Pivot: Time for Change

Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 29:11

Step 1: Plan

If you are reading this plan, you are probably considering a change in your life. Maybe you have felt stuck for a while and need something different. Perhaps you know God has called you to something new, but you aren’t sure how to get there. If this is where you are, it is time to PIVOT! 

The definition of pivot is an adjustment or modification made (as to a product, service, or strategy) in order to adapt or improve (Merriam-Webster.com). If this sounds like something you need, let’s keep going. 

In this 5-day plan, we will walk through five steps to PIVOT with purpose: Plan, Imagining, Vision, Opportunity, and Transformation.

The enemy will whisper that change is too hard, that this is all a terrible idea. You may be faced with anxious thoughts or big feelings about change. Even your loved ones may try to convince you that a pivot is too risky. But if God is calling you to change something, then obedience to his way is the order of the day. 

To change your mind, life, finances, health, or relationships, you will need a plan. 

The good news is that God has the plan. You can rest in God’s promises despite feelings of chaos and confusion swirling around. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

The next four days will help you understand how to PIVOT using the plan you create with the Lord through imagining and visioning, taking advantage of divine opportunities, and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out. 

The Lord that created heaven and the earth also created you. He is for you, and according to Jeremiah 29:11, he has plans to prosper you and to give you hope and a future. So if you are staring change in the face, God’s got you. 

Let his plan for your life become yours. 

Prayer: God, this pivot has me feeling all the feelings. I’m not even sure I want things to change, but if you want me to pivot, I am willing as long as you go with me. I need your plan, not mine. I trust your plans for me are good, and I can’t wait to see where I end up as I follow your way through these changes. Please help me to pivot in the direction you have for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures: Ephesians 2:10, Luke 18:27, Isaiah 30:21

Step 2: Imagining

The second step to PIVOT with purpose is imagining with the Lord. God created us to be creative. He is the one who gave us our imaginations and wants us to use them. 

To understand God’s plan, you must spend time imagining with the Lord. No dream is too big or impossible for the Lord. 

Warning: when we start dreaming big with God, the enemy may try to stop us with fear and anxiety. You may even find yourself angry at God because: 

• The dream makes you uncomfortable.
• You don’t feel qualified.
• It will require more time, money, experience, or education than you have.
• You can’t see the whole plan, so you’re getting anxious.
• You are downright scared because the dreams God has given you are so impossibly big.

This is normal. Don’t let the enemy throw you off. When you keep dreaming, God reveals the plan, often step by step. He will tell you which way to turn. He also put inside you all of the gifts, imaginings, and qualities you will need to walk out his plan. 

Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. See? God designed all the assignments, the changes, and the pivots you are supposed to do long before you were born. 

You have to be brave enough to imagine and then chase the dream. 

Prayer: God, you are a creative genius—I want to be more like you! You gave me the imagination to help me see with my faith eyes when you call me out into the deep. Make me bold as I use this imagination you’ve gifted me with, and keep fear at bay so I may walk out the assignment you have for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures: John 10:27, Habakkuk 2:2-3, James 1:5

Step 3: Vision

Did you know God has a vision for your life? And he wants to share it with you. 

To fully understand this change—this pivot—he is asking you to make, you need to catch his vision. That means spending time with the Lord, asking him for his vision, listening to him, and then writing down what he gives you. 

God said if we ask for wisdom, he will generously give it to us (James 1:5). He also says that his sheep know his voice (John 10:27), so that means if you are following Jesus and asking him for wisdom, you will begin to understand what he is saying to you. 

If we are going to bother asking God for his vision for this pivot you are about to undertake, doesn’t it make sense that you would take the time to write it down? We forget, lose our way, go off the rails, or get distracted. This is why we write down God’s vision before pivoting. 

Without following the wisdom of his vision for you, your pivot might not put you in the place you hope. 

When we align our will with God’s will, we find ourselves in the flow of the Holy Spirit. Doors open, timelines suddenly line up, and divine appointments happen. Of course, it won’t all be smooth sailing, but we will find that the supernatural grace of God begins to grease the earthly wheels that are moving us in our new direction. 

Pivoting can be scary.

But armed with the word of God and trusting the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, we will be riding this pivot like a wave from the ocean to the shore. Along the way, we may occasionally suck too much water into our noses or bump our faces on the sand when the waves push us down. 

And when that happens, we can rest assured because we know the one whose voice still calms the waves. 

Prayer: God, this change makes me a little anxious and fearful. But if you have called me to go a new way, I know you will show me each step. Please show me your vision for my life, and let me be bold enough to follow it. I want to write down the vision. Lord, I am willing! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures: Mark 11:24, Isaiah 40:4

Step 4: Opportunity

When you feel the Lord asking you to pivot, it’s time to keep your eyes open. Opportunities are coming your way, and you don’t want to miss them. 

Divine appointments, miraculous happenings, and just-in-time provisions are part of the pivoting package. This is the part that both grows and tests our faith, usually simultaneously. 

Expect opportunities, but don’t limit the opportunities by your expectations.

This means opportunity will come, but it may not look how you anticipate, ask, or pray. Opportunities from God come in his way and his time. 

Mark 11:24 says, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. This verse reminds us that we must trust the Lord and believe he is who he says he is. 

He is the orchestrator of the heavens, the creator of every event on our timeline. He knows what we need, and when it is time to change directions, he has already gone before us to smooth out our path. 

His plans are good, and he is trustworthy. He has all you need to operate in any new direction he sends you. 

Prayer: God, you are good. Even if the chaos of this pivot has me questioning everything else, you are steady. You are the Opportunity-Giver, the Dream-Maker, and the Fulfiller of Promises. I trust you to take me where you want me to be. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures: Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Psalms 107:1

Step 5: Transformation

Pivoting—aka, changing direction—doesn’t come without some bumps and bruises. That’s tough to swallow. But if you want the true transformation that pivoting can bring, you have to submit to the process. 

That’s even tougher news. 

We want to think we have it all worked out, can do it on our own, and can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. 

But actual change and transformation can only be done from the inside out. And that is the job of the Holy Spirit. 

By surrendering our wants, wills, and ways to the Lord, we allow the Holy Spirit access to the places that need his touch the most. Maybe some festering wounds need tending. Perhaps some roots of bitterness have sprouted from the seeds of unforgiveness. Maybe some cobwebby corners and dusty areas could use a good clearing out. 

Pivoting may make us feel like we are spinning our wheels or can’t get any traction. But if we have given the Lord both access and permission to do what he needs to do inside us, we will be transformed. 

Pivoting is transformational in the hands of a loving God. 

If we want to be transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, as it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, then admitting God knows better than we do is part of the surrender. He is good. We can trust him with our lives, as well as our eternities. 

God has your future in mind. 

He created your past. 

He sits with you in your present. 

If it’s time to pivot, give the Lord an all-access pass to your heart and let him take you from glory to glory. 

Prayer: God, I know you hold my future in the palm of your hand. I surrender all I am, and all I have, to you. I want the transformation you provide, and if it takes this pivot to do it, then I trust you with this too. Take me from glory to glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen.