“Look Harder”

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There’s a diamond in the rough.

Remember all the way back to the beginning of this journey with me?

That seemingly God forsaken road we were on that led us straight to majestic beauty.

Look back if you don’t remember.

As I’m recollecting that right now, adding it to the last little bit of the Lion King we watched last night,

I see the parable coming to life in my heart.

When we left the last season of life, I felt much like Simba.

I didn’t really understand if I had done something wrong or what was happening, but my world seemed to be shattering at the seams.

Fast forward, and our family has made some sweet connections, much like Timon and Pumba, through where God had led us,

But now, looking back through the rough, I see the diamond.

Again.

It’s not the outside forces that cause the diamond to be there.

It’s already there!

It’s how you allow the Holy Spirit to bring you through them, as to whether or not that diamond manifests.

The same is true for a full restoration.

We could have stopped on that road, and turned around.

We could have become bitter and quit searching for what God had for us,

But we looked harder.

Just as Rafiki, instructed Simba in the movie.

As he looked at his own reflection, He was confused as to what he was supposed to see,

But as He looked deeper still,

His Father’s face appeared.

We become what we behold.

If we keep looking at rusty clunkers while we’re trying to restore a car, then that’s what we will pattern after.

Much like sin conscience-ness.

If we only think we will be sinners for the rest of our lives, then we will.

But when we look into the mirror of the Word, we see Him, and what we are becoming.

Hallelujah.

I was thinking about Joseph and his time in the pit.

He never became pit-I-FULL.

Pitiful.

He didn’t allow the pit to get inside of him.

He looked harder while he was in there.

Deeper into the dreams he had.

He looked at the Father, and became like Him in character, through the rough patch.

Soon, The diamond emerged.

As I’ve been saying, you can have two different people, as we know from that account,

One becoming pit-I Full, and one becoming powerful.

Same situation.

Different perspective.

All determined by what they focus on.

Brothers and Sisters, I’m calling you to look harder, today.

Not at the rust, but the restoration.

Look to the Father inside of you.

As you see Him emerge, it will embolden you to take back your territory that the enemy has been Illegally camped out on.

Just like Simba returned.

What a prophetic Word for us today.

It is Time.

Time for our families.

Time for His, Church, our Body.

Time for our nations.

Simba’s situation didn’t change.

They way he saw himself did.

That’s when the diamond emerged out of the rough!