It has been an outstanding time for The Assemblies of God Cook Islands celebrating our Jubilee Celebration Conference, writes Paul Kauri, the General Superintendent of Cook Islands Assemblies of God Church.

We hosted two churches from Tahiti and Moorea, with representatives from the Pa Enua churches and with speakers both local and international.

During our celebrations, we received an unexpected Word, but a word that now seems so obvious. The Word was “A Seismic Shift” meaning that God was causing “A Seismic Shift” in people for the season ahead. As I pondered this Word further, the following five examples came to mind, I pray they may benefit you, to know “what to do” and “what not to do” should you find yourself in a season of shift.
 

A shift in a city – Genesis 19:16 & 26 (Lot’s family and wife)

It is clear from verse 16 that Lot and his family hesitated when warned of the fate to come to the city of Sodom. It was difficult for them to leave what they knew, despite the Lord’s warning. And as we know Lot’s wife looked back when they were instructed not to. Their reluctance to leave the familiar and her disobedience to the Word of The Lord to not look back caused her immediate death.

So what can we learn from this?

1. Don’t look back when God has called us forward – Isaiah 43:18, 19 –

 Forget the ‘former things do not dwell in the past, See, I am doing a New Thing’

• Obey the Word of the Lord, and make sure it is the Word of the Lord!

A shift in a nation – Numbers 13:30-33 (The 10 spies)

Twelve men went into Canaan to spy out the land. Ten came back and gave a bad report, except Joshua and Caleb. Verse 33 reveals a key insight for us to learn from. The 10 reported, “We seemed like grasshoppers in our eyes, and we looked the same to them!”

The way they saw themselves is the way that others saw them!

So what can we learn from this?

1. Don’t look to youto achieve a God size task! Don’t look at your strength, your skills, your resources, your bank account to achieve what God has called you to do. Only God can achieve a God size task.
2. Change the way you see yourselfto the way God sees you. You are called to be royalty, so stop selling yourself cheap. Live a life worthy of this Holy Call!

A shift in kingdoms – Judas Iscariot

All the Jewish people (Judas Iscariot included) were waiting for the Promised Messiah to restore the kingdom back to Israel. Under King Solomon, Israel was at the peak of its power and wealth. Kings and Queens sought audience with Solomon and gold and silver were as common as stones (2 Chron 1:15). The Promise of God spoken through the prophets was that The Messiah would establish His Kingdom, which was understood by the Jews to mean Israels liberty from the Roman Empire to Israel ruling again!

This sheds light on John’s question, if Jesus was the one or should they expect another? (Matt 11). It explains why in Matt 28:17 “some of the 11 disciples doubted” despite all that had happened. It also explains why in Acts 1:6 – the disciples asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”  Judas was in fact trying to corner Jesus to act on the Promise of God and establish Israel’s reign. But Jesus did not, to which Judas full of remorse confessed to betraying an innocent man.

Judas looked at the promises of God and tried to hold the Lord ransom to what He said through the Prophets. Paul the apostle had a different attitude when he exhorted Timothy to remember the prophetic words spoken over him, not to hold the Lord to ransom of what He promised, but rather to use those words to fight his battle! (1 Tim 1: 18). The Promises of God are not given so we can hold God ransom, to keep His Promises. Rather they are given in order to hold us when the winds blow, the rains fall, the flood rises, and the battle rages. His Word holds us during the storms

So what can we learn from this?

1. Don’t hold God ransom to His Promises – you’ll only disappoint yourself.
2. Allow His Promises to hold you, when the wind, rain and floods of adversity battle against you.

A shift in heart – Paul the Apostle

Paul the Apostle lookedat the law of God, and thought he was serving God by observing it, until he received the Revelation of Jesus on his way to Damascus. What a shift for Paul, to think the very thing he was doing was actually opposing the God He loved! Paul counted all he had achieved as a Pharisee under his own zeal and effort, as “utter rubbish” in comparison to knowing Christ, yet we know that God used Paul’s knowledge to write almost half of the New Testament.

So what can we learn from this?

1. We can never rest on the reliance of what we have learnt about God or His Word.
2. We must be in the constant Revelation of Jesus and the great work He is doing! He said that it was upon this Rock of Revelation that He would build His Church (Matt 16:18&19)

It’s from this place of His Revelation that we can Trust the God who is shifting us.

The one who shifts us – Jesus

We can rest in the knowledge that it is Jesus who is shifting us, and He also modelled for us the best response when God is shifting us.

• He Shifted by Surrendering to our Father’s Will
• He Surrendered at the creation of the World where he chose to be crucified. - Rev 13:8
• He Surrendered at His conception to be Born of a Virgin - Isaiah 7:14
• He Surrendered to God at 12 years old by submitting to his parents - Lk 2:51-52
• He Surrender to God throughout his ministry, it started when he honoured his mother at the wedding in Cana - John 2
• He Surrendered to God in the Garden of Gethsemane
• He Surrendered His Spirit on the cross
• He Surrendered at His Ascension so that Holy Spirit could come.

Jesus modelled how to respond in a season where God is shifting us, it is to surrender to The Father’s Will. It’s easier said than done but at the heart of the matter it comes down to trusting God, that enables us to Surrender to Him. Trusting in God with all our heart, and not leaning on our own understanding is often easier to quote than do, but it is necessary in this relationship with The Lord.

Did you ever stop to consider, that the greatest battle in all history and all the ages to come, which was won by Jesus on the cross, was not won by confronting the devil?

Rather, it was won by His Surrender to the Father.

Selah.