Have you ever had a thought about water? I can remember my school years and a particular class that challenged most students. Biology class. Exploratory surgery on a frog and the next year was a pig; Biology class was interesting, especially for boys, at the age they are ready to explore. As long as you had a teacher that kept things interesting, biology wouldn’t be so bad. However, having a teacher with a monotonous voice doesn’t help make anything interesting. In Biology class, we had to memorize the basic elements model. What a burdensome task! Now I have some idea about the weight donkeys have to carry when I ride them. I thought, I would never be able to memorize the elements table. However, the easiest and most memorable ones were for water (H2O). H2O is Hydrogen and 2 parts Oxygen.
Water is in everything. This brings up an interesting fact about water. Steam and ice are forms of water with all three having the basic element of H20. Steam, ice and water have different characteristics. Water is a liquid and is present in everything. Water heated up becomes something powerful, which is steam. Steam is like a ghost appearance. Ice is the solid form of water. All three have different characteristics, but all exist as one element of H2O. I have a lot of questions on how God work in our lives. The only way to explain it is in this way:H2O is the basic element of water. The Godhead can be equated to H20, which means it is in everything and it is the basic element. God can be an element of water, which means He is present everywhere. God also took on a solid form. Jesus can be an element of ice, which means He took on the solid form of the Godhead (H2O). The Spirit can be an element of steams, which means He is present like God everywhere but is a Spirit. Like steam looks like a Ghost. God is everywhere and is the element of Life. Without water you can not exist. Jesus is the solid form. When you add Him to your life He cools off the condemnation. The Spirit is present and is like steam that irons out the wrinkles in our lives. Everyone has different characteristics. Some are like carrots. You can peel way the layers, but underneath they are still hard, and if you try to bend them, they break in half. Sometimes they are the “root” of problems. Some are like eggs, which are very fragile and difficult in handling. Some are like coffee beans. They can be hard on the outside, but have a sweet fragrance about them. When life throws punches, how will you react? Like a carrot, hard but add them into the water they can become soft, but steamed they can bend. Add them on ice and they are preserved. Are you like an egg, fragile with a thin outer shell and when tossed you break? Yet, when life’s punches come like boiling water, you become hard on the inside and refuse to mold. You frantically fall to pieces but trying to hold it all together. However, when you add God to the coffee bean, what happens? It yields, but together with God you become a sweet aroma. I believe Paul wrote it in this way, “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing (2 Cor. 2:15).” Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 When trouble start to brew, be like the coffee bean and remember the water, the ice and the steam all three is what makes the aroma in your life sweet and pleasant to those around you. "When troubles arise, know it’s the Lord who has you in His hands working out those things which for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" Phil 2:13. If you need help email me as a life coach, I can help direct you in a peace that passes all understanding. When you drink your cup of coffee remember it has to have water and without it you’re just a bean. Why not yield your life to God to be much more than what you can be? Never be complacent for improving.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Clay to Pottery
I enjoy spring and fall. Watching the Monarch butterflies migrating in August and September is breath taking. Ever watch a caterpillar become a butterfly? A caterpillar cannot become a butterfly without the struggles of coming out of its cocoon. If you give the butterfly help it will die. The struggle it endures strengthens its wings in order for it to fly. When there is no struggle the butterfly is weak and will die.
How does this work with people? Moses stuttered. John and Mark were rejected by Paul. Timothy had ulcers. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Amos' only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning. Jacob lied. David had an affair. Solomon had too many wives and concubines. Jesus was too poor and wasn't schooled in the right religious institutions. Abraham and Sarah were too old. David was too young. Peter was impulsive. John had a temper. Naomi was a widow. Paul was a murderer, as was Moses. Jonah ran from God. Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed. Elijah was burned out. Martha worried too much. Matthew was a despised tax-gatherer. Noah had a drinking problem."
Wow and I thought I had problems. Trying to shove these skeletons back into my closet before they start wanting to party. After going through the situations I have been through I have noticed it made me stronger. God also uses our weaknesses for His purpose and His glory.
