A few days ago as I was driving around praying I heard this question;
“Don’t apologize for your different mantle.”
Instantly I thought of Elisha who In a moment had a new mantle thrown over him and his whole world changed.
He slayed his oxen and his plowing tools and said goodbye to his family to be Elijah’s protege.
We don’t see it in the Bible, but that could have been a movie in those unspoken lines right there.
Imagine everything shifting that dramatically in your life that quickly? Yet you have been there and many are there right now.
That process can be a shock to the system, adjusting to so many new surroundings but even more vividly, dealing with the internal changes.
You see, when God throws a new mantle over you, it’s not just about a new anointing and role change.
It leads you into an internal rewiring and initiates a season of crossing over from one capacity into the office you have been prepared for.
And that’s the messy place many are in right now.
But to you? You just feel lost or like something is missing.
But nothing is missing, except the juice you had for the old thing running out.
The oil is producing in the new thing God is highlighting to you, if you choose to see it.
But the problem or challenges in this process comes if we refuse to recognize or transition over.
For instance, where the grace on what you were doing or the way you were doing it lifts, but the longing for the familiar keeps you at a plow you are no longer anointed for.
Refusing to adjust our lives to accomodate the new mantle can lead us into feeling like God has removed His hand on our lives when that is not the case.
Mantles are upgrades not downgrades, but are we willing to surrender our desires for what He knows is best for us?
And for many this is hard because their identities are also wrapped up in the old mantle and that can be hard to separate from.
“But I’m a pastor and this is my role and what I do and what people expect me to do!”
But what if you suddenly dream of nations and you can’t deny a pull in a different direction? Will you surrender to it, or stay stuck in the expectation you and others have placed on you? Even if it means stagnancy?
No, you burn the plow and you adjust.
But here's the thing, it’s not just you that has to adjust to your new mantle, but those around you.
Those who have known you for a long time have been used to you operating a certain way, thinking a certain way, and being focussed in a specific direction.
Those you use to run with, may not understand you, or even recognize you as you put on a different mantle on.
It may cause them to feel like you are being disingenuous or being something you aren’t.
But they don’t know that God has shifted your life in a moment.
They see this new mantle and it looks like a costume, but it’s the most authentic you that you can be.
So let me ask you again, can you handle a different mantle?
Are you diagnosing this season properly?
Lord I pray for those in this shift right now, out of one anointing and capacity and into another. Help them navigate their own personal process well, the relational process, and their process to adjust to your leading well in Jesus name!