THE ANCHOR OF OUR SOUL

THE ANCHOR OF OUR SOUL - AUDIO LINK

I would like to say first that this devotional might not be for everyone depending on their circumstances, but Father led me to write this.  He knows who needs to hear this message.  And so I humbly ask that should you know of someone who do need to hear this message, that you would please pass it on to them.  Like apples of gold in a setting of silver so is a word fitly spoken.  Thank you.

It is that time of year when Christmas is passed and the New Year stares us in the face with a challenging glare.  We all welcome a new start, but lately “Happy New Year!” is beginning to sounds like a threat.  Some have exciting plans for the year ahead, some just cannot see their way even through this day.  This devotional is about the anchor of our soul. And the reason for an anchor is that one can remain stable, secure and not be taken with the next wave…whatever the next wave may be.

This is also the time where we look back on the year and ponder on the good, the bad and the ugly.  Not just with what has happened through the year in this world, but our personal journey with the Lord God.  Have we grown?  Have we overcome that one obstacle or sin that kept tripping us up?  Have we done what He has told us and are we truly ready for His coming as we see the day drawing near?  All very important questions and necessary.  Not so that we can feel guilty or pat ourselves on the back, but just simply take responsibility for our lives.  We are not to live aimlessly, spending our lives watching YouTube or whatever other “tube” waiting for our day of escape.  No, we are to be about our Father’s business whilst it is still day. And granted this is not always easy.  Waiting for His return in the times we are in creates a greater longing to be with Him.  And He knows each and every single one of us intimately.  He knows what we can handle, He knows how much we still have in us, even if we feel that one more day is just too much.  He has compassion on us in this season and in every season of our lives.  And very often, the waiting is the trying of our faith, whether for His coming or healing, or deliverance, whatever it may be.  Waiting requiers of us to endure.  And He wants us to endure patiently under all pressure or storms we face.

But this year has not been an easy year.  It has had many challenges of which Father has held true to His promise that in the latter days families will be divided over “truths’ and that He is bringing a sword that will separate us.  A sifting and a separation that has caused many of us to lament the thought of another year.  Some of this sifting came with the price of pain, sickness, sorrow, and death.  Others came through feuds, persecution and reviling.   We read in Matthew 10 the following…

Matthew 10: 35 – 40

³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; ³⁶ and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ ³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

In Luke 12 He says…

⁵⁴ And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.

⁵⁵ And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.

⁵⁶ Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

Some have lost friendships, some family, others their church and the circle of those you trust may have become considerably smaller.  In this Father is saying, “Please see the time we are in. Discern the time and be comforted that this is My doing.  I have allowed it. I am still in control.”  Many of us could have possibly dealt with these circumstances with more wisdom, maybe have waited a bit longer before we acted, or allowed the Spirit to bring conviction. All in all, one can safely say that it has not been easy.  And possibly this could mean for many of us that we are not too hopeful for the time ahead, whether we will see the dawn of a New year or not. 

I was meditating a few months ago on the word hope.  Reading 1 Corinthians 13 and the 13^th verse, 

Now remaineth faith, hope and charity and the greatest of these is charity.  

Charity is love.  And right smack in the middle of faith and love, rests hope.  And I thought, “Why of all the virtues that could have had this place of honor between faith and love, do we find hope?”  Hope almost sounds feeble in nature.  “I hope you have a better day!  Or I sure hope it will pan out for you.” What about peace or joy, or righteousness?  Surely they deserve to be nestled in between faith and love?  And yet, Father in His divine wisdom, knew that hope, oh precious hope, is of much greater value, so much so, that it takes faith and love to secure it.  

Some of us know what it feels like to no longer have hope.  To look outside a perfectly beautiful day, and all you see is dark and depressing clouds.  Where someone else’s joy or sunny disposition irritates you to no end.  When they tell you how well they are doing, and ignorantly have no regard for the depth of your silent sorrow you do not dare to show them.  Because unlike them, your “issues” do not have a “sell by date” and will be there the moment you put your feet out of bed, again.  Just like it has been for so many years now.  Alone in your battle with life...or so it seems at times.  Every day you have to gird up your loins and face the same monster that you have faced for years.  It has worn you down and sometimes you cannot help but wonder whether it is really worth fighting it.  This may be sickness that has come like a prison warden to inflict pain, immense weakness and a deep seated sorrow. Daily responsibilities that you are unable to cope with.  A life sentence of which you still cannot find the offence of.  You just want out.  Or maybe your marriage has had its toll and all that remains is an empty void that somehow has a weight to it that pulls you deeper into a depression you never thought would be part of your life.  You no longer talk.  Your best friend no longer sees you.  After all, Christians do not get depression, do they?  Maybe you are one of the many who have been struggling with addiction whether that be food, alcohol, drugs or pornography.  You have tried and tried and you will never stop trying to overcome this horrible monster that has taken over your life, threatens your peace and drowns you in guilt.  But you are immensely tired and feel desperately alone in your struggle.  Maybe you face disorders like I do in my family and somehow you have learned to live with it, but it still has the capacity to cause you to show the worst part of you even, after you have lived with it for so long.  Still it drowns the life out of you as you try to be strong every day for the weak.  No longer having a life of your own as yours is swallowed up by another's needs.  And you long, you long for that sliver of hope that shines like a tiny silver lining around the dark clouds of your life.  To you, seeing that silver lining, is more than can be described in one word called hope.  For it is the anchor of your soul and you are holding on for dear life. 

You will note that the first few verses 1 Corinthians 13 are about doing works of love, which are by no means insignificant.  Giving your body to be burned, selling all that others may have, or having the faith to move mountains are no small feat.  However, in the light of that which remains, only faith, hope and love will stand the test of time.  These three form the backbone of the Christian life.  And I would like to use the analogy of a ship where the ship itself is love, the sails are faith, and the anchor is hope.  

Without the sails of faith, we will be tossed to and fro like the word says in James 1.

James 1: 6 - 8

⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

In fact Hebrews 11: 1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  What is a boat without sails?  What are we who are called to live by faith, without faith?  And so, when you hope, faith is the substance of that hope. 

And then we have love.  Like the ship, we are to abide in love.  1 Corinthians 13 says love bares all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.  Love hopes all things.  This hope means to have an expectancy, to trust.  This is not an empty hope that is built on wishful thinking or the ability to verbalize appropriate scripture.  These will not do in a life where clichés disintegrate like dust in the daily storms we face.  No, this hope is built on love, love that trusts.  A trust that has been earned by a daily dying to self and knowing that it is only Him that causes you to still stand in spite of all you go through.  Love that has walked through valleys and over mountains.  Love that was forged and tested.  Love that is stronger than death.  Love that never fails.  This hope comes from that love.  It is built up and held up by faith and love. 

After everything is said and done, the Word says only these three will remain.  Paul is not saying here that every other virtue will fall by the wayside.  He is saying our faith, our hope and our love is the true measure of our walk.  Not our works.  He is saying that whatever is not of faith is sin.  Saying that you can do wonderful things in His Name, but if it is not done in love, it will disintegrate with fire when tested.  He is saying that hope, which is a joyful expectancy, is what can endure all things…because love hopes all things.  These three will abide.  When all else fails, look to these.  They will remain and endure all.  When you feel isolated and alone in your struggle, look to these three.  When you have prayed for years without end for unsaved loved ones, look to these three.  When you have failed yourself and your God over and over, look to these three.  When you cannot put your foot out of bed to start a new day, look to these three.  When your teenager or mature son or daughter, husband or wife, refuse the truth of salvation and scoff at you and your “religion” as they would like to call it, then look to these three.  When you feel as if He might not come as you expected after you have begged Him to save you from your heartache with tears that has been your bread day and night, look to these three.  When sickness racks your body or those you love and you feel immersed in helplessness and desperate for answers, look to these three, because these three will remain.  They will endure and lift you up.  They will cause you to be secure and stable in the worst of storms.

With faith, nothing is impossible.  

And love, love endures all things and never fails. 

Hope, hope is the anchor of our soul on this very rough sea we call life where the waves just seem to get bigger.

In Acts 27 we read of Paul being shipwrecked.  At one point he says there was no moon and no stars.  They were tossed to and fro by tumultuous waves.  At that time the moon, being the lesser light by night and the stars as the navigation, were pivotal to get to their final destination.  Dark clouds had moved like a blanket over the moon and stars which they needed to get home.  It was dark.  The ship was in a very bad shape and at this point they were at the mercy of the strong winds.   They have already tossed so much overboard.  Paul was saying, “We were without hope”.  Imagine that.  Paul, the great apostle without hope?  However, that night the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Paul, whom he serves, which we know is Yeshua, and told him that they would not perish.  Not even one.  And herein lies the source of hope…a word from the Lord.  This is our anchor.  

Have you ever noticed how a word fitly spoken is as apples of gold in a setting of silver?  What does this mean?  I have searched for the meaning of this verse and the overall consensus is that golden apples in a setting of gold is either apples in a silver bowl or apples engraved into a silver tablet.  Be that as it may, I would like to take some liberty from what I have gleaned from the word. Gold is often depicted as wisdom or that which have been tried by fire.  Apples are for us a nourishment and speaks of the fruit of the Spirit.  In the same way silver speaks of the word. 

Psalm 12: 6

⁶ The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Our faith is also tried as gold is tried in the furnace of affliction.  But taking the context of this scripture into consideration, we can see that we are talking about words.  So we have the setting of silver that points to the written word and we have the golden apples that speaks of wisdom or revealed or spoken word.  Is not wisdom so precious in a time of sorrow, turmoil and uncertainty?  Would that not be what we continually ask in our extremities?  "Lord, give me wisdom!"  And so He says in James 1, (Paraphrasing) “Come to Me to give you your golden apple for the day which I will take from My silver setting of My Word and speak to you in a time fitly for every need.  A time when you need it the most.  But come in faith, because I give to all liberally and without partiality.” 

Romans 15: 4

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Through patience, which is the word endurance or long-suffering, and the comfort of the scriptures, we may have hope.  The Word is living and God-breathed.  It has the ability to bring light into darkness, which is exactly what Paul and the men needed.  They needed light.  We all long for light in a time of darkness.  In Psalm 119 we read that the entrance of Your Word gives light and understanding to the simple.  Light in our darkness.  Darkness that may have been for a whole night, but with the break of dawn, a beautiful sliver of hope breaks through and we find ourselves at the shore of hope.  All that Paul told them at that time is let the anchor down.  This is what He is saying to us.  "Let the anchor down."  We often hear words like, "Just don't lose hope."  But the truth is that the ship is not holding onto the anchor, but the anchor is holding onto the ship. This anchor determines whether you stand secure and sure in times of storms.  Let the anchor down.

Hope is defined in the Strong’s Concordance as a joyful expectation.  This makes me think of a woman that is about to give birth, to which we may ask, “So when are you expecting the baby to be born?”  Just like a pregnant woman, a boat or ship is said to give berth when it docks at the harbor.  We can say that at sea we are in travail.  And so we are told that when a woman gives birth to a son, she forgets the toil and labor, and she rejoices as a son has been brought into the world.  In fact, it says in Acts 27 that there were 616 men on the ship with Paul.  616 in the Strong’s Concordance means to bring forth, give birth or about to give birth.  There is no coincidences with our Lord. His promise to us is that He knows that we are in labor, but soon there will be a birth and a son will be born.  All our labor will be forgotten and we will rejoice like never before.  He personally will wipe every tear from our eyes.  How He longs to do this.

