Monday, December 8, 2014

The Potter and The Vessel...

Today, I would like to focus on those of us who are young in the faith, or maybe at a point in our lives in which we are struggling, unsure of what to do next, or perhaps do not know where to turn. Although I have been a Spirit filled believer for some time now, I must admit that I too have been in these types of situations myself, especially during my recent health scare. Because I have had many of these same feelings of confusion and doubt, I truly understand and empathize with those who have felt these same feelings. 

Over the past year and a half, for those who may not know, I had a spinal injury and bacterial infection that not only threatened to permanently remove the use of my legs, but it also threatened to end my life; however, God proved Himself faithful, and here I am writing this letter of love to you. Now, in hindsight, I know that God was with me every step of the way; however, while I was in the valley of indecision, facing such a frightening outcome, it was very hard to see God's face for the many tears and fears that were clouding my vision...

Eventually, after realizing that my anger, frustration, and self pity was only hurting my relationship with God and in no way could help me to recover during this very difficult time. During this season of tribulation, I refused to pray, read the Word, of in anyway acknowledge God. I felt that although I had been God's faithful servant, He abandoned me and left me alone and defenseless; however, I would soon learn this couldn't be further from the truth. Eventually, I came to myself after realizing that if one of the greatest men of God, not only in my life, but in the world today, Bishop Kenneth Phillips, would have fight for his life against cancer, who am I to believe that somehow I should be exempt from the diseases and plagues of this world...

In the bible, Job was described as a righteous man, he loved God and followed the ways of God without question. Job honored God in all his ways, he payed alms not only for himself, but for his family, and yet, he suffered great loss, facing horribly painful illnesses, the loss of his family, and almost everything he owned and everything he loved; yet and still, he remained faithful to God. You see, Job realized that no matter what happened, God was always in control; in all things, good or bad, God's hand were moving and molding, touching and guiding, smoothing and redirecting, creating man into the very image of God Himself...

Although God is always in control, it is important to remind ourselves that God has given us all "free-will" which means that we have the power to decide for ourselves what, when, why, where, and how things work and flow in our lives. Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of All, John chapter one tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, and without Him not anything was made that was made... Jesus is that Word. When God created the world, He spoke it into existence over a matter of days; therefore, just as in the creation of the world, there was a process and order of operation, there is a process for everything in our lives today, including the restoration of our lives, and it's up to us to initiate that process in our lives today, this leads us up to where we are now, the process of rebuilding our lives today...

Before we can rebuild our lives, before I could rebuild myself or my own life, I had to first understand one thing, God has created you and I for a purpose, after I grabbed ahold of this and I mean really believed it, my rebuilding process could begin. As we have lived our lives the way we have chosen to live them, we  have moved away from the plan God originally established for us; in affect, we have broken our lives, and now we have become broken vessels. Now, becoming a broken vessel isn't exactly a bad thing, in all honestly, it is the perfect thing, it allows God to repair us and mold us into what it is He desires us to be in the plan He had established since before the dawn of creation...

Jeremiah 18:1-6
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord . Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand...

During my health scare, I was physically broken, and I truly needed God to heal me physically, and He has done that through the hands of an excellent surgeon and other medical staff and rehab technicians; yet, more importantly, I was spiritually broken, I was a broken vessel, and only God's hands could restore my spirit. You see, when we are broken in our spirit, there is nothing that we can do to repair it ourselves, we need the help of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. Only He can place us on the spiritual potter's wheel, only Jesus can take a broken and battered soul and place it back together; however, if we do not initiate the process, and if we do not "go down to the potter's house," we cannot even begin the repair process, but how do we find our way down to the potter's house? Great question, and here is the very simple answer, we initiate the process, and find our way to the potter's house through constant prayer, fasting, and the reading His Holy Word...

Prayer is literally talking directly to God, and it is an intricate part of the believers daily life; Jeremiah 33:3 states that that if we call Him, He will answer, showing us many great things. As we read the Word and learn of God, we will find that prayer is very important to God, in the Bible, God has mentioned prayer well over three hundred times; in fact, Jesus Himself not only instructs us to pray, but also teaches us exactly how to pray in Matthew chapter six, leading us in what has become known as the Lord's Prayer, one of the most well known passages of any sort in history. As stated above, the first chapter of John has established that the Word of God is God; therefore, the best way to learn of God, and to become the type of vessel God can work with and restore is to read the Word of God found in the Holy Bible. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus not only quotes the Old Testament, but He asked those around Him, "have you not read," (Matt.19:4) this means that Jesus expects us to not only read the Word, but to have a basic understanding of what it is we are reading, and we can only do this by studying the Word of God closely...

So, here we are, the moment of truth... This is where I tell you that on Sunday I accepted Christ and by Wednesday I was all brand new... No, that's not how it goes... The renewal process is neither quick nor swift, it is a slow process that includes both ourselves and God communicating through prayer as we surrender ourselves to the hands of God... When I was in the hospital for approximately five months, and when I was on bed rest for two months following my return home from the hospital, I spent a large majority of my time in prayer… Reading, writing, and studying the word of God... As I did these things, I began to acquire an elevated understanding of God, and with this elevated understanding came increased Faith, and with this increased Faith came a higher level of power, healing, and strength... 

This my friend is what a life with Christ is all about, we push forward, living, learning, and seeking after God; all the while, we allow God to place us on the potter's wheel so that He can mold us, guide us, and recreate us into the vessel He had originally planned for us to be... BUT, we must first allow ourselves to be broken, as only a broken vessel can be reformed and rebuilt by the hands of God into that vessel which God can use...

Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord , thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand...





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