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.

PERFECT IN PATIENCE

 

PERFECT IN PATIENCE - AUDIO LINK

In the account of King Robert the Bruce hiding in the cave with his trusted Bravehearts, we read of how something caught his attention, which resulted in him to obtain hope for the battles ahead.  There in the darkness sitting and waiting for who knows what, he saw a spider at the entrance of the cave.  Spinning its web, trying desperately to reach the other side of the cave in order to secure its web.  This spider failed hopelessly over and over.  King Robert the Bruce was fascinated with the patience of this spider to just never give up.  He was so impressed with the spider’s tenacity that he vowed that should the spider succeed in his mission, he would exit the cave with his men and win the freedom of Scotland.  At this time he had succumbed to so many defeats that he was about to give up for good, but the spider prevailed and King Robert the Bruce was filled with hope and left his cave of doubt.  

Romans 5: 2 - 4

² By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

³ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

⁴ And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

We see in this scripture a pattern or a formula if you will.  Tribulation, patience, experience and then hope.    No tribulation, no patience.  No patience, no hope.  And lastly no glory.  However, it is actually more than a formula, it is a principal of the Kingdom of God.  The word tribulation is in the Strong’s Concordance G2347, and it means pressing, pressure, oppression, affliction, distress, straits and anguish.  It is derived from G2345, which means to press grapes and to press hard.

Philippians 1: 29

²⁹ For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

We are not just called to believe, but also to suffer.  How many people would come forward to give their lives to the Lord God if they knew the full reality of what it means to be a Believer.  And what we read hear is that Paul says we are to glory in tribulation.  This glory means to boast and rejoice in tribulation.  Was he playing with words here?  Was he trying to be poetic or heroic, or was this coming from a man who knew firsthand what it means to suffer straits, distress and anguish constantly?  Paul is not saying, should you maybe experience tribulation, but rather you are called to suffer.  This simply means that it is inevitable.  And as workers for the time to come, Paul is saying…this is the attitude you are to have concerning your tribulations, “Boast in it!  Rejoice in it!”  In verse 9 Paul says “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  So this tribulation is not due to God’s wrath, but rather the persecution, distress and what we as workers will be brought into.  If anything, we need to be realistic about the time to come.  We will experience tribulation as His workers, but not because of His wrath, but because He will be using us during this time.  The reality is that everybody will experience this tribulation when it comes, but how we deal with it, will determine whether others will have hope.  If we are under the impression that the time to come and how He will use us will be marked with just amazing miracles and super powers, then we are in for a huge surprise.  Rather, it will be the suffering we are called to.  Yes, Father will use His workers mightily, just like the book of Acts, but it will be whilst enduring tribulation.  Not apart from it.

So Paul tells us to rejoice in this.  He brings it into full circle starting with hope and ending with hope.

From what we can gather here is that we must KNOW that tribulation will be the means by which we will gain these various helps for the time to come.  Knowing in the Strong’s Concordance is G1492 and it means to perceive, to see, discern, discover, to experience, to be skilled in, to be sure and understand. 

This definition speaks of something that we have to undoubtedly be assured of.  It cannot just be a thought, but in a way foundational, because it will affect the whole.  You cannot doubt it.  You have to see it in this light and this is exactly the disposition, the foundation that you will need in order to endure.  If you are not assured and unwavering concerning the purpose of the tribulation you will undoubtedly be in, your foundation will be shifty from the get go.  You have to know that it is not just something to endure and hope you will get through it.  You have to know and be assured that in every situation He, as your Commander and Captain of the Hosts, divinely predestined for you to be in it.  Peter was sleeping in prison so soundly that the angel had to give him a shove to wake him up.  Peter knew that his time was not yet, as we read in 1 Peter 4 that the Lord revealed to him in what manner he would die.  He was in perfect peace in prison.  Sound asleep.  At rest in the Lord God’s will wherever that may be.  Every given moment of what you will have to endure will have a purpose, just as every given moment now has a divine purpose.  You have to have the right disposition concerning your circumstances.  If you cannot even now endure the confinements of your own home, how will you endure prison?  How will you endure the emotional turmoil and horror of what is to come?  Understandably you have to even now see the grace of why you are presently experiencing light tribulation in your life.  The only reason I say light tribulation is not to make light of your circumstances, but to see them in the light of what is to come.  We have to adjust our disposition, the way we think of our tribulations.  We cannot see ourselves as victims whilst proclaiming we are more than conquerors.  If we see ourselves as victims to society and our own personal struggles, we will inevitably work against His purposes.  When you see yourself as more than a conqueror, you are working with Him in humble surrender to His divine plan, even if it means to suffer.  You will be progressive, focused and have understanding of the purpose in it all.  This is a critical first step for now, but also for the time to come.  We have to ready ourselves.

