DEVOTION: Week of March 22

There’s this moment. Between the cocoon and flying, there’s a moment, a big pause. A time of re-orientation and discovery, a time of examination and resilience. A time when we identify, precisely, we’re not the same anymore.

In the life cycle of a butterfly, it’s called eclosion. Where hormones are released that soften up the cocoon and alert the central nervous system that it’s time to start moving and emerge. Where at the right time, the butterfly pushes through the chrysalis and removes a covering from its eyes. Where it hangs upside down, expanding and pumping its wings to dry them out, exercising its flight muscles before actually flies.

In the life cycle of God’s children, it’s called being still. Where we acknowledge that He is God and it softens our hearts and alerts our souls that it’s time to go to a place He will show us. Where at the right time, He tells us it’s time to act—to step out of our comfort zone and remove the fear and scales from our eyes. Where we have to get extremely uncomfortable; things may feel upside down, but we exercise our spiritual muscles before we can fly.

This moment, this pause, is such a gift from God. It’s a pause that allows us to rest and to catch our breath.

Abram experienced this pause as a literal breath, a sound added to his name by God, “ha,” that transformed him into Abraham. Joshua experienced it as a commissioning and anointing by God Himself to pick up where Moses left off in taking the Promised Land. Joseph’s breath was wracked with sobs as he revealed Himself to his family in Egypt. Paul exhaled as scales fell from his eyes, then was baptized into new life. Both Marys and the guards were breathless when the angels appeared to tell them Jesus had risen just as He said.

This moment is our gift to reorient, adjust, and acclimate before we “get up, get going and move on.” (Deuteronomy 2:24, The Voice)

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It’s comforting to know Jesus walked through all the phases of transformation, too. He was birthed as the Savior of the world, God in the flesh, Emmanuel. He literally crawled carrying a cross on his broken and bruised back; He carried the sin of the world and felt forsaken by God. He cocooned for three days in a tomb, wrapped in a chrysalis of linen cloths. And He emerged wholly transformed, removing the covering from his face so we can fly in freedom from sin. He metamorphosed into a breathtaking Savior who loves you and loves me so dearly, so deeply, so completely.

We have one who knows each of these phases intimately. He created them but also lived through them. 

Take heart, my friend, when you find yourself cycling back through these phases again and again. Know that our fullest transformation isn’t complete until we get to heaven, and until then, we go from glory to glory, until with scales removed, we see Him transformed, face to face. 

“Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, The Voice)

QUESTIONS FOR THIS WEEK:

MONDAY

God knows our human limitations, how we need a Sabbath rest, a selah, a breath. He designed us to specifically require these things, yet we still get frustrated when God makes us stop, makes us lie down in green pastures. Our biblical heroes did this well — after God did something amazing in their lives, they would press pause on moving forward so they could praise Him and acknowledge all they did. They built altars of remembrance; they named the place God worked on their behalf. Ask God today for a willing heart to pause and take a breath when He asks you to. To stop bustling and striving so you can inhale His grace and strength before rushing into the next thing.

“He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss.” (Psalm 23:2)

TUESDAY

The pause God gives us between cocooning and flying is a gift of strength and courage, because the next step we take is going to be wholly unknown. We step out with legs we’ve not used, and wings that never were before. We have no idea whether we can trust what happens next; the truth is, of course we can’t trust what happens next, we can only trust in the One who leads us out. Pray for wisdom to leap at the right time, and into the right thing, and to know when it’s the Lord leading you and not yourself. And pray for courage to actually do it, trusting that He painted your wings, and He will help you fly.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, Amplified)

WEDNESDAY

The Bible is filled with stories of transformation — Mary, Jesus, Paul, Joseph, David, the Israelites to name a few — and hundreds more. Today, find someone in the Bible you always admired, or wanted to learn more about, and outline their personal cycles of transformation. Find where their promise was birthed, what their interpretation and God’s definition was, how they cocooned and what it looked like for them to fly. These exercises help strengthen our faith, and is why God gave us such a rich book of His word, so we can speak to our souls and be reminded of never-ending His goodness and grace.

“Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. This testimony of faith is what previous generations were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2, The Passion Translation)

THURSDAY

Maybe you’ve already experienced your pause. Maybe your time in the cocoon is over and you’ve emerged transformed, and have dried yourself off and stretched yourself out. Are you flying now? If not, why? What keeps you from taking the leap of faith God transformed you for? Make a list of things that keep you from doing what He’s telling you to do. Pray over each one of them and then throw them away so you can, like Paul, immediately begin proclaiming, “Jesus is the Son of God!”

“Their suspicions didn’t slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah.” (Acts 9:22, The Message)

FRIDAY

The purpose of our transformation is not just for the sake of change. God has very specific intention in why we go through transformation — so we can love Him, love others, and go tell everyone about that love. We fly in freedom but also in purpose, serving others as we fly and becoming a mirror image of the likeness of Christ. The clue to know whether or not you’re actually flying? Look at where you serve and look at your fruit. Is it pointing others to Christ? Are you being light in the darkness and salt to the earth? Or are you serving mostly yourself and your own interests? If that’s the case, pray to ask God what your next steps are so you can truly fly in the way He intended.

“Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.” (Colossians 1:28-29, The Passion Translation)

WANT TO HEAR MORE?

Go back and listen to one of our earlier podcasts on the Flying phase of transformation, from the series Be Transformed and Fly.