You can't have one without the other

On Wednesday night, Ps Andrew shared his concept of 'Unleashed!', and gave us a range of examples of people who were unleashed including Jesus, Moses and Gideon.

While he was sharing this, it struck me that unleashing cannot occur without change.

There must be change in some form to have true unleashing this year.

This change may occur in the one or more of the following areas:

* Change of thoughts
* Change of perspective
* Change of actions
* Change of opportunities
* Change of restrictions (whether self-imposed or external)
* Change of circumstances

For some, change is effortless. For others, change is extremely difficult and just plain scary!

I thought I'd look into change a bit more, and found these interesting insights into change.

It the book, “Managing personal change”, the statement is made:

“Change is like a rock thrown into a pond. It ripples through your life causing disruption, excitement, distress, and sometimes crisis. Your usual ways of doing things and your plans for the future can come into question. In place of clarity, change brings uncertainty and transition. This disruption is not only in your mind. It can affect you physically and even make you ill. It can also affect your emotions, especially your feelings about yourself.”

Herodotus from the fifth century says, "Disease always attacks people when they are exposed to change"

When we start changing our actions, our thoughts or our perspectives, there may be temporary feelings of uncertainty and anxiety and even frustration while we transition. Similarly, when we are presented with new opportunities that we step into, there may be feelings of insecurity, inadequacy and fear.

I think we need to be realistic about the impact that being unleashed will have on our lives. Allowing God to unleash us is absolutely the best thing we can do this year! But we also have to be cognisant of the "ripples" that this big rock will create when thrown into our lives - so that we can, with God's help, manage the ripples.

To manage the ripples, we should:

1. Spend regular time with God. We need to recalibrate our purpose, direction and steps with God's plans for our lives. (See my blog on this here). This will give us certainty on God's work in our lives in times of change.

2. We need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Look after our bodies physically by eating properly and exercise. This will help reduce the risk of disease because we're giving our body the nutrients and oxygen it needs.

3. Get plenty of rest. When you are tired, your immune system finds it harder to resist disease AND you are so much more vulnerable to an attack from the devil. When you are tired, you are more likely to compromise, feel like giving up, or have a stinking attitude to the great work God is doing in your life.

4. Have regular connection. Proverbs says "2 are better than 1, because if one falls down, the other can pick him up". Establish strong friendships with people where you can spur each other on to push through the transition" That's why small groups and growth groups are vital to our journey of being unleashed this year!

God is in the business of change. The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.