Resilient or Malleable

 GodTracker 1007

The motivational thought helping to keep you on track with God’s plans for your life. GodTracker is published at surereality.net
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“Perhaps the Holy Spirit is calling you to bend; to break; to be beaten and moulded by his word and his Spirit. He may be enlarging you and reshaping you, stretching you to shape you for his purposes.”

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2 Corinthians 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

I was tapping away at my computer, minding my own business, when the phone rang.  “Hello. This is
Dudley Anderson.” 
“Hi Dudley, it’s Barbara,” said the voice on the other end. “Hi Barbara, how are you?”
“Fine. Dudley, I was just praying, and the Holy Spirit gave me an impression of a blacksmith, hammering away at steel on his anvil. As he hammered, sparks were flying everywhere. I feel this is a word for the church. God is shaping us," she said.

We chatted a little more and said goodbye. I hung up the phone, thinking about what she had said. As I returned to working on my laptop, I began to sense the Holy Spirit prompting me to pray. So, I walked downstairs and sat in my prayer chair in the lounge, opening my heart to the Lord. In less than a minute, I found myself on my knees calling out to God for wisdom and insight. Then it was as if I felt the Spirit tug at the sleeve of my spirit, and I literally turned my head to hear the word “resilience” in my heart.  “Resilience? What do you mean by resilience, Lord?” I asked. I had a notion that it had to do with a negative interpretation of the word, so I prayed against “resilience” in Jesus’ name.

After I felt I had come through in prayer, I returned to my computer and looked up the word resilience. I found it to mean: “The physical property of a material to return to its original shape or position after deformation that does not exceed its elastic limit.”  Hmmm, to return to its original shape, I mused out loud.

In Isaiah we read, “We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hands,” and in Jeremiah, “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.” This analogy has to with how a potter forms and reforms clay into the shape he requires it to be. However, for the clay to be shaped, it needs to be malleable and not resilient! Imagine if a lump of clay bounced back to being just a lump of clay after it was shaped into a lovely vase. Likewise, hard steel in the hand of a skilled blacksmith is malleable and not resilient. If these materials were resilient then they would always bounce back to their original shape and be useless to anybody.

The Lord may be doing a new thing in your life. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is calling you to bend; to break; to be beaten and moulded by his word and his Spirit. He may be enlarging you and reshaping you, stretching you to shape you for his purposes. Take courage and allow God to enlarge your boundaries. God’s ways are higher than your ways, and his ways are always for you are good, even when it seems the sparks begin to fly!

God-tracking is being malleable in the hands of the Blacksmith of Heaven.

READ ALL ABOUT IT
Get into the word of God and get the word of God into you.
Isaiah 64:8
Jeremiah 18:1-6
Isaiah 54:2-3
Isaiah 55:8-13

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DON’T GIVE UP, LOOK UP & PRAY

“I turn away from resisting your hand and turn toward your anvil and hammer.”

“Dear Lord, thank you that you are bending me. Thank you that you are reshaping my life and my future to fit in with your wonderful plans for me. Help me, O Lord, to never be resilient in the hands of the Blacksmith of Heaven. Help me to bend to the shape you want me to be and remain humble as you work in my life. Forgive me of any sin and malice that has caused me to bounce back to old ways. I turn away from resisting your hand and turn toward your anvil and hammer. Amen.”

 

Want more prayer? Email dudley@godtracker.co.uk

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What is GodTracker?
GodTracker is a weekly e-mail Christian motivational thought, written by Dudley Anderson, based on the premise that God has a plan for our lives. His Word calls us to seek his plan by acknowledging him in all our ways and by tracking his purposes, in faith.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV)

Listen to GodTracker podcasts by Dudley Anderson at https://www.surereality.net/podcasts/

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Clay in His Hands

 GodTracker 947
The e-devotional to help keep you on track with God’s plans for your life.
GodTracker is published at surereality.net
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https://soundcloud.com/godtracker/gtwd-288-god-tracking-is-being-shaped-by-the-master-potter

“We all suffer flaws in our development over the years but if we are willing to submit to the Lord our Potter, he will refashion us to match his expectations.”

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

I watched as the potter manipulated the clay on his wheel. His skilled fingers drew the wet clay into a fine jar. However, on completion, when the potter stepped back to examine his work, he detected that the lip of the jar was not shaped according to his expectations. Dissatisfied, he crumpled the still wet clay and began carefully reshaping it again to match his standards. This was his workmanship, created for good use. What I noticed, as I watched, was that the potter did not discard the clay on his wheel and replace it with a fresh batch, he simply refashioned the same material to match his intended use.

God gave the prophet Jeremiah an instruction to go down to the potter’s house and watch him shape the clay. Referring to the nation of Israel, God said to the prophet, “Can I not do with you as this potter? Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.” The inference was, that God was like the potter and his people were like the clay. They had not turned out quite as he’d hoped they would. As a potter might refashion the clay to match his purposes, so God would refashion his people to match his perfect will.

Perhaps you find yourself on the Potter’s wheel today. Perhaps you have been shaped and formed for a purpose over the years but, somehow, you’re a little out of shape. We all suffer flaws in our development over the years but if we are willing to submit to the Master Potter, he will refashion us to match his expectations. As the potter did not discard the clay but reformed it for noble use, so the Master Potter has not discarded you. God will use you, not someone else, to fulfil his plan but be ready to be manipulated. You are clay in his hands. By his grace, you are his workmanship created for good works.

God-tracking is being shaped by the Master Potter.

IT’S ALL IN THE BIBLE. READ ALL ABOUT IT. (NKJV)
Get into the word of God and get the word of God into you!
Jeremiah 18:1-4
Ephesians 2:8-10

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SO, DON’T GIVE UP, LOOK UP & PRAY

“Help me to be willing to be manipulated and formed by your workmanship for good works.”

“Dear Lord, I feel as though I’ve not matched up to your expectations in my life. I admit to my flaws and failings. Forgive me, O Lord. Yet, I thank you that you have not discarded me. I humbly submit to your mighty hand. Refashion me as a potter might refashion a lump of clay, to match your great expectations. Help me to be willing to be manipulated and formed by your workmanship for good works. Amen.”

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What is GodTracker?
GodTracker is a weekly e-mail Christian motivational thought, written by Dudley Anderson, based on the premise that God has a plan for our lives. His Word calls us to seek his plan by acknowledging him in all our ways and by tracking his purposes, in faith. Most of what you’ll read is based upon the author’s personal experience of tracking the plans of God.

Listen to GodTracker podcasts by Dudley Anderson at, https://www.surereality.net/podcasts/

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

GOD-TRACKING IS FOLLOWING GOD’S EXCLUSIVE PLAN FOR YOU

GodTracker 750
The e-devotional helping to keep you on track with God’s plans for your life. GodTracker is published at godtracker.co.uk.  SUBSCRIBE to GodTracker by e-mail
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“God’s purposes for you are deliberately and exclusively designed by God to fit only you. You see, with God, one size does not fit all.”

Psalm 139:1
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

When my children were small, they enjoyed an array of toys from dolls and toy cars to intricate toddlers’ puzzles. I remember one puzzle in particular. It consisted of a sixteen-sided plastic form with various irregularly shaped holes in each side; there was a star shape, a square shape, a triangle shape and so on. With the toy came sixteen irregularly shaped plastic blocks, each corresponding to a different hole. The idea was for the toddler to find the correct shaped block for the appropriate hole and push it through. It was great fun, especially for dad! However, I would often find my little girl or little boy trying very hard to force a round block into a square hole or a star block into a triangular hole. They would try to inject the block into the hole every which way until it finally dawned on them to try a different hole. Eventually with a range of grunts and some whining the correct block would find its way into the correct hole.

 Have you ever felt like a misfit in life? Have you ever tried to do a job or explore a relationship that just did not seem to suit your skills or your character? The popular saying goes: “You’re trying to be a square peg in a round hole.” So many times, I have found myself in situations like this. For instance, when I lived in South Africa back in the 1980s, I remember leaving one job for another. At the time, I worked in the IT industry as a network controller. However, in my quest to find the proverbial greener grass on the other side of the hill, I left one company to join another as a systems programmer. Bad move. I was just not cut out for the job. Apart from the fact that I had minimal systems programming experience, my new company was primarily an Afrikaans speaking company and, dare I say, my command of the language left much to be desired. As it turned out I found myself at loggerheads with management trying to persuade them that I really did know what I was doing… in Afrikaans, no less. Needless to say, I finally resigned and moved back into computer networking, in a new company. You see, I was trying to be a square peg in a round hole.

 Dear GodTracker, as you seek to track God’s plans for life remember that God knows what’s best for you. In fact, he knows everything about you. He knows whether you are a square or a round peg; he knows whether you are a triangle or a star and as long as you continue to acknowledge him and look for his will in all you do, he will fit you into your appropriately shaped hole. Jesus told us to seek first God’s kingdom (that is his modus operandi and his principles in life) and his righteousness then all else will be added to us as well. God loves you so much that he will always provide for and guide you into the appropriately shaped opportunities for your life, provided you put him first.

