Give Way to the Treasure (#1034)
Wayne and Kyle continue exploring the vision of a city waiting to be born, this time focusing on the sparkling treasure forming within it and the invitation to “give way to the treasure.” Drawing from Paul’s words about having this treasure in jars of clay, they reflect on how God’s presence flows through ordinary people for the healing and encouragement of others. From a tender apology to women wounded by a legalistic ministry to the danger of trying to replicate powerful spiritual moments, they consider how love is most freely expressed when we stop glorifying the vessel and simply make room for the treasure of his glory.
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Amen ! Wonderful thoughts gentlemen . My sense is that in this moment God longs for His genuine prophetic heart to be seen . He seems to be equipping you Wayne for this . Timely , in the season of so many going off trail in that gifting . Interesting to me personally as i have walked in the prophetic many years but now find myself in more shepherding spaces . Can we call this a shifting of gift emphasis ? Also the treasure idea ( that being His presence ) has long been a theme , a focus , a desire in my journey . If your audience was stretched well , maybe God thought it was time .
All the best to guys !
Wade, I realized years ago that spiritual gifts are not really given to us; they are given to the church. We individuals are in the position of the mailman or Fedex or UPS drivers. If we can remember that, then maybe it’s a bit easier to avoid getting our heads swelled over the gifts. (I’ve seen that happen too many times in 76 years of living.) But that also leaves the possibility that the gifts God gives through us may change, according to the current needs of the local body around us. So if God decides to have you deliver a different gift, that’s His option. Our function is to pass the gift on to the people who need it.
Absolutely true , just a mail mailman for sure .
So, are the words ‘the treasure’ another way of saying God’s Spirit? God’s Spirit in us? I personally struggled with the term ‘the treasure’ because it shifts God from being a person to a thing. So instead of having a relational, individualised interaction with God, it feels more disconnected and like a scary thing that exists. I also struggled because for those of us who have spent a long time on our journey growing from feeling worthless, then coming into a reality of feeling precious to God, delighted over, celebrated and unique, and that WE are God’s treasure and that he delights in our individuality, it’s quite scary to then be told that we’re just a vessel. I’ve never been scared of God, but hearing your words made me feel scared of him and that God wants us to lose ourselves to him. Why would he have made us all so wonderfully different, if we were to just become these vessel clones to be used by him? When you both were speaking about the moments where you gave way and didn’t feel in control and didn’t feel like the words that were coming out of your mouth were your own, how is that different from being possessed? It makes me feel frightened. Does God want that from me too? I always thought that God was the opposite of an abuser, and never forced himself on us, never controlled us, and that our free will and autonomy were so important and precious and held in high respect by Him. So to hear of God acting in that way makes me feel afraid. I’m scared of losing parts of myself when I die, that I will no longer be me; the way that I get through that fear is to trust that God loves who I am and holds us precious and that he will hold everything together in me, all the things that make me who i am. I’m scared that I can’t trust God to do this. That the universe that you see in the visions of everything being held together by filaments and a field that connects everything, with clouds of colour, feels scary and impersonal. It makes me scared that I’m going to disappear when I die, and lose everything that makes me myself. I have to trust that God would want to preserve the personhoods of those that he loves.
Hi Jen. Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to write and expressing some of your concerns. I can assure you we don’t mean any of the things you are fearful of here… I’m sorry for the places you’ve been that makes these things sound very different to you than how we mean them. I would never reduce God to a ‘thing’ or his Spirit. I’m only talking about the representation in the vision itself. Of course, we are God’s treasure, but so also is God’s glory and wisdom. That is a treasure, too. We are never “just” a vessel, but we are that too. I was referring 2 Corinthians 4, where Paul talks about we have this treasure in vessels of clay. No one is talking about clones here, we are all unique expressions of God’s creativity and delighted by the One who made us.
And I really think you misunderstood what Kyle and I were talking about. We weren’t saying that God took us over and we couldn’t help saying the things we said. This was not automatic speech. The thoughts came into our mind and we choose to say them. But we had a sense in those moments, that the wisdom was greater than ourselves, that Father was doing something special and we were as much touched by it as others. I’m sorry that you have such fear about losing a part of yourself, especially to God. He created. you and being with him makes us all more the people he created us to be. He is not about stifling us for his use, but allowing us to flourish inside of him. You are never going to lose anything that makes you truly you.
I’m so sorry our words and experiences causes these concerns and fears. Jen, rest assured you misunderstood some things here and that Kyle and I both are pretty much on the same page as you here.
With love,
Wayne