Running Shadow...

If you ever watch the original Peter Pan, you’ll come across a scene in which Peter Pan tries to keep up with his own shadow. His shadow has a whole new personality of its own that Peter Pan was never aware of. For some apparent reason, his shadow is detached from his body, and he spends much time in trying to reattach it to the bottom of his feet. Call it hilarious…I know. However, though it seems outrageously funny, this scene is actually the perfect illustration of the battle that everyone has in coming to grips with their spirit man.

II Corinthians 5:117 states:

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Every follower of Christ is fully aware that when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are reborn and made new. We are made dumb; we learn how to walk and talk again. Losing all of our innate abilities, like a fresh new born we study how to live; we learn about the newness of life. We pump our spiritual muscles with an in depth meditation of the word of God, unremitting and exhaustively pray our way through the narrow path that leads to life, and press against the natural grain of living with the daily routine of true worship and application of the word. We retrain our thought processes and behaviors to align with our new spiritual being. And though our outer, natural man stumbles and falls at times, for some reason God graces us.

Why does He grace us? Because he sees us in the spirit; that new spiritual man that for some reason God sees, but many of us are unfamiliar with. That spirit man that walks around with a personality of its own that we can’t seem to keep up with. To our amazement, there are two of us walking around on earth: our spirit man that we don’t see that God sees, and our natural man that man sees. Our spirit man is our identical stranger whom we have never met.

The majority of us are perpetually chasing our shadows, our spirit man, trying to figure out our new creature, and missing each time. Who is this person that I’m trying to become one with? Who am I in Christ? Like Peter Pan, until each one of us come to grips with our spirit man, that new spiritual being that God has made us and knows us by, we will forever run parallel and detached from who we really are…our true identity; because our true identity is our spirit man.

Some of us, after much perseverance, catch our shadows, learn how to be one with our spirit man, and become the most influential people on earth. Others, don’t try at all, they just accept Jesus as their Savior, but not their Lord. And live the rest of their lives unfamiliar with their true identity, never answer their true calling and purpose in life, constipated with gifts that seem to never flow freely, and remain inflicted by their natural man.

If you’ve ever wonder why there hasn’t been much progress, why there’s so much chaos and confusion in your life, why things are out of order, and why so many of God’s people miss their calling, it’s because they did not ever grab hold to their new and true identity. They never tapped into the spirit and remained sensitive to what God is doing in their lives. They continue to miss God. Before you know it, time passes you by, and you’ve accomplished only 10 percent of what God has ordained to do and be.

The natural Ashley is loaded with spiritual gifts but hates being in the spotlight. The spiritual Ashley is bold, an ordained leader that has to be in the spotlight. I'm tire of being spiritually constipated...I want my gifts to flow and overflow for the world to see. I am who God says I am because he knows me more than I know myself. After all…he created me. So for Pete’s sake, I might as well get to know and become one with the new Ashley that God is trying to introduce me to. That way, I can fulfill my purpose. I’ve had a constant battle in my spirit, and I asked God, “How come I’m not consistent, I’ll stand strong one day, and shy out the next.” Then He simply stated, “Because you are afraid of yourself.” I cried with tears of joy because God, as always, was right. I was scared of myself; I’m fully aware of all the talents and gifts he has invested in me. And though I was bold, my boldness was shattered because of individuals who had mistaken my boldness for arrogance. So because I didn’t want to be labeled as arrogant, I silenced. Little did I understand that the ones who had mistaken my boldness for arrogance were those who were merely insecure, lacked confidence in their own gifts, and projected it out onto me. I had become afraid of my own abilities and how great I could become. Thank you, Jesus, for your many revelations. I want the real Ashley to SHOW UP!!

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.”-I Corinthians 9:27

Lord, help us to come to grips with our spiritual man. Cause us to look at life through our spiritual eyes, and may we know who we really are. Let us not run from our callings, but be bold enough to become one with our alien being, and take on the cost of our purpose. In Jesus name…Amen.

May God Bless you according to your faithfulness and obedience to Him.

In Him,

Ashley

Philippians 3:7
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