Surrender and Obedience
I’m going to be speaking about The Potter and the clay, more on surrender and obedience.
I believe it starts with surrender- and submission to His will not ours. Flesh vs our spirit- How do you want me to use the power of what you’ve put on the inside of me? Am I looking for validation in my job, relationships friendships my likes on Facebook my children?
Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
When we love god and allow him to work in our lives he will work all things for our good, even when we may mess it up.
What is the definition of pottery?
Pottery is made by forming a ceramic (often clay) body into objects of a desired shape and heating them to high temperatures (1000-1600°C) in a kiln and induces reactions that lead to permanent changes including increasing the strength and solidity of the object’s shape.
The clay must be the right texture-
This is our hearts & our mind.
Jesus was tempted 3 times in the desert-
At the very beginning of his public ministry, Jesus went into the desert for an extended time of preparation. (See Matthew 4:1-11)
There he was tempted by Satan in three significant ways. How Jesus handled those temptations teaches us some helpful lessons about honoring God and allowing Him to mold us- For His will to be done – not ours.
The Physical Temptation is to Do What Feels Right with the flesh, our desires.
Jesus was fasting, so the devil tempted him with bread.
Matthew 4:3-4 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
This was a physical temptation, but also a temptation to use his power for his own selfish purposes instead of God’s mission. Satan’s lie was that Jesus couldn’t trust God, so he should take matters into his own hands. How many times do we take matters into our own hands?
Jesus response was in faithfulness in God and rebuked satan with Gods word. The Reward of obedience is ALWAYS INCREASE!!! Interestingly, Jesus did miraculously create bread in a later miracle, but the feeding of the 5,000 was in line with God’s purposes for him, to draw people to himself.
Through our broken ness and the breaking is where the increase comes but we cant abuse that power to try to change things that are outside of Gods will for our lives-
All of us in some way have been guilty of trying to turn a stone into bread- our first price of surrender and submission is that we have to be willing to go hungry- and we have to have a hunger and inner determination and Stand firm on what we are called to do- Jesus is hungry but he would rather be hungry than to abuse his power on something that God hasn’t called him to do-
God is looking for those he can trust, He gives us tests. There are many times I have to check myself before I reck myself. Because If I use my power on this level- God won’t let me use it on the next level of what he gave it to me for- so we have to be strategic on how we use our power – what is your power?
Your power is your energy, your time, your ideas, your creativity. What are using your power on ? Are you trying to manipulate something to work for what you want as an outcomeor are you submitting that power to God and surrendering to His will. Jesus submitted his power to God.