STEP 2: THE POTTER’S WHEEL –
The Lord then scoops up the moistened clay with His mighty hands and places you on the Potter’s wheel. You hear His promise: “I have measured you; I know your portion; I know what destiny I have for you. For even though the enemy would want to kill you, I tell you, I have a mission and a calling for your life!”
He begins to center you on the wheel. Slowly, His gentle hands go down into the very depths of who you are and begins to pull up the walls of your new vessel.
While you are on the Potter’s wheel, being shaped by the hands of the Master Potter, there is a wonderful mystery taking place within you. You are growing! It is a time of great favor and blessing.
But as you go around and around, you begin to notice that other vessels are sitting on the shelves around the Potter’s house. You want to be like them!
“Lord, I love the closeness and intimacy of Your hands,” you cry. “But I see all of these other vessels sitting on the shelf and I want to be a part of what they’re doing!”
STEP 3: THE POTTER’S SHELF
Suddenly the Lord comes with His cutting wire and pulls you off the wheel. Then He places you on the shelf to dry.
What a change this is from being on the wheel, where you were joyfully spinning in the hands of God!
At first, you don’t mind it too much, but after a month or two, you say, “Uh…you know, Lord, I’ve been sitting on the shelf for a long time and I’m really dry. When is my ministry going to begin?”
You remind Him over and over again, “Lord, I’ve been praying to You!” But you don’t feel His presence. In desperation you cry, “God, where are you? I seem to be in a dry and lonely wilderness!”
“You’re right,” He answers. “You’ve been promoted!” Surprised, you respond, “But Lord, I thought promotion was getting to start my ministry!”
In His love and wisdom He explains, “Promotion is the wilderness! I’ve called you here so you can learn to recognize My voice. I’m testing your heart. I’m testing your love for Me. Will you continue to seek My face, or will you turn away?”
When you were on the wheel, there was great intimacy between you and the Lord. Everybody said such wonderful things about your future! But now that you’re on the shelf, everyone seems to have forgotten you.
“Does God really have a future for my life?” you begin to wonder. “Did He really speak those things to me?” You’ve learned all the worship songs by heart, read all the books, been to all the conferences and seminars – yet there’s a dying in your heart because you feel the Lord has forsaken you.
The worst part is that other people don’t understand. “Why don’t you have more faith?” they ask. They don’t understand that God has taken you into the wilderness. You see, the greater the calling on your life, the greater the persecutions from other people. This is the price behind the anointing.
“My child,” the Lord says, “as you seek My face you will find the hidden streams of living water beneath the desert floor. For it is not the reputation and approval of man you need, it is to be so deeply rooted in Me so no matter what storms in life come, you will not be moved.”
While God works out His perfect plan, your soul is wrestling and dying in the wilderness. Finally, you stop struggling and quietly pray a prayer of resignation: “Lord, I’ll stay in the wilderness my whole life if I have to. I have found You in the desert and You are all I need!”