On our life’s journey some serious storms may come our way and when we look at what happens around us, like Paul and those men on the ship, it may appear pitch black as we no longer see the moon or stars.  Often like Paul we can be put in a place, a season, even a lifetime where it seems that there is no hope.  We cannot face the wind, it is not in our power.  We cannot command the stars to shine, that is Another’s privilege.  We cannot tell the moon to light our way anymore that we can tell our circumstances to be no more.  But that which can overcome all these, is the Word.  For He who is the Word says, “Look unto Me and you will be lightened and your face will not be ashamed.  My Word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.” And when the storm rages we can know that there is One who spoke one word and even the winds obeyed. 

At one point you may have asked, “Why Me? Why now? Why did this happen?”  I am sure Paul having gone through so many shipwrecks also asked this.  Why would He who is our light, our way, our source and our strength, cause us to go through so much without doing anything?  Why is He allowing the moon to be covered with dark clouds and the stars to be obscure?  Why is He not silencing the storm?  Why has He not answered after all these years? Paul could write to the Hebrews in all authenticity about enduring in a storm after surviving one shipwreck after another.  

Remembering that this is the same man that the Angel of the Lord appeared to on the ship, he says in Hebrews 6: 13 that when the Lord God made a promise to Abraham, He did so by swearing by Himself as there is no greater than He by which He could make this oath with Abraham.  Saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.  And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.  For men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.  Meaning simply that once an oath or covenant is made it settles all disputes.  All questions we could possibly bring to the table to question God’s integrity or plan are silenced.  It settles it, because He has spoken and by an oath made by the highest authority it shall be done.  Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise (that would be you and me), the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.  That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.  Look at the hyperbole Paul is driven to, to bring across the message of hope to the Hebrews.  He is saying, “Look people, please consider just with whom Abraham made covenant.  Please consider that we too are the heirs of promise and that it is impossible for God to lie…therefore you CAN have hope.  It does not matter what your circumstances are, God cannot lie.”  Your circumstances will also fight against this anchor of hope, which is His Word.  They will tell you, "It's no use. Why even try?  He doesn't care or nobody cares!'  It will tell you that you might as well face it, this is your lot.  Yet He has given us His Word that is so important to Him that it is exalted above His Name.  This anchor cannot fail no matter how strong the storm.  Paul continues and says, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil.  

The context is His covenant with us.  For if we fail to understand the immutability of covenant, we will not have hope.  We will always think there is some loophole or fine script at the bottom of the agreement, even if we won't admit to it.  Covenant transcends just giving your word to someone that you will do something for them.  Covenant bears with it blessings and curses, but more importantly it is binding yourself to another in blood.  This is why the Word says that there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.  "Friend" in Hebrew context is language used for covenant.  Not even your blood relative in those days were seen as close as one with whom you stand in covenant with.  It is a friend that sticks closer to you than a brother.  Covenant is becoming one with that person.  A life for a life.  And the one whom we have become one with, is bound to us and us to Him.  He gives us the Word, which is His covenant with us.  This Word will never return void, but will do that which He sends it out to do.  Just like love never fails, so His Word that He gives us will never fail.  Does this mean we will always understand? No, for His ways are not our ways.  This is not the loophole or fine script.  This is God in His sovereignty that holds the earth in the span of His fingers and commands the waves with one word.  We have to understand that this is the same God who slaughtered His Son on the altar of the cross to be that blood sacrifice of this covenant with us.  This is why Paul says in Romans 8, 

“If God be for us, who can be against us?  If He then gave His Son for us, how much more will He not give us all other things?”  

We have to consider who this is that bounds Himself to us with His Word, which is His covenant with us and therefore we can have hope even in the darkest of times.  We can believe Him when He says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you…No never!"  Not a man, but the Lord God Himself.  Therefore Hebrew 10 says…

Hebrews 10: 35 – 37

³⁵ Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

³⁶ For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

³⁷ For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

The reality is that His will in what we are going through takes pre-eminence to our need of deliverance or even the answers we desparately need and demand.  But, in the midst of His will being done in us, or in someone else whilst we wait, we can have an anchor…His Word.  That specific apple of gold for the day.  For His Word will secure us and enable us to endure in the greatest of storms that may seem as birth pangs. However, we can be assured that our ship having endured will berth and bring forth.   It will never return void.

Hebrews 2: 9 – 10

⁹ But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

¹⁰ For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

This Captain of our salvation means Chief, meaning first.  However, I would like to take the liberty in saying that when we have given our lives to Him, our ship, that there can only be one Captain.  At what stage do you think the Captain is allowed to jump ship?  We know that it will always be after all are safe and only then may the Captain leave.  How much more the Captain of your ship?  In all consideration you may think that your ship is sinking, but your Captain lies at rest in the corner, awaiting you to join Him in His rest.  He is not going anywhere.  He will never leave you.  But if you are looking at the storm, you will continue to try and save all the men on board and fail to see the rest He has provided even now whilst the storm is raging. 

The Holy Spirit led me to look up anchors and I came upon Ron Wyatt’s website showing the anchor of the ark.  No small anchor.  The beauty of it is that the anchor is a very huge Rock.  There is no Rock like our God.  Even in the greatest storm of life, the Flood that destroyed the world, the anchor, Yeshua, could hold the ark and save those on the ship.   How much more can He save you?  The Word of God, the Rock, is fixed and stable.  This is why hope is an anchor of our soul.  

I was thinking of the account of Moses who during a battle was to hold up his rod and as long as his rod was lifted high, the Israelites won the battle.  Soon Moses’ arms became very tired and Aaron and Hur came to his aid.  They moved a rock so that he could sit on it, whilst they held his arms high.  And so the battle was secured and victory was theirs.  Considering that we are talking about hope and that hope in essence is the Word of God, that Rock, we can see how this rock upon which Moses sat, resembles our Rock, Yeshua, the Living Word.  The anchor of our soul.  And so just like hope is placed in 1 Corinthians 13 between the arms of faith and love, so Moses between Aaron, which means light bearer and Hur, which means white linen.  Moses always represents the written law, here sitting on the living word, the spoken word, the apples of gold, our hope and anchor of our soul.  

