Tag Archives: fires of God

Clay in the Potter’s Hands (Pt. 6)

STEP 5: THE GLAZING ROOM
Something deep inside you stirs—that first call, that sense of destiny you felt as a new believer. “Lord,” you cry, “I don’t want to just sit in the back pew and die. You made me to be a lover of your people and to go out and find broken vessels and bring them to the Potter’s house.”

“I know it won’t be easy,” you continue. “I know I will pay an incredible price for the anointing I will carry for You. But, Lord, I want to become Your bride.”

So the Lord takes you into a huge glazing room filled with tables. Angels are moving pitchers from one table to another and placing them with cups on other tables in preparation for the high firing. The soft sound of weeping is heard as vessels that have been together all their lives are being separated.

God is sovereignly moving His different vessels to prepare them for His Great Commission. Some will be staying home while others will be going to different cities and nations. The angels continue to carefully pour, paint, and brush glazes onto each vessel before carrying them into a large kiln.

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Have you considered the cost of the anointing? When you say, “I surrender all” to the call of God, you will be immediately put through the processes of God and I can promise you, it will not be easy… but it will be worth everything!

Clay in the Potter’s Hands (Pt. 5)

STEP 4:  THE FIRST FIRING

Almost immediately, the Lord takes you out of the wilderness and places you in large room with other dried vessels. At first you are relieved but as the fire starts to come through the floorboards and the top of the ceiling, you panic.

The Lord has moved you from the shelf to the kiln, from the wilderness to His consuming fire.  You can sense the heat.  You can feel the relentless blaze. Perspiring yourself, you suddenly look over at the sweaty people next to you and realize you don’t even like them!

The Lord never fires just one vessel at a time.  He takes a church, a family or a group of friends and sets them on fire to expose everyone’s hearts.  In the intense heat, all the impurities of the soul come to the surface. Resentment, bitterness, anger and greed are revealed.

As the fire gets hotter the pain increases, you cry out, “Lord! Everything in my life is dying!” Relationships with family and friends become strained, you experience persecution at work, and you can’t get along with the people at church.

“God, if you love me, You’ll turn off the heat!” you complain.  But the fire continues to blaze even hotter. Finally, the doors open and the Lord removes the clay vessels and places them back on the shelves.

Now you’re actually happy to be in a hidden place.  You decide to sit in the back of the church and not give prophecies or be a part of the prayer team anymore. Oh, yes, you still raise your hands and occasionally pray for people, but you’ve become lukewarm.  When the Holy Spirit stirs your heart to give a word, you say, “No! If I give a word, others will judge me.  No, Lord, find someone else.”

For a while, God tolerates your pulling back.  Then He begins to nudge your spirit.  He says, “Are you willing to settle for this, or do you want more of Me?  Do you want to become My anointed bride?”

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Have you ever been in a place in your walk where the fire got so hot you just wanted to shrink back and rest for a while?  Silly question, I know.  I’m sure we’ve all been there.

Clay in the Potter’s Hands (Pt. 2)

Finally He stops before you and says, “I’m calling you to come into the high fires and let My glory fall upon you,” and gazing deeply into your being He continues, “but it will cost you. You’ll have to die to your reputation, your theology, and all of your ‘religious formulas’. You will have to let go of your fears and your control. Do you love Me enough to come, or will you be content to live out your life in the back pews of the church?”

You sit quietly for awhile, pondering what to do. You’re afraid to say yes but more afraid to say no. Glancing over at the beautiful vessels, your spirit stirs within you and your heart says yes!  But this seems dangerous … it could cost you everything … even your life!

Then you remember when Jesus said, “He who has found his life shall lose it and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).  You think about some people you’ve known.  They started so well but ended up apathetic and lukewarm toward the things of God; more influenced by their carnal lifestyle than the truth and counsel of His Word.

You believe it’s the Lord’s desire for all to be chosen vessels.  But are you pursuing the high calling and destiny the Lord has purposed for your life, or do you shrink back … not willing to pay the price?

As a clay vessel, you must take a journey.  The steps in this journey can sometimes be painful but they are necessary for you to be transformed from broken bits of clay into an anointed vessel that reflects the glory of God.

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It’s not easy to ‘die’ to what other think of you, your reputation.  Anyone who says it is, is only trying to fool you or worse, themselves.  Your reputation is something you’ve been taught to strive to protect, and losing your reputation is like the worst thing that could happen.

But what if Mary had chosen not to believe the angel who delivered the good news that she was to be the mother of Jesus, even though she knew what that would mean to her reputation?  Jesus would have still been born, but to another… and Mary’s life would have looked much different because she missed the high call.

It would have been much easier for Joseph, or Moses, or Noah to refuse their commissions and just go along with the flow, not causing any waves.  But, they are some of the Biblical greats whose lives reflect the magnitude of the Lord’s anointing, with many other lives and souls set free because of their willingness and obedience.

And what about your theology?  Could you put aside something you learned to receive a greater truth from the depth of the Word?  I challenge you to do a word search on “you have heard it said” in the Bible.  What you will find is the teaching of Jesus that was greater than the teachers of the law.  For example:  Jesus said in Matthew 5:27,28, “You have heard it said ‘do not commit adultery.’ “ “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  In one fell swoop, Jesus called the hypocrisy of the religious crowd to account by exposing their hearts which were full of adultery even though they kept the law and didn’t actually do the deed.

What could be exposed in our own hearts, should we really, really examine them in God’s light?