Growing Wings through Adversity

Hello,

It is my prayer that today will be a day of triumph and victory for you. I have learned that the perception of triumph and victory means different things to different people. Some people are able to view things in the light a step by step progression and they count the little victories as they progress toward the greater triumph. There are others who focus on the primary goal and don't consider victory obtained until the final battle is won. Then there are those who view victory as the ability to avoid the conflict and circumvent the struggle. It is the latter group that fails to see the strength and power associated with struggle.

There can be no obtainment of the promise without there first being an endurance of the process.

I have read the following passage on numerous occasions over the course of my life and it stands as a constant reminder of the perils of attempting to circumvent the vicissitudes of life in hopes of maintaining a consistent level of comfort. As you read this short passage think about the struggles that you are facing or the storm that you may be entering shortly. Gain an erudite understanding of the immense importance of enduring and persevering as a believer.

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18, NKJV)."

"I kept for nearly a year the flask-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. It is very peculiar in its construction. A narrow opening is left in the neck of the flask, through which the perfect insect forces its way, so that a forsaken cocoon is as entire as one still tenanted, no rupture of the interlacing fibers having taken place. The great disproportion between the means of egress and the size of the imprisoned insect makes one wonder how the exit is ever accomplished at all -- and it never is without great labor and difficulty. It is supposed that the pressure to which the moth's body is subjected in passing through such a narrow opening is a provision of nature for forcing the juices into the vessels of the wings, these being less developed at the period of emerging from the chrysalis than they are in other insects.

I happened to witness the first efforts of my prisoned moth to escape from its long confinement. During a whole forenoon, from time to time, I watched it patiently striving and struggling to get out. It never seemed able to get beyond a certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted. Very probably the confining fibers were drier and less elastic than if the cocoon had been left all winter on its native heather, as nature meant it to be. At all events I thought I was wiser and more compassionate than its Maker, and I resolved to give it a helping hand. With the point of my scissors I snipped the confining threads to make the exit just a very little easier, and lo! immediately, and with perfect case, out crawled my moth dragging a huge swollen body and little shrivelled wings. In vain I watched to see that marvelous process of expansion in which these silently and swiftly develop before one's eyes; and as I traced the exquisite spots and markings of divers colors which were all there in miniature, I longed to see these assume their due proportions and the creature to appear in all its perfect beauty, as it is, in truth, one of the loveliest of its kind. But I looked in vain. My false tenderness had proved its ruin. It never was anything but a stunted abortion, crawling painfully through that brief life which it should have spent flying through the air on rainbow wings.

I have thought of it often, often, when watching with pitiful eyes those who were struggling with sorrow, suffering, and distress; and I would fain cut short the discipline and give deliverance. Short-sighted man! How know I that one of these pangs or groans could be spared? The far-sighted, perfect love that seeks the perfection of its object does not weakly shrink from present, transient suffering. Our Father's love is too true to be weak. Because He loves His children, He chastises them that they may be partakers of His holiness. With this glorious end in view, He spares not for their crying. Made perfect through sufferings, as the Elder Brother was, the sons of God are trained up to obedience and brought to glory through much tribulation."
--Tract

Now think this thing through for a brief moment. The author did not initially understand that the struggle of the moth to escape its cocoon was a natural part of its strengthening process. In fact, it was this struggle that helped develop the massive wings that are associated with this particular species. By eliminating the struggle associated with this moth escaping its cocoon, the author did not liberate the insect, but instead, he doomed it to a life of mediocrity. 

We must consider this when engaging struggles and disappointments.We must be careful to remember the promises of the Lord, in which He has promised that no struggle shall come upon us that we are not able to bear nor we he allow any difficulty to beset us that He has not already prepared the outcome of triumph and elevation. Where our natural proclivity drives us toward comfort, God is more concerned with our character. It is virtually impossible to develop character without the presence of adversity. You may have the concept of character understood, but the virtue itself is developed through the effective endurance of trials and tribulations. 

Dr. Rick Wallace 

You may be in the darkest place you have ever been in your life. You may not be able to see a light at the end of your tunnel just yet. All the evidence may point to your doom, but your faith does not rest contingent upon your circumstantial realities. Your faith calls upon the promises of God to be with you and strengthen you. Sometimes your prayers should not be that God remove the thorn, but that God strengthen you to bear it. Until you have borne the thorn successfully, it will always remain a stumbling block and a hindrance. You will never fear that which you have already conquered. 

Also take the time to remember the moth. It was that struggle that strengthened and developed its wings. Without the struggle it was never able to take flight. The Apostle Paul said that he considered the suffering of the present moment unworthy to be compared to the glory that would be revealed through them. God is using your adversity to give you your wings. In order to soar like and eagle you must first endure the development of your aeronautic capabilities. God is building a better you in the midst of your trouble. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace 


Additional Resources by Dr. Rick Wallace

1. The Invisible Father: Reversing the Curse of a Fatherless Generation

2. Renewing Your Mind: The Dynamics of Christian Transformation

3. Elevation through Revelation

4. When Your House is Not a Home

5. The Power of Healing Affirmations

Blogs

1. 100 Men of Purpose

2. Master Fitness 21

Flowing Through Process

We must give ourselves permission to be in process. Too often we allow our failures and shortcomings to define us as if we have already arrived. Paul told the Philippians that he desired to lay hold of the fullness of the faith, but he had not yet obtained it. Look at what Paul said:

10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [[b]which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]

11 That if possible I may attain to the [[c]spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

12 Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.

13 I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. (Phil. 3:10-14, AMP)

Paul acknowledged that though his aspirations was the attainment of the fullness of the faith, he had not reached it, but he also gave the formula for attainment of the goal. Paul said he forgot those things that were behind him (both bad and good) and he looked forward to those things which were yet ahead of him. Paul was giving himself permission to be in process. He understood that focusing on the bad things of the past would shoulder him with a guilt complex that would bog him down. He knew that focusing on all of the past successes could easily have pushed him into the pit of arrogance or pinned him against the wall of complacency. His goal was ahead of him, so he learned from each experience and he pressed forward.

Dr. Rick Wallace

When we don't give ourselves permission to be in process we end up with enormous guilt complexes that stifle our growth and progression. Being in process is not a license to sin or the passkey to mediocrity; it is simply the understanding that you are still growing in faith and toward spiritual maturity, so that when you do make a mistake, and you will, it doesn't derail your progress.

Understanding that you are in process also allows you to side step the snares of the enemy as he points his accusatory finger at you. The power of grace, empowered by love, and facilitated by the blood, covers you as you press toward the goal of that higher calling of God. Grace empowers you to overcome your failures and still move forward to the ultimate goal.

It's okay, being in process is a part of obtaining the promise. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace

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