In all battles we cannot do without hope.   We have to rest both on His written and spoken word.  We are to live from every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Only then can we lift the rod of authority over our battles.  This is why Yeshua says in Matthew 7 that whosoever hears His word, meaning what He says to you, and does it, he will be likened unto the man who built His house on the Rock.  The storm came and the house stood strong.  However, the man who hears His commandments and does not do it, is likened unto a man who builds his house on sinking sand.  When the storm comes, the fall of that house will be great.  Being built on this hope cannot be divorced from doing the will of God.  In your storm, has He spoken to you and given you direction?  Has He admonished or disciplined you?  Has He given you a personal word that shines as light in darkness?  And most importantly have you done what He has told you to do?  For only in doing and obeying His word will your house, or ship, be built on the Rock of Hope.  Only then will your soul be anchored in the midst of the greatest storm.  Moses’ rod speaks of authority, but unless Moses was able to rest, that is to say, walk by faith, on the Rock, he would not have been able to hold the rod of authority to overcome in battle.  This word “sat” concerning Moses, means to abide, remain, dwell, to be set or inhabit.  A lot more than just “sat”.  Covenant never goes without both parties doing their part.  If what is required of us is to remain in His Word in the greatest of storms, not just reading it, but doing it and also memorizing it, then we can be sure that our anchor will never fail us.  We can have a joyful expectation, a hope that will never fail.  It is then when we can authentically say, I will bless the Lord at all times.  His praise whall continuely be on my lips.  Many shall see and trust in the Lord.  The humble shall hear and be glad (Psalm 34).  They will ask, "Why do you still have hope?"  Because our hope is not an idea, it is not a wish, it is not as mist, but it is sure, strong, enduring, faithful  covenant.  Our hope is God. 

Romans 15: 13 

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

I pray that you will know that this devotional was not written because of a random choice, but because the Father knows the hour and understands our weakness and He hears our cries. 

Psalm 34: 15 - 22

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

¹⁸ The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

²⁰ He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

²¹ Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

²² The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

In Genesis 9 He gives us more than just an anchor.  The ark was stationed on Mount Ararat…not just a rock, but a mountain.  And there He makes covenant with both you and me.  As I read this, I pray that you will personalize this word for yourself in knowing that no storm is too big for our God and that He promises by Covenant that it will not destroy you.  Only believe. 

Genesis 9: 13 - 17

¹³ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

¹⁵ And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Then Noah says...

¹⁶ And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

¹⁷ And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

 

May you be reminded each time you see a rainbow, that He has made covenant personally with you and will keep His Word.  The rainbow to remind both you and the Father that storms will never have the last say.

I end this devotional with a word that I received from Father on the 10^th November 2021.  Please write these words I receive from Father down where you can have them in one place.  They will minister to you in a time that you really need them.

THE ROCK THAT CANNOT BE MOVED

Be still and know that I am God. 

I have said that in your weakness I am your strength.  You ask for strength, I ask for faith.  Faith to believe that I will be all you need in the time to come, even now.

Look unto Me My Child, look unto Me.  As it is written, they looked unto Me and they were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.  I will never leave nor forsake you.  Therefore, even in your weakness now, come drink of My living water. 

I have said that as the planting of the Lord by the living water you will bear fruit in all seasons and have leaves even in the times of drought.  Even Joseph when in prison had more than enough because I determined and purposed him to be there.  Surely in My purposes I not only prepare My vessels, but I also provide. 

Never lose sight of My love for you, dear Child.  Remember, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.

Think on these things in the times that require you to bear, to believe, to hope and to endure.  Think on Me.  I am all you need, but come in faith.  You are called to live by faith.  These seasons are for the testing of your faith, so use it boldly and see if I will not do super abundantly above all you could ask or think according to the power working in you.  Even though you are weak, there is a power in you activated only by faith.  It is Me in you, ready and eager to show Myself faithful to those who live by faith. 

Therefore, do not fear.  Look unto Me and walk in the knowing that we are one.

In your weakness, I have not left.  I am still with you.  So how can you be destitute?  How can you be without hope?  How can you be weak?  Know that your mind is to be brought subject to My purposes and not faint in a time of battle or tribulation.  For as man thinketh, so is he. 

Therefore, build your life on the Rock, My Word and STAND.  Stand in faith on the Rock that cannot be moved. 

I AM your strength.

I end with the well-known psalm that many hold onto in time of need.  Psalm 46.  May the words find entrance into your heart and not only be a silver lining, but burst in briliance, causing you to be secure in the anchor of your soul.

Hope in does not only refer to a joyful expectation, but also as a place of safety, a refuge.  In essence He is our Hope and our Refuge.  His Word is the anchor of our soul and He is bound to His word forever. 

Psalm 46

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.  

Prayer:

Father, I pray that this word will fall on hearts that has been prepared and hungry for hope.  I pray that you will be the minister of Your word and I thank you that you promised you will send Your Comforter to comfort us in every situation.  No situation is for you too small or to big to deal with.  No situation is for You too strange or complicated.  You hold all of us in Your hands.  You are familiar with all our ways.  I thank You Father that for those who need healing, You will heal and restore in Your time.  Give them the grace to wait with an expectancy, a joyful expectancy, whilst you do a work in them.  Strengthen their inner-man with might by Your Spirit.  Strengthen their minds not to be feeble.  Those who are alone, that have struggled, let them feel the companionship of Your presence.  Let them know that loneliness is a gift and You have a purpose with it.  Those Father who are overwhelmed with financial issues, thoughts of the future, of their marriage, Father, You are provided a place of rest.  You have promised that you will lead us beside the still waters.  You will cause us to lie down in green pastures where there is rest.  You will restore our soul.  I pray Father that they will find themselves with renewed hope.  To seek You in everything to get these apples of gold every day for every situation.  For You have promised that whosoever needs wisdom, they should come and ask.  But let them ask in faith, for You will give liberally unto all and without partiality.  You say in Your Word, cast your cares upon Me, for I care for you.  May they FAther, lay their heavy burdens down, take up Your yoke, which is Your love, and walk in that bond of love, where You carry the heavy burden, and they the light.  That they may walk with You in knowing that they are one in covenant.  That You have not forsaken them, no matter what their circumstances says.  That You are true, You are the Amen.  The Author and the Finisher of their faith.

