We just finished my book, Master Potter, an allegory based on the profound truths found in this short story. I felt that it was appropriate to reproduce it in this month’s newsletter before sharing the news of our latest creative endeavors. I pray that the fire of the precious Holy Spirit will rest upon you as you read, once again, the abridged article published by Charisma’s "SpiritLed Woman" magazine.

Clay in the Potter’s Hands – The Price Behind the Anointing

by Jill Austin

“Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand … (Jeremiah 18: 2-6)

Imagine that you are sitting in church one Sunday and the room is suddenly filled with the fragrance of Jesus. You turn to see incredibly beautiful vessels entering the sanctuary. These vessels are full of the Shekinah glory of the Lord and their transparent glaze wonderfully reflects His image. You immediately know that they’ve paid an incredible price for the powerful anointing they carry and a yearning to be like them is awakened in your heart.

In your spirit you see Jesus walking up and down the aisles with wedding gowns on His arms. “Do you want My anointing?” He asks. “Do you want My presence and My miracles? I’m calling you to be My bride,” He continues as He paces, “I want you to be like the chosen vessels of honor you see here. Do you love Me enough to come away with me?”

Finally He stops before you and says, “I’m calling you to come into the high fires! You’ll have to die to your reputation, your theology and all of your ‘religious formulas’. You will have to let go of your fears and your control. Do you love Me enough to come or will you be content to live out your life in the back pews of the church?”

Glancing over at the beautiful vessels, your spirit stirs within you and your heart sighs yes! But this seems dangerous. It could cost you everything … even your life! You believe it’s the Lord’s desire for all to be chosen vessels but are you pursuing the high calling and destiny the Lord has purposed for your life? Or do you shrink back, not willing to pay the price? As a clay vessel, you must take a journey. The steps in this journey can be painful but they are necessary for you to be transformed from broken pieces of clay into an anointed vessel that reflects the glory of God.

The Potter's House

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Go down to the potter's house and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot He was shaping from the clay was marred in His hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to Him.” (Jeremiah 18:1 NIV)

Think back to the day when Jesus saved you. Remember the agony you felt as you cried out to Him from the shattered ash heap of your life. You were just a broken clay vessel when the Lord, the Master Potter, first found you. In biblical times, all the shattered vessels were thrown onto a garbage dump outside the village know as the ‘potter’s field’. This field represents the world. It’s the place where broken lives are thrown after they’ve become worn out and abused, discarded and rejected by the world.

Even though you were a useless clay vessel and your hopes and dreams had been destroyed, He came for you and carried you into the Potter’s house. What wonder and awe filled your being when you first realized that He really loved you! How you longed to stay in His arms and bask in His presence! Just a glance from His eyes ravished your heart.

With great compassion He tenderly said,

“I know you. Your substance is not hidden from Me, for you were fearfully and wonderfully made. When you were in your mother’s womb, you were My chosen instrument and I have a destiny and calling for you.” (Psalm 139:14-16)

Then, with His own scarred hands, He reached into the depths of your heart saying, “But first, I will remove all the rocks, thistles, thorns and foreign matter, all the debris you’ve picked up on the highway of life.”

Then He brought His stone of Unrelenting Love carefully down upon you, cracking open your vessel to a place where all you could do was lay in a heap of dust before Him. Perhaps you were confused because you thought there would be no more pain after you entered His house! Surely, if He loved you as much as He said He did, He wouldn’t allow any more pain to come your way! After all, you’d been through so much already!

Next, He carefully places your clay dust in a large bin and pours the clear, living water that proceeds from the throne of God over you. Worship and the Word fill your being and bring soothing refreshment to your thirsty soul. After awhile you realize this crushing is not for your destruction as it had been in the past. The journey from Salvation to Transformation has begun!

The Potter's Wheel

The Lord then scoops up your moistened clay with His mighty hands and places you on the Potter’s wheel. You hear His promise: “I have measured you; I know your portion; I know the destiny I have for you. For even though the enemy would want to kill you, I tell you, I have a mission and a calling for your life.”

He begins to center you on the wheel. Slowly, His gentle hands go down into the very depths of who you are as He pulls up the walls of your new vessel.

The Potters Shelf

While you are on the Potter’s wheel, a wonderful mystery takes place within you. You’re growing! It’s a time of great favor and blessing as He shapes you into a beautiful vessel. Suddenly the Lord comes with His cutting wire and pulls you off the wheel and places you on the shelf to dry.

What a change this is from being on the wheel where you were joyfully spinning in the hands of God! Everybody said such wonderful things about your future! But now that you’re on the shelf, everyone seems to have forgotten you. At first you don’t mind it too much, but after a month or two you say, “Uh, you know, Lord, I’ve been sitting on the shelf for a long time! When is my ministry going to begin?”

He answers, “You’ve been promoted!” Surprised by this you respond, “But, Lord! I thought promotion was getting to start my ministry!” In His love and wisdom He explains, “Promotion is the wilderness! I’ve called you here so you can learn to recognize My voice. I’m testing your heart. I’m testing your love for Me. Will you continue to seek My face or will you turn away?”

“Does God really have a future for my life?” you begin to wonder. The worst part of it is that other people don’t understand. “Why don’t you have more faith?” they ask. They don’t know that God has taken you into the wilderness. You begin to understand that the greater the calling is on your life, the greater the persecutions are that come from other people.

This is the price behind the anointing!

It’s not the reputation and approval of man that you need, it is being so deeply rooted in Him that no matter what storms of life come, you will not be moved. Finally, you stop struggling and quietly pray a prayer of resignation: “Lord, I’ll stay in the wilderness my whole life if I have to. I’ve found You in the desert and You are all I need!”

The First Firing

At last the Lord takes you out of the wilderness and places you in a large room with other dried vessels. The Lord has moved you from the shelf to the kiln, from the wilderness to His consuming fire. You can feel the relentless blaze. Perspiring yourself, you suddenly look over at the sweaty people next to you and realize that you don’t even like them!

The Lord never fires just one vessel at a time. He takes a church, a family or a group of friends and sets them on fire to expose everyone’s hearts. In the intense heat, resentment, bitterness, anger and greed come to the surface. As the fire gets hotter the pain increases, relationships with family and friends become strained. You experience persecution at work and you can’t even get along with the people at church! The fire continues to blaze even hotter. Finally the doors open and the Lord removes the clay vessels and places them back on the shelves. Even though you’ve been fired once, you are still not glazed but you’re relieved to be out of the fire!

Now you’re actually happy to be in a hidden place! You decide to sit in the back of the church and not give prophecies or be a part of the prayer team. You refuse to be controversial. When the Holy Spirit stirs your heart to give a word you say, “No! If I give a word, others will judge me. No, Lord, find someone else.” For a while, God tolerates your pulling back but before long He asks, “Are you willing to settle for this or do you want more of Me? Do you want to become My anointed bride?”

The Glazing Room

Something deep inside you stirs — that first call, that sense of destiny you felt as a new believer. “Lord,” you cry, “You created me to go to Your broken vessels and bring them to the Potter’s house. I understand that I will pay an incredible price for the anointing but I want to be Your bride.”

So then He takes you into a huge glazing room filled with tables. The soft sound of weeping is heard as vessels that have been together all their lives are being separated. God is sovereignly moving His different vessels to prepare them for His Great Commission. Some will be staying home while others will be going to different cities and nations. The angels pour and brush glazes onto each vessel before carrying them into a large kiln.

The Second Firing

With raging intensity, the second fire starts to burn through the kiln. Quickly you move from a time of separation into a time of death. There are impurities within each clay vessel that only the fire can purge. The Lord and His angels shut down the dampers on the kiln, cutting off the flow of oxygen and filling the kiln with carbon dioxide. Black soot, along with heavy smoke and flames, consumes every vessel in the kiln as it becomes a black fire --- your personal Gethsemane.

Abandonment, isolation, and death itself are all around you. The fire is so intense that you can’t hear or see the dear friends who have been your comforters and intercessors for so many years. Everyone you love seems to leave you as you die in the blazing inferno. You cry out, “Oh Lord, the fire! I’m dying in the midst of it! Everything I’ve built and loved my whole life is being consumed!” Your heart breaks as your reputation and your walk with the Lord are condemned. Competition, position, jealousy and pride are driven out of your life by the purifying flames.

You feel as if you’re going to explode under the ever-increasing pressure. In the midst of it, the Lord tenderly explains, “This is a hidden time when the most beautiful colors are formed in your earthenware vessel. The richness and depth of color come from the darkest hours of agony and grief, just as diamonds, rubies, and emeralds come from hot fires inside the earth.”

The Glory Fire

At the moment when you just know you’re going to die, the Lord opens all the dampers. Carbon and black soot escape, oxygen pours in, and the fire starts to burn clean, white and fresh. The resurrection light of the Lord and His white transparent glory fills the kiln. You start to see with clarity in the Spirit.

Fresh anointings and impartations are poured out and hot commissions and renewed visions are etched into the hearts of men. The Lord begins to place His chosen mantles on various clay vessels. He takes coals of fire and places them on stammering lips to ignite prophetic giftings. Healing and deliverance, along with deep repentance and intercession, fill the kiln as hungry hearts cry out for more of God.

They’ve been through a time of appointing … a time of testing … a time of separation … and a time of death, but in this high fire, they’ll go through a time of resurrection as they start to move in the anointing with authority. When the Lord sees His reflection on each glowing vessel, He turns off the kiln. With great joy He announces, “Now, that you reflect My glory, I can send you out to all the world.”

The Master Potter has perfected His work of art.

© 1999 Jill Austin. All rights reserved.

Creative Projects: Prophetic Stories and 2 New CD’s

I would like to share our vision for other creative projects that are on the drawing board. The Lord has given me many short prophetic stories such as “The Emperor Has No Clothes”, “The Electrician”, “The Vessel of Mercy”, and the feature article of this newsletter, “Clay in the Potter’s Hands”.

We plan to compile the stories and put them together for a new book. Currently we are in the process of contacting several artists to discuss the possibility of illustrating the book and designing the cover. We feel we can self-publish a small book of prophetic stories and have it completed within 3 months. This would make it available for our book table and website and bring needed income into the ministry.

The anointing on these stories has brought conviction and awakened first love in many people so we are asking God to bring new energy and creativity for the book but also for 2 CD’s as well. I will narrate the stories with a musical background on one CD.

An abridged dramatic version of the book, Master Potter, would be on the second CD and it will include spontaneous prophetic music and songs with a fiery and anointed psalmist.

Join us in prayer for the Holy Spirit strategies and creativity to bring these new projects to fruition. We need divine help in the self-publishing aspect, just the right artist to catch the heart of Jesus for these messages and, of course, the finances to support them.

Forerunner School Of Prayer

New Paradigms in the Prophetic Ministry – Limit 100 people each quarter.

From September to May, Jill Austin will be teaching four courses. These courses will provide practical training in moving in the anointing, the release of the prophetic, and how to open up the glory realms. Besides a schedule of classroom hours, the course will be designed around ministry trips. Students that meet the requirements will be offered the opportunity to go on a trip during the school year. They will be instructed and mentored in a ‘hands on situation’ to gain experience within an itinerant ministry setting.

• Quarter #1 – Preparing for Prophetic Ministry
• Quarter #2 – Mentoring in Prophetic Ministry
• Quarter #3 – Equipping in Prophetic Ministry

Itinerate Ministry Labs – Ten weekend ministry trips will be offered over the 9-month school year. Each student will be required to attend three in order to fulfill the requirements. For those who wish to be mentored on the road but live out of town, this will be an opportunity to meet Jill on the road and be a working part of her team. (Cost of the course and expenses such as airfare, lodging and food will be paid by the students).

If you would like more information on the Forerunner School of Prayer, please see the Friends of the Bridegroom website at www.fotb.com. You can also email Ronda Adams, the Administrator of the FSOP, at fsop@fotb.com. To receive additional information by phone, please call the International House of Prayer at (816) 763-0200. Please mention that you heard about this school through Jill’s newsletter.

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