Every time the Lord completes a full cycle of time, we, as His people, are about to go through a phase of transition accompanied by challenges. What is a transition?

=> A transition is the place of ‘passing over’.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are embedded in the covenant of Abraham. Abram, the Hebrew, was one who lived in continuous transitions.
The word ‘Hebrew’ is ‘'ābar’ and means among other things ‘crossing over’. That is why we are a purchased by blood and redeemed people who keep crossing over to the next place of victory.
 

A transition is also a journey from one state, one stage, one affair, or one place to another!
Furthermore, a transition is the change within a movement, development from one form, one stage, one species to the next. A transition can also include a change in sound or a musical transition from one track to another.

Most changes in the body of Christ begin with a transformation in the worship dynamics of a particular believer. Furthermore, a transition is an abrupt change in energy status that is associated with the loss or increase of a single amount of energy.
 

In phases when God releases new strength and power into the lives of His saints, great changes occur. The power of God very often seems to confuse the usual changes of the respective saints. It is significant that when one is in such a phase of change, he learns to keep up with the Lord. <= (note: The text set in ‘=>’ is a part excerpt of the prayer letter from March 2007 by Chuck D. Pierce.)

A challenge during a transition, for example, is written in John 20:19a.26a-b, where it is reported that the eleven disciples of Jesus gathered together in the room of a building after the death of Jesus. Due to religious pressure from outside, they kept the doors locked.

 

19a On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, …

26a-b 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, …

 

The eleven disciples of Jesus at that time were in transition (note: represented by the number 11) into a new time because they had already been in the first day of the new week that contained the event of Jesus' resurrection.

This new day contributed to the fact that Jesus Christ in resurrection power revealed Himself to His eleven disciples as the ‘twelfth’ by suddenly standing in their midst despite closed doors (see John 20:19b.26b-c).

John 20:19b.26b-c:
… 19b Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace (note: Shalom) be with you!”

… 26b-c Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

Based on this it is advisable for saints in the phase of transition to have fellowship with like-minded people and to close the door to the influences of the enemy and especially to the influence of the religious spirit. This results in protection for the fellowship of saints and the living faith, which includes a true relationship with the Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 6:6 i.c.w. Matthew 18:20).

 

6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

 

Matthew 18:20:
“… 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

 

What is the Religious Spirit?

=> The religious spirit is a demonic power that wants to stop the progress of change in the church of Christ with all its might. This operation or this attack is carried out by the religious spirit through all ages. When we got to the literal meaning of religion, we find out that the word means ‘to think about divine things’.

Furthermore, the word ‘religion’ has three meanings in the Word of God: external religious acts, such as prayer and going to church; the feeling of absolute dependence; the observance of moral laws as a divine institution.

James 1:26-27 defines ‘religion’ from the Christian point of view:

‘If someone thinks he serves God and does not keep his tongue in check, but deceives his heart, his worship is void.
A pure and faultless worship before God the Father is that of visiting orphans and widows in their distress and keeping themselves pure from the world.’

Religion is associated with worship, and when it is pure, it is very powerful. However, religion is also defined as an organizational system of doctrine with a low-value pattern of behavior.

This means that the worshiper is required to demonstrate a proper form of worship. This is where we move from pure and unpolluted religion into a ritual. Demons of doctrines rob people of their freedom to worship the holy God in purity through institutional rules and regulations of worship.

The religious spirit resists especially the apostolic and prophetic anointing because demons hate God-given revelation and His pioneering nature for the church. They resist the gifts in the body of Christ that bring revealing freedom to the members of the body. They try to even stone revelations of the apostles and prophets because their revelatory words establish God's foundation in the body of Christ for this historic period.

1 Corinthians 12:28 establishes an order of ruling gifts in the church of Jesus for victory in the world. This order is:

Apostles and prophets.

Religious spirits try to resist the order of God and His initiated change (note: progress).
It is the Spirit of God helping people's thoughts and thought processes to implement change on earth. However, it is the carnal mind of man that opposes this and is in enmity with God (see Galatians 5:17).

Galatians 5:17:
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

Religious spirits try to block strategic thinking for the future. They can bring people into a routine, or into a so called ‘modus operandi’, so that they do not want to get into a change in today's methods associated with victory.
 