In Yeshua's Name.

Amen.

VESSELS OF HONOR

 

VESSELS OF HONOR - AUDIO LINK

2 Timothy 2:20-21

²⁰ But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

²¹ If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

I briefly mentioned vessels of honor in the devotional called 'The Tale of Three Kings' and that we are those vessels poured out to our King.  This will further build on the same premise and with even more understanding.  The above picture on this devotional is of Kintsugi broken pottery.  Poetically translated to “golden joinery,” Kintsugi, or Kintsukuroi, is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery. Rather than rejoin ceramic pieces with a camouflaged adhesive, the Kintsugi technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Once completed, beautiful seams of gold glint in the conspicuous cracks of ceramic wares, giving a one-of-a-kind appearance to each “repaired” piece.

This unique method celebrates each artifact's unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. In fact, Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with a new look and giving it a second life. (This information from "My modern met" website)

The Prophet Jeremiah is told by the Lord God to go to the Potter’s house where the Lord will speak to him.  The premise of the message is basically that the Lord God, as the Potter, has the right to form us in any way He wishes.  We may not always understand, but we can trust and obey Him.  He starts off by saying that just as the clay is in the Potter’s hands, so is Israel in His hands.  This makes me think of John 10 where Yeshua says that we are in His hands and that nobody can snatch us out of His hands.  About two verses after that, He says that we are in the Father’s hands and that nobody can snatch us out of His hands. So we are both in Yeshua and the Father’s hands.  A very good place to be indeed.  I enjoyed watching a potter making an urn and it was very rewarding and relaxing to see the forming of this beautiful artwork.  At first the poor clay is thrown on the table and pounded almost mercilessly until the suppleness required is achieved and placed on the wheel to be molded.  Very much a “hands on” effort as this Potter is so careful and precise with the amount of water added, the pressure of his touch to the clay, even his bodily position to get just the right angle.  Everything is meticulously prepared beforehand, with drawing and design on hand.  Not at all like most of our first pottery projects of grade school where some could not quite understand why their beautiful cup always ended up being an ashtray for some reason.  No, this potter took absolute pride in this vessel.  In fact, he mentions that every potter has that unique quality to their work that identifies the art as theirs.  With every pot the design is influenced by that unique purpose which was preordained.  And so our Father says, “Whilst you are in My hands and I the great Potter hold you, please know that you are My workmanship in Christ Jesus, unto good works that I have preordained that you should walk in them.”

Isaiah 64: 8

⁸ But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

The hands that form and the feet that turns the table were pierced for us.  They were wounded for the sake of the clay.  Also, the blood money of Judas bought the field where all the broken pots at that time were thrown away on one field, known as the Potter's Field.  He was sold for 30 pieces of silver, but we in turn purchased by the same amount.  For we are all taken from the Potter’s field.  Broken and thrown away at some time by this life?  Is this not the very field that He came and chose us from and said…I want that one, and that one and that one.  Not one of us came out looking beautiful and intact.  And so, like the above picture of the Kintsugi vessel, our broken pieces are put together by Him.  Not with tree sap, but by His blood that came from the tree that He was crucified on.  Now I would like to think that in the spirit His blood shines as gold, our faith tried with fire in the cracks of our weaknesses.  Every crack a testimony of our Potter.  He knows exactly for what He will use us and as His workmanship He takes pains to not take His eye off us for one second whilst we are on the Potter’s wheel.

It has been a while now that Father has been speaking to me about honor. I had a vision of an urn whilst I was praying one evening.  The urn had gold patterns all over it and Father said to me, “A vessel of honor, a vessel overlaid with gold.”  True honor is something quite rare, but I have noticed that it is especially important in the eastern culture.  I am referring to the Japanese.  My husband happen to watch a movie where two Japanese men were fighting and the next moment these men were sitting sharing tea.  I told my husband that to them having tea with someone is like making covenant.  It is in a way sacred to them.  Everything is so precise, even the way they serve it.  They serve in a way that says that they esteem the one they serve with the highest of honor and respect.  Every movement calculated, every stir of the tea, or the folding of the napkin, not one thing done in haste, seen as a sacred act.  All this for just tea?  It is not about the tea, it is about the honor.  It is called Chado and it means “The way of tea”.  A religious and cultural act that symbolizes and teaches a way of life.  That which is of honor and tradition and perfection.  It is actually beautiful to watch.  We are His vessels of honor which the making of He considers as sacred.   

Not long after that He showed me another vision.  This time His heart at the bottom of this vessel.  A vessel prepared to bear His heart.  What kind of vessel will this have to be to carry His heart to the nations?  In the Braveheart devotionals I keep on mentioning that we are to bear His heart into battle like sir James Douglas did with King Robert the Bruce’s heart.  But we are not to wear it around our neck, but in our breast, there to be the life of our life. 

So the question is, “What does it take to be a vessel of honor?”

I woke up the other morning with Psalm 24 on my heart, the last two verses most prominent that says…

Lift up ye heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is the King of Glory?  The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 

And in verse 3 David asks who can ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place.  This we know to be the Holy of holies, which is our heart.  Our deepest inner most being.  There where the King is to reside in the vessel of honor.  I in Him and He in me. When we are these pure vessels, we in fact open our hearts for the King of Glory to enter in, the King who is strong and mighty in battle.  How glorious is that!  That our hearts can be prepared in such a way that His heart may find a home in us and that we never go into battle alone.  Vessels ready to pour out His heart in every situation. 

