Instigating a Break-out
If you have read ‘The Parable of the Fish Prison’ and ‘Our Personal Fish Prison’, then continue – if not, you might want to. The articles will make more sense from here on out.
So you have discovered you are in a FishPrison. Religious, personal, or both. Now what? You have come to see that there is at least a possibility that…God wants to be so much closer to you than you have been wanting to be to Him. You have also seen that Christ Himself broke out so that He could break others out. To set captives free. But you are somewhat stuck behind the glass. And the enemy is doing whatever he can to keep you there. The Flaming Arrows he shoots are designed to push you back into your corner of the aquarium. To cause you to cower. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy anything of God in your life and any thought of breaking out…or moving forward!! The enemy makes the thought of getting to know God, His Son, and the Spirit, seem to be a gargantuan task. In fact, it seems intimidating to the point that swimming around a bit more in the fish tank still seems much better. The fear and pain of future relational activity seems to be larger than the fear and pain of continued swimming in circles. But do realize that if you choose to stay as you are…you can develop a pattern that, over time, will be harder and harder to break out of?
Swimming in circles is one thing fish do when they are stressed. And many times that is due to ammonia poisoning. Fish that swim in the same water and their same waste, as well as over-feeding will develop ammonia poisoning. The only thing you can do to control ammonia is to perform water changes on your aquarium. Since you can’t do that for yourself, you must break the glass. Many times the things God is asking you to believe and do in order to follow Him is beyond the glass. Don’t continue to swim in circles.
To plan your own break-out you must be willing to ask three questions every morning, and all day. All to Him! All three of the Trinity are relational. And all three are waiting on you to look to Them. The three relational questions are:
Father, how can I get to know you better and love you more?
Jesus, what needs to change in me so I look more like You?
Spirit, who do you want me to invest in?
These three are the central part of breaking out. I have to admit. It took me years to realize this. I spent so much time stuck in my own head. And still do. Duty and obligation were my main focus in my life as a believer and a pastor. But over the last 10-15 years I have learned better how to be a follower of Christ. I still have a long way to go, but I have begun. There were some good people in the past who told me that He is relational. But I just didn’t get it.
Until I started asking Him about life, and asking Him about what He thought, and what His desire was…I just stayed in duty-obligation mode. Swimming in circles. Not wrong. Just not completely right, and not fulfilling. I still try to be obedient, to Him first. To trust Him!
Developing a relationship with an Entity which cannot be seen but can be sensed, is daunting. But once you start, you begin to see Him at work everywhere. Right in front of your eyes!
Analogies are a great way to simplify and describe a truth or reality that is complex or difficult. A fish swimming in a circle is analogous a person choosing the path of least resistance. Like all analogies it breaks down somewhat because fish are not humans and are not endowed with will. A fish acts instinctively. People can choose. And to choose means to face opposition. Internal, external, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Jesus instructs us to “count the cost.” Salvation is a free gift to all that declare Christ is their Lord. Being a disciple, following Christ as his disciple, requires making a choice to change. There will be opposition, but it is worth it, when Abba smiles!