Prepare to Flow
One day last week I was in my closet trying to decide what I was going to wear that day. I finally settled on some white linen pants and a chartreuse top. I took both pieces to the ironing board to prepare them to be worn. I ironed the top with ease but the pants gave me some resistance. They were a bit more of a challenge. I had to crank my iron up on the highest heat setting, spray my pants with water, and apply extra pressure for the wrinkles to be released so the pants could flow like they were designed to flow.
After I got showered and dressed, I gave myself one last look over in the full-length mirror before I headed out the door. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “How could such a beautiful, lightweight material that flows like this require so much heat and pressure?” As I pondered the question, it dawned on me that it’s no coincidence that linen is the highest heat setting on the iron. In the days of the old testament, God instructed the priests to wear linen. Under the new covenant, Revelation 5:10 tells us that God has made us to be priests to serve Him and to reign on the earth.
In order for us to flow in the beauty of the gifts God has given us, and the call He has placed on our lives, we have to go through a preparation process. Don’t be caught off guard when the heat is intensified in your life. Know that it’s designed to help eliminate every wrinkle that is preventing you from flowing like you were created to flow. Allow yourself to be saturated by the living water of the Holy Spirit so that the heat that’s applied to your life can do its work more effectively. Know that the extra pressure that’s being applied by your circumstances is simply a reflection of what you’re made of and what’s necessary to prepare you to flow in your Kingdom assignment.
Often times we see other people flowing with the Holy Spirit in a way that almost seems effortless. We want to be able to do what they’re doing but we have no idea what they had to go through to get there. We don’t want to go through the trouble of continuously casting our care on the Lord and leaving them there so we can be lightweight, carefree, and flow with such beauty and grace. Too often we don’t want to endure the heat or the pressures of life, but these are the very things that are going to cause us to draw close to God so we can be saturated in His presence. It’s when we endure these light afflictions of being tested by the heat and the pressures of life that we can be presented to the Father without stain or wrinkle as a living sacrifice. It is at this point that we are willing to die to self so we can live for Him. It is only then that we are prepared to flow with the precious Holy Spirit like we were created to flow.
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