Transition is a tricky time of our life as we transit and move from one phase and one season to another. One of the challenges in raising children is when a child transits from teenage to adulthood.
The teenager is neither a child nor an adult yet. With hormones raging and tempers flaring, the teenager is desperately looking for his or her identity. Peer pressure is often a powerful controlling factor. If the teenager does not transit correctly and wisely, wrong decisions made like drug addiction, pornography, teenage pregnancies and credit card debts could prove costly and deadly. Teenagers need to be secured in a loving home with understanding parents or guardians who do not just nag at them but guide them to make wise decisions.
Transition of geographical relocation like migration to another country or change of vocation can be quite challenging too. Not forgetting those who transit from single-hood to marriage.
I came from a relatively small town called Klang, which is about an hour’s drive to Kuala Lumpur city. My sphere of existence was merely a 15 minutes bicycle ride from home to school. Being the youngest of ten children in the family, my every need was well taken care of.
After finishing pre-university, God blessed me with a place to continue my tertiary education in University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. The transition was really difficult and quite intimidating, resulting in depression. Believe it or not, I contemplated suicide during my first year in university. Praise God for a group of caring Christians in campus who helped me through during this transition.
How to Respond During Times of Transition?
Release The Past
Firstly, we must release the past.
In Joshua 1:1-2, the nation of Israel was going through a time of transition. God raised up Moses to save and deliver God’s people from bondage in Egypt. Moses was a great miracle worker and charismatic leader. God reminded Joshua that Moses was dead, meaning it was time to release Moses and the past. During the transition time, God gave Joshua new prophetic mandate, promises and new commission. Joshua was called to take the children of Israel to the Promised Land but could only do so if he
transited well.
1 Samuel 16:1 indicates another time that the nation of Israel went into a divine shift. A new king was to be anointed and appointed. King Saul had over-stayed his reign, disobeyed God and lost his shine and anointing. Prophet Samuel was like a father to King Saul. When God spoke to Samuel that He had rejected King Saul as king, Samuel began to mourn as if he had lost a son. “How long would you mourn..?” Which meant it was time to release Saul and enter a new season where God was anointing
and appointing a new king. During times of transition, our past offenses, hurts, grief, disappointments, losses and rejections can prevent us from entering into new seasons of our lives.
I was in one particular church for 14 years, starting as an ordinary member and eventually becoming the Senior Pastor. When God spoke to me that it was time to leave and resign as Senior Pastor, Christina and I struggled and debated for months.
Prior to accepting the Senior Pastoral appointment, Christina and I had travelled and ministered in many nations for 8 years. Our itinerary for each year was always full. When we took up the pastoral ministry, we lost many so-called “friends in the ministry”. When we go through difficult times and when the chips are down is when we discover who our true friends are!
While as a Senior Pastor, every Sunday there was always a place and a pulpit for us to speak regardless if there was any speaking engagement or otherwise. We were in our comfort zone. When God spoke to Christina and me individually that our season in that church was over, it was painful and difficult to release the church where we grew up spiritually and were ordained at.
After our resignation, I remembered looking at the whole year’s calendar in my diary. It was scary because there was neither speaking engagement nor any invitation for ministry.
We needed to release our past pastoral ministry and our beloved church. Praise God we obeyed and by faith trusted God to take us to another level in our walk and ministry.
God rewarded our obedience and sacrifice to pastor the church. Great and effective doors were opened to us. New nations heard about our ministry. By His grace, we have ministered in almost
40 nations. In 2007, which was last year, God sent me to Ghana and Papua New Guinea. Outstanding and awesome times of ministry have impacted cities and nations!
During the last 2 months of November and December 2007, we ministered and travelled as a family in 7 nations. In August 2007, we also had Chuck Pierce, a great prophet from America and Thomas Cherian from India in our annual International Prophetic Conference in Penang. The Penang Breakthrough Jubilee Conference impacted the nation of Malaysia as we celebrated 50 years of Independence.
God released a powerful prophetic word for Malaysia as the nation entered into an opportune time of transition. This year, in August 2008, we had the privilege and opportunity to minister and share the pulpit with Chuck Pierce and Cindy Jacobs in Surabaya, Indonesia. To God be the Glory! Amen.
Secondly, during transition, we must be acutely alert and watchful.
Let us pick up the incident in 2 Kings 2 where Elijah, the great prophet was about to be taken to heaven. It was a season of the change of guard and spiritual leadership in Israel. Elisha who was Elijah’s protégé was in great anticipation to inherit the double portion of Elijah’s spirit.
