The Potter & The Clay.
Are you fit for purpose?
This is the question that the Lord is asking His church today.
Before we dive into that question, I want to lay the foundation with some clear definitions…
Take note as they will come in useful later:
To form | to create; to make or be made into a specific shape. It’s a particular way in which a thing exists or appears; the visible shape or configuration of something possessing structure.
To conform | to obey a rule or reach the necessary stated standard; to fit into someone else’s mould.
To transform | to change the condition, function, nature, character or personality of something for the better
To reform | to make an improvement, especially by changing a person’s behaviour or the structure of something
Ok, now that is cleared up and hopefully brings clarity to the very similar but significantly different terms, let’s continue..
Jesus is building His Church. His Ekklesia. His ‘Called Out Ones’.
He is the head, we are His body, and He formed us with purpose and destiny in mind.
We are formed beings, created in God’s image. Genesis tells us that God ‘formed’ man from the dust of the Earth. (Genesis 2:7), while other translations say we were formed from the ‘clay of the Earth’.
We are the clay, He is the potter as we read in Isaiah 64:8,
Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
We are all the work of your hand.
We are the ‘work of His hand’. Created and formed in our mother’s womb (Psalms 139:13-15),
on purpose for a purpose.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that “…we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.
When Christ established the church. He designed it to be made up of ‘formed’ beings. Together these formed beings are the body of Christ, which “has many parts, but all its many parts form one body”. (1 Corinthians 12:12)
We know Christ is the Head of the Church and that we are the body, and I don’t believe the symbolism of this is accidental. It is the body that houses the heart, and connects the hands and feet. I believe that the significance of this, (now that Jesus is once again seated at the right hand of the Father), is that it is up to us, to carry the heart of God for His people, and to be His hands and feet on the Earth, until the day He comes again.
We were “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.
We were created for good works. The Lord however, did not expect us to do them alone. Firstly, He brought us together, as a body of believers. Then He sent us a helper, His Holy Spirit, to empower us for the good works that He has prepared for us.
Recently the Holy Spirit has been giving me much revelation on this, prompting me to write this post.
We will get into the detail of it shortly, however before we get there it’s important for us to clearly understand a few things, which we discover in 2 Timothy 2:21:
“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work”.
The first thing we need to acknowledge is that we are vessels, meant for honourable use.
As mentioned previously, when Jesus died, was resurrected and returned to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent us His Holy Spirit, our ‘helper’ and ‘advocate’, to equip us and to empower us. It is the same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus to walk in miracles, signs and wonders, and raised Him from the dead. That same Spirit lives in us (Romans 8:11).
When Jesus gifted us with His Holy Spirit, something of great significance took place. Upon our receiving His spirit, it meant that the spirit of God was no longer confined to a single place (the Holy temple) or a single person (Jesus).
With Christ Jesus as our chief cornerstone, we as the body of Christ became the living stones
(1 Peter 2:5) of His Holy Temple. It is through Jesus that “the whole building” (body of Christ) “is joined together and rises to become a HOLY temple in the Lord”. (Ephesians 2:19-21).
It is “in him” that we are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit”. (Ephesians 2:22)
Here we see clearly, that through Christ Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection, we became the living stones of the temple of the Lord. We became the vessels that would be the dwelling place for His spirit.
Now when we think about a vessel in the natural, what is its purpose?
A vessel is intended to hold or contain something.
A vessel is intended to carry something.
A vessel is intended to pour out of itself and into other vessels.
It is the same thing, when we think about the purpose of a spiritual vessel…
When He made us vessels, He intended us to hold and contain something – His Holy Spirit, He intended us to carry Him into the world, and to pour out of all that He pours in to us.
The desire of the Holy Spirit is to work in us and through us, freely and without restraint. The reality is that the urgency of the hour is greater than ever. The clock is ticking, and we do not need to look much further than our tv’s, phones and news apps, to realise that the state of the world today, as it continues to decline rapidly – morally, culturally and spiritually, is something we must pay attention to.
Jesus said “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:37).
As we watch the news today, as we scroll through social media, are we not presented with the same wickedness and evil that existed in the ‘days of Noah’?, When people had no respect for God, and chose to indulge in their sinful nature, to worship false gods, and be unashamed of their actions?
In my last blog post, I shared a word from the Lord I received, which indicates that the season we have recently stepped into, is a season where the Lord is preparing His church for His second coming (To read the full post click here).
Jesus is coming soon. And I believe that He wants to do something of great significance and magnitude in the Earth. I believe that the days of the Joel 2 outpouring are upon us, where He is readying to pour His Spirit into the Earth in ways we have never before experienced. All in preparation for the great and terrible day of the Lord, which is coming soon.
When He pours it out, He needs vessels that are ‘fit for purpose’, suitable to contain, carry, and pour out what it is that He pours in.
We are meant to be those vessels.
This leads me on to the second thing we need to take note of in the passage we read in
2 Timothy 2:21.
Just because God has purposed for us to do something, it does not mean that it will automatically happen. There is a condition, a responsibility…
“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work”.
