Cocoon?
A few weeks ago I watched a show about how silk is made. You probably know the basics; the silk worm feeds on Mulberry leaves and matures to about 3″ in length (7.6 cm), and then spins a silk cocoon in a figure 8 pattern that can measure some 4000 feet in length (1.2 km).
The pupae must be killed to get the silk, usually by boiling the cocoon in water. Then workers hand pick the end of the strand(s), lead them overhead, and join them to between 3 and 100 other strands from other boiled cocoons depending on the desired thickness of the thread required.
This spring news came out that in the year between mid 2008 and mid 2009, some 176,000 Christians were killed for their faith – just for believing in Jesus. This is the most on record, rising sharply from the 130,000 range in the 1990′s. (http://www.wnd.com/index.php? fa=PAGE.printable&pageId= 143493)
So my question is this: Do we in the west live in a cocoon?
Have we woven silky threads of (great value to us) all around us to insulate us from the realities of 176,000 of our brethren dying annually for a faith WE take for granted? Have we also exported silky threads of fad doctrines which occupy OUR time to other nations that they may be so occupied; the prosperity doctrine or endless debates about the rapture or listening ever so intently for the latest prophecy about the next calamity to befall us?
In a word; yes, that’s faith American style for some. We’ve woven these threads one by one until a cocoon has been carefully constructed for all to see, but which has made us unable to view the outside world, and left each person isolated though surrounded by other ‘cocoon people’. In a worst case scenario (but maybe you’ve seen this) these individual cocoons then meet in a larger cocoon building called church. When linked in relationship with other large cocoon-churches or cocoon-teachers, it seems all is right with the world.
Yet I propose for those that can hear what the Spirit is saying, many cocoons are having their threads unwoven one by one in what we can hope is the death of that self-imposed blindness.
Enter the spirit of fear
One of the things the Lord has told me in a visitation, and the Father also has told me, is that a time is coming when some believers will find what they thought was their strong faith, was in reality not faith at all. These are the people who have placed their trust in, and wrapped themselves in, these threads of doctrine, thinking that by knowing the common teachings they have known the Lord, but in fact their faith is not in God at all.
This is why so many in the body of Christ are in fear right now. They live in a cocoon and want all things to continue as they have been going. They are shaken by events in the world and prophetic words about what may come, thus demonstrating where their real security is.
To meet this need awhile back the Father told me that He would cause things in the world to be turned as a catalyst to have people truly get to know Him - in my words a ‘revival’ of sorts is coming, about knowing the Father. As uncertainty in the world progresses, He will cause many to know Him as never before.
Remember that Jesus said in John 14:6 that “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.” The goal is the Father, not Jesus. Jesus is the Way, but the Father is our destination. That is what is coming to the body of Christ next, and it’s coupled with house based and relationship based faith. People are yearning to meet informally in such a way the Father may move among them as He wills – and that’s best done within strong relationships in home based meetings.
What is that to you?
I had been thinking about prophetic words the Lord has shared with Barb and me for us, and some floating around now out in the body of Christ. I had also been thinking back to when Barb and I were teens and the Lord revealed to us that the fullness of what He had us to do would be during a time of great difficulty in the world, yet we and what we were doing would continue to move forward and grow and prosper as if nothing adverse was happening around us.
I was also thinking about the several prophetic words given to us over the years by people which confirm what he told us as teens: One saw the world falling apart but what we were doing was seen as a rocket blasting off at that time. Another saw 2 planes; one filled with people crashing which represented the world and a plane carrying us and many others taking off to safety at the same time.
I’m sharing a couple here merely to set the stage for what I’m about to say, not to try to ‘market’ what we are doing – It’s just what I was thinking on at the time.
When I was thinking on these things, I kept going back to the “what if” scenarios of the world. What if the dollar went into hyper-inflation? What if the attacks on government leaders did get carried out this and next fall as He’d told us to pray about? Is it this holiday season when the suicide bombers in malls and stores and restaurants He told us about would start, or a future holiday season? Is it this January through March things would happen in cities that would make people leave the cities to camp out in the woods rather than go into the unsafe cities He had told us about, or a future January?
What if, what if, what if?
Suddenly He broke into my thoughts boldly and bluntly: “What is that to you?”
He continued: “What is that to you? I’ve told you that you will prosper and advance quickly in these times for the work I’ve called you to. You are in My perfect will. You are hidden in Me and as you say to so many, you are already in eternity, so what is all that (in the world) to you?”
To say He got my attention would be a gross understatement. Any fear trying to grab hold of me left, my right and proper perspective returned, and I became focused once again on the task before us: to make disciples, love those He has given us, and to lay down our lives as a resource for them.
Our lives are in Christ and He is not hindered in the least by world economies, earthquakes, civil unrest. Nothing catches Him by surprise. So when we think on the bad things prophesied to come, or our eyes are opened to see that 176,000 of our brethren die annually for their faith and wonder if that type of persecution is coming our way, we need to ask from a big picture, eternal perspective; ”What is that to you?”
Step back, look at the big picture. Think of how the Father has seen you through to this point with miraculous provision, wonderful relationships, and know He will always be doing that. When you call to remembrance the former days and rehearse His provision in your memory, then you can look at the world and say to yourself; What is that to you?
Next week I’ll share practical ways to shed fear and gain spiritual confidence and backbone; able to hear prophetic words of coming hardships yet consumed with the peace and joy of the Lord.
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
Please send all personal emails or questions to me at cwowi@aol.com