There was one condition: Elisha must see his mentor and spiritual father being taken to heaven. If Elisha was not extremely alert and watchful, he could have missed the great anointing and
destiny. The window of opportunity was very slim during this critical moment of divine change and shift.
There was a season of time, for about a few months, when Christina was awakened most mornings between 3-4am for early morning watch and prayer. She would hear her name being called, a tap on her body or a knock on the door. On many occasions she thought it was I who called her name, but I was fast asleep. Suddenly, I began to experience similar visitations. As we sought God for understanding and interpretation, God was preparing us to move into another level in our ministry and
anointing. There were spiritual battles to be fought at those early watches and also angelic activities.
Many of you would know that there is season when the Bible reading was fresh and God was speaking through His written word. Prayer was exciting and seemed to flow with great ease. Other times, prayer and Bible reading were as dry as wood. During the season of God’s visitation, we must be so alert to the
spirit world because there is a promotion and a transition to a higher level.
Thirdly, we must be ready to leave our comfort zone. All of us struggle with areas in our lives where we are very comfortable and not quite ready to change or move on. We are creatures of tradition and habits. Transition requires us not only to release the past but also to abandon areas in our lives that are familiar and predictable.
In the book of Ruth, a Moabite woman called Ruth lost her husband in Moab during famine. Famine and economic recessions can be cruel, costly and deadly. However, in Bethlehem there was a new season of harvest. Naomi, her mother-in-law decided to start afresh and move back to her hometown. In life, we can always start a new chapter. Before that, we need to close our last chapter well so that our transition to the next season is smooth and blessed.
Against all persuasion and discouragement from Naomi, Ruth took a bold step to leave her family, kindred, hometown, customs and traditions. Little did she know that God was preparing her for a great destiny as she braved herself for the unpredictable season in Bethlehem! Leaving her comfort zone paid off handsomely when she married Boaz, a godly and wealthy man. Out of their marriage, came David and the Son of David, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Messiah. In God’s economy, sometimes, our greatest loss could turn out to be our greatest gain. Amen.
Lobster
The lobster is a very interesting creation of God. It will grow to a certain size and then leave the old shell behind in order to grow further. Leaving the old shell is very risky because the lobster becomes very vulnerable and easy meat to ocean predators. However, if it chooses not to abandon its old shell, the lobster will suffocate and die. The transition time of discarding the old shell and waiting for the new one is a very tricky and risky season.
Interestingly, God has put inside the lobster the ability to take such a risk by faith. It hides itself under some huge rocks or in crevices until the new shell is formed. Praise God that the lobster goes through this transition gracefully and grows to adult size, gracing us on the Christmas dining table!
Fourthly, we must prepare for the difficult time during transition. In John 21, after Jesus resurrected and before He ascended to heaven, Peter was greatly disappointed and discouraged because Jesus did not set up His earthly kingdom where Peter and the other disciples could be given positions of honour. Peter and company decided to go fishing.
During times of waiting and transition when NOTHING seems to be happening, we must guard ourselves from discouragement and backsliding. Jesus visited them at the seashore and restored
Peter back into ministry.
Remember, it is when the ocean is at its lowest ebb, that the tide changes. It is when we are down to nothing that God is up to something on our behalf!
Peter’s time happened during Pentecost. Acts 2 began with a mighty visitation of the Holy Spirit that sparked off revival and world mission. Peter and the other apostles were groomed and prepared for such times as these.
Waiting time and transition time are not wasted time. Hallelujah! Persevere and don’t give up when you feel like giving up.
There is a wonderful story of the only man who survived a ship wreck. Marooned on a lonely island away from civilization, he desperately called for help. He did everything he could but to no avail. Giving up any hope of being rescued, he resigned himself to the fact that he might as well make good use of his talents for survival.
For more than a year, he laboured hard to build himself a comfortable house. One evening after he returned from a fishing trip, to his utter dismay, his house was burnt to ashes. When night fell, this discouraged being, lodging in a many “stars hotel” looked to the sky, wondering what the future held.
As the day broke, he noticed a ship moving towards his direction. He asked the Captain, “Sir, how did you know that I was in this lonely island seeking for rescue?’. The Captain replied, “Didn’t you send the smoke signal?”
Do not give up when you feel like giving up, especially when you are passing through transition.