Psalm 24 and 15 are sister psalms.  Psalm 24 asks who can enter into the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place?  Psalm 15 asks also, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?  Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

Both referring to the tabernacle and holy place and the hill of the Lord.  Who can ascend there, enter and abide?  David answers and says...He who has:

Psalm 24

• ·        Clean hands
• ·        A Pure heart
• ·        Who does not lift up his soul unto vanity
• ·        Nor swears deceitfully

Psalm 15

• ·        Walks uprightly
• ·        Works righteousness
• ·        Speaks the truth in his heart
• ·        Backbites not with his tongue
• ·        Do no evil to his neighbor
• ·        Take not up a reproach up with his neighbor
• ·        A vile person is contemned in his eyes
• ·        Honours them that fear the Lord.
• ·        Swears to his own hurt and changeth not.
• ·        Put not his money out to usury
• ·        Takes no reward against the innocent

 

He that doeth these things shall never be hurt.

Of course He as the Potter work all this into our lives to make us able to carry His heart.  A vessel is made to carry within it something, with the purpose to pour it out.  It is not to be kept dormant in the vessel, but to be living waters continally poured forth.  The only purpose of the vessel is to hold within it that which is to be poured out.  The word says in 

Colossians 3: 3

For ye are dead and your life is with Christ hid in God. 

We are only the clay vessel that pour forth His goodness.  Our purpose is to serve.  Father told me that servanthood is not a means to an end, but it is the end in itself.  And as I mentioned before, you will always read that the apostles first called themselves servants, before saying that they are apostles.  Even when the Lord addressed Joshua to go over the Jordan to possess the land, He said, "Moses, My servant is dead..."  Our unwillingness to accept that servanthood is the end in itself and to truly embrace it as the most important, is shown by how we serve the least.  Discontentment is often the result of either an unwillingness to let go or an unwillingness to embrace.  We can mouth the words, "I know that as His vessel I am to serve", but to embrace it as the end above all things that you are called to, takes a major mindshift.  And so whether we have done this is shown by how we serve the least.  That is to say those who are the least in our eyes, like ungrateful family members or people that spitefully use you.  And yet our Master bent down to wash the feet of his disciples, even Judas.  If we do not see servanthood in this light, then we as the vessels have a wrong disposition towards servanthood, which is our foremost purpose.  We cannot see it as a means to humble us.   Albeit it can surely be used in such a way, but we would be wrong to see it as a means and not the end in itself. We have to look at it with spiritual eyes to see the immeasurable value that it has.  Once we see it as He sees it, then peace will be our portion and all tasks seen as sacred.  Even making tea.  It is in accepting and embracing His view, His seeing that we will have peace.  Phil. 2 says that we must... LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU, WHICH WAS IN JESUS CHRIST, WHO THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERBY TO BE EQUIL TO GOD, BUT MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION AND BECAME FLESH IN THE FORM OF A SERVANT.

"LET" this mind be in you.  As to say, it won’t come easy, but you have to give it entry into your mind.  Our mind represents our heart, our true disposition.  The Word says that as you think, so you are (Proverbs 23: 7).  We are His vessels that are to carry His servant heart within us.   As His vessels we have to let His mindset be ours and we have to accept it and embrace it.  This will by no means come overnight.  Essentially you will have to choose to renew your mind in this area.  Every time you choose, you "let" his mind be in you.  And the Word also says that "we have the mind of Christ".  So it is possible.  Over and over we are placed in the furnace, scoured, stretched and pounded to become not just vessels of honor, but willing vessels of honor.  That is to say pliable.  The honor is to serve. 

1 Corinthians 9: 19

¹⁹ For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

1 Corinthians 3: 12 - 16

¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

¹³ Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

¹⁴ If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

¹⁵ If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

¹⁶ Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

He is to be everything in us and we just the receivers that pours out His goodness.  But no, we want to be the prophet of the hour, the dreamer, the voice, the wisdom, we want to be the essence of what we pour out.  But we are only the vessel, made of dust.  And this lies at the heart of it.  The word says in 1 Peter 5: 5 that we must clothe ourselves with humility.  That word clothe means to apron ourselves.  And so, we forget that we can do nothing and essentially we are nothing.  We can try to do all of those things and succeed to a degree, but the life, that life that springs forth from the One who is called life, will not be in it.  Eventually it will just fade and we will have to be brought back to square one again.  All we are, are the vessels, but He is the content to be poured forth.  It is not that we have to serve, or preach, or speak, or anything, we are only to pour forth the goodness of God and He will do it all through us.  Watchman Nee says, "We all need to come to the point where we say: 'Lord, I am unable to do anything for thee, but I trust thee to do everything in me."  We have to become of no reputation and strip ourselves just like Him of anything and all things that we trust in and just become dust.  The nothing that we are.  As long as we are something, that something will in essence be like an ugly scratch on an otherwise beautiful vessel.  Even though something beautiful, all you will see is that ugly scratch.  The vessel can do nothing.  It cannot move, touch, walk or love.  It is merely the receiver of life that has to be poured forth and therefore the value of the vessel is not in its beauty, as this can easily fade, but the contents is its value.  Always the contents, never the vessel.  Father once told me: "The contents is for others, but the vessel is Mine."  For only Christ in us is "Very Good".  When you are dead, you no longer exist.  Yes, we have a life, but that life is hidden in Him and so our identity is lost in Him, so that all the Father sees is His Son and then He cries, "It is good!  It is very good!"  And so Yeshua prays in John 17, "Father, that they may know that you love them as you love Me."  We know this because Father loves Yeshua in us and around us.  We in Him and He in us.  The Father's love we have is not based on anything we do, but based on who is in us.  We have already received all His love. We have to just receive it in faith.  1 Peter 4 says that by His divine power we have received all things that pertain to life and godliness.  All the love we could ever receive is already in us by virtue of His Son.  We need to simply change how we speak, by starting to believe it and receive it.  Not on the basis of who we are.  We are dust, but His Son in us is like the strongest magnet of His jealous love over all we are and do.   To have the servant heart of God, is the end in itself.  This is what is well pleasing to Him.  As He will say to those who enter, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.’ Not your servant heart out of your own effort, but His heart.  He came to serve and it just so happens that, that serving also meant our atonement as well.  The will of the Father was that He would serve.  It is such a profound statement.  He Himself said, “I can do nothing.”  Just like us.  He became the very dust that He formed Adam with and became a vessel of honor that serves the heart of the Father for those who are thirsty.  He became the Bread for those who are hungry.  He became all that by serving.

