THE POTTER AND THE CLAY
Hey, long time! Trying to adjust to the new year ups and downs but thank God for the opportunity to jot down a few things!
Of late, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to my life and what comes to my spirit is the urge and the need to ask God to prepare me to work powerfully in the area of my calling. The Holy Spirit being so loving and kind would prompt me to sing out almost every day, Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true and with thanksgiving I will be a living sanctuary for you. I was led to read Romans 12: 1 offering my body as a living sacrifice then 1st Corinthians 6:19 my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit meaning I am a vessel and there is something I house. Great! I vowed to understand the fact that I am a vessel, what do I have in me? Because a vessel is a container, I am a vessel made by God for Him and by Him..So God is the potter and I am like clay being made into an earthen vessel.
A potter is a maker of earth ware vessels and therefore has total authority over the clay and the vessel he will make from it. He will make vessels that will be profitable to him, be found useful and bring honor to him. In 1st Corinthians 4:13 God as the potter takes the things that seem worthless and turns them into vessels of honor, He excels in taking old worthless clay and transforming it by His grace. Clay is collected from the ground and is so worthless until it is brought to a place of usefulness. This is like all of us, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Romans 5:8 and He did so so that we will no longer be useless or worthless but be people of worth.
1. Clay is collected from the ground using a shovel. The potter has to dig out the clay. God as the potter looked for us when we were His enemies and He picked us up from the miry clay. He did not see us as we were but through His love, He picked us up because He saw what we could be and wanted His will over us to be done. He cleanses us from all sin and purifies us, we are made whole!
2. After the process of cleansing, the potter uses a mallet. The mallet is used to hit the clay till it has no air bubbles because if it does have then the clay will have a weak spot and get easily fragile. Here, one experiences trials, calamities and chastisements of life. You are going to go through a lot in order for your faith to be strengthened through the tests. 2nd Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. We may not like the pounding of the mallet, but we cannot just skip this step, this is because God the potter wants you to be like Jesus. Ephesians 4:13...until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Wow!
3. Here, the clay is placed on wheels and the potter uses his feet to spin it. The wheels go round in a circular manner. At this point, you may feel like God is just taking you circles, you cannot see the result of going through all this and may be even at the verge of giving up. This is where you get past a trial and once you are done it starts all over again. You feel burdened, tired and lost but remember God is still in the midst, actually controlling the speed of the wheels.
4. His hands. The potter at this stage is always in contact with the clay, molding, shaping it and making it as he so desires. God is constantly with you in the process of being a vessel, he shapes you in His own design and molds you as He wants you to appear. There are times at this point, you feel like God is not watching or watching you from a distance, remote or not attached to your life at all but Hebrews 13:5 He promises never to leave us nor forsake us and Matthew 28:20 He is with us to the end of the age. No matter what, God is always in touch with you and all around you.
All through, the vessel must be responsive to the touch of the potter and yield to His activity in your life. The sooner you reach where God desires you to be, the sooner you can be used for His glory. But remember, that God will take you in stages and where He is done with you, He is also preparing you for the next level and you may have to be broken and undergo the same process but the key is to trust God in the process. God is a very patient potter, He is ready to reform you when you slide away. The process is not pleasant cause at times the Lord will punish you but He still has so much love for you. Hebrews 12:6-11.
Now God(the potter) molds us(clay) to be a vessel. A vessel is designed to contain something.Those vessels that are yielded to God and have allowed themselves to be used of God have a great treasure in them. 2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God, the fragrance of Christ.
The fragrance comes from what is in the vessel. Let me use this imagery, when a clay pot is made and rose flowers put in it what matters so much is not how beautiful the clay pot may seem but the fragrance that comes out of it, if we would also imagine a cute clay pot with rotten flowers....mmh..the clay pot may no longer even look beautiful! This means, if you have to be a sweet smelling aroma to God, it can only come from Christ. You as the vessel must contain God the Son who is Jesus. He must be what resides in the inside of you..The fragrance comes from Jesus why? The life of Jesus is manifested in us verse 10 of 2nd Corinthians 4 says we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body.
The treasure in us, is the life of Christ residing in us!
Colossians 1:27 Christ in us, our hope of glory that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. Do not keep on shinning, painting and shaping the body(earthen vessel) because the outer man is perishing daily. Seek to renew the inner man day by day and allow God to continually re-mold and make you to be like Jesus!
God is in the plan to put extraordinary heavenly treasure, into ordinary earthen vessels so that the attention goes to the contents not the container, so that you may give glory to the Father. As vessels at times we may be so insufficient feeling frail, vulnerable, inadequate but remember you may be an insufficient vessels but you contain a heavenly treasure. God is not concerned about what you look like, what you eat and where you lie but what you carry in the inside.
Be a reflection of Jesus! Contain God! Seek to always be filled by His goodness and nature, till you are full of God! Show Jesus to the world by allowing Him to make you, and filling you as the vessel with Him. (2nd Corinthians 4: 7-12)
Much Love,
Imani.
