Lessons from the Potter’s Wheel – Part 1: The Power of a Cleansed Life

In those days (as it appears to me today), there had been a fading in my consciousness of that “amazing grace” that had in my late teens so dominated my life. My Christian life had become routinely stale and like the “chewing gum left on the bedpost overnight,” it had lost its flavor.

Late 1966 was a time of God’s wonderful moving in our church and community. God was wondrously alive and present at the First Baptist Church in the small town of West Plains, MO. Mighty things were occurring that defied the imagination and confounded our understanding as He moved across our community. That began a process in my life that ultimately culminated in brokenness and a new and wonderful walk with the Lord.

I often went by after school (I was a public school music teacher in those days) to visit with my pastor, Jim Hylton, and to observe the flow of events that was happening in his study day after day as people came seeking Jesus. At first, I was compelled more by curiosity than by anything I would describe as a genuine hunger. As time went on, in the midst of my cynicism and coldness of my spirit, I realized that I had a great fear – a fear that I would miss out on what God was doing in that wonderful time of His moving. I was increasingly overcome with a sense of shame and unworthiness as I was confronted with the presence of my Lord.

Finally deeply burdened with conviction and with only the Holy Spirit to guide my pursuit, on a Sunday afternoon in early December, I went into a small parlor like room at the rear of the worship center in our church. There, as the Holy Spirit thrust me to my knees, I began a hesitant but certain journey that I have pursued until this day. God taught me in the time I spent before Him that afternoon the essential prerequisites of a life that experiences His amazing and wonderful blessings. I not only found these ingredients needful and effective in my life but realized that they are so desperately needed in the churches where I preach as an evangelist. Very simply, they are repentance through the confession of specific sin episodes, unconditional forgiveness of others, and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

After a period of several hours in prayer, I left that room feeling like a different person. It seemed that a huge weight was lifted from off my shoulders and bondages that had long snared me were broken. God made very real the message of Hebrews 12:1: “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Bro. Jim came by our house later that day on an impromptu visit. He took one look at me and said: “You have had the experience, too!” (Not knowing what to call what God was doing in our lives at that time, we just referred to it as “the experience.”) I could only affirm the truth of what he had confirmed. My life had indeed been changed!

When I went into my classrooms at school the next day, my students saw a difference in me. Almost immediately they began to drift by during my free hours to ask questions with the result of many of them coming to Christ. One young lady, Becky, was quite persistent in sharing her problems and in her inquiry about Christ. Finally, one afternoon after school when she came in to pick up her instrument, she continued her questioning about the Lord. Sensing she was ready to receive Christ, I suggested we go into my office where we would have more privacy. While thinking it all depended me getting her through the steps of the “Roman Road,” I was searching desperately for my Bible under the stacks of music on my desk, while at the same time, continuing my conversation with her. During my searching, I asked her if she would like to pray that she might receive Christ. Still frantically hunting for my Bible and trying to keep my advantage going, I was startled to see tears running down her cheeks and to hear her say, “I just did, Mr. Floyd!” Somehow I felt cheated that I didn’t get to do my thing. The Holy Spirit demonstrated so ably that He is the One Who gives eternal life and thus gently rebuked self-dependence on the one hand and blessed me on the other. Becky and I had a great time celebrating her new birth that had been so effortless as the Holy Spirit guided her into salvation in spite of my preconceived notions and without my immediate help.

Lessons from the Potter’s Wheel: On that day (and others like it), I learned the most valuable lesson of my spiritual walk. I learned that when one’s life is cleansed and made available to the Lord Jesus Christ, He finds that life easy to use in accomplishing His works whether (as in my case) it was by bringing adults by in the middle of the night or by spontaneously bringing high school girls to Christ in a classroom after school. Jeff

• Jefferson H. and Norma R. Floyd, CO-directors • Jubilee International • P. O. Box 572 • Noblesville, IN 46061 • Copyright November 2007 by Jefferson H. Floyd. All rights reserved.