He expressed what so many of us have hidden in our hearts and what so many of us do.
It's just most of us don't travel on the ocean enough to get swallowed by a whale.
I've done my fare share of running from the Lord's call over the years.
I haven't run as far and as deliberately as Jonah, but I've waited, stalled and resisted going forward more than I want to remember.
This was pointed out to me vividly as I traveled up Lookout Mountain.
This is part two of the allegory of Lookout Mountain.
As I traveled up the Mountain I found a walking stick. Right there beside the trail, I was presented with this stick as I walked along the way.
Chopped off at the top....
Broken and cracked....
Little stubs of failed starts and branches that did not bud.
I leaned on it. It felt spongy and soft and gave way under my weight. It would not hold me up. I stopped pressing down on it for fear of breaking it. There were these nubby branches sticking out all over.
Ugly. Not a dependable walking stick. Cracked. Hacked.
I was just about to discard it when I thought I heard the Lord say....
"This is you in the flesh."
OK. So a few thoughts rushed through my mind.....
1) You know me completely, all the cracks, brokenness, failed attempts, and spongy strength and you love me, believe in me and have called me to follow you into your work? Of course the answer was "Yes".
2) Wow. That is an ugly stick. How can I get anything done with that thing? Answer: You don't. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Jhn 15:5
Eternal works are done in the Spirit. We are new creations born in the grace of the Lord Jesus, filled with resurrection power and abiding in a Kingdom not of this world. We welcome and receive the Kingdom of God and walk in the Spirit. The works we do are not of the flesh. And, the Lord encouraged me, in that he knows me completely but he loves me completely as well. His grace extends to the natural and his signs and wonders are expressed in these weak fleshly pots of clay. Amazing Grace; touching everything with love and power.
3) I cannot do your work leaning on that. Answer: "Correct." It was evident to me that I would not be able to lean on this walking stick - The ARM of the FLESH - and fulfill the calling set before me in Christ Jesus. The glory of my calling weighed to much. My own body in the natural would break the stick if I leaned to hard on it. In the weight of glory and walking in the Spirit there could be no leaning on the dead man I used to be. There is much to be explored on this aspect of "our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." Rom 12:1-2. Our bodies will be resurrected! Transformed in the twinkling of an eye they will become suited for eternal dwellings. Truly this is Amazing Grace.
Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.
Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come,
for the sword of the LORD devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
destroyers have come,
for the sword of the LORD devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
When the Holy Spirit moves on a people, on you and I, the Arm of the flesh gets uncomfortable. Choices rise up before us.
We notice the boarders we have set up, the hurts and woulds of the heart we have nursed, and the separation we feel from the Father. Our need for healing and for the oil of his grace becomes evident. We see who we are at present and what we are relying on. We see the real substance of our lives in Christ and the new doors that are open to us. We see that we have quit risking in faith and have settled into a walk that requires nothing from the Spirit. We see ourselves in the light of the Master and if we are leaning on the flesh we feel the sponginess of our walking stick. There is no peace for the flesh in a move of the Spirit. It is too hot in the fires of his righteousness.
This is good news for us.
It means we are being visited by the LORD JESUS.
It means we are his friends.
It means we will be like him if we move on in faith and trust.
HIS NAME carries all the power and sufficiency to bring us into complete abiding and love.
We will look like him in the end if we continue on the way, walking in the Spirit.
I continued up the Mountain with MY walking stick. Combining the natural and spiritual into one harmonious offering of love and obedience. Then I came upon this.
Along the way there began to be trail markers; piles of rocks pointing the way. Stacks of rocks, piles of witnesses of the way up to Lookout Mountain. Like Israel's habit of piling rocks and making alters, these rock piles went all the rest of the way up to the Lookout. The last pile of rocks was on the top.
In this pile, one of the first I came across, there was a beautiful walking stick. I grabbed the stick and began to look it over. Straight, smooth, perfect length, strong, able to support me. The nubby protrusions were knocked off. I perceived it to have strength and a clear witness to ability; it was definitely more of what I was searching for before finding my meager walking stick.
I started comparing the two. One to One. Looking them over. Trying to decide if I should leave my original find behind and take this one the rest of the way up the Mountain.
Again, the Lord seemed to speak to me,
"You can choose this one, but it is not yours. It looks good. It looks way better than yours to you. Someone else left theirs behind here to take another one just like this, but it wasn't theirs either. As ugly as your walking stick appears to you, I am going to transform all of it, all of you, into my glory"
| 1Sa 17:38 |
Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail,
|
|
and David strapped his sword over his armor.
And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said
to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David
put them off.
|
I got the clear impression that many people pick up other people's walking sticks in an attempt to move in the Arm of the Flesh with more strength. This in fact is just a deep fall into the flesh, leaning on the apparent strengths and successes of others.
I thought I heard something else very clearly, as an offer and a promise,
"You can choose this other walking stick, but you will never became all of what I intend for you with all your weakness and cracks. Keep your own walking stick and follow me and I will perfect you in my glory."
That got my attention.
I literally threw down the other stick, back into the stack of rocks. Had a good look at mine and wondered and marveled that Jesus was going to transform me into looking like him. I believed him. And it set me free with joy.
There were some other sticks in or near this pile of rocks. Some stubby and very short. Not really walking sticks. I got the impression that people left their walking sticks behind or never even started the amazing dance of letting grace fill their weakness with the perfection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus has perfect Understanding of You and Me.
I've been following Jesus 38 years. What a Joy!
He is able to bring us home to see him face to face.
You can do this thing! He's got you.
I've been following Jesus 38 years. What a Joy!
He is able to bring us home to see him face to face.
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With much love in Jesus
You can do this thing! He's got you.
Jeff Reynolds ---
Brother Jeff
