Leaning on the Arm of the Flesh. PII Wanting Everyone's Gifts and Calling But Our Own

We should all give Jonah a break.  
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.  

Leaning on the Arm of the Flesh is sure to plant us right in the mouth of a whale.
This was pointed out to me vividly as I traveled up Lookout Mountain.  

I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; Psa 44:6

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.  

It was not a beauty as you can see.  At first it caught my eye and I thought it might be an excellent walking stick, but as I picked it up and looked it over, I saw all it's blemishes and imperfections.   

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.

  Isa 1:22

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.

 Jer 12:12

 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,
	1Sa 17:39	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.

Comments?  Ideas? Testimonies?  

Send those to me.  

Thanks for +1's and re-shares. 

Other posts that may interest you:

1) http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2015/01/7-things-enemy-devil-doesnt-want-you-to.html

2) http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/04/you-fascinate-me-jesus-so-why-are-you.html

3) http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/07/never-be-lacking-in-zeal-need-some.html

Thanks for reading. 

The dialogue is awesome.  Thank you.

Testimonies?  Share em with me.  

With much love in Jesus

You can do this thing!  He's got you. 

Jeff Reynolds   ---

Brother Jeff

www.mycapstone.org

www.jeffreynoldsministies.com 

Leaning on the Arm of the Flesh. An Allegory of Walking in the Spirit. P1

I'm a gold seeker.  Seeking after the deepest knowledge of Jesus available to me.  I have set my course on Paul's path.....Maybe you have as well.

	"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus".   Phl 3:14 So, I took a hike on Lookout Mountain.    I Discovered the ARM of THE FLESH.   I walked along the path with the threat of the mountain lion.   Mountain Trail - a place to bow down The mountains around here are littered with failed hopes,  forgotten dreams, and abandoned ventures.  Lookout is the second highest peak in Crook County.  6900 ft. Just short of 7000.  That's how the arm of the flesh works out.  It comes just short of what God the Father purposes in his heart for us and for his Kingdom.  If we lean on it we will fall short.     The Lord marked this mountain for me to prayerfully ascend.  The entire journey turned into an analogy of sorts.   A walking story for the ARM of the FLESH.    What follows is how it all unfolded and the pathway the Spirit led me on.   The back story.  Walking Stick - My Arm of the Flesh - not to amazing I'm drawn to Mountains. I am always looking for lookout vantage points.  They naturally elevate my vision.   High places and mountains are a pathway in the story of the Father's love for us.  They each carry a story of their own.    Mountains factor extensively into the story of salvation.  In the Gospels much is revealed on the mountain tops.  Throughout Matthew's Gospel Jesus is on the mountain.  Moses was on the mountain and received the law.  Jesus was on the mountain and imparted the new revelation of the Kingdom of God.  It is not unusual for me to be praying on a mountain.   The Father gave me an assignment a while back and I was now making sure to complete it within the "window of opportunity".   Meaning to fulfill the prophetic mission within the window of time the Father allotted.  I identified 6 mountains the Lord wanted me to prayerfully climb; or drive if I was lucky.  Lookout Mountain.... Trails to the Top of the Mountain Calling out from the deteriorating shacks Lookout yells out her name onto all the surrounding peaks.   Her sons and daughters are Independence mining.   Independence.  Needing nothing and wanting no one.  She moves like Quicksilver.  Definition = difficult to hold or contain.   Quicksilver character is changeable behavior with mercurial twists of temperament and unpredictable change.  Touted as cool and willful one moment and utterly fragile the next.    I see the arm of the flesh filling up these shoes.   Independence mine and independence mining invites us to lean on the arm of the flesh. It invites us to pursue the gold of the world with abandon.   Rather than ascend the mountains, it tears into the mountains searching for gold.  The arm of the flesh has no regard for others;   tearing into others who may be in our way.   We offer sacrifices of worship to our little god who rips and tears at the mountains.  The arm of the flesh affirms our solo identity as the high fruit of enlightenment and freedom.   The smoke from our offering to this savage lord rises up off the mountain and fades into the vast expanse of sky above.  Gone.  Never to be seen again.  Evaporated into thin air.  Our energy produces no reward.  Or simply a passing taste of something that will never satisfy as promised.   Ghost Cabin  So goes the promises of leaning on the arm of the flesh.  Temporal and fleeting they leave us with an emptiness that cannot be filled.  It's like a prayer, an offering, that calls out.  In the cool of the summer evenings on Lookout Mountain we remember that we are aching with loneliness.  The gold, silver, and riches call out to us with waves and waves of diligent demand and soon pushes aside any weaker thoughts of glory, a Kingdom, of Jesus.   Any lack of resolve is swallowed up in the promise of this vain pursuit.   So, we pull back the covers as the last light of day fades and we prepare for another day of breaking rocks and looking for meaning in the pursuit of silver and gold.   The Enemy's ways are altogether empty.  He is captain of the ARM of the FLESH.  He is an expert at keeping it's voice alive.   The OLD MINE - Independence The ultimate rewards of independence leave us with nothing in the end.  Alone.  No heritage. No enduring name.   Empty shacks try and tell a story.  We wander through the ghost town trying to imagine something much greater than what was and is there before us.  These shacks were meager existence.  Yet somehow we envision something great or fulfilling or rich.   That's the selling of the arm of the flesh.  It floats in a fantasy.  The reality is much more harsh and brutal.  Why do we believe the story over and over?   It ends in ghost towns and abandoned futures.  It ends in disappointment and broken hopes.  It ends here in the earth.  We were not made to end here.   We were made for forever.    Jesus has perfect Understanding of You and Me. I've been following Jesus 38 years.  Comments?  Ideas? Testimonies?   Send those to me.   Thanks for +1's and re-shares.  Other posts that may interest you: 1) http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2015/01/7-things-enemy-devil-doesnt-want-you-to.html 2) http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/04/you-fascinate-me-jesus-so-why-are-you.html 3) http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/07/never-be-lacking-in-zeal-need-some.html Thanks for reading.  The dialogue is awesome.  Thank you. Testimonies?  Share em with me.   With much love in Jesus You can do this thing!  He's got you.  Jeff Reynolds   --- Brother Jeff www.mycapstone.org www.jeffreynoldsministies.com