God-tracking is following God’s exclusive plan for you

READ ALL ABOUT IT
Psalm 139
Proverbs 3:6
Matthew 6:33

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SO, DON’T GIVE UP, LOOK UP & PRAY

Help me, Lord, to find your exclusive, deliberate plan for my life

“Dear God, you are my Lord and my guide. I submit my life entirely to your will and purposes. Forgive me for taking my eyes off your holy plans for me and attempting to run my life my way. I have tried to be a square peg in a round hole for too long and have come undone. Help me, Lord, to find your exclusive, deliberate plan for my life. Help me to find the right hole to slot into, that my family and I will be blessed, protected and provided for; that I may please you by fulfilling your call upon my life. To your glory, I pray. Amen.”

If you felt the healing power of God on you just now, I’d love to hear from you. Please email dudley@godtracker.co.uk

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What is GodTracker?
GodTracker is a weekly e-mail devotional, written by Dudley Anderson, based on the premise that God has a plan for our lives. His Word calls us to seek his plan by acknowledging him in all our ways and by tracking his purposes, in faith.

Listen to GodTracker podcasts by Dudley Anderson at, godtracker.co.uk/godtracker-podcasts  

GOD-TRACKING IS TRUSTING THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN TO SHAPE YOUR LIFE

GodTracker 707The e-devotional helping to keep you on track with God’s plans for your life
GodTracker is published at http://godtracker.co.uk

“At times… my life has felt like a lump of molten glass at the end of a glassblower’s blowpipe that has popped under the pressures of life. It is then that the Glassblower has returned me to his furnace and turned up the heat.”

Jeremiah 18:4And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

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There is a craft centre near my home where a glassblower has set up his shop. I love going down there to watch him at work. He begins by attaching a lump of raw glass to the end of his blowpipe and then places it in the furnace. When the glass is heated sufficiently and softened by the heat, he removes it from the fire and begins to gently blow through the pipe into the molten glass. Slowly, under the pressure of his breath, the lump of glass begins to expand until it becomes a glowing bubble. Gradually, he continues to shape the piece and add other parts to it until he has formed it into the masterpiece of his design.

All along the glassblower has the shape and purpose of the object he is shaping, in his mind. In his heart, he has decided its purpose and splendour. If the piece he is blowing becomes disfigured or bursts under the pressure of his blowing, he will place it back in the furnace and reshape it until it fits perfectly with the plan he had for the object he is creating.

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. If you know and have acknowledged Christ as Lord of your life, then you can be sure he has a plan for you. The Scripture tells us that if we acknowledge God in all our ways, he will direct our life’s track. Your Lord is omniscient. That is, God knows everything there is to know about everything. This includes you and your whole life. God knows your past, your present and your future. You are the object of his creation. More than this, God knows what he has in his mind for the object he is creating. You have purpose!

Don’t let anyone convince you that you are useless or worthless. Your value is equal to the value of the life of God’s own Son, Jesus. You see, God Almighty sent Jesus to give his life for you, that you may have new life in him. God does nothing by chance. In Christ, your life does not operate by random default, it operates by purposeful design.

However, sometimes it doesn’t feel as though we have any purpose in life. I know that feeling – I’ve been there, too. At times like this, my life has felt like a lump of molten glass at the end of a glassblower’s blowpipe that has popped under the pressures of life. It is then that the Glassblower has returned me to his furnace and turned up the heat. But, when that happens, he is merely refining my purity and softening my heart so that I will again become malleable under the pressure of his breath.
God knows the plans he has for you, dear GodTracker. So, keep your heart soft and your eyes on Jesus as you seek his perfect purpose for your life.

God-tracking is trusting the master craftsman to shape your life   

READ ALL ABOUT ITJeremiah 29:11-13
Proverbs 3:5-6
Jeremiah 18:1-4

If today’s GodTracker has spoken to you I’d love to hear from you.
Please email me - dudley@godtracker.co.uk


DON’T GIVE UP, LOOK UP & PRAY

Shape me and make me into the good piece you have designed and purposed for me to be

“Dear Lord, sometimes it feels like the heat is on and I’m under huge pressures. Forgive me, Lord, when I fail or pop under such pressure. I am infallible, but you are not. Therefore, I submit now to the heat of your furnace and the pressure of your breath. Shape me and make me into the good piece you have designed and purposed for me to be. I place my trust in you and continue to acknowledge you in all my ways. Thank you for the plans you have for my life. In Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

If you desire more prayer, please email me - dudley@godtracker.co.uk

SUBSCRIBE to the FREE weekly e-devotional GodTracker at…
http://eepurl.com/dxTLAf

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GodTracker is a weekly e-mail devotional, written by Dudley Anderson, based on the premise that God has a plan for our lives. His Word calls us to seek his plan by acknowledging him in all our ways and by tracking his purposes, in faith.

Subscribe by email for free at: http://eepurl.com/dxTLAf

Listen to podcasts by Dudley Anderson at… http://godtracker.co.uk/godtracker-podcasts  

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