearly?
Ugh…this phase seems to drag on forever. I’ve been here for at least several years now…quite frankly I feel like I’ve had enough. God is strangely silent about what direction I am going in, what I need to do and any other thing I seem to seek Him about.
Why does He show us glimpses of our call or our future only to dangle it like a carrot with no fulfillment in sight? Seems almost like a cruel exercise. I know our Father isn’t cruel, but as a child receives discipline it sure seems that way. Talk about making a heart sick!
I know that the natural/sinful shell I live in needs major death in order to contain the Glory and Light I desire to carry and impart. Just kill me already! Ugh.
Thanks, once again, John Paul, for your insightful post.
I cannot even begin to say how much this post means to me. I am definitely at the complete death to self phase. It’s amazing, all the ugly things the Lord can bring out of a person to help them stay on the right path. I know what the end results will be, if I can just make it through the minefield.
But I have learned so much I needed to know through this process. Like someone wrote in the comments of the last post, I’ve always drifted by on my natural gifts and abilities, why study when you can get good grades without. Why practice my instrument when I improve without trying. Of course, now I know why, but the lack of discipline in my earlier life has become a great trial that I must overcome. Most days I feel like an utter failure, but the Lord is good to show me that I have been moving forward, despite what I might think. Knowing this is a necessary step into getting to the “delight” is very helpful and hopeful.
“…it is hard to see the future and then have to wait for it to come.”
I agree with you John Paul. I have also come to understand the difference between seeing the future and what it takes to live the future. It’s always more than the last vision and it’s conquest. It always takes all one can even when one thinks he can’t anymore. It always takes one further than one thought he could go.
It pushes, it breaks, it crushes and grinds, it kills and goes and goes and goes…until it is impossible to break down any further. Now one is at powder state and in that state no one besides God can do anything to destroy it further. Now one is fighting hard for dear life!
Now the enemy (irrespective of the source and nature and not necessarily the devil, but inclusive) is defeated, because now there is nothing that can be done that will make it worst. Anything that is thrown at us is like an empty soda can in a fighting pit bulls mouth - it’s easily crushed.
It comes to a point where there is no more impossible, because even if one physically died, it would only get better…Fear disipates…
That’s how I feel when I fall into the hands of the living God and survive to tell the story…
God Bless!
Thanks for sharing on transition it has spread light on things I am going through. Transition has been very difficult yet at the sametime rewarding. Finding out how not disciplined I am when I always seemed to have been so disciplined is very hard. What is strange that no matter how hard and painful the changes in transition have been I find my self more in love with my heavenly Father than ever before and really understanding how much He truely loves and cares for me. He is helping me to make the changes in the areas that I need more of Him and less of me. Knowing that this process is necessary to get into the delight gives me hope and helps me to release some of the things I need to release. Understanding takes away the confusion. Thanks.
Imagine the wonder of having the Prophet of the day come and anoint you to be King of a nation. Here you are just a little shepherd boy with siblings who have greater strength and ability than you.
Now the Prophet has moved on.
You kill a menacing giant and gain hero status.
Don’t let pride get ahold of you.
You befriend the current King and support and love him. Things appear to be going great!
But envy shows its ugly head and the current king wants to kill you because you are a threat to his rule.
So you spend years running around in the wilderness letting the Lord remove character traits that are nothing like Him. Even when you have the opportunity to end the ruthless pursuit of your life, you choose instead to let God deal with it.
At times you pray things like,
Lord, where are you? I don’t even know if You are following what I am going through. Do you want to see your servant destroyed?
And He answers in 2Sa 7.9
The Word is full of examples of the painful process of pruning to make one more fruitful. With such loving care the master examines each branch and knows how and what to cut.
Fashioned in the furnace of Holy Fire, we will become free of the impurities that would blemish the finished work. Fire will cleanse what water cannot.
Blessings to you all and may we understand why the Lord does what He does in our lives.
David
I see the discipline stage as death to self: dealth to self-sufficiency where clinging to Him becomes reality. Are we getting close when all restlessness is gone? All desire is for Him alone?
HELLO John Paul I would have agree with Andrew I dont walk in the area that this blog is speaking about. My primary giftedness is giving and hospiyality. HUGS
Hi JP,
You asked for an “UGH” in your e-newletter: here it is… U G H ! ! !
