There are some people that are good at spotting trends.
My daughter is that way. It seemed that when she was a teenager, she was able
to identify and be the first to embrace emerging fashion trends. That of course
meant that she was a little “ahead of the curve” sometimes -- wearing colors,
belts or even hats before they were “in”. She really didn’t seem to mind making
a fashion statement a little before things became popular with her friends or
the general population.
The ability to keenly identify change before it is fully
recognized by the rest of the populace is a great asset and something many
would aspire to have. In the world of big business, people like Mark
Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and even Donald Trump have had great financial success
because they were able to identify a growing trend in the general population
and jumped in to capitalize on it in business.
We call these changes that appear on the scene “trends”
and the people that identify and quickly embrace these trends “trendsetters”.
When the winds of change are in the air, people that are alert to such changes
pick up almost intuitively that things are changing and are better prepared to
react and either embrace or resist the change.
In the spiritual realm, there are also times when there
are “Winds of Change." If we use the general term “trends” regarding these
changes we will be apt to miss the true significance of what may be actually
happening. Often what prognosticators consider to be religious trends may in
fact be a movement that is ordained by the Holy Spirit. For example, we can look at some recent
phenomena such as the popularity of nondenominational and strongly
Biblically-oriented churches (I try to refrain from the use of the word
‘conservative’), or the success of online
discipleship tools such as YouVersion and RightNow Media using the latest technology for
the benefit of the Church. Or we could
look at the growth and success of the mega churches, which are typically culturally
relevant, utilize contemporary worship and often independent non-denominational
churches.
If we think of these changes as simply a part of our
popular culture we are apt to miss the more spiritual significance. On the
spiritual side of our culture, we categorize these large developing trends that
are breathed by the Holy Spirit as movements and occasionally even revivals.
Spiritual movements in general and revivals in particular
are of great interests to religious historians and theologians. I am
accomplished but an amateur at both of these topics; I love history and have an
advanced degree in theology. I can tell you however that there are definite
Winds of Change today. People are being
called to faith in Christ in record numbers around the world and in many
different ways, in many different venues and in the most unlikely places.
Here in the United States its been my observation that
the Body of Christ is coming together.
That may seem counter intuitive when confronted with the continuous
attacks from the liberal media as well as attacks from within (the Strange Fire
conferences or continuous attacks on TV ministries or even Catholic/Protestant
Baptist/Pentecostal. However, it is true nevertheless. More and more the Body of Christ is realizing that it is in the essential we have unity.
Another wind of change that I see is a growing number of
people that are completely surrendered to God. They, like the Apostle Paul are
“dead to self”, Paul said it best, “I have been crucified with Christ and
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live
by Faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
I daily thank God that I am meeting people in all walks of life that are not
only “dead to self” but they are also embracing the “Big C” body of Christ
rather than involved exclusively in their own traditions and denominations. These are people that are only interested in serving God. They are sometimes in
ministry but often are employed elsewhere. Together, regardless of their
occupation are fully convinced of the reality of the Kingdom of God and they
understand that their primary purpose in life is to serve God.
The Wind of Change is in the air.
