The Potter’s Hand
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:
“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”
Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord.
“Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!”
Jeremiah 18:1-6
When I was a child, a family member shared a Hillsong Worship DVD with my family (if I remember correctly). I would put this on and sing to the Lord. I was truly marked when Darlene Zschech would minister to the Lord. I remember experiencing the something special in our living room in an apartment in Downtown Toronto when I would sing these songs and have this worship album playing. I know now it was the presence of the God. I actually did not remember these moments until recently. This is one of the songs I would sing as a prayer to Him. Today, I find myself singing these words to The Potter, with perhaps a bit more understanding than I did all those years ago. It is good to be in Your Hands.
May this always be our prayer:
Beautiful Lord, Wonderful Saviour
I know for sure, all of my days are held in Your hands, crafted into Your perfect plan
You gently call me into Your presence, guiding me by Your Holy Spirit
Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyes
I’m captured by Your holy calling
Set me apart, I know You’re drawing me to Yourself
Lead me Lord I pray
Take me, mould me, use me, fill me
I give my life to The Potter’s Hand
Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me
I give my life to The Potter’s Hand
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
He changes everything
The human experience has been centred around our need to be in motion. We wake up in the morning and we are bombarded by the things we need to do, the places we need to go, the people we need to see and the conversations we need to have. Seldom do we have days in which nothing is required of us; days in which we could be instead of do. Two years ago, I felt the Lord asking me to lay aside everything that had become my day to day life. I felt the invitation to leave my job, my church, my family, my friends, my city and my country to go pursue the Lord at Jesus School in Orlando, Florida. I did not fully comprehend what I was saying yes to, but saying yes to the Lord was the best decision I have ever made.
Your prayers, your words of encouragement and your financial contributions that were made towards my time spent at ministry school has enabled me to complete 1st year of Jesus School and the House of Bethany (Worship Academy). Not only was my tuition covered by you, you also generously gave me places to stay and provided for my many practical needs. Thank you. I truly would have not been able to follow the Lord’s leading if I did not have the precious body sacrificially giving to me and loving me. It makes me think of the passage of Scripture:
“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need” Acts 4:32-35.
I know that the blessing of the Lord will far exceed what I can even imagine upon your lives. May you reap a hundred fold what you have sown in good faith.
Though I cannot put into words everything that Jesus through Jesus School and House of Bethany has done in me and for me, I do want to share what I am able to. I have learned:
there is nothing more important that cultivating an intimate relationship with Jesus; nothing can substitute this and for a believer, this is our lifeline. (Luke 10:40-42)
in order to truly follow Jesus, I must deny myself, crucify my flesh daily and pick up my cross daily (Luke 9:23)
the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ today - to save, heal, deliver, cover, speak, wash us (Hebrews 9:12)
the importance of friendship with the Holy Spirit; cultivating a heart that is sensitive to His voice and responds accordingly (Ephesians 4:30)
the humility of Christ and our call to serve others in lowliness of heart, following His footsteps (John 13:12-15)
the necessity of letting the Lord process and develop you—in His time and in His way. (Psalm 105:19)
if He spoke promises over you, He is faithful to bring them to pass. (Numbers 23:19)
honouring others is the way of the Kingdom (Romans 12:10)
though counter cultural, submission to authority and others is crucial (1 Peter 5:5)
While I could have learned these things from a book, a sermon, or from sitting down with many of you, I believe what marked me was seeing the life my leaders and teachers lead. Pastor Michael and Jessica Koulianos walk in the fear of the Lord, in humility and in first love for Jesus, shepherding us to follow the Lord and sharing vulnerable moments in their personal walks with the Lord and in their family. Through their laid down lives many have received Christ as their Saviour and experienced the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. I also had the privilege to learn from others at Jesus School and House of Bethany including: Pastor Benny Hinn, Brian Guerin, Heidi Baker, Randy Clark, Steffany Gretzinger, David Popovici, Ben Fitzgerald, Lindy Cofer, Dean Bekker, Randy Needham, and John Wilds who taught us, encouraged us, prophesied over us and released impartation. My desire is that you would witness the Gospel’s power at work in my life and may you know me by the fruit that the Holy Spirit bears and cultivates in my life, in Jesus’ Name and that I would only make my boast in Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).
Thank you for being on this journey with me. I am truly so grateful for you. I feel so supported by the Body of Christ. The impact you have made on me is beyond what I can encapsulate with words. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethen to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1.
