A Lump of Clay

A couple who were to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary was shopping at a beautiful antique store. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea-cups, and so spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea-cup spoke... "You don't understand." It said, "I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, Don't do that. I don't like it! Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said; "Not yet!!"

Then, WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly; "Not yet."

He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then...he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door "Help! Get me out of here!"

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good!

"Ah, this is much better," I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible.. "Oh, please, Stop it! Stop it!" I cried. He only shook his head and said. "Not yet..."

Then suddenly he put me back into the oven. Only it was not like the first time. This time it was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged... I pleaded... I screamed...I cried... I was convinced I would never make it.

I was ready to give up and just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next?"

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said "Look at yourself."

And I did... I said, "That's not me, that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!"

Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled."

"I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life."

"And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."
"Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel" (Jer.18:2-6) 
The Scriptures tell us, "Many are called, but few chosen" (Matt. 20:16). I believe it is the Lord's desire for all of us to be chosen vessels. But many believers are not pursuing the high calling and destiny the Lord has purposed for them because they are not willing to pay the price.

As clay vessels, each of us must take a journey. The steps in this journey can be painful but are necessary for us to be transformed from broken bits of clay into anointed vessels that reflect the glory of the Lord.

When the Lord, the Master Potter, first finds you in the potter's field, you are a broken vessel in need of salvation. He gently picks you up and carries you back to the Potter's house. "Even though you are a shattered clay vessel and all your hopes and dreams have been destroyed," He tells you, "I have a vision and a destiny for your life."

Slowly, His gentle hands go down into the very depths of who you are and begin 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 favour and blessing.

You've learned all the worship songs by heart, read all the books, been to all the 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.

The greater the calling on your life, the greater the misunderstandings and persecutions of 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 that no matter what storms of 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 have to. I have found You in this desert, and You are all I need."

Now, the Lord moves you from the wilderness to His consuming fire. You can sense the heat. You can feel the relentless blaze. 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. "God, if you love me, You'll turn off the heat!" you complain. But the fire continues to blaze even hotter.

It won't be easy, you need to pay an incredible price if you want to become the bride of Lord. Finally, the Lord begins to place His chosen mantles on various clay vessels. He takes coals of fire and places them on stammering lips to ignite prophetic giftings that were declared over these vessels when they were on the Potter's wheel.

Shaking and crying, healing and deliverance, deep repentance and intercession fill the furnace as hungry hearts cry out for more of God. They've been through a time of appointing, a time of testing, a time of separation and a time of death, but in this high fire they'll go through a time of resurrection as they start to move in the anointing with authority.

When the Lord walks through the furnace and sees Himself reflected on each vessel as in a mirror, He turns off the furnace. With great joy He announces, "Now that you reflect My glory, I can send you out to all the world." The Master Potter has perfected His work of art.
Meekness is not weakness. On the contrary, it is the sign and cause of strength. The ox lies still while the geese are hissing. Moses was leader in Israel because of his great meekness among a provoking people. The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.