All About Zakah for Muslim Americans - Dr. Main Alqudah [https://www.guidance...
Divine Process
1. Divine Process
Stay in the Process
There is continual change in the world today and we are trying to keep
pace with man's inventiveness. The increase in technology is prolific
and it has spawned a race that as soon as new technology arrives on
the market, it is duplicated and improved on. The demand for
interactive and reality performance products are on the increase and
that has opened new markets to maximize entertainment with more
advanced and bizarre programming. The emphasis is about
appearance and people's desire to find acceptance drives this frenzy. It
is becoming more difficult to keep up with the pace of change.
This has also affected Political and International boundaries as well as
the way we do business transactions today. National boundaries are
being re-forming as well as economies are going through a remodeled
process with the realization that no economy will ever be safe again.
These changes affect not only the way we live, but also have an affect
the way we think. We are learning new ways to coupe with all the
changes in our world. Our human instinct is to rebuff and avoid
anything remotely looking like change. I have found that most people
profoundly dislike transition and this will cause them to do the most
amazing things in order to not have to go through any change at all.
We often quote the scripture concerning Abraham (Heb. 11:8) being
led out without knowing where he was going and simply trusting the
Lord to lead him in the right way to bring him to the place that the
Lord had purposed for him. Abraham saw the transition as an
adventure into the unknown of God with all the risks that an uncharted
life can deliver. Change challenges our hearts and the status quo. It
makes us feel vulnerable since this is its very nature and for most, this
is where the battle begins for many.
Everyone someday will have this adventure thrust upon them and then
it will be their turn to take the journey of faith. This is where God has
His road map and past knowledge of how we have dealt before is
useless and incapable of helping us through this time of transition. The
directions for the new journey are filled out on a daily basis as we go.
This is known as death by installments - the slow death of our mind-
sets, our attitudes, perceptions, and paradigms with apparently
nothing obvious to take their place. We only realize the replacement
2. once we have completed our journey, so experience always comes
first.
If we are to journey with the Lord into new areas of transition, we
have to make time to reflect and review where we are and where we
have come from. Our road map to faith must be kept up to date and
relevant for those following us. There is a death process to be worked
through in transition. Future fruit comes from present death (see Jon.
12:24).
The Holy Spirit will, if we allow Him, teach us how to be present to the
moment with the Lord in our journey. There is great consciousness of
the Lord's presence in transition that could be so fulfilling if we will
allow Him to show us. We need not be afraid since the battle we fight
in transition is the "Battle for the Peace". This will be our greatest
battle and once we break through and experience the Peace, then it
becomes our greatest ally in times of transition. The knowledge that
the Lord is compelling us and going ahead of us through this divine
process is frightening but so calming. To the adrenaline junkie like
myself it has been awesome to feel the wind blow through my hair
from the challenges I have faced and yet I am not screaming, but at
peace, knowing He is in control. For me to be alive to God in this
experience I have had to surrender to Him and to all that He allows in
His wisdom. What He is allowing in His wisdom He could easily prevent
by His power. If you enjoy God's life, you cannot fear change. Where
He is present, resistance has died. And this death liberates us to
experience the adventure of the new things He has ordained for us to
walk in. (EPH 2:10)
We accept the risk knowing that the very Life of Christ empowers us
and lives in us and He indwells us with His gifts, fresh anointing and
multiple challenges in our faith so that He can reveal His Love to us.
His nature will allow us to have struggles and battles with no thought
but that His intercession and love will shield us from the enemy. (LUKE
22:31-32) The Lord never changes and this is part of His nature where
He is so faithful and unchanging that we always know exactly where
we are with Him. His desire is for us to walk in that same unchanging
nature that has been imparted to us to walk in. The Lord is not moved
by change since He is unchanging but He causes radical change to
those persons and situations close to Him. Find your meaning and
purpose in Him and your journey in transition will become a joy, since
everything begins and ends in Him. - Transition gives Life to those
who take it!