Not one second of Yeshua’s life was without purpose.  Every insult, every accusation, every hardship He had to endure before the cross, prepared Him for the nails, the lashes, the thorns and His death.  Hebrews 5: 8 says that though He was a Son, He learned obedience by what He suffered.  Without any doubt He gloried in His tribulation for in it He obtained patience, experience and hope.  The soldiers that hit those nails into His feet and hands were allowed by the Father.  The thorn of suffering on His head, by the Father, the lashes on His back, by the Father.  In fact Isaiah 53 says that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him and to make him sick.  Yeshua said that nobody takes His life from Him, but the Father gave him commandment and He willingly lays His life down (John 10).  In Psalm 40 David as the type and shadow of our King says, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me.  Thy law is written on my heart, I delight to do Thy will.  And then later Yeshua says the same, but says, a body Thou hast prepared for me to do Thy will.  It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.  What a profound statement.  Can we say the same about our own lives?  Can we look on the bruising He allows and not be offended?  As Yeshua said to the disciples of John to say to him, "Blessed is he who is not offended in Me."  Are you now offended by His bruising of your life?  Are you then not the Body the Father has prepared to do His will?

Paul is saying that tribulation works in us, that is to say it prepares us and renders us fit for the Lord’s use.  We are to see our tribulation as a season, a time that has a specific purpose and learn whatever we need from it.  We have to see our present tribulations in the light of what we need to learn from them for the time to come.     

Verse 4 tells us that patience produces experience and experience hope.  Let’s look at these different words closer, especially because it is given to us as a provision for the time to come and we need to take it very seriously.  We need all the help we can get, so let us not spurn the opportunity to learn from this and the privilege.

Patience is G5281 and it means so much more than what we think.  It means to be steadfast, constant and to endure.  It says, "It is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings."

Patience is the ability that comes from a character of a man who does not easily give up even in the greatest of suffering.  Paul was such a man and therefore he could say it.

Patience worketh experience.  Experience is G1382 and it means a tried character, a specimen of tried worth.  This tried character through the process of tribulation develops the ability to endure anything, and in turn this person will have hope.  I have a picture of a warrior that have gone through so much and have that certain tenacity that is visible on his face, which can only have come through experience.  We can sit at a desk and learn about the realities of war, but there is no better teacher than war itself.  Out of these experiences the warrior does not easily give up hope.  Patience, the ability to endure and experience have taught him differently.  This hope is G1680 and it is rendered as a joyful and confident expectation.  In other words, no doubt in the greatest of trials, but rather a joyful expectation. 

The Word says in 1 Peter 3: 15 that we must sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

Why do we need to do this?  Because we will be in tribulation, hard pressed and very much under pressure.  They will want to know why you have hope when every day they wish for death in order to free themselves from this world.  Now is the time in your extremities that He is teaching you the value of your tribulation.  Now He is building your foundation to be solid, enduring and stable.  Now He is producing a character through perseverance of patience to bring you to a hope that transcends the greatest of trials and suffering.  The question is, “Do you know what He is teaching you in your present tribulation?”  Have you sat down with Him and asked Him exactly what He is teaching you for the time to come? 

Quoting Richard Wurmbrand

“My brothers and sisters, you also must believe that your lives are clay in the hands of a wonderful Sculptor. He never makes mistakes. If at times He is hard on you, it is because He sometimes has what we could call negative successes. He loses a pawn in order to win the chess game. He loses a battle in order to win a war. He causes his Son to endure suffering in order to save a world. Just trust. Don’t live on another’s messages, but discover the message for which He is molding you.” 

