This has been one of the hardest seasons in a long while. I miss my Papa.
Got this from Clare. Funny.
PROPHETIC ENCOURAGEMENT
(This word is a little different today. First of all, there won’t be a personal reflection. The word itself is much longer than usual and doesn’t need added illustration or application. Today’s word also corresponds in different aspects with a number of other words I’ve shared in recent days. You’ll understand what I mean as I explain some things along the way.)
This morning, as soon as I awoke, I heard two words:“cocoon” and “chrysalis”. Honestly, immediately a few thoughts came to mind:
- Are they not the same thing?
- I’ve heard so many prophetic words and sermon illustrations about “becoming a butterfly” and “spreading your wings” that I really didn’t want to share this. It feels so generic and overused.
Yet I couldn’t shake the thought that this was exactly what God was doing in my life right now, and also in the lives of many of His people. I sensed that I was to spend some time researching the exact process through which this metamorphosis occurs. As I read about this radical transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly, I really sensed the Lord give me clear revelation about the process you and I may well have been going through in this season.
There’s nothing wrong with being a caterpillar. In fact, there’s never been a butterfly that didn’t start off as one of these little green worm-like creatures. However, a caterpillar was never intended to stay down low and in the dirt. They were created for more.
I believe that for many of you reading these words, your life is okay. It’s not awful. There are so many good things which you are thankful for. God has blessed you. Yet, deep inside, you can’t escape this sense that you were made for more. There is something inside you that has to come out. Others around you are very happy to be “caterpillars” but instinctively you know that you were created to fly. There is a growingdissatisfaction and boredom with “ground-level” living which is starting to lead to frustration and, in some cases, a sense of depression.
Yet you almost feel guilty for wanting more. You think you’re being unappreciative and ungrateful for all you have. Others are so much less fortunate and blessed than you. You can’t understand why you just won’t settle for what you have.
I believe that for many of you, in the last 2-4 weeks, you have been in a cocoon or chrysalis stage. A metamorphosis has been taking place in your life.
It has been an incredibly difficult time and you’ve been really struggling to figure out what has been happening. You’ve been unable to put words around it. Some of you have felt as if you’ve been going crazy. I hope this helps put language around what you’ve been experiencing.
You see, in the metamorphosis stage for a caterpillar a number of things happen.
Firstly, the caterpillar’s appetite changes. Before this, a caterpillar’s existence basically involves eating whatever leaves are around it. It grows very quickly and its skin is stretched to contain the increase in size.It even sheds it’s skin a few times to continue its expansion. However, just before the transformation begins, it stops eating. In its current form, it simply can’t grow any larger. It has reached its capacity.
Some of you are at this stage. You’ve been fed spiritually on the same food for a long time and it has nourished you. You have grown spiritually and experienced God in different ways through the seasons. However, recently you’ve been finding that what used to feed you simply isn’t satisfying you any longer. It’s all begun to ‘taste the same’. It seems bland. You’re hungering for more.
Again, there can be a degree of guilt attached to this as you know others are still enjoying being fed by what used to satisfy you. You may even wonder if you’re drifting from God because you’re not hungry for what you used to love. It’s just that now you want more. Your desires are changing. As a baby moves from milk to solid food, so you too are longing for something more ‘meaty’ and’ substantial’. It’s not spiritual arrogance or pride.It’s simply that your appetite is changing. Things that you were once drawn to just don’t hold the same appeal any longer.
The next stage that happens to the caterpillar is that it finds somewhere to hide, normally under a leaf or twig, and it spins itself a silky cocoon or chrysalis. This is where it will remain for the duration of the transformation.
Recently many of you have felt hidden. You have experienced isolation and even loneliness. It almost seems as if everyone has lost your phone number because no one is calling you. Even those closest to you seem to have withdrawn or forgotten about you.
For those in ministry, it may feel almost as if the Lord’s hand and favor have been lifted off from you. Opportunities seem to have dried up. Doors aren’t opening. Any platform you have seems to be disappearing.In the past, your problem was that you were too busy. Now it seems as if you’re not busy enough!
If this is you, the Lord would have you know that this is because you are in the stage of metamorphosis. He has deliberately hidden you. His hand is still upon you, but it is has been covering you from being visible to those around you.
In the cocoon stage, if anything or anyone from the outside interferes with the chrysalis, it can kill the new creature being formed inside. Similarly, God hasn’t wanted outsiders interfering with His precious work in your life. Thus He has carefully concealed you.
The other simple thing the Lord showed me was thatthere is never more than one creature in any cocoon. Metamorphosis isn’t a group activity. It can only happen in isolation. That is why some of you have felt so alone.
The next stage of transformation sees the caterpillar almost completely dissolve into a liquid or goo state. Only those parts of it absolutely necessary for its next stage remain.
This is a time of great loss for the creature. So much of what was there before has to be cast off, dissolved or removed.
It is the same for us. As I said yesterday, there has beenstripping back for many of you in recent days. Everything incompatible with where God is taking you is being removed. You feel vulnerable and exposed. Yet, be assured – He will not take away anything that you need.
This is what the Bible calls “dying to self” and “taking up your cross”. We put to death the fleshly ways and selfish desires and we choose to live by the Spirit. There has to be a yielding and a complete surrender.
I also sense that there are some things which you thought you had shed completely in the past, but slowly these have crept back into your life. In particular, the Lord is highlighting rigid religious mindsets. He brought you out of a place of legalism and you have breathed the fresh air of His glorious liberty. Beware of drifting back into a subtle form of religious bondage. The old and the new simply cannot co-exist.
So the metamorphosis happens in hiddenness, darkness, and isolation when the creature has been reduced to basically a goo or mess.
Does that sound familiar to any of you? It’s not a pleasant or comfortable place to be.
You have to trust the process.
The transition is bringing great transformation.
There comes a point where the transformation is almost complete. The newly formed butterfly stretches and expands, pushing through the chrysalis and emerging into the world. It is weak, but as its wings dry out and expand, it is now ready to take flight.
I believe many reading this are at this final stage right now. God is calling you out of the cocoon. You’re emerging from your shell. Something is starting to break open. Divine strength is coming after a season of extreme weariness. The darkness is lifting, the feelings of containment and restriction are shifting. You are emerging into a place of freedom and fulfillment.
You will start to see things differently. A caterpillar has a very limited perspective from the ground but the butterfly has an expansive vision because of its elevated position.
You can still associate with those on the ground, but they can’t come up there with you. Therefore you will find some realignment of relationships in the coming days.
Also, recognize that not everyone will want to go through the transformation. Many people choose to remain at ground level because they’re not willing to go through the painful process of shedding or letting go.
They admire and respect those who are flying but can’t imagine that they could ever do it.
However, the Lord would also say that you are not alone in this new season. He has been taking believers all around the world through this process at the same time. You will begin to see an emerging movement in the coming days of those who have shed their old skin and are beginning to fly.
If you’re at this last stage, let me encourage you, push through. You’re so close. I know you feel fragile and weary.
Stretch out, spread your wings, let the world see your beautiful colors.
And fly!
SCRIPTURES FOR MEDITATION
Ezekiel 36:26-27
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
Romans 6:4
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Romans 8:18
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Romans 12:2
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Colossians 3:5
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”