For almost 50 years of ministry, I have heard the prophetic community tell us we are on the verge of something new. They use terms like a new anointing, new alignment, new generation, new move, a new season, change is coming, there is a shift in the heavenlies and God is about to do a new thing. Others have told us God is raising up a new company. I don’t recall how many new companies I’ve heard about over the past 50 years. There have been at least a dozen or more that come to mind.
This growing chorus of change seems to be getting louder and louder. However, by the time one word regarding change is given, another has already replaced it.
This all begs the question: Are these genuine words or just the earnest desire of those longing for some type of recognition in the prophetic community? While the answer may well be yes to both of these possibilities, there is also a third one to consider.
Just the other day, I was reading Paul’s letter to the Romans where he tells us, “The anxious longing of creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. … For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Rom. 8:19, 22, NASB). Not only does Paul tell us that all of creation is in labor, but he goes on to state, “And not only this, but also we ourselves … groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (v. 23.)
I believe what we are hearing from our prophetic brethren is the groaning and longing of those who yearn for the fullness of God’s purpose to be revealed. This deep longing is being expressed through them in a variety of ways and words. They are feeling and sensing what creation is going through and can sympathize and identify with it. While not content to settle for things the way they are, they are voicing their frustration and longing through these cries of change.
I have never held to the belief that God is forever updating and changing His plans as though His former plans were failing. It has always troubled me to hear that God is about to do something new, which implies He wasn’t doing it that way before.
Take, for instance, “a new anointing for evangelism.” Does that mean all of a sudden God has had a change of mind regarding the lost? I don’t think so! His longing to seek and save the lost has no variation whatsoever.
There is no doubt in my mind that we, along with the rest of creation, have not yet fully seen all that God has prepared for us. While I don’t pretend to know all that is implied by Paul’s phrase “the sons of God,” I do know that it is not a new company that will proudly strut their spiritual superiority before the rest of the body of Christ.
The day is rapidly dawning in which we will see all our longings, desires and groanings realized, which will be “the redemption of our bodies.” The birth pangs are definitely intensifying and becoming more frequent with each passing day.
Until that day, let’s patiently bear with those who can’t fully articulate what they are feeling other than to say, “I’m sensing something is about to change.”
