{"id":6872,"date":"2020-11-09T14:27:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T04:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6872"},"modified":"2020-11-22T21:06:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T11:06:36","slug":"my-potters-clay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/my-potters-clay\/","title":{"rendered":"My Potter’s Clay"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My Potter\u2019s Clay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Michael<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally seen on Becoming Fully Alive blog site, October 2nd<\/sup>, 2013<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dear Self,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s something that I\u2019ve been meaning to speak to you\nabout for some time now. It\u2019s a lesson that you started to learn a little while\nago but have already started forgetting. Let me recap your memory\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to remind you of a couple of verses that once\npierced your heart and woke you up. \u201cBut you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants\nof Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest\ncorners I called you. I said, \u2018You are my servant\u2019; I have chosen you and have not\nrejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am\nyour God. I will strengthen you\nand help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.\u201d<\/em> Isaiah\n41:8-10<\/strong>. Self, who chose you to be a servant? Who called you?\nWho promised to strengthen you and help you? Was it not The Lord\u2026 Was it not He\nthat gave you your gifts\u2026? Are you not His vessel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYet you, Lord,\nare our Father. We are the clay; you are the potter; we are all the work of\nyour hand.\u201d<\/em> Isaiah 64:8<\/strong>. Recently\nyou\u2019ve forgotten that all you are is clay in the hands of the potter. You\u2019ve\nforgotten that it\u2019s not you who \u2018earned\u2019 the gifts you have but that you\u2019ve\nbeen granted them graciously by your potter \u2013 as St. Paul says \u201cWe\nhave different gifts, according to the grace given to us\u2026\u201d<\/em> Romans\n12:6<\/strong>. It\u2019s not you who\u2019s in control, it\u2019s Him. You\u2019ve forgotten\nthat it\u2019s not your service, It\u2019s His service. \u201cCan I not do with you, Israel, as this\npotter does?\u201d declares the Lord. \u201cLike clay in the hand of the potter, so are\nyou in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is\nto be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of\nits evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.\nAnd if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up\nand planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will\nreconsider the good I had intended to do for it.\u201d<\/em> Jeremiah\n18:6-10<\/strong>. You\u2019ve become so concerned with being a \u2018good\u2019 servant\non the outside. Do you not remember that God can only work in the vacancy of\nyour heart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time for you to wake up Self and realise that you\u2019re\nmerely a vessel that He can choose to use for His glory. Whenever you feel that\nyou\u2019re a \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018righteous\u2019 servant deserving the praise of people around\nyou, humble yourself. Remember that it is God\u2019s name you want to bring the\nglory and praise to, not your own. Remind yourself of how unworthy you are to\nbe called to be God the Almighty\u2019s servant \u2013 that even though you are covered\nin so much sin He still chooses to use you. Pray that God instils in your heart\nthe desire to have people look at you and say \u2018wow, God is so amazing\u2019 not \u2018wow\nyou\u2019re so amazing\u2019. You\u2019re like a small box containing an incredible diamond\nring; if the box is fancy but opaque, people will look at it and admire it but\nnot see the prize inside at first glance. But if the box is made out of cheap\nplastic but is clear, people will look at it and instantly gasp in admiration\nof the diamond ring inside. Self, you need to desire to be clear\/ transparent\/\ninvisible so that it is not you \u2018using\u2019 God to shine in-front of people but God\nshining through you to His people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe must become greater; I must become less.\u201d John 3:30<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repent and examine yourself O my soul. If people\u2019s praise is what\u2019s driving you to serve, then you are not serving at all. If showcasing and utilising your gifts is what\u2019s driving you to serve, then you are not serving at all. Even if it\u2019s love towards the people you\u2019re serving that\u2019s driving you to serve, then the root of your service is wrong. St. Augustine says, \u201cIf the intention is unclean, the deed that follows from it will also be evil, even if it seems good.\u201d When you serve, you do so out of love for your Creator \u2013 you desire to be nothing so He can be everything \u2013 you want everything that you say\/ do to glorify His name not yours. In Exodus \u201c\u2026if the [Hebrew] servant declares, \u2018I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,\u2019 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.\u201d<\/em> Exodus 21:5-6<\/strong>. It was the Hebrew servant\u2019s personal choice in the seventh year of service whether to go free or willingly choose to serve his master forever. Ask yourself: \u201cDo I really love my Master so much that I\u2019m willing to be His servant for life?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to serve your Master you need to love Him; and in order to love Him, you need to know Him. Self, do you know your God? Do you know what His personality\u2019s like? What He loves and hates? How can you trust Him or ask for His will in service if you don\u2019t know Him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord says: \u201cThese people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught\u2026 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, \u201cYou did not make me\u201d? Can the pot say to the potter, \u201cYou know nothing?\u201d<\/em> Isaiah 29:13-16<\/strong>. Self, God loves you and wants you to serve Him but you have to spend time in His presence reading His word, getting to know who it is that you\u2019re serving. Join King David in saying: \u201cTeach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name\u201d<\/em> Psalm 86:11<\/strong> for you hurt God when you don\u2019t give Him the honour He deserves. \u201cA son honours his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honour due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?\u201d says the Lord Almighty.\u201d<\/em> Malachi 1:6<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter how much we may study, it is not possible to come to know God unless we live according to His commandments, for God is not known by science, but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and learned men came to the belief that God exists, but they did not know God. It is one thing to believe that God exists and another to know Him. If someone has come to know God by the Holy Spirit, his soul will burn with love for God day and night, and his soul cannot be bound to any earthly thing.\u201d <\/em>St. Silouan the Athonite<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Self, repent and ask forgiveness for your sins. Ask the Lord to introduce Himself to you once more, that you may again understand how insignificant you are and how almighty He is; how it\u2019s He, the King of Kings, who deserves all glory and honour. Persevere in prayer and reading His word that you may know your Creator and love Him abundantly, offering Him praise and service in return. Let not Satan trick you and fool you into thinking that you accomplish anything with your gifts or talents for \u201cman\u2019s life is a period of time which the devil tries to waste\u201d H.H. Pope Shenouda III. Instead, remember in your heart that \u2026”Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.\u2019 says the Lord Almighty\u201d<\/em> Zechariah 4:6<\/strong>. Finally stand before your gracious God and thank Him that in your brokenness His strength is perfect, and in your weakness He uses you as an empty vessel to serve Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love,<\/em>
\nSelf<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Original blog available at- https:\/\/becomingfullyalive.com\/my-potters-clay\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Potter\u2019s Clay By Michael Originally seen on Becoming Fully Alive blog site, October 2nd, 2013. Dear Self, There\u2019s something that I\u2019ve been meaning to speak to you about for some time now. It\u2019s a lesson that you started to learn a little while ago but have already started forgetting. Let me recap your memory\u2026 … Continue reading “My Potter’s Clay”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[466,60,467],"class_list":["post-6872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-manhood","tag-service","tag-spiritual-warefare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6872"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6899,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6872\/revisions\/6899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}