” The Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

² Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My Words.

³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

⁴ And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in Mine Hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah 18:1-6

God’s timing and God’s will are inseparable.  Often, when we know the will of God, we grow impatient with His timing.  As we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Hand is molding us into a vessel to be used for His Work.  Through our faith in Jesus’ finished work on Calvary’s Cross, the Holy Spirit is given latitude to do that which He is commissioned to do – isolate our sin nature as we render our flesh dead to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil and breathe life into this vessel He has molded.

“ For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God.

¹¹ Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Romans 6:10-12.

We who were once dead in our sins and trespasses are now alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  When we come to Jesus broken and marred, He doesn’t throw us away but places us on the Potter’s Wheel.  He Authors and finishes our faith precept upon precept, line upon line through our faith in Him.  We live, yet not I but Christ lives in us by our faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20 ).  We are alive unto God through our faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ…now we must LIVE through our faith in the Son of God.  We don’t “have” to follow the Law, we WANT to follow the Lord Jesus Christ which be default, if you will, causes us to follow the Law – it is written on our heart because He is in us, making our crooked paths straight.

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

² He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

³ And He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

⁴ Blessed is that man that makes the Lord his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” Psalms 40:1-4.

God is no respecter of persons and His arm is not shortened.  If you are a born again Child of God, you are alive unto God through faith in Jesus Christ…now LIVE unto God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Trust His timing, for it is one with His Will.

“And he (Jehoram, king of Israel) went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me: will you go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.” 2 Kings 3:7.

Even though Jehoram, the king of Israel, put away the image of Baal he remained united and devout to the golden calves Jeroboam built to keep Israel from going to Jerusalem to sacrifice ( 1 Kings 12:27-28 ).  As soon as Jehoram solicited Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, to help battle the Moabites, he quickly and willingly united with him in what appeared to be an honorable operation.

How quickly do we unite with the religious world in what appears to be an honorable enterprise?  The religious world is full of Christians who continue to cleave to the idolatries  of their traditions and ceremonies seeking to unite in the name of peace to overcome evil.  Please allow me to be clear, uniting with those who substitute Jesus and cleave to their idols and philosophies of their own minds (40 days of purpose, 100 ways, 12 steps, etc.)  to overcome evil is not unity but another gospel preaching another Jesus and is accursed (Galatians 1:6-8).

“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 16:25.

If the gospel directs our faith to a substitute source for deliverance, the end thereof is the way of death. Recognize the snare of the devil in the unity of the relgious.

-Donna Warren

The lost are not lost because they reject Jesus but they reject Jesus because they are lost.  Let me say that again…the lost are not lost because they reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour because they are lost.

“ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷ For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

¹⁸ He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  John 3:16-18. 

Sinners are called to believe and Saints are called to follow the Lord Jesus.  Until we believe in Jesus,  the perfect Lamb of God sent as the Sacrifice for our sins to die on Calvary’s Cross and was Resurrected 3 days later because He was and is God’s only begotten Son and is now sitting at the Right Hand of God…until we choose to believe with our own free will this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are lost, condemned and unable to yield unto God.

The problem in today’s modern church is they lift up philosophies from their own mind to comfort the sinner in their sin, therefore the lost never know they are a sinner and look to the church to “fix them” and not the Lord.  Once we know and understand Who Jesus is and what He has done for whosoever will believe, His Resurrection is NEVER in doubt.  The Resurrection of Jesus was dependent on His finished work on the Cross.  He came to be the Sacrifice for our sin and His Resurrection was a given because of WHO He is and what He has done.  Please don’t think for a minute I’m in some way taking away from Jesus’ glorious Resurrection, God forbid no!  However, I know in Whom I serve and my Lord’s Resurrection was NEVER in doubt.

“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:

⁹ Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him.

¹⁰ For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives, he lives unto God.

¹¹ Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.

¹³ Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:8-14. 

The lost are unable to yield to God because they are not alive unto God.  Their sin nature still rules on the throne of their heart.  The lost are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sin.  If it were possible for us to yield unto God before our Salvation “as those that are alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13), there would have been no reason for Jesus to go to the Cross to give us dominion over sin (Romans 6:14).   We in our flesh cannot overcome sin.  Our religious ceremonies, traditions, feasts and festivals cannot overcome sin.  There is only One answer for sin and that is Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross.  It is our faith in Jesus’ work that allows the Holy Spirit to isolate the sin nature we are all born with…this IS the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which frees us from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).  This IS the power of God for those of us who are saved.  This IS the good fight of faith…faith in Jesus and His finished work on the Cross.

As Believers we are now able to yield unto God.  We are a new creature in Christ Jesus and able to partake in His Divine Nature.

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4.

When we pick up our cross and follow Jesus, our cross is not our burdens. How do we deny ourselves then at the same time pick up our burden (our cross)?

“And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23.

Our cross consists of partaking in the Divine Nature and receiving those exceedingly great and precious promises afforded us by Jesus’ work on His Cross and following Him…yielding unto Him as those alive from the dead.  Doing that in which we were unable to do before our glorious Salvation – follow Jesus.

If the lost reject Jesus because they are lost, why do the religious reject Jesus for day to day living?  Because they are religious?

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17.

-Donna Warren