I want to read a word He gave me in 2020 that speaks to what He has said thus far.  I pray it blesses and touches your heart.

DUST

Be still My child, be still.  I have formed you and made you thus far.  Be assured, I will finish that which I have started in the same way I have finished creation.

For surely, as I have said, "man is very good" when I created Adam, so know that once again I will say, "It is very good" over you.

I am doing a new thing.  A new creation.  Be not afraid even though at times the crushing and molding overwhelms.  Your eyes are to look to the Potter.  So know that you can be still.

I work often in the darkness, for who can know the ways of God?  Hidden from the eyes of man, but glorious before My angels.  Know that you are in My hands.  You are safe.  I prepare the vessels I will use, but preperation always goes before use.

Therefore, hasten not the season, but rest whilst I work.  As the dust was formed into clay and Adam came forth, he did nothing, but rest.  In the same way he slept when Even came forth.  So you too for Me to form this new man in you are to rest.

This is not a time for you to do.  It is a time for you to 

SURRENDER

ACCEPT

BE STILL

and

TO LAY DEEP IN THE DUST OF HUMILITY,

until I add water to dust and form clay.

Remember, you are but dust, but I am the breath of life.  I am indeed the life of your life.  

Be still and rest My child.

I find so much wisdom in Father’s ways when I realize that unto the woman is given to serve her family in a way that speaks so much to humility.  Some may see this as a disadvantage not to have a lady cleaning their house.  But for me it is a provision of great worth.  Bound to be unappreciated and undervalued are those who have to clean the toilets of the house, the clothes, dirty dishes and washing, the filthy floors and endless windows, over and over.  A great provision to keep me humble and preparing me for the time to come.  I ask myself, "Who will I have to serve in their house one day?"  Nothing can be more toxic than feeling sorry for yourself when you do not hear a “thank you” or “wow…you cleaned all that!” What about when you have worked for so long and someone comes by and it just is not good enough?  Only one matters and the attitude you do it with counts buckets with Him.  If you are of the fortunate ones to have someone else cleaning your house, then great, but I’m sure Father will find another means to humble you.  He always have His ways.  This disposition will be challenged by our flesh.  This is why Paul says…LET this mind be in you.  As to say, allow the doors of your heart to open up to this seeing so that your whole body may be full of light.  Psalm 24 says, Lift up ye heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors.  You know what I see when I hear that?  I see me lifting up my head.  Then, I open the gates of my eyes, which is to say I choose to see with His seeing, and then I open my arms wide, the everlasting doors and I receive.  What do I receive?  It says, and the King of glory shall come in.  He comes with His glory.  And He comes as a man in battle, strong and mighty.  All I have to do is to allow Him to prepare me as His vessel as per Psalm 24.  I have to be willing to allow the Potter to make me in that vessel of honor even if it means He has to crush me to dust.  Will it hurt?  Yes. Because flesh hates humility.  But oh the joy when the King of glory enters in!  With one purpose, that we may serve and pour out Him to the thirsty.  Servanthood is the end.  Vessels of honor serve.  By what means they serve is irrelevant, but with what heart is vital.  If the heart is sick, the whole body is sick.  Only His heart in us will do, because He alone deserves the glory, the honor and power forever…even through earthen vessels.

We read in John 4 of the Samaritan woman at the well where Yeshua asks her for water.  Knowing this woman's horrible past, He tells her that if she truly knew who He is, she would ask Him for water.  The water that He will give her is living water that will cause her to never thirst again.  This woman represents us who struggle daily even with our own past, and at noon we go to the well of Jacob, meaning at the heat of day when life has become unbearable, and there we hope to find water for the day.  Your days may be filled with so many troubles, broken marriage, rebellious children, sickeness, financial issues and the world at large in chaos.  Daily we walk up to the well and there we meet with our Savior.  We know Him and we recognise Him for who He is, just like the Samaritan woman.  She came to the well of Jacob.  The well of Jacob is found in Genesis 29 where Rachel came to water the sheep, also at high day.  The word says "For she kept them".  A shepherd girl in a way.  The Bride.  Jacob rolled the stone away from the well's mouth for Rachel, but he watered the sheep for her.  And so we find the type and shadow of that same Jacob at the well again, and still busy giving living water to all who are thirsty.  She desired this water greatly.  But the one verse that caught my eye, was in verse 28

John 4: 28

The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men...