Your sister in Christ,
Jen
here I am
Dear friends & family,
Thank you—
for your love
for your prayers
for your encouragement & support
for your generous giving
for your messages & calls.
I made it to Orlando, by the grace and kindness of Jesus what once seemed impossible is what I am currently standing in—a miracle. Thank you for sowing into this journey that the Lord is taking me on. Your generosity fully paid for my tuition for Jesus School and the House of Bethany Worship Academy. It also covered moving expenses and some living expenses to date. The Lord has miraculously provided ways for me to give to those who have been housing me and giving me rides to church and school! Thank you, I know the Lord will cause your vats to overflow, because of your sacrificial giving and I am expectant to hear testimonies of how He blessed you and your families!
I am currently writing this update on a flight back to Toronto after Hurricane Milton. I have been walking in miracles and testimonies of the Lord’s goodness, kindness, and mercy! Who am I that the Lord is mindful of me? Thank You Jesus for who You are—the Faithful One.
The Lord has done so much in my life these past six weeks. It feels like it has been months! Jesus School has been the answer to my soul’s cries in the last season in my life “I need more of You, Jesus. I must have more of You!” At Jesus School and Jesus Image Church, I have the privilege of coming into His presence everyday that I attend and engage with what the Spirit of the Lord is doing. There are not enough words to share what is happening in me. I often feel like most of the transformation that is occurring in me, I will never have the words for. I just know I enter into His presence and there I am changed and I am changing.
Here are some of the things the Lord is doing in me and teaching me that I do have language for:
Through the leaders of the school, Pastors Michael and Jessica Koulianos, the Lord is teaching me what honour truly is. Honour is to prefer others over ourselves. It is easy to honour those who honour you, but when is the last time we honoured someone who does not “deserve it?” Our honour or dishonour for others reveals the posture of our hearts. “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another” Romans 12:10 KJV.
Pastor Michael brings theologically rich teachings on Jesus in Scripture. He is the Word and He can be found from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is all about Him. Pastor Michael has challenged the students to look for Jesus as we read! Once I started doing that I started seeing Him in places I never saw Him before. Everything points to Jesus’ birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and what is to come. John 1.
Suffering with Christ is a privilege. Suffering caused by our own sin is actually consequence of sin, but to be mistreated and judged because you are following Jesus is truly beautiful, if you can connect with Jesus and His sufferings, through yours. In these moments and situations He comes as Prince of Peace and Comforter and demonstrates the ability to still our anxious hearts and souls and to remove the heavy burden of the suffering. Suffering then becomes a joy! “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” Romans 5:2-4 ESV.
Promotion in the Kingdom is when the Lord takes us to wash the feet of others. Washing feet looks like: the jobs no one else wants to do, going low for the ones who don’t understand you, doing in secret what the Lord has asked you to do even at the cost of being mistreated and rejected, serving others in your most difficult moments. Our Lord, in some of His final moments on earth, washed the feet of the very ones who would reject Him while He hung on the Cross for them. What a beautiful Saviour we have. Will we go wherever He tells us to go? Even if it’s down low to wash feet and do it as unto the Lord and not unto men? John 13:12-20.
I would love to partner with you in prayer. Would you please leave a comment or email for me with prayer requests here: www.jenbyjesus.com/pray. I have seen the Lord’s response to the prayers of the Saints. Let’s move His heart and send up an incense He is pleased with!
Thank you once again for your generosity. My heart overflows with gratitude. If you feel led to continue to sow, you can do so here at www.jenbyjesus.com/give for a one-time gift or a reoccurring gift.
May the Lord bless you richly.
Love + prayers,
Jen
if You had been here
Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth.
John 11:1-53 KJV (excerpt verses 40-44)
It is no small thing that Jesus called forth a dead man back to life, but I see the beauty in the moments leading up to the miracle. There is much to learn about Jesus from this beautiful account in the gospel of John.
Jesus never lies. In verse 4 it says that when Jesus was told that Lazarus was sick, He said, “this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” We have the privilege of reading the beginning and the end of this story. Lazarus’ sickness was indeed not unto death, though he did die for four days. “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent; hath He said and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19.
