Our church is currently moving through some significant change(s).  How do you feel about change?  Some are comfortable with change and others are not.  Change is an inevitable part of life and the life of our church.  I found an interesting article online by Paul Alexander, “10 Keys to Leading Change in a Church.”  If you truly take a close look, often the church is a place of more resistance to change often trapped by the comfort of past success, practices, and traditions. 

Isaiah 43:18-19

18) “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.

19)  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

In our church God is doing a new thing and God will make a way in our situation with Bro. Mike’s retirement.  The Prophet Isaiah declares that God will “make a way in the wilderness” and “make rivers in the desert.”  Lost in the wilderness is a fearful place.  There can be uncertainty of which direction to move.  God will “make a way” in our current wilderness adventure.  He will clear the path for us when we trust Him.  Then Isaiah says that God will make “rivers” in the desert.  The actual reason a desert is a desert is due to the absence of water.  It may seem to be a sort of oxymoron stating that rivers will exist in the desert.  I believe the truth to gleam from this is that things may seem impossible, but God is the God of the impossible.

Matthew 19:26

26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

What is our response to this change happening in our church? 

Proverbs 3:5-6

5) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

6) In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Our focus and motivation should be to trust the Lord through this change and believe that God will make a way even when the way is unclear or seemingly impossible. 

-Michael R. Davis

Roman time is what our lives run on.  We have Pope Gregory XIII to thank for our Gregorian Calendar.  The names of the months of the year come from the names of Roman gods, leaders, festivals, and numbers.  

March comes from the god of war, Mars (Martius) because this month was when active military action and campaigns could resume.  In ancient Rome, there was a ceasing of any war activity when an old year was ending and a new year was beginning.  In the Roman calendar, March was the earliest month of the year.  The weather in March was typically mild enough to begin waging war again.  To use a play on words, armies could "march" forward into war.  .  

2 Chronicles 20:15 - And he said, "Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat:  Thus says the Lord to you, ' Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.'

As the month of March cycles through once again, just maybe in this time, you feel that everything seems to be a cycle of trouble.  Please remember, God's Word tells us that God is with us in these daily "battles."  God is our protection and provides a refuge from trouble when we trust in Him.  We can hold out our "shield of faith" and let the Lord fight for us.  A truth that can not be denied is, God wins every time.  

Remember the lyrics to the Phil WIckham song, "Battle Belongs":

So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high,

Oh God, the battle belongs to You

and every fear I lay at Your feet, I'll sing through the night,

Oh God, the battle belongs to You

- Michael R. Davis