In Hebrews 11 we read of the cloud of witnesses that Hebrews 12 refers to and how they by faith endured so much.  In verse 13 it says that they all died not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.  Remember, the word knowing means to see, discern and perceive.  They were persuaded of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth.  This was their disposition concerning their trials and in their trials.  Richard Wurmbrandt who spent 14 torturous years in prison for his Christian faith said, “A faith that can be destroyed by suffering, is not faith.”  Harsh, but true. 

Hebrews 12 tells us that the witnesses compass us about.  This word witness is G3144 and it means to witness in a legal sense, a spectator and as a witness to us in the sense of an example set, therefore credible as to having been proven and the genuineness of their faith in Christ by undergoing a violent death – martyrs.  Many names are mentioned in Hebrews 11 as these credible witnesses to us, for our benefit, names like Stephen, the first martyr and those who have suffered greatly.  We are presently surrounded by them.  This makes me think of Psalm 32:7…thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble, thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.  Are these witnesses now singing songs of deliverance over us?  Just a thought. 

In all this Hebrews 12 tells us…Look unto Jesus.  He endured the cross for the sake of the joy that was set before Him.  That joy of the glory of the Father revealed through His death…resurrection life.  For when we share in His suffering, we shall also share in His glory.  This is our hope. 

Paul endured so much, and yet he was able to write these words to us that we in the time to come, in our tribulation may have hope, that we may give others hope.

2 Corinthians 11: 16 – 33

¹⁶ I say again, let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

¹⁷ That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸ Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

¹⁹ For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

²⁰ For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

²¹ I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

²² Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

²³ Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

²⁴ Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

²⁵ Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶ In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷ In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸ Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

³⁰ If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

³² In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

³³ And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

Quite a list and one that would make him worthy to speak on the subject of our disposition to suffering and trials.

James 1: 2 – 4

² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

The question is whether we believe this.  Do we believe that when our faith is tested to the uttermost that patience, which is that endurance, will cause us to be perfect, wanting nothing? 

Eric Ludy wrote on dying well, suffering joyfully, which in essence lies at the heart of how all died that went before us in that cloud of witnesses.  Whether at their final moment or in dying to self.  It speaks of the mindset of a soldier, of men and woman of valor that has the heart of the King who when He was persecuted and reviled opened not His mouth, but went as a sheep to the slaughter.  Is this why Paul in Romans 8 tell us that...

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

I would like to read the transcript of Eric Ludy's video called “Dying Well”.

"James, an apostle of Jesus Christ, also known as James the Greater was beheaded.  But he died well, as it says in Fox’s Book of Martyrs…

As James was led to the place of martyrdom, his accuser was brought to repent of his conduct by the apostle’s extraordinary courage and undauntedness and fell down on his feet to request his pardon, professing himself a Christian.  And resolving that James should not receive the crown of martyrdom alone, hence they were both beheaded at the same time.  Thus did the first apostolic martyr cheerfully and resolutely receive that cup which he had told his Savior he was ready to drink.  This message is about dying well.  If a man is to die well, he needs something.  That something is Jesus Christ, but specifically he need something that only Jesus Christ can give.  The Bible calls it PATIENCE.  Patience is the ability to endure the most difficult circumstances that could ever be wielded against our soul, and against your body.  To remain unmoved.  To not recede or flee.  To stand fast amidst the most severe misfortune and trials and to hold fast one’s faith in Christ unto the end. To endure and bear ill treatments bravely and calmly.

