SPIRITUAL CHANGE CONTROL

Why Did He Do This?

How Did He Do It? What Did He Use?

By Belinda Payne

Summer is approaching, and many of us are ready for change but unsure of how to recognize and embrace change. I worked in the IT department of my company for over ten years. One of our major implementation projects involved what was called change control. Change control was a systematic approach to managing all changes to our computer products and IT systems. Whether we liked being made accountable to others or not, this change control process was valuable, sustainable, and effective.

Our change control process included regularly scheduled meetings using tracking documents. All team members were responsible for coordinating and communicating their application system build because it impacted multiple environments. This change control process aimed to minimize or mitigate the risks of unknown, unnecessary, and at-risk system changes without considering the impact on other applications and platforms.

It is not uncommon to think these types of processes, such as change control, were created to be solely used by corporate entities. However, change control rules apply to us and will help us thrive in everyday dealings. When Jesus called forth and formed His team of twelve disciples, He introduced them to the change control process. So, you see, the corporate world did not invent change control.

Did Jesus have a reason for using change control, and if so, why did He do this? How did Christ do it? And what did He use to implement change?

Why? Christ knew the disciples, and we, too, would need to know that change is inevitable and would impact our ability to thrive. How? Jesus established clear guidelines and objectives based on the desired outcomes of His Heavenly Father. What? He used scheduled and emergency meetings, Divine strategies, and scribes to document the changes they encountered on parchments.

Jesus knew that all creation would one day rely upon the accuracy and authenticity of the disciple’s valuable, sustainable, and effective work to build their faith in Him as Christ’s Son and the Savior of humanity. But get this! The disciples received bonus teaching! They learned God, the Father, is the greatest proponent of change. God engineers and ushers in change to promote, restore, or lift us out from under and into the brand-new.

Let’s take this up a notch further!

Even if you do not consider yourself religious, you may believe in spirituality, meaning being concerned with the spirit of humanity or the soul of an individual. When we blend that, we get spiritual change control which teaches us how to govern and navigate our spiritual lives amidst our natural circumstances. Spiritual change means the change is Divinely inspired to alter, modify or replace something. God’s Divine power works to make something or someone different from its current state. Because God is a Spirit, His involvement in the Change defines it as Spiritual Change Control. Spiritual Change is planned, inevitable, systemic, and controlled.

Jeremiah 29:10-11 (AMPC) says, “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”That means God controls the change from start to finish.

God decided to replant his people from their current home to a new land where they were unfamiliar with the customs for seventy years. He told the people to plant gardens, vineyards, build houses, pro-create, and worship even though they had no temple. The parents were to teach and train their children about God and live life to the fullest. And here’s the kicker! There was no blessing outside the plan! Even if they did not like the plan God designed. It was still part of the spiritual change!

Isaiah 43:19 (KJV) says, “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” That means spiritual change is inevitable

When we read in the scriptures that God says, “I will do, now it shall, I will even,” all that describes the certainty of God making something different, and it will require us to conform, adapt, and get in harmony with God’s change. Sometimes the change is swift, and what was not, now is, and what was, now is not! In our mind the change happen suddenly. But our Creator was already thinking and structuring a strategic plan in heaven yet, He had not manifested it on earth. Stay alert and present so you do not miss the change and shift occurring in and around you.

Mark 15:37-38 (AMP) says, “But Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed out His last [voluntarily, sovereignly dismissing and releasing His spirit from His body in submission to His Father’s plan]. And the veil [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” That means spiritual change is systemic. The crucifixion of Christ ushered in a universal change on the earth because it affected all creation and earthly systems. The veil served as a partition that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, which only the high priest could enter on the Day of Atonement; it was torn from top to bottom when Christ released His spirit from His body on the cross. Renting the veil signified a systemic spiritual change had occurred, and God the Father changed the entire way of being forgiven of sin. Now, a new and living way was opened unto all humanity to come into the presence of the Holy God to ask for and receive forgiveness for their sins. From that day forward, the atoning sacrificial blood of the

Lamb of God would be the change agent for the reparation for the whole world’s sins. Christ’s whole body was crucified; His entire body died. His complete body was resurrected. Psalm 33:9 (AMP) says, “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” God controlled every aspect of creation from His throne in heaven! Not by chance, not luck, but methodically orchestrated! Yes, spiritual change is controlled. God speaks and changes the course of events and people. God continues to exercise full control of everything and everyone at all times. The inspiration of God to enact change begins in heaven, and then He releases it into the earth according to His will and timing. God controls the why, how, what, where, and when of all change occurring in heaven and earth. Our responsibility is to come under the control and influence of that change through the power of the Holy Spirit.

There are positive outcomes when we embrace spiritual change; it brings renewal, a fresh anointing, a revival, and an awakening. We birth new ideas, collaboration, and brainstorming come forth, companies grow, and inventions are made. It improves problem-solving and decision-making and enhances communications between parties that were once strained. You will notice a boost in productivity in the things you are doing.

Some of you who are reading this have convinced yourself to believe that the very thing you refuse to change is what makes you feel comfortable and secure. Therefore, you won’t stop doing it. In actuality, could it be that the behavior you refuse to change may be the agent that makes you feel uncomfortable and insecure, creating fear, anger, doubt, and confusion?

Consider taking some time this summer to analyze one area where you want to make a positive change for your well-being and commit to actively participating in your spiritual change control process. Then work to align yourself with those Divine changes the Creator is doing in your heart to help navigate the change so that you not only survive the change but also learn to thrive.

Ihave known since I was 15 that I wanted to be a police officer. To be fully transparent, the glamour of the original television show, Miami Vice, featuring Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett, and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, propelled my interest in becoming an undercover police officer.