Propelled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YttNdAmyyI

Worlds Apart ~ Jars of Clay

 

Enlarge the place of your tent,
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes.

~ Isaiah 54:2 NIV

 

Have you ever experienced a time when, either during worship or prayer, you prayed a heartfelt cry to God having something to do with making a change? Then afterward, you realized what you just said, and it felt a bit unnerving, because you just surrendered control of your life. I’ve experienced that a handful of times, including the night before last, when Holy Spirit touched my heart and the prayer became, Take my world apart.

 

In the “after, after” moments, when the dust settled and I got to look back at what the Lord had done, both in and through me, I was so glad I was obedient. It’s the middle, the time of stretching and dross-burning, that causes me to be a bit unnerved, now. But the Lord gives us His promises, like Isaiah 54:2, that encourage us to enlarge and stretch what we can imagine, without holding anything back. And Isaiah 43:18-19, that tells us to forget the past—don’t be marked by it any longer—and to see what He is doing and is about to do in our lives. Those are the things that move us.

 

When we can already feel God’s Spirit moving in our hearts and lives, we are compelled to action and respond quickly and obediently to the Lord. I think that’s what emboldened Peter to call out, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water,” (Matthew 14:28 NKJV). It’s what propelled him to jump out of the boat! It’s what propels all of us to jump out of our boats, out of our comfort zones.

 

Then, just like Peter, we find ourselves standing on water…but we don’t know how to walk on water! Before we panic too severely, the Lord promises to carefully watch over us and to tell us where to go, (Psalm 32:8). He challenges us to not be afraid, but to keep pressing forward, knowing He will be with us, wherever we go, (Joshua 1:9).

 

Did I pray a bold prayer when God touched my spirit? Yes! And it’s a bit unnerving. But if I’m going to do the big things God has planned for me, if I want to step into the vision He’s laid before me, then I need to let go of more of this world, and cling solely to Him.

 

If it’s been a while since you prayed a prayer that’s a bit unnerving, I challenge you to do it. Ask God to stretch you, to call you out of your boat and safety zone. Ask Him to lead. Then jump out of your boat and follow Him.

 

“For all the sons and daughters who are walking in the darkness…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dnUx3qVoyg

Tear Down the Walls ~ Hillsong United

©Heather Potts 2023

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Overflowing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs8WTFxEcEw&list=RDcs8WTFxEcEw&start_radio=1&rv=cs8WTFxEcEw&t=0

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us ~ Nicole Nordeman

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my [brimming] cup runs over. ~ Psalm 23:5 AMPC

As an adult, have you ever asked a small child to guess your height? The younger the child, the grander the answers, as they likely have no idea. If a small child, who can see you, can’t figure out how tall you are, how are we to grasp the amount of God’s love, whom we have never seen?

Ephesians 3:17-19 lay out a prayer that the Church would have the power to grasp the size of the love of Christ, and would be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” How can you even fathom the fullness of God, let alone be filled to its measure? First of all, the measure of the fullness of God is not like a level cup; it’s full to overflowing. If you dumped the water from an olympic-sized swimming pool into a thimble-sized container, you’d start to form an idea of “full to overflowing,” but it would still be a far cry from how much God wants to pour into us. And yet, a child of God, who’s been anointed with oil--representative of Holy Spirit--is being filled to full and overflowing with God’s love.

The secret isn’t in the container, or the action of holding what God pours into our containers. The secret is receiving with the expectation that whatever God pours into your life will overflow onto the lives of those around you. The jars of clay into which God breathed His life were not created with the ability, let alone capacity, to contain all that God longs to pour into our lives, (2 Corinthians 4:7). Why? Because His ultimate goal is not to make your life bigger, better, higher, grander, or more comfortable than everyone else’s. Rather, His charge, to us who follow Him, is that we would be a conduit, river,  and cup overflowing, letting His love flow to, captivate, and change the hearts and lives of others.

If you have been feeling dry, it’s time to open and humble your heart, and come back to the presence of Father God, who longs to pour His love on you. And if you are being filled, but still feel empty, it’s time to find, and surround yourself with, others to whom you can be a conduit, river, and cup overflowing. It’s only when we’re abiding in His presence as an open vessel--not trying to grab it all for ourselves--that we can truly live full to overflowing.

©Heather Potts 2021