Shifting of Gears

Listening to a teaching by Dan Mohler and talking about learning to love ourselves and understanding and recognizing how God sees and loves us, I was shown a stick-shift of a car. I saw two different scenarios with this shifting.

1. The first scenario, was us not shifting into the next gear. We are going as fast as we can and trying to learn/understand/do things in our own power or with the limited knowledge or our understanding of God. For anyone who knows how a manually geared vehicle works, there is only so much we can do and we can only go so fast in a specific gear before we have to shift into the next one to continue going faster. If we continue running in that same gear, the rpms continue to climb and if we fail to shift, we risk burning out the clutch or killing our engine. This meaning, if we do not learn to understand that we need to shift into the next gear in life or if we do not learn how to shift into the next gear in our life, we will continue to run in the same gear and continually try to go and go in life. We will eventually end up running ourselves into the ground and basically burn out or worst. We must learn when to shift to the next gear in life.
2. The second scenario is possessing the understanding and knowledge of when we need to shift into the next gear in life. When life continues to get difficult and our rpms are climbing higher and higher, we then shift into the next gear without much thought and continue pushing on without missing a beat or without risk of burning out.

Far too often do we either forget how to shift into the next gear, we are simply not mature enough in our walk with God to know and recognize that we need to shift, or we are not taught the need to shift into the next gear. I honestly believe that in some places it is not even taught, because there are many places that only tickle people’s ears and only tell them what they want to hear, rather what they need to hear in order to survive and eventually grow to thrive.

If we do not shift, we risk getting mad at God or completely losing our faith because we ran ourselves into the ground with everyday issues and even during the trials that seem like they’re never ending. Without learning to shift, we may also risk not being able to recognize or even acknowledge a new depth of love the Father has for us or is wanting to show us. If we fail to shift into a new understanding (not just new gear in life), what He’ is wanting to reveal to us in the new season (new gear), we may never see because we failed to shift.

This also goes along with those who are not taught correctly and eventually die (Parable of the Seed on the roadway) because they have no roots to continue in life. I have seen this in my own life with people I know or once knew. They weren’t getting the attention and instruction they needed in order to survive a trial or storm and their faith died because of it. I see many of us entering into a new season now, if not, very soon and we are needing to shift into a different gear right now in order to survive the trials we’re facing before the new season begins. I urge everyone to seek out good, reliable teachings or people who you can trust in order to make it through this trial and ask the Father to show you what needs to be done in order to do this “shifting”. This trial may be tough, but I know you can do it. Shift into your new season, don’t red line and kill your engine.