HYPOMENO, which is the brave calm and steadfast courage of the Christian soul.  Anyone you have ever read about in Christian history that have died well, died in Hypomeno. It is astounding because we are so different.  We are moved by the fact that we are low in our bank account.  They were UNMOVED when they were being cut to pieces.  Do you see the distinction between them and us? Something is wrong here. It is completely different, it is triumphant, it is victorious.  It causes everyone to gape in awe and wonder and say “What do they have?” You know, we scream as we are being led to our slaughter, that is what the world does.  That is what everyone who is after the protection of their own skin and has no hope in Jesus Christ does.  Let’s show this world what we have.  And what we have comes out when the point of the spear touches us.  This is our privileged opportunity, because God has deposited it in us and it’s where we face trials. When we face suffering.  When we face persecution that this world is able to see Jesus.  This is put into practice today, not in the concentration camp.  You need this today.  Christians, who do you put your trust in?  Who is in control of your life?  Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps.  Let’s consider those who immediately followed his steps.  Stephen was stoned, Philip was crucified, Matthew was slain with the sword, James, the brother of Jesus was stoned and clubbed, Matthias was stones and beheaded, Mark was dragged to pieces, Jude was crucified, Bartholomew was cruelly beaten and then crucified, Thomas was thrust through with a spear, Luke was hung.  Simon was crucified and John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, removed unscathed and then exiled to Patmos.  Ignatius was the disciple of John, but he was told that he was going to be fed to lions the morning.  This is what Ignatius said…

“I care for nothing of visible or invisible things so that I may but win Christ.  Let fire and the cross, the company of wild beasts, the breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body and the malice of the devil come upon me, be it so…only may I win Christ Jesus.  I am the wheat of Christ.  I am going to be grounded with the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread.  Such is the burning desire that he had to suffer that he declared the lions his friends.  For they were going to be the ones that would lead him into the presence of the One he loved more than anything in this natural life. 

What did they follow?  They followed in the pattern of suffering.  Is that our response? When we are issued a difficulty, when a trial comes our way, what is our response? Because if we are not showcasing that joy that comes forth from when the spear touches our side, when the suffering hits us, what hope can we give?  It is meant to be a rejoicing that comes out of us.  To die is gain.  Don’t we realize that?  This is our opportunity.  There is something good that is taking place.  However, it is not up to you to define when you do die, so even though to die is gain, to live is Christ.  You have everything you need for life and godliness in Jesus Christ.  You have everything in Jesus and it does not matter your circumstances, whether you are in bonds and chains, or whether you are a free man.  You have Jesus Christ.  Our God is faithful. Our God is powerful.  Our God is able.  God is asking you to trust Him no matter how dark it appears to be.  Put your hope in Him, maintain your brave calm.  Extraordinary courage is not just for the end of the earthly journey, it is for every day along the way in the journey. This is what we esteem in our daily lives and we must face it with the Hypomeno of heaven.  To call forth all that God has deposited in you via the Spirit of Almighty God and allow that response to be patience.  Brave calm and steadfast courage.  That is what you have, the inheritance of the saints of God.  WE can live this way, not just die this way.  Every singular daily death that we must die, we can die well.  It means that in every situation we must preach the glory of Jesus Christ.  In this life you will receive persecution, it is a guarantee, if you walk in Jesus Christ.  Listen to me closely, to die is gain.  Rejoice!  Rejoice!  You are privileged to suffer for the Living God and in doing so, your life will demonstrate to the on looking world what it looks like when God invades the life of men and lives the impossible through them."

You may remember that in the devotional called 'Bravehearts' that I mentioned that soldiers are not only taught to go to war, but to long for it.   The disposition is that of Christ who did not have a desire to suffer, but to do the will of God.  As I have recently read, those who give their lives to Christ have not just given up their will, but have found their will in God.  His will becomes our longing and if it means suffering or tribulation, then we long for it as long as His will is done.  It is easy to long for that which is light and easy on the flesh, but our Savior never longed for this, and neither should we.  We are called to suffer with Him if we want to share in His glory.

 

2 Corinthians 4: 7 – 12

⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

⁸ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

⁹ Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

¹⁰ Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

¹¹ For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

¹² So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

 

TO BE PERFECT IN PATIENCE, LACKING NOTHING IS TO WIN CHRIST, OUR HOPE, OUR JOYFUL EXPECTATION AND SO OUR TRIAL BECOMES OUR TRIUMPH, OUR SUFFERING OUR SONG, OUR PRISON OUR PALACE AND OUR LOSS OUR GAIN…CHRIST OUR HOPE OF GLORY.