I am soooo here right now! It is at the same time exhilarating when contemplating the possibilities of the future, and terrifying when I fear missing out on God’s plan for my life—and disheartening when I realize I may be leaving family and home—and frustrating, while I’m waiting…and waiting…and waiting…ad nauseum. Sometimes I feel like just going to hoe in the potato patch. LOL.
The really hilarious thing is that several years ago I “thought I knew it all.” I believed I pretty much knew what the Bible said and taught. Church was just a repetition of what I already knew. Blah. Blah. Blah. Then – WHAMMO!! The sky opened up!!!
And now I know how little I know, and I’ve a feeling I’ll find out I know even less, and less, and less as time goes on. But that’s okay. Because that means that HE WHO KNOWS IT ALL is in charge. I am awed and undone. Uplifted. Blessed and blasted in HIS PRESENCE.
Thanks for your BLOG. You are a blessing to me on my journey. I have learned much “at your feet” over the past few years. You are MUCH appreciated. Keep up THE Good Work. More thanks and heaps of blessings. Prayin’ for ya. ;-)))
This entire presentation on transition is the best description I have heard/read of my walk with God. After my mother died within in two weeks God infomred me I would move. I did not know if that meant fromm my home, my community, the state or nation, did it mean I would change jobs or what. I argued I did not want to move from my home site as it had been my sanctuary for 16 years. Then much turmoil occured with family and work. Periodically God would remind I was moving/leaving. this went on for 4 years and 2 months. I had come to the point I was praying versions of the Jabez prayer daily for 2 months. Then God told me I was to resign from my job on Monday and this was early FRiday morning. Everytime I argued with God I was tense and greatly unsettled. Everytime I agreed to follow his lead I had tremendous peace and calmness about me. . I followed God’s lead and he continued to reassure me he was guiding me. This included moving to another part of the state, anew job that gave me my first pay check the following week of my old job as they stretched out my vacation pay. There were many detaisl God worked out that became a testimony to those I left behind and my new co-workers. God was getting everything ready but it took time for me to ready to say Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Yes Lord. Thnks for your sharing.
So John Paul, you’re killin’ me. PLEASE… where’s the delight? What does it feel like? When does it come? My soul (that’s in discipline!) wants to know.
I’ve just been talking to people about this topic and what was shared here on this blog. I didn’t even know what was going to be shared but here I am receiving confirmation that I am right where I am suppose to be. And yes, it’s extremely difficult to see the end result, to see what the Lord will accomplish and then have to wait and be obedient today and make sure I do what’s required for today that will make what I see become a reality in the now…hopefuly sooner then later.
JP–Thank you for your recent blogs and God Bless to everyone on this blog.
To me this is a very difficult phase because of the disorientation that comes with, or as a result of, choosing to let go of what I have held onto in the past. I no longer have a sense of who I am, what I am supposed to be doing, where I am going. One of the greatest struggles for me in this phase has been learning how to be without doing. It is so tempting to try and slip some practices from the old ways in under some sheep skins. No matter how much I attempt to rationalize it to myself, the Holy Spirit never lets me trick myself and I know I am just delaying the inevitable, or, I should say, the merciful fate God wants me to embrace.
I most deeply struggle with the spiritual pouting I am so prone to. Like a little 2 year old I say, “Fine God, you say, don’t rely on what you do to “be” in me, I won’t do anything…anything at all.” So, I stop the process of discipline and just sit. In my heart of hearts, I know He wants me moving forward, even if I can’t see it for being forward. Most importantly, He wants me to keep moving. He wants me to continue to act, but, learn to “be in Him” and act at the same time. We cannot do it ourselves, but, we have to learn to truly let him use us as instruments. Unless we can realize that only complete submission to His will allows Him this kind of control, we will never truly give him control of what I think St. Francis intended with his “Make me an instrument of your peace” prayer.
I think I’m truly in this phase. Yet I seem to fear that hopelessness of not making it to the other side. I do realize it is He that takes me their as I lean on my beloved and trust His leadership. Tonight I told my family I cant do this right in the middle of worship. Then I got in my car and cried out to Him. Oh sweet death may it come quickly that I may embrace it fully and release every remnant of striving and find Shalom in the wait. I’m desperate, I’m lovesick I say yes Lord have all of me.I surrender, but even that is futile striving without Him.