It was the thorough breaking down of Jacob’s natural strength at Penile that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was by breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb by the stroke of Moses rod, which it let out the cool waters to thirsty people. It was when the three hundred elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, which the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries. It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support. It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand. It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the whole house. It was when Jesus allowed His body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear that his inner life was poured out like a crystal ocean for thirsty sinners to drink and live.
It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by death that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains. And thus on and on, through all history and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have “Broken Things”.
Surely God wouldn't want to use broken things. However, those who are broken in wealth, in self-will and in ambitions, broken in beautiful ideals and in worldly reputation; oft-times in health, despised, utterly helpless and forlorn, God seizes upon them and uses for His glory. It is the “lame that take the prey” Isaiah tells us. It is the weak that overcome the Devil. God is waiting to take hold of our failures and nothingness and shine through them.
Some people are like wheelbarrows; useful only when pushed, and very easily upset. The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing. God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, "shake well before using." That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable. The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps. We must step up the stairs.
2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Philippians 4:13 13I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Thank God, He isn't through with me yet. I am thankful and yes, hindsight is twenty-twenty. Now instead of looking back I look at the present in the way God provides opportunities to use my weaknesses and problems to help further His message. I am still the clay and He molds me and forms me into His pottery to serve others.
God loves you no matter what situation you are in. God is at work in your life - even when you do not recognize it or understand it. But it's much easier and profitable when you cooperate with Him. Don’t look at your life as having problems. Look at it as God is preparing you and strengthening you to become a better person. Don’t give up hope. Be patient and open your eyes to the unseen world that God works in us to help spread his message:
God loves you! No matter what situation you are in.
How does this work with people? Moses stuttered. John and Mark were rejected by Paul. Timothy had ulcers. Hosea's wife was a prostitute. Amos' only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning. Jacob lied. David had an affair. Solomon had too many wives and concubines. Jesus was too poor and wasn't schooled in the right religious institutions. Abraham and Sarah were too old. David was too young. Peter was impulsive. John had a temper. Naomi was a widow. Paul was a murderer, as was Moses. Jonah ran from God. Gideon and Thomas both doubted. Jeremiah was depressed. Elijah was burned out. Martha worried too much. Matthew was a despised tax-gatherer. Noah had a drinking problem."
Wow and I thought I had problems. Trying to shove these skeletons back into my closet before they start wanting to party. After going through the situations I have been through I have noticed it made me stronger. God also uses our weaknesses for His purpose and His glory.
It was the thorough breaking down of Jacob’s natural strength at Penile that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power. It was by breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb by the stroke of Moses rod, which it let out the cool waters to thirsty people. It was when the three hundred elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, which the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries. It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support. It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death. It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand. It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the whole house. It was when Jesus allowed His body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear that his inner life was poured out like a crystal ocean for thirsty sinners to drink and live.
It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by death that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains. And thus on and on, through all history and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have “Broken Things”.
Surely God wouldn't want to use broken things. However, those who are broken in wealth, in self-will and in ambitions, broken in beautiful ideals and in worldly reputation; oft-times in health, despised, utterly helpless and forlorn, God seizes upon them and uses for His glory. It is the “lame that take the prey” Isaiah tells us. It is the weak that overcome the Devil. God is waiting to take hold of our failures and nothingness and shine through them.
Some people are like wheelbarrows; useful only when pushed, and very easily upset. The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing. God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, "shake well before using." That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable. The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps. We must step up the stairs.
2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Philippians 4:13 13I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Thank God, He isn't through with me yet. I am thankful and yes, hindsight is twenty-twenty. Now instead of looking back I look at the present in the way God provides opportunities to use my weaknesses and problems to help further His message. I am still the clay and He molds me and forms me into His pottery to serve others.
God loves you no matter what situation you are in. God is at work in your life - even when you do not recognize it or understand it. But it's much easier and profitable when you cooperate with Him. Don’t look at your life as having problems. Look at it as God is preparing you and strengthening you to become a better person. Don’t give up hope. Be patient and open your eyes to the unseen world that God works in us to help spread his message:
God loves you! No matter what situation you are in.
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