Through life we learn to diligently carry our waterpots, our urns, or our vessels up to the well of Jacob.  It is a tiring journey up to the well and we are greatful for every drop we get.  But at some point we too have to leave our own waterpots for good, and allow our Jacob to fill us with His living water.  You have tried every possible avenue and tried every possible advice from good intentional people, only to find that it helped only for so long.  But you have to at some point "Let go, and let God".  Psalm 46: 10 says, Be still and know that I am God.  That "be still" means to be weak and to let go, so that He can be the life in you and through you.  Not as a moment in time, but as a way of life.  To no longer try to figure out how we will save our marriages, our children or family.  To no longer have a plan A, B, and C in our backpocket, but only one plan, and that is to drink from Him who not only stands at the well and wait for us, but He who is that well.  A stone was rolled away at another well, His grave.  There another woman saw Him.  Mary.  She said, "Raboni", meaning teacher. And then He said to her... Go tell Peter and the others.  Peter represents the church who has become lukewarm in their denial of Him.  Just like the Samaritan woman, she ran to tell all of the one she met at the well of living water.  The One who is alone her Teacher. The Resurrection and the Life.  And out of that grave flowed resurrection life.  We have to depend with our whole heart on Him to do what we cannot do.  And we truly can do nothing.  We have to be led by Him in every choice and action, wholy dependent on His living water, laying our waterpots, our handmade gradeschool pottery down, and become that vessel of honor through which His resurrection life can flow.  Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart, but ask Him to show you your pottery, your broken cisterns that you have depended on, and leave them behind.  Cling to Him and trust Him with your whole heart and see if like this Samaritan woman, out of you too will flow living waters of life, that will leave you thirsty no more.

A close friend of mine have gone through a very trying season, experiencing tremendous loss.  The grieving and pain she endured seemed endless and was overwhelming.  

On the day that we prayed together I went to Father to ask His will.  Immediately Father showed me a small square box and said the words “Pandora’s box”.  I knew a bit of Pandora’s box, but thought to look it up again.  In Greek mythology Pandora was a beautiful woman made by Zeus for Epimetheus to lure him.  Pandora was too inquisitive and opened the box.  Out came greed, envy, hatred, pain, diseases, hunger, poverty, war and death.  Immediately she slammed the lid down.  The last thing remaining inside of the box was hope.  Now “Pandora’s box” means anything that is best left untouched, for fear of what might come out of it.

The result of my friend’s trying season was that her heart ended up being a Pandora’s box.  It was filled with pain, sorrow, loss, death and fear.  Though she walked with Him and knew that He would never forsake her, she still felt immensely alone in her battle and ended up like Pandora with a great fear to deal with everything alone.  Her heart became filled with fear and she second guessed the choices she made.  Father led me to the account where Mary broke the alabaster box at His feet and anointing His head, body and feet.  I always thought that it meant she broke the actual box, but apparently it had a seal on that was broken.  And so He tells us

Song of Solomon 8: 6

Set me as a seal upon your heart and as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealosy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which have a most vehement flame.  

Father told me to tell her that He took her Pandora’s Box upon Himself…death, sorrow, pain, sickness, isolation, loneliness, and all that she has been carrying in her heart.  He took it upon Himself on the cross.  In exchange for her Pandora’s Box heart, He gives her an Alabaster box heart.  In John 12 we read that there was a pound of spikenard in the alabaster box.  So it was no small box.  The whole house was filled with the fragrance of the nard.  This word "filled" means without measure, completely, furnished, no lack…in other words, no room for anything else but that fragrance.  Everything permeated with the aroma. 

This ointment speaks of the anointing oil that breaks the yoke, but also the fragrance of the crucified Christ in her life filling her house, which resembles her body, which is to say, her vessel.  The alabaster box, the new heart is Christ in her.  His heart, his glory and His light shining out every time she opens her heart and pours out the oil.  A vessel of honor…our hearts beating with His.  The King of glory, strong and mighty in battle.  He in us, and we in Him.  Today, you might very well be holding a pandora’s box in your bosom.  If you are to go to Him, just like my friend, He will give you His alabaster box, filled with the fragrance of all that He is.  Willing to make all things new.  All it takes is for you to let the King of Glory come in and shine through your cracks.  To let Him touch every part of you that is broken and lay still on the potter’s wheel.  You do not have to have pandora’s box in your bosom any longer, because He has taken it all.  Let Him in and let the fragrance of His love fill your life and those you serve…as His vessel of honor.

When He was bruised for our iniquity and for our sickness He received the stripes on His back, He as the vessel of honor of the Lord God, oozed out the fragrance well pleasing unto the Most High.  His intercession in identification with our pain, through the breaking of His body, just like Mary’s alabaster box, filled the Holy of Holies in heaven with the fragrance of a sweet smelling offer.  So when we are smote, persecuted and reviled, we too are to bring forth the fragrance of the Crucified Christ, the only offer pleasing in His sight.  It does not matter the means, only what is poured forth out of His vessels of honor.

I end this devotional with a word that I received from Father on the 12^th December 2012.

 

VESSEL OF HONOR

Do not be afraid.  I am always with you.  As I said, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.  Do not fear.

I know your limitations and I know my un-limitations.  I will never ask of you the impossible, only to believe.  Stay the course.  Look to Me the Author and Finisher of your faith.  That which I determined before the foundation of the world for your life, I am the Author of and I will finish that which I have begun in you.

As the clay in the Potter’s hand, the forming of the vessel of honor is not up to the vessel, but only to stay in His hands.  So you too are to stay in My hands where no one can snatch you out of. 

Do not fear the process. 

Do not concern yourself with the looks and words of those around you, for they will only cause you to take your eyes off Me.  Now is the time to look to Me and be saved.  For every situation I will provide a way of escape.  A safe haven where I as I was with Elijah in the cave, his bread and water, so also with you to strengthen you.  Seek Me often in My word and presence to strengthen you on this journey, which you cannot go without.  For I alone am your strength.  Come to Me and be filled each time with what is needed at that moment. 

Each time a filling after an outpouring. 

When you cannot bear it, remember, I said love endures all things.  Look then to Me who is love, for in Me you can endure all.  Look only unto Me who is your strength. 

I will not forsake you.  Just as a Potter devotedly forms a masterpiece, so devotedly My hands that formed your unknown substance in your mother’s womb, so now are forming you in the womb of the Spirit.  Remember, to look with your spiritual eyes and you will see reality.   Peace will be your portion when you see as it truly is and not with your physical eyes. 

Look unto Me and be saved.  Run to Me, the Rock that is higher. 

I am your safeguard.