Casting Crowns – Hands Of The Potter (Devotional)
Hands Of The Potter – Romans 8-12
When I first started getting into the Word for myself, I stayed in the short books. For instance, I started with James and it was very informational, very ΓÇ£you need to do this, you need to stay away from these things; you need to step here, and here you need to hold back.ΓÇ¥ And I needed that literal teaching.
DonΓÇÖt conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12
I started slowly getting into the deeper things and wanting to know more about what it meant to be saved. One of the things I started seeing in God’s word was when He saved me, He justified me. He justified me just as I had never sinned. He has made me right with God and that is done and complete, but as a believer weΓÇÖre still going through a process and that’s the hard part.
Where He is slowly – as He said in Romans 8 – conforming us into the image of His son. God loves his son so much HeΓÇÖs going to fill up heaven with people just like him. That’s why weΓÇÖre still here. I remember Romans 12.
DonΓÇÖt conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12
HeΓÇÖs talking to believers saying that there’s still something that needs to be transformed. YouΓÇÖve been made right with me, and youΓÇÖre saved, but your brain is still thinking lost, and IΓÇÖve got to change the way you think.
Everyday God says heΓÇÖs going to give us a chance to surrender in a new way to him. To trust Him a little deeper and sometimes that process hurts.
For we know that God works all things together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
One of the first times I ever memorized a verse I was in high school. I memorized Romans 8:28, ΓÇ£For we know that God works all things together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.ΓÇ¥ IΓÇÖve needed that verse in my life. IΓÇÖve needed to know that in times when I couldnΓÇÖt make sense of anything that was going on around me. God was holding me, and He was forming me. Even for what the enemy meant as bad, He was going to work for good. The greatest example of that would be the cross. There’s nothing good about the cross, but look at the good God worked from that moment and sacrifice.
When my world is breaking me, your love is shaping me, and the enemies afraid of what youΓÇÖre making me.
There are moments in my life I donΓÇÖt understand. Three years ago I went through cancer. IΓÇÖve been a pastor all of my life. IΓÇÖve walked with families through situations like this over and over, but when the doctor said it to me it really shook me. This past year, I have seen some people close to me lose family members. IΓÇÖve seen them lose marriages. Just dark, dark times. In the middle of trying to love on my sister – sheΓÇÖs going through a tough go – I remember hanging up the phone, listening to her cry, and praying for her. The first words that came out of my mouth were ΓÇ£when my world is breaking me, your love is shaping me, and the enemies afraid of what youΓÇÖre making me.ΓÇ¥
When youΓÇÖre in a dark place just look up.
In moments of suffering the enemy wants us to look around and try to make sense of anything you can and get comfort from anywhere you can find it, but if we allow God to hold us in our hurting times, our dry, parched, cracked times, he will breathe the life we need into us and pour living water into us to get through it. He is molding us like the potter molds the clay. Maybe youΓÇÖre like me, that is to say youΓÇÖve found yourself in the hands of the potter. My prayer for you is that we would find rest in the hands of the potter.
In your life, where are you leaning on your own understanding? What do you need to give to the Lord and rest in His reassurance?