It is only “if” we “cleanse ourself from what is dishonourable”, when we set ourselves apart “as holy”, that we become “vessel for honourable use”, “useful to the master of the house” and “ready” for the “good work” He has prepared for us.
Where there is purity, there is power. And for the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us powerfully, He needs vessels of purity.
What happens when our vessels are impure (through unaddressed sin in our lives, or areas of compromise), we contaminate, pollute and dilute the flow, power and potency of the Holy Spirit in us and through us.
It is here I feel to share a 3-part revelation that the Lord has given me recently on the matter.
The first is this…
During a time of prayer, the Lord showed me a picture of a potter, at His pottery wheel, moulding His clay.
I asked the Lord, what He was showing me and the interpretation soon followed as He lead me to Jeremiah 18.
Now there is so much that could be unpacked from this whole portion of scripture, but I for the purpose of this post, I feel the emphasis on verses 1-4:
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. (Jeremiah 18:1-4).
What I then recognised that He was showing me, was the work He was doing in the present day – He was “working at the wheel”.. let’s break it down further…
“But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands…”
The definition of ‘marr’ is – or to impair the quality or appearance of; to spoil.
If something is marred, it is of impaired quality; damaged or spoiled to a certain extent; made less perfect, attractive, or useful. (thank you Google!)
In verse 4 we read that the clay was “marred” in the potter’s hands.
It was formed, but impaired in quality. It was damaged, spoiled, imperfect, not attractive or useful in its current state or condition.
I believe this speaks to the current state of the Church today, (or at least a large portion of it). Over time, comfort, compromise, complacency have crept into the church, and made themselves at home. Now of course this trio are unwelcome guests, but the problem is, they have been welcomed in by a people who either have not or would not, take responsibility for the cleansing of their vessels. A people who have allowed themselves to be lulled to sleep by their secured ticket to Heaven through faith in Jesus and the salvation He freely gives us.
While faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross does of course give us reassurance of our eternal destination, we must also understand that the work of the cross was to give us freedom from sin. Not to give us a licence to sin.
Righteousness is received (through the price Jesus paid), but purity must be pursued. If not, the very vessels of clay God intends to use, become marred and unfit for use to the master. (Remember to marr means to make less perfect, or useful).
But “… IF anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, USEFUL to the master of the house, ready for every good work”.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be useful to God, and ready for the work He has prepared for me!
However, let me pause on this thought here for a second.
While the desire to be used by God is a good thing, it’s important to note that the ‘specific work’ or being ‘used by God’ was never actually supposed to be the thing that we pursue.
Our purpose in life is not actually to be used by God.
“Are you sure about that?” I can almost hear your thoughts asking me.
Yes I am sure. We have one purpose, of which the specifics of everything else come, and it is revealed to us in Romans 8:29,
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”…
So yes, our purpose in life isn’t to be used by Him. Our purpose in life is to become like Him, ‘to be conformed to the image of His son’… for it’s only when we become like him, that we are then fit to be used by Him.
Being used by God is a fruit of becoming like Jesus. And only when we become like Him, are the specifics of our callings and the works He has prepared for us, then revealed to us.
Romans 12:2 put it like this, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”.
Based on our earlier definitions of the words conformed and transformed at the outset of this post, what this verse is saying is… do not fit the mould of the world, but change your condition, function, nature, character or personality for the better, by the renewing of your mind.
How do we renew our mind?
By meditating on the word, being conformed to the image of the Son (fitting His mould), and having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
It is when we allow ourselves to be transformed into His image that we may discern the specifics of the will of God for our lives.
As I conclude, let me draw your attention to the second part of Jeremiah 18:4,
“the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him”.
With this, let me share with you the third part of the revelation the Lord gave me, as He spoke the following:
This is a time of redefinition and reformation as we realign with My original design and blueprint.
I Am the potter. You are the clay. And I Am at work reforming, reshaping and restoring.
For you are my vessel, and you shall be fit for My purpose. To carry what I intend you to carry, to pour out the very oil of which I have anointed you. Brimming with purpose. brimming with promise. Let it pour.
Consecrate yourself, for tomorrow I will do great things among you, and the requirement is vessels of purity. So be Holy, as I am Holy. Be transformed into my image. The likeness of the Son. Who is coming soon for His bride.
This is the time of preparation, for soon there is to be a great ceremony and feast as the bridegroom and bride unite once again!
The bridegroom is coming for his bride, and his word says that he will present her to himself, and she will be “as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”. (Ephesians 5:27)
The only way she will be without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless, is if we make her that way – Holy, Pure. Through the cleansing of our vessels, repentance before the Lord and the pursuit of purity in every area of our lives.
I believe the Lord is leading us to a place where the weight of our responsibility to become Holy vessels (fit for use for His holy purposes), becomes a reality to us. Where we recognise where we have allowed sin and impurity to contaminate the condition of our vessel. Where we acknowledge any open doors for the enemy to be able to rob us of our purpose and usefulness to God. Where we realise the need to identify these areas and come to the place of true repentance.
He is the potter. We are the clay. And the time is now for us to allow Him to redefine and reform His church, so that we are fit to be carriers of His purposes, His presence and His glory into the Earth – to prepare for His return and the day the bride and the bridegroom unite once again.
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