At the grocery store checkout through a pack of gum?!
It’s amazing the ways God chooses to speak to His people. So yes, God did communicated a powerful truth through a pack of gum. And it’s not the 1st time He’s spoken to me in an unusual fashion. He’s spoken to me by vigorously waving tree branches on a still windless day. I’ve even heard His booming voice from heaven audibly call my name. And that happened while I was new in the faith so it was quite unnerving.
On my weekly trip to the grocery store, as I stood in the checkout line I glanced over at the gum, My eyes landed right on Mentos Pure Fresh. Mentos Pure Fresh Gum has three layers. A hard candy outer shell, a chewy, gummy layers then a cool liquid center. And you and I are like the Mentos gum. We are three layered persons. Our hard shell represents our outer most physical body, the gum layer being our mind, will and emotions and the center our spirit. To release the liquid center of the gum, we must get through two tough layers. And the same can be said for releasing our spirit. Let’s journey through the layers.
HARD SHELL
Oh how we long to satisfy the desires of the flesh.
When angry, we want to holler or play the power move of being passive aggressive.
When hurt or sad we may turn to food or other external sources for comfort.
That hard outer shell of the gum, the tough, rebellious outer layer of our person, the flesh, MUST crucify its longings to get to the next layer. That outer shell like the outer shell of an M&M can be cracked. Will we embrace being cracked? Do we see the value and benefit of being broken before God?
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24
CHEWY GUM
When the flesh and its longings have been bought under subjection, we can then reach the next layer of ourselves and that is our mind, will and emotions. And like chewing gum, they are malleable. Just like our teeth and tongue crush, squeeze, fold and turn gum, God takes our mind, will and emotions and turns and squeezes them so that are bought to the obedience of Christ.
Therefore do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16
While there are many well meaning, good intentions we may have, unless they are in alignment with the will of the Lord, they are for naught. It is not OUR will but HIS will that must be done.
LIQUID CENTER
Now I find there are three camps people fall into when eating layered candies like M&M’s and this gum. Some lick each layer. Some nibble each layer. And the last just bite through the whole thing. Whatever the strategy, each layer is enjoyed yet the center holds the promise, like getting to the center of a Tootsie Pop lollipop.
It behooves us to remain aware and sensitive so that we don’t miss Him. Now every time I SEE the Mentos gum, think about the Mentos gum, or even smell minty gum, I am reminded that Jesus is the center and I have to remain centered in Him.
In the case of the Mentos, the outer layer seems to hold the most intense flavor. The mint is strong and fills the nostrils. The mint is cool yet fiery. And when eating the gum, one wants that minty outer layer to last forever. And we can be like that, wanting to satisfy our desires forever. But do you not know there is even more intense flavor inside waiting to be released? For the liquid center inside the gum is even more intense, even more pungent. And the same can be said for your spirit. Your spirit man is capable of producing MORE fruit than your flesh ever could.
And this is the work of the Lord. Day by day He puts us in situations where we will be challenged to crack the hard outer shell of our bodily desires, where we will have to stretch and squeeze the longings of our will so that our spirit man will be released to flow freely and fly right in line with the Lord.
This is His desire for you. This is His desire for me, that we would be broken before Him so that our spirits can commune with Him and with other like-minded spirits to expedite the work of building the Kingdom here on earth. This is truly living. Doing the work that we were purposed and placed here for from the beginning of time.
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The Words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63
Last year I asked the Lord to move my relationship with Him from my head to my heart. My head knows plenty about the Lord; I have memorized His word, I have seen His work, I have heard and continue to hear Him speak. The first two layers of ME know plenty about Him. Oh but I desire more than just head knowledge about Him. I long to know Him intimately. I long to commune with Him. I pine for the opportunity to hang out with Him and learn from Him. So He simply beckoned me to “COME!” And when I walked toward Him, the desires of my first two layers, my body and my will HAD to fall away. To sit with Him and hear from Him required me to respond. And to respond appropriately, obediently required me to deny myself so that my spirit could receive and act accordingly.
In his book The Release Of The Spirit, Watchman Nee says, “Our spirit is released according to the degree of our brokenness. The one who has accepted the most discipline is the one who can best serve. The more one is broken, the more sensitive he can be.” He goes on to say it is, “Through the Spirit’s discipline, that the outer man is broken. And, through the Spirit’s revelation, the powers of the outer man are completely divided from the spirit.”
Therefore, through disciplining ourselves and by divine revelation of the Holy Spirit, our inner man, our spirit man is released and is FREE.
In what ways are you being broken?
Can you see blessing in brokenness?
As always, it is my prayer that you’ve been Inspired To Live Fully!
Happy to connect with these friends spreading the Good News Purposeful Faith