In the New Testament, the disciples of the Lord should have revelation about how He is, who they are and who their enemies were. Through Jesus Christ, the Pharisees or scribes were given the choice either to oppose the divine nature of the Son of God or to align themselves with Jesus. It was up to them either to observe the rules of worship at the place where changes in behavior took place in worship, or to begin worshiping in spirit and truth.

Thus, religion in this context means a knowledge of God but not a relationship with Him. <= (note: The text set in ‘=>’ is a based on a teaching from the book ‘God's Now Time for Your Life’, pages 113-116 by Chuck D. Pierce, ISBN: 0-8307-3834-7)

 

 

Because Jesus Christ was aware of the situation of the transition of His disciples and their inner anxiety, He appeared directly in their midst as the ultimate master in victory (note: The crucified One) and the Risen One (note: The end and the beginning => Alpha and Omega). At His first appearance in the locked room Jesus gave twice the ‘Shalom – peace’ to their inner man (note: soul and spirit). When Jesus appeared to His disciples after eight days including Thomas, He released the ‘Shalom – peace’ for the body of the disciples so that they were blessed in a threefold way for the new time. The reason lies in the fact that it was Thomas who was asked by Jesus Christ to touch His wounds of His hands and side.

This Hebrew word for 'Shalom' describes ‘completeness, wholeness, health, peace, prosperity, protection, reliability, silence, success, perfection, abundance, tranquility, harmony, and the absence of hurry and disunity’ (see John 20:20-22).

20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. …”

 

Jesus came with the new day of the week to end a transition phase of the disciples and their related anxiety. In the way that the year has twelve months and the twelfth month of each year ends the year, we can speak in a prophetic context that a time cycle has been completed to open a new time cycle of the spirit.

 

The Heavenly Father in the facet of the Almighty and Jesus Christ are the beginning and the end of temporary time, which means that they are the time span of our life and thus cover it (see Revelation 1:8; Revelation 22:13 i.c.w. Deuteronomy 30:20).

 

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

 

13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

 

… 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life (note: expansion of life), and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 

By the presence of Jesus Christ in the locked room with His disciples we can learn that through His spoken word and presence He strengthened the soul and spirit of His disciples (note: represented by the twice spoken ‘Shalom’ to them), since it is said that they were full of joy when they saw Him.

And it is the joy of the Lord that is associated with strength (see Nehemiah 8:10c).

 

“… 10c for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

 

In the midst of the locked room, Jesus Christ became for His disciples the entrance (note: door) to the new realm and time of the Spirit, which includes the ‘emerald presence’ of the Heavenly Father, going hand in hand with eternal government (see John 10:9 i.c.w. Revelation 4:2-3; Ephesians 2:6; Revelation 3:21).

 

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

 

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald (note: green) encircled the throne.

 

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, …

 

21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.

 

While Jesus Christ, as the Risen One, gave His disciples inner peace and strength, they also received the new apostolic commission from Him in an encoded form and were touched by His resurrection breath. At this moment Jesus did not specifically tell each one of His disciples what their mission was, but let them know that they were sent as sons of God, as He was sent by the Father.

 

 

=> The phase of a change involves stopping, ending, or dying of something.

This can cause a lot of confusion. The state of confusion is okay for some time, because it is the phase to rearrange things in life.

 

It is important that the cognitive processes (note: brain, thought processes) of the believer in transition adapt to new ideas and changes in his environment. Herein old strongholds break or persistently refuse to let the believer go. Therefore it is necessary in such transitional phases to be focused on moving forward with the Lord.

 

Nevertheless, it can happen that we doesn't really know how to move forward, yet we have the inner certainty of never wanting to return to the old. When we have gone through this phase in the center of God's will, the place of transition of the new finally becomes visible!

It is important to have firm confidence in Jesus Christ in order to go further and get there with Him.

 

 

Psalm 126:6, for example, clearly reveals that a phase of sadness can turn into a time of joy and reaping.

 

6 Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

 

This means that there comes a time when captivity is broken and even if the seed has been stolen from the basket of the believer in many ways, the latter comes back to him and bears fruit.

When one has wept, joy will come into life. When one has given, one will experience growth. When you have planted, things will grow.

 

It is crucial not to get tired of doing good, because at the right time the harvest will come if you are not tired. Then joy will prevail over sorrow! <= (note: The text set in ‘=>’ is a part excerpt of the prayer letter from March 2007 by Chuck D. Pierce.)

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm