The Two Boxes

This is a little outside the norm for my style of writing but this so encouraged me tonight so I have to share it with all of you.

I was worshiping with other believers tonight and the focus of the worship shifted from a praise to a time of intimacy and seeking the secret things of God's heart. So I just simply asked the Father if he has a secret to share with me.

He showed me two boxes.

The first was a plain, brown wooden box. It has a lid with a hinge. Nothing special just a box.

The second box was all decked out in jewels, overlaid with gold. It reminded me of something royal that you would only get to see in a museum guarded by security or in the palace of a King or Queen.

The Lord told me to lift up the lid from the second box and release the contents.

I opened the fancy box and it was glorious. There was flashes of lightning and a colorful fireworks display. I sensed that it represented the presence of God and out of it came all the benefits of heaven including healing and all types of restoration. It was a marvelous show. It was everything you would expect from such a marvelous looking vessel.

Then he told me to lift the lid of the plain box. I did and I was pretty surprised that the very same show of wonderful, colorful lights and effect of awe and wonder flowed from the plain, brown unattractive box. Out of this simple, plain box came a representation of God's glory and power.

The Lord showed me that it is our perception of the outward of the believer in Christ that hinders our understanding of what is truly inside. We look at ourselves or sometimes others as plain, simple or uncharismatic. Or we look at our flaws or weaknesses and tell ourselves those flaws disqualify us from having God work in and through us. We make excuses that we aren't good speakers or have fancy words for prayer.

The vessel or container is just that--a container for the divine. When God looks at us he does not see the outside. He looks at the heart of the believer. He sees us as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22) God knows it is the contents our renewed spirit through Christ that make the difference. But both the plain box and the fancy box had the same power on the inside.

"...this mystery Christ in us the hope of glory!" Col 1: 27