Not long ago, I had a vision of hundreds of people on the shores of a new and unknown land, standing unsure and scared of what lay before them. They had no guide, no map, and no plan, and there was a sense of panic and and overwhelming fear. Right now, many people can relate to these feelings in this season. They are feeling a strange sense of purpose and destiny unfolding but at the same time fighting the feeling of concern after being suddenly directionless and lost.

As I watched this scene play out, a vivid thought came to me, almost as if I was sensing what these people were thinking: “This feels like starting all over again.”

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For too many of us, this is quite true – in a sense. It can seem as though, right we get comfortable and put our roots down into a certain methodology and wineskin, God begins to tear us away from it and invites us into something brand new, again. It can feel like constantly pioneering over and over. Right now, the past seasons of pioneering are done and God is inviting you into pioneering something completely different and new.

Have you felt the tug? This means, for many, having to let go of the baby – that which you poured your heart and life into in the past season, and saying, “Yes” to starting fresh.

In the vision, I could see that behind the people there was a large ship, and surrounding it was cargo and bags floating around in the water. Some people were looking back in a frantic state of needing to embrace the familiar.

You know when you have outgrown your environment and surroundings in a season and it’s time to move on when you can be doing what you have always done, and it just doesn’t seem to work anymore. Right now, many of us are on the shores of new territory with a new assignment at our feet, if we choose to accept it. But if we succumb to the fear, we will forfeit what lays before us and never move from the beach into promise.

The warning in this season is that if we don’t let go of the old and embrace the new, we may just find ourselves and ministries, shipwrecked.

“Will you follow Me into the unknown?” the Holy Spirit is asking. “Will you let go of what’s in your hand for what’s in Mine?” There is a new rhythm in His presence, a new grace to yield and see fruit for what you couldn’t work for. It’s a new way, a new mold, a new language, a new wineskin, and a fresh and rich new wine He is pouring out.

I prophesy that fear is not your companion of this transition, but the power and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and every time you surrender you are going to feel the weighty presence of God lead you deeper into the increase He has waiting for you! Your glorious, new future awaits!

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)

(Excerpted from Elijah List.)