Hey Joel……….WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE !
Be encouraged friend..
blessings to you and your family,
Tiffany
Interesting Commentary…Yes transition can be diffucult I have gone past my trirty years in HISService and It seems these last five years have beeb different than any Phases before as this time He said do you trust me..It wasa time for New Beginnings for sure…However it was also a serious time of Stripping away.
At This juncture, it seems we the Remnant of YAHweh are seeing the revealing of much that was veiled.
Even a “coming out of Her” The Christology of ROME~ Much like Abraham, the MASTER” is Purging the Harlotry handed down through the Protestant daughters of Rome.
It is Not a time for foolishness,…It is However a Time to get back to Biblical Basics.
…”We MUST experience the Loss of all things to Gain the greatness of YAHshua”
Shalom Aleichem ~http://Shekinahlifecenter.com
Lastly::: “When you cannot find the Man of YAHweh, Then become the Man of YAHweh
Who would think that spinning around in circles would be forward progress? It is progress when it is a helical spin. Each time around the higher we go, like the threads on a bolt, or the wire on a spring.
In the physical it looks like we are back where we started but with spiritual eyes we can see that we have moved higher. Another dimension starts to come into focus.
Thanks JP for the helical insight on one of your teachings.
Blessings,
David
I must be in the Discipline of Being stage….there are a few relationships I would like to bail out of but the Lord said, “He that endures to the end”. When He spoke that word to me, it was 9 years ago. My sister-in-law just died of cancer and her son is acting out in ways that are ruining our family’s reputation. This is getting too heavy for me !!!
I’m glad you have left this post up for so long because it forces me to think about it longer. And, the longer I think about it, the more I realize I need to hear it. For a type-A personality like myself “being” is something close to the term ‘impossible.’ I know it must be do-able so like all other projects I furrow my brow and set out to ‘accomplish’ “being.”
My spouse thinks I’m wierd to have a constantly active brain. I don’t understand how my spouse can just sit and be still. After being ‘forced’ to wait in between two Dr. appointments this week I realized just how much I do not live in the moment. In reality, all I have is this moment. The last moment is gone and my next moment may never come. I realized I’m living my whole life in the future! I find this a strange ability we are endowed with. How can we be alive and not living? How can we be in the future and not in the present?
When the stress of transition seems to be crushing I realize that this moment I’m in right now isn’t so bad. But, oh how horrible it is to think of every possible action and outcome for all the directions I can take during this transition! My life is right now. My life is not imaginations of what could, should, or will be. I’m beginning to find that God truly is “I AM” which means ‘right now.’
The silence of God concerning my future has at times consumed my every waking thought. The patience required is excruiciating but He is not deaf and He is not mute. He is good and He will speak when appropriate. Maybe I should quit asking about tomorrow and see what He says today? Humm.
One of Those
I just saw Kung Fu Panda and I would say that movie sums this topic up fairly well! It is a very timely movie!
In Job 29:3 we see an awesome promise, “When his candle shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness.” The Lord has given us a victorious key to walk through life, it is His light - the illumination of God’s word in us. That is relation with our bible we carry to church every sunday.
Often times in reading the bible, the Holy spirit illuminates our understanding, i have found that going through life with knowledge is far easier & better than having none, having said that i think transitions are much easier to bear if more knowledge is known. Then we would be more full of faith, hope & the Life of God. This could easily kill many enemies along the way.
And the Lord would stand outside the church, knocking on the door to come in and sup with us to have a great time in the Word with His own. We lose big in this life when we fail to apprehend this great opportunity. Everyday God is speaking, but we tend to be dull to His voice. If only we partake of His manna daily, we would have a better today & perhaps missed the many detours that bring unfortunate issues.
I am truly touched by what you said about “When God Is Silent” I was wondering why I haven’t herd from him lately.You explained it well when you said you must have not completed the task that he has set before you, and that is truly correct, I am in the process of completing it. I ask sometime I want to hear from him the same way i did when he gave me the assignment,all the more if it’s my first one like this.I can truly say yes, transitions are real and sometime the feeling can be overwhelm but once we are in this is the greatest joy of all until the next one.