The New Man - 623

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that i think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

  Over the last seven years God has been remaking me into something different, someone He can use for His purpose.  Back in Atlanta in the year 2000, i began praying earestly for God's Will to be done in my life, not knowing what that would entail.  His process has taken a bit of time, but like the potter that is remaking a vessel, there can be no rushing this process.  The old vessel must be destroyed first, pulverized to a powder and remixed with His special ingredients before it can be thrown again on the Potters wheel and made into the vessel that He intended us to be.  i am now seeing, in hindsight, all the things that He has done with me over these years and i humbly say, "Thank You Fathe r."
  One of the most precious things that is done when God begins His work in you, to remake you, is the softening of the heart and turning to the heart from the focus on self to the focus on God and others.  He cannot put us to work unless we are equipped and made right for His will and purpose.  Call it re-wiring, re-creation, or scripturally reborn in His image, but this new creature has to be made in order to walk the paths of good works that He has established for us.  Part of that purpose for me has been to become a farmer, gardener, and grounds keeper - to keep and defend His Garden.
  i used to jokingly say to friends in the past that when i grow up i want to be a farmer.  Well, this light hearted comment has actually manifested in the new man that God has created out of the old.  Words are inadequate to describe the intensity of this transformation and the beauty of the result of God's work, but if you could feel what i feel inside, you would instantly understand...  and smile.  God has grown me into something new while He has used me to grow His Garden in a place where one should not be.  Another good work that God has placed before me is prison ministry.  To be able to walk into a cell and share the joy of the Lord is another way that He allows me to plant seeds in others hearts - seeds of love, joy, hope and humility.  Prison ministry work extends past the bars and cells out to the places where people have created their own internal jails.
  This independence day, i urge you to seek God and pray for the completion of His work in you.  Release the bonds and chains that keep us locked in the prison of self, the prison of the mind, and allow Jesus to free you from this world and  its bondage.  The time is Now!

What do you want to be when you grow up in Him?

Love and Blessings,

~ antbrother