Carrying Rocks in Our Pockets

In prison escape movies like The Shawshank Redemption, the prisoners typically take the dirt and rock from digging the tunnels into the prison exercise yards for disposal. Each morning the prisoners load their pants pockets with the dirt and rock from the nightly dig, and it slowly slips through the hole in the pocket, down the leg, and then gently entering the yard. Eventually, the prisoners finish the tunnel, realize freedom, and are off to see the world.

Carrying the message of God’s love to the world is my heart’s desire. I want to walk in God’s Spirit and truth and do His Kingdom work while here on this earth. I believe most people passionate for Jesus Christ feel the same way. With that being said, there are times when things do not go as planned. It seems when things are going well and I am experiencing God in all things, out of nowhere something happens to distract, throw me off course, or interrupt the work God is doing through me. When this happens I point the finger back at myself and think, “I must not have been doing what God wanted me to do or the way He wanted it done, so I need to change strategies and work harder.” Strive, strive, and strive! Competing with myself and loading rocks into my pockets.

The good news, and in thankfulness fully realized; God is a BIG God, and He works fully and completely in us when we experience a spirit, mind, and body encounter with Him. Not religious puppets, just God-inspired people who realize His grace is enough! God has given us authority to minister and walk in His power. We need to remain focused on His power and use it for God’s glory. We also need to stop striving and competing and let God be God. Colossians 4:2 is a good way to begin the process of emptying our pockets. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Some of us must be careful not to carry rocks for others’ pockets. After praying for some time God revealed a source for some of my interruptions and distractions. The enemy uses naysayers, gossips, and hecklers to swoop in and sabotage God’s assignment before it is fulfilled. The enemy uses these people to run demonic interference to prevent the harvest from reaching fruition. The enemy doesn’t mind the sowing and working for God, he just wants to steal your destiny and the reaping of the harvest. The enemy wants to keep you a prisoner of doubt, and to kill and destroy your work for God.

Several years ago, watching the Sochi Olympic skaters take their position on the ice, I couldn’t help but wonder if the enemy had been sabotaging Italy’s Carolina Kostner. Kostner, once considered a bright young talent, took the ice skating world by storm and gave the Italians their best chance of winning an Olympic medal. At the 2006 Olympics on her home turf of Turin, she skated poorly and did not medal. With a chance of redemption at the Vancouver games in 2010 she not only failed to medal but also fell three times.

Kostner loved skating but considered quitting because of the people and the pressures of the competitive skating world. The people had gotten in her head and the rocks in her pockets were overwhelming and overflowing. Her mother stepped in and reminded Carolina the reason for skating in the first place; the love. Kostner stepped away for a time and addressed her ice skating career from a new perspective. Upon her return, it wasn’t result-oriented or to build greater notoriety, but for the simple love of skating, and it showed.

As Carolina took the ice in Sochi, she carried a powerful presence that demanded attention. The artistry, excellence, and love were emblematic of a person doing what they were born to do. As the passionate performance was completed, her love embracing art, the Olympic world recognized the gift with a Bronze Medal; the first ice skating medal for Italy.

Carolina Kostner told ESPN, “This medal is absolutely golden. I will cherish it in my heart. It feels so great that patience and sacrifice and hard work and faith are paid in the end.”

Step out of the prison and into freedom. Be freed from interference, doubt, sabotage, naysayers, and hecklers. Accept the promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The one who called you is completely dependable. If He said it, He’ll do it!

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