He is The Potter; We are the Clay!

Potter: One who makes earthenware vessels.

Clay:,Earth that is pliable when moist but hard when fired.

There are many different ways the Lord uses to describe His relationship to His people. Today, I want to share with you how He’s the Master Potter and we are the clay and to inform you that the Potter has a mission! This mission is to take worthless clay and turn it into vessels of honor, which means that He has to mold it, shape it, and transform it, in order for it to be useful to Him. Isaiah 64:8 says it best; "But now, oh Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

It doesn’t matter what condition we're in when He finds us; God is more interested in taking the worst of us and changing us into the best He has to offer. Like the clay at first, our condition is initially worthless - it must be shaped, molded, and transformed, so that it can be used. We were worthless to God in our sinful condition, but thank God, He saw the vessels we could become. But first we must invite Him into our lives as our personal savior; at that point, God can begin His process.

When clay is first brought in from the fields it is unusable; it is usually hard and full of impurities. As the clay must first be refined, so must the Christian first be refined before we can be shaped into a vessel by the Master Potter. The clay has to be put into the kiln and expose to fire to be harden. We  too must be tried by fire in order to be strengthened. Look at Joseph for instance - Joseph was sold into slavery and imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. When he was tried by fire, he maintained a positive attitude toward the Potter, became a vessel of honor, and was made the second most powerful man in Egypt.

Jeremiah 18-6 says; "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." In other words, just as the clay yields itself to a potter, we as Christians must submit to the authority of God. He’s in complete control and whatever the fire is that He puts us in has been tailor-made just for us.

With all that said, let the church say Amen… and AMEN!            



                                                                                                    

Long-Suffering God

Long-Suffering: Patient; slow; to be slow to anger; tarry long

The Lord does not hasten to punish us, instead He patiently presents us with many opportunities to retrace our evil steps. Our long-suffering Lord is the one who has unlimited patience with His creation (that's us, just in case you were wondering). He’s the one who puts up with us and gives us ample time to use the energy, movements, and powers that He has given us to be used according to His master plan and will. Therefore, He grants us patience and time, again and again.

Our long-suffering Lord wants us to take on His long-suffering nature and to "...walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:1-3). 

Let's use the children of Israel as an example of how the Lord is slow to anger: He wanted the children of Israel to be a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation (Exodus 19:6), but what He got was a murmuring and complaining group of people - even after they had seen His miracles and wonders.  Despite all they had seen, they got off track. Regardless, every time they cried out to Him, our long-suffering Lord delivered them.

The Lord suffers long with us because he does not want any of His creations to be lost. In Ezekiel 33:11, the Word tells us that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Our Lord is not some mean God that sits on the throne just waiting to beat us over the head when we do some thing wrong. Instead, our longsuffering Lord takes exquisite pleasure in waiting for us to gain the victory in the fight and to struggle against the temptations that come into our lives (using all of those tools He's already provided us with, of course). What an awesome long-suffering Lord!

Our long-suffering Lord is forever giving patient consideration to our weakness and underdevelopment, because He knows our weaknesses can be brought to greatness if we would simply surrender and willingly be obedient to the merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering Lord. If we would just do that, we can also achieve mature moral development, because the Lord is long-suffering and patiently waiting on us.

With all that said, let the church say amen... and AMEN!

We Can Have Everything and Still Have Nothing!

Everything: all; something that is extremely or most important

Nothing: naught; something or someone of no importance or significance

My friends, have you ever realized that we can have everything that money can buy and still have absolutely nothing of true importance? What I mean is, we can have all the food we can get; all the most beautiful and expensive clothes; and just about everything else that our hearts desire, but if we don't have Jesus - well then, we still have nothing. We all have a place in our hearts that only Jesus can fill and without the spirit of God living there we are empty, miserable, and have no peace. There are so many restless people out there that want more and more, who never stop to realize that what they are really longing for is the Lord our God.

I once worked for a lady who had millions of dollars, beautiful cars, a big beautiful home, and more clothes than she could ever possibly wear. Even though she had all those things and was in good health, she still had no joy. Her house was filled with people every day, but she still felt empty. She was so unhappy that she drank alcohol all day, every day. She had everything the average person would ever want, but yet she had nothing. The ingredients that were missing in her life were Jesus, His word,  and His peace. You see, you can have all the material things that money can buy, but if you don’t have Jesus in your life as your personal savior -- well then, you have nothing.

Take Pharaoh for instance, he had every material thing a person of his day would want - men servants, maid servants, even slaves to build his cities - but yet he was so wicked to God's people. He had it all, but still he had nothing. He did not have the love for God or the word of God ruling in his life.

Friends, God is more than anything we could ever possibly have. When it seems like you don't have anything, remember that if you've got the Lord, then you have everything you could possibly need! People, places, and things won't fill that empty void in your heart - only Jesus can!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen and…AMEN!