Once upon a time, a pastor extended his house but...it brought him all kinds of unexpected troubles.
This pastor and his family planned for 8 years to remodel the back of his house but it was difficult finding an appropriate time, so he ended up beginning the process 5.5 years later. As one can imagine with any extension, part of his house was simply being smashed into pieces. To make things worse, the pastor went away, and when he came back, the demolition was still in progress.
Still, there was still a sense of excitement -this extension would make the house bigger - the room would have something extra. But...it was taking alot of time - there were unforeseen problems. He began to question whether he should have done it, because looking at the rubble, all he could see is that he had lost a third of his house! Was it worth the change? Look at this mess - there's dust everywhere!
And, there was another problem - the foundations needed to be dug. As this next process began, a building inspector came and said some areas needed to be deeper, some areas needed more clay, and some things just weren't right. So this man felt he had spent alot of money on demolition, only for there to be no building in place. He felt frustrated that he had to redo what was done. He was left with troublesome foundations. Holes. Brokenness.
The pastor said "Is this going to work?" He didn't see anything coming up.
Then, one day, the building inspector said the foundations were okay. No more needed to be done - and a funny little thing happened - the building shot up much faster than expected! The structure started to form.
Fastforwarding, the pastor felt the Lord say to Him recently, that the difficult experience of extending his physical house, was given to provide a parallel of what is being done in his spiritual house. In essence, things former known were being demolished... old ways of thinking - old paradigms were coming out, to demonstrate the need to make room for an extended way of being. In essence, the building inspector exemplified The Holy Spirit. Just as the inspector wanted deeper areas, the Holy Spirit was saying to go deeper into that place of prayer - and further out in expectations.
The pastor felt the Lord say - you have had a year in this dismantling phase, you are now entering into a foundational phase. I will help you to have a rich understanding in what it means to lay biblical foundations. The pastor now understood that some foundations were right - but need to be extended, and some were in the right place but need to go much deeper.
His message to all is: don't be in a rush to build something quickly without allowing the foundations to be what they ought to be. The Holy Spirit will help you as a Comforter, Teacher, Guide and Counselor. Just invite him in, and He will show you.
Looking back, if the building inspector did not come in, the guys who were happy to keep building on a bad foundation, would do just that. But they were told not to go any further until the inspector had inspected each phase. This was good, because only the inspector knew that if it wasnt built the right way, right at that moment, the problems later would be much worse.
So even when you feel like carrying on your own way, allow the foundation to be built, because you will experience an explosive sense of growth, once it is solidly laid there.
This isn't my story but I was compelled to tell it. It resonated with me, maybe it will with you.
Anyhow, God bless you. Keep your faith
Love Love Love and blessings
~Bell
This pastor and his family planned for 8 years to remodel the back of his house but it was difficult finding an appropriate time, so he ended up beginning the process 5.5 years later. As one can imagine with any extension, part of his house was simply being smashed into pieces. To make things worse, the pastor went away, and when he came back, the demolition was still in progress.
Still, there was still a sense of excitement -this extension would make the house bigger - the room would have something extra. But...it was taking alot of time - there were unforeseen problems. He began to question whether he should have done it, because looking at the rubble, all he could see is that he had lost a third of his house! Was it worth the change? Look at this mess - there's dust everywhere!
And, there was another problem - the foundations needed to be dug. As this next process began, a building inspector came and said some areas needed to be deeper, some areas needed more clay, and some things just weren't right. So this man felt he had spent alot of money on demolition, only for there to be no building in place. He felt frustrated that he had to redo what was done. He was left with troublesome foundations. Holes. Brokenness.
The pastor said "Is this going to work?" He didn't see anything coming up.
Then, one day, the building inspector said the foundations were okay. No more needed to be done - and a funny little thing happened - the building shot up much faster than expected! The structure started to form.
Fastforwarding, the pastor felt the Lord say to Him recently, that the difficult experience of extending his physical house, was given to provide a parallel of what is being done in his spiritual house. In essence, things former known were being demolished... old ways of thinking - old paradigms were coming out, to demonstrate the need to make room for an extended way of being. In essence, the building inspector exemplified The Holy Spirit. Just as the inspector wanted deeper areas, the Holy Spirit was saying to go deeper into that place of prayer - and further out in expectations.
The pastor felt the Lord say - you have had a year in this dismantling phase, you are now entering into a foundational phase. I will help you to have a rich understanding in what it means to lay biblical foundations. The pastor now understood that some foundations were right - but need to be extended, and some were in the right place but need to go much deeper.
His message to all is: don't be in a rush to build something quickly without allowing the foundations to be what they ought to be. The Holy Spirit will help you as a Comforter, Teacher, Guide and Counselor. Just invite him in, and He will show you.
Looking back, if the building inspector did not come in, the guys who were happy to keep building on a bad foundation, would do just that. But they were told not to go any further until the inspector had inspected each phase. This was good, because only the inspector knew that if it wasnt built the right way, right at that moment, the problems later would be much worse.
So even when you feel like carrying on your own way, allow the foundation to be built, because you will experience an explosive sense of growth, once it is solidly laid there.
This isn't my story but I was compelled to tell it. It resonated with me, maybe it will with you.
Anyhow, God bless you. Keep your faith
Love Love Love and blessings
~Bell