Jesus wants to help us with unbelief. Our Lord says to His disciples, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him” (verse 15). It seems the Lord wanted to deal with a greater issue of the heart: unbelief. He was willing to let everyone see Lazarus die rather than leave them with sick hearts. Jesus is inviting us out of unbelief and into belief. Jesus says in Mark 9:23, “if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” If Abraham’s belief in God was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:3), what then is unbelief counted unto us for? We read this about Abraham, “he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” Romans 4:20, 21.
Jesus is always on time. Martha and Mary both said to Jesus “Lord, if Thou hadst been there, my brother had not died” John 11:21, 32. “If He had been there” indicates that Jesus was not there when they wanted Him to be there. Was Jesus rushing from one place to another? In a race against time to not miss the moments of Lazarus’ death? No. Jesus came when He intended to. He did not miss His appointed time. Although the Lord lovingly gives us glimpses of the future, I believe that often, time is an aspect He does not always reveal. In our spirits we may feel the promise is coming ‘soon,’ but we seldom know exactly when. In Acts 1:7, Jesus says, “it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.” We may not know when God is going to fulfil the promise, but we must learn to rest in knowing that He is always on time.
Jesus brings hope. Our Lord’s response to Martha’s statements was a beautiful invitation to have hope reignited, “thy brother shall rise again” John 11: 23. Not only hope in the promise, but hope in Him, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” John 11:25,26.
Jesus is with us in grief. He did not come and perform the miracle the moment He laid eyes on Martha. He waited for Mary. “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled” John 11:33. We later read that He wept. They weeped, but He groaned, was troubled and wept. In our moments of deep grief, the Lord Himself groans and weeps. You are not weeping alone. He is here. He is with you in this moment. Psalm 34:18 says, “the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Will you let the Lord’s presence be your Balm of Gilead? Will you let His nearness in this moment heal you?
Jesus prays. In the midst of everything, He intercedes for us. “But this Man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” Hebrews 7:24,25. Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, on behalf of His beloved friends, and said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me” John 11:41,42.
Jesus performs a miracle. “And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go” John 11:43,44. He beautifully brought His dear friend back to life. He moved in power. He spoke a word and everything changed in that moment.
Jesus saves more souls. While this miracle must have been very close to Jesus’ heart, we see it changed the lives of many bystanders. “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him” John 11:45. He says to Martha, didn’t I say to you, if you would believe, You will see the glory of God? (verse 40). When God is glorified in our lives, others see Him too.
As I read John 11 and wrote this, the Holy Spirit ministered to me about the journey I am embarking on to attend Jesus School in Orlando, Florida. I submitted a leave of absence to my employer for the upcoming year. I packed my bags and bought a one-way plane ticket to Orlando. I said quiet goodbyes in my heart to the city I have grown up in and to the people I grew up with. I made peace with this part of my journey. However, the deadline for me to have the application for my visa submitted has passed. The family that I thought would sponsor me cannot do so. In this place, my promise is dead. If He had been there, it would not have died. The thing you were dreaming for, waiting for, praying for and believing for, has died, too. This is encouraging. This is where the Lord wants us.
Will you let the Lord reveal the glory of God through your life and your circumstances? Will you let the Holy Spirit minister healing to you so that you can believe again?
I’d love you to pray this prayer with me:
Dear God,
I come to you in the Name and righteousness of Jesus. Holy Spirit, reveal the Son to me. I know that You are not a liar. Help me with my unbelief! I do not know when this promise will come to pass, but You do. Thank You for the hope that You bring. Thank You for Your Presence. Thank You for the healing that You bring when You are near. Thank You for making intercession for me. Thank You for the miracle You are about to perform. Thank You for moving in power on my behalf. May God be glorified in my life and through my circumstances. May souls be saved as they witness You working in my life.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
my cup runneth over.
my cup runneth over
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
My heart is filled with overwhelming gratitude. Thank you for the seeds that you have sown into what God is doing in my life. I am so expectant for ministry school and what the Lord will do in my heart as I set apart nine months for Him at Jesus School in Orlando, Florida.
Though the finances are still coming in, the Holy Spirit continues to lift my head up to gaze upon the beauty of Jesus, instead of focusing on my circumstances. The Psalmist details what the leading of the Lord looks like. The table is set. The oil is flowing. My cup runneth over. I am experiencing the shepherding of our Saviour in a way I have never experienced before. I pray that your cup will run over, as well. I declare the seed you have sown will be multiplied in your own life.
More importantly, may we be intimately acquainted with our Gentle Shepherd and His leading, so that we may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 23.The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.