Of late, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to my life and what comes to my spirit is the urge and the need to ask God to prepare me to work powerfully in the area of my calling. The Holy Spirit being so loving and kind would prompt me to sing out almost every day, Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true and with thanksgiving I will be a living sanctuary for you. I was led to read Romans 12: 1 offering my body as a living sacrifice then 1st Corinthians 6:19 my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit meaning I am a vessel and there is something I house. Great! I vowed to understand the fact that I am a vessel, what do I have in me? Because a vessel is a container, I am a vessel made by God for Him and by Him..So God is the potter and I am like clay being made into an earthen vessel.
A potter is a maker of earth ware vessels and therefore has total authority over the clay and the vessel he will make from it. He will make vessels that will be profitable to him, be found useful and bring honor to him. In 1st Corinthians 4:13 God as the potter takes the things that seem worthless and turns them into vessels of honor, He excels in taking old worthless clay and transforming it by His grace. Clay is collected from the ground and is so worthless until it is brought to a place of usefulness. This is like all of us, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Romans 5:8 and He did so so that we will no longer be useless or worthless but be people of worth.
1. Clay is collected from the ground using a shovel. The potter has to dig out the clay. God as the potter looked for us when we were His enemies and He picked us up from the miry clay. He did not see us as we were but through His love, He picked us up because He saw what we could be and wanted His will over us to be done. He cleanses us from all sin and purifies us, we are made whole!
2. After the process of cleansing, the potter uses a mallet. The mallet is used to hit the clay till it has no air bubbles because if it does have then the clay will have a weak spot and get easily fragile. Here, one experiences trials, calamities and chastisements of life. You are going to go through a lot in order for your faith to be strengthened through the tests. 2nd Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. We may not like the pounding of the mallet, but we cannot just skip this step, this is because God the potter wants you to be like Jesus. Ephesians 4:13...until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Wow!
3. Here, the clay is placed on wheels and the potter uses his feet to spin it. The wheels go round in a circular manner. At this point, you may feel like God is just taking you circles, you cannot see the result of going through all this and may be even at the verge of giving up. This is where you get past a trial and once you are done it starts all over again. You feel burdened, tired and lost but remember God is still in the midst, actually controlling the speed of the wheels.
4. His hands. The potter at this stage is always in contact with the clay, molding, shaping it and making it as he so desires. God is constantly with you in the process of being a vessel, he shapes you in His own design and molds you as He wants you to appear. There are times at this point, you feel like God is not watching or watching you from a distance, remote or not attached to your life at all but Hebrews 13:5 He promises never to leave us nor forsake us and Matthew 28:20 He is with us to the end of the age. No matter what, God is always in touch with you and all around you.
All through, the vessel must be responsive to the touch of the potter and yield to His activity in your life. The sooner you reach where God desires you to be, the sooner you can be used for His glory. But remember, that God will take you in stages and where He is done with you, He is also preparing you for the next level and you may have to be broken and undergo the same process but the key is to trust God in the process. God is a very patient potter, He is ready to reform you when you slide away. The process is not pleasant cause at times the Lord will punish you but He still has so much love for you. Hebrews 12:6-11.
Now God(the potter) molds us(clay) to be a vessel. A vessel is designed to contain something.Those vessels that are yielded to God and have allowed themselves to be used of God have a great treasure in them. 2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God, the fragrance of Christ.
The fragrance comes from what is in the vessel. Let me use this imagery, when a clay pot is made and rose flowers put in it what matters so much is not how beautiful the clay pot may seem but the fragrance that comes out of it, if we would also imagine a cute clay pot with rotten flowers....mmh..the clay pot may no longer even look beautiful! This means, if you have to be a sweet smelling aroma to God, it can only come from Christ. You as the vessel must contain God the Son who is Jesus. He must be what resides in the inside of you..The fragrance comes from Jesus why? The life of Jesus is manifested in us verse 10 of 2nd Corinthians 4 says we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body.
The treasure in us, is the life of Christ residing in us!
Colossians 1:27 Christ in us, our hope of glory that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. Do not keep on shinning, painting and shaping the body(earthen vessel) because the outer man is perishing daily. Seek to renew the inner man day by day and allow God to continually re-mold and make you to be like Jesus!
God is in the plan to put extraordinary heavenly treasure, into ordinary earthen vessels so that the attention goes to the contents not the container, so that you may give glory to the Father. As vessels at times we may be so insufficient feeling frail, vulnerable, inadequate but remember you may be an insufficient vessels but you contain a heavenly treasure. God is not concerned about what you look like, what you eat and where you lie but what you carry in the inside.
Be a reflection of Jesus! Contain God! Seek to always be filled by His goodness and nature, till you are full of God! Show Jesus to the world by allowing Him to make you, and filling you as the vessel with Him. (2nd Corinthians 4: 7-12)
Much Love,
Imani.
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