Have you ever wanted to just skip over some steps in life before?
In many moments of my life, I get very impatient—from traffic, to my food being cooked, to accomplishing dreams or growing with my Heavenly Father.
I see this photo as a perfect example of the process in many moments of life.
You have the Cocoon, the Transparency moment, and the Miracle.
Yes, I called it the Miracle.
I find it fascinating because, as a caterpillar begins to go into this stage of a cocoon, it is called the “Pupa” stage. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “pupa,” I actually think of pupil—and not the eye.
Pupil, the one who is learning and being trained up by another.
It is interesting to me that during this stage, the caterpillar’s old body dies, and a new body forms inside a protective shell known as a chrysalis.
I have learned this in my short years of leadership, life, and failures.
You may have a lot of dreams. You have passions. You have goals.
You may have successes and accomplishments—and even anointings.
Yet let me tell you something: you have a lot more pupil stages
ahead of you than you think you need. Why, you may ask?
First, because none of us are perfect, and none of us has reached the point of
completion or the moment of knowing everything.
(If you think you have—well, let’s just say you may be stuck in your cocoon
longer than you may want to be. Because one of the first steps is admitting
you have old ways of thinking or doing that need to be changed.)
Maybe we are not ready to walk in the “miracle” because
maybe we haven’t been faithful in our pupil stages of life.
Let me let you in on a secret: we should never
try to get out of being in a pupil stage. Because if we try and get out, there
might be something still alive from the old way, old self, or old identity that won’t
allow us to fully be the Miracle God needs us to be for someone else’s life.
The people we encounter every day—our families, our friends, our church, our jobs—
need a living, breathing, speaking, action-taking Miracle.
– Miracle Definition –
“A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.”
God’s love is a miracle in our lives, and we are called
to be that love for those all around us.
We won’t be able to be a miracle for anyone if we don’t embrace the process.
If we don’t embrace the “dying” of old things—old thoughts and old
ways—to pass away and make room for the new and miraculous,
we will miss our “purpose” in life. Not because God wasn’t faithful to grow us,
but because we weren’t faithful to the process.
What is that old way of thinking, old way of doing something, old character trait,
or old belief that God only moves in a specific way—that we need to allow to fully die?
What process are we in right now?
What do we need to learn right now?
What do we need to release right now?
What do we need to grow in right now?
What character trait needs to grow?
Until we can allow ourselves to be transparent before God, and embrace being a pupil
in that one area of our lives that we’re thinking about right now, we will never be able
to be a miracle for the person we will encounter when God calls us to break out—and fly.
4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you,
‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’”
Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe.
6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master,
the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.”7 With these words, David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul.
And Saul left the cave and went his way.8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!”
When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’?
10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave.
Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you.
See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion.
I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.”
—1 Samuel 24:4–11
I hope you allow me to encourage and challenge you with this final thought:
Don’t cut corners to your “purpose” or “anointing.”
It isn’t worth it—and it will deface your character.
David was anointed and rightfully meant to be King,
but in a moment of cutting a “corner,” the Spirit within him convicted him to do it correctly.
To walk humbly, be transparent before God, and be a faithful pupil
until God called him to break out of his cocoon and be a Miracle to the nation of Israel.
My final question to you is this…
What is the “nation” God needs you to be a miracle to, but you’re trying to cut corners to get there?
If we keep trying to cut corners to get to that place, job, dream, anointing, or nation,
our character will never last the length of time needed to fulfill the true purpose God has for us.
Remain faithful to the process,
Through Him Alone,
Joseph III
To be continued…
Desperately Dependent 