But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
A butterfly is not a caterpillar, it was, but behold! all things are new.
It is hard to tell a butterfly it is still a caterpillar as it flies from flower to flower drinking sweet nectar. The butterfly is in another realm from a caterpillar, and it cannot change back to a caterpillar no matter what you tell it.
The caterpillar died to itself and transformed to the butterfly, it is called metamorphosis, and the transformation is complete, there is no turning back to its old self. No matter what the devil says to a butterfly, it will not change what it has become.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one by what he is in the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:14-17.
You cannot put your hand to the plow and keep looking back or you will never be fit to go forward to your high calling in Christ. Luke 9:62.
One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14.
Focus forward not back. The devil will try to pull you back into the flesh, back to your old self that was under his dominion, but you who believe in My Son died to that old man in Christ and I raised you up in Him to newness of life. In your spirit you are like the butterfly, you cannot be changed back once you have been born again in Christ. You are now under grace and sin is no longer your master.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:1-4.
Essentially, you who are in Christ were not just standing on the sidelines when He became sin for you and died to set you free from all sin, I counted His death as your death to sin in Him and when I raised Him from the dead as a new creation, I raised you up as a new creation in Him.
For Christ died according to the flesh but I raised Him according to the Spirit. Your old self that was under the dominion of sin, for in Adam all died, was dead to Me and alive to sin, but in Christ you have become a new creation, and your new self is alive to Me and dead to sin. Your spirit has switched over from death to life, and there is no snatching out of My hand.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Romans 6:5-7.
But believing in your heart that I raised Jesus from the dead (and you with Him, justified from your sins), and confessing My Son as Lord, saves you, gives you eternal life, and gives you My righteousness, but unlike the transformation of the butterfly, you have been transformed in your spirit as created anew in My image and according to My likeness but your soul and your body are still earthy and for the transformation of your soul and body to match your new spirit self (the inner man of the heart) requires a renewing of your mind. In other words, you have to think and speak in union with your spirit the words of eternal life. And to do this requires a new focus for your mind and your mouth.
Jesus only spoke words of eternal life and He is your teacher. Keep your eyes on Jesus, focus on Him, and keep your mind above where He is seated with Me. In your spirit, you are seated there as well, so you might as well get your mind up there too.
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:17-24.
There is the key to change you from the darkness into My own marvelous light, from the caterpillar that crawls around just living to fill up his belly to the butterfly that soars above and draws up and drinks the nectar of beautiful, colorful flowers, and that is to have a whole new mindset. No longer the mindset of the world set only on the flesh and its lusts that ends in the grave, but the mindset of Heaven, which brings about wondrous and beautiful things and does not end with the grave, but ever goes forward into new heights and depths of beauty, love and glory.
But how can this be done when each day you face new trials and snares set by the devil to make your day end in the flesh and not in the spirit? The devil blinds the minds of unbelievers to the light of Christ, and he is trying to do the same with you and pull you into the darkness of doubt, fear, and the prison walls of sin and shame. He wants to take you captive again to do his will for your life, which ends in death and spending eternity with him in constriction and bondage, torment and remorse, rather than in the freedom of My children in vast and open spaces of light filled with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
There is no comparison. Why do you chase after the rubbish of the world when you could have the solid gold of the Kingdom?
I will tell you why: Because you have not renewed your minds to feed on Spirit Words instead of flesh words. You have replaced the truth of who you are in Christ with the lies of the devil that you are still a caterpillar and not a butterfly. But you should be as sure that you are a new creation in Christ and unable to turn back to your old manner of life, as the butterfly, once metamorphosis is complete, cannot ever again return to its old manner of life.
How come a butterfly cannot return to eat like a caterpillar? It would be impossible because it has a transformed mouth. And so should you as a new creation in Christ.
Let no rotten, unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:29-32.
The caterpillar stage and the adult butterfly have very different food preferences, largely due to the differences in their mouth parts. Caterpillars have chewing mouth parts which enable them to eat leaves and other plant parts. Caterpillars are considered pests because of the damage they do to crops and plants. Caterpillars don’t move much and may spend their entire lives on the same plant or even the same leaf.
Butterflies are very selective about what they eat. Unlike caterpillars, who slowly crawl, butterflies can roam about and look for suitable food over a much broader territory due to their ability to fly and, unlike the dim vision of the caterpillar, they can see long distances and colors beyond the spectrum that your eyes can see. Butterflies are able to feed only on liquids, and they only will select certain kinds of liquid. They drink through a tube-like tongue called a proboscis. It uncoils to sip liquid food, and then coils up again into a spiral when the butterfly is not feeding.
If you would just ask Jesus for a drink, He would give you life giving water that becomes a fountain in you leaping up to eternal life. If you are thirsty, come to Him and drink until rivers of the life giving flow of the water of the Holy Spirit and of the Word flow in and out of you. With joy you will draw water from the springs of Salvation.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. Revelation 22:17.
And on the day Pentecost was fulfilled, the crowd thought the disciples were drunk, their mouths were changed, transformed, as they spoke words as the Spirit gave them utterance, and they were exalting and telling of My mighty deeds.
A new kind of mouth. A Spirit led mouth. A controlled tongue that sucks up the sweetness of My Word and then coils up into a spiral at the dirty waters of the world. Be careful what you are drinking, remember those who have been transformed, like butterflies, are very selective in what they allow their mouths to partake in, in what they will draw up and in.
“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:5-8.
Butterflies, when it gets cold, seek a spot, such as a light colored rock, to spread their wings in the sun and bask until their body temperature is again at the point where they can fly. If butterflies get too cold they cannot fly and that is why they migrate to warmer climates when winter comes. They will travel great distances just to be in the sun so they can fly.
And you likewise, “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Isaiah 40:31.
When your love begins to grow cold and joy is draining out of your heart you must be like the butterfly and seek the rock that is higher than you where you can bask in the Sun of righteousness, for there is healing in His rays, and rest in My Word until you are revived to soar with Me.
This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your Word has revived me. Psalm 119:50.
Every day you must spend time basking in the Light of My Word and then you fly by speaking it and releasing it as you do it.
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12.
It is only by My Word that you can renew your mind and be transformed (metamorphoo, which is the root of metamorphosis) into a new creation in your soul and body that matches your spirit. Walk in a manner worthy of what you have received.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2.
How do you renew your mind so you are set free from the old man of sin and become the new man of grace, the real you in Christ? Jesus tells you.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue (abide, remain) in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:31-32.
And this is a Covenant reality that I had already taught Moses and later Joshua on how to be more than conquerors and a royal priesthood unto Me.
Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own special treasure among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” Exodus 19:3-6.
And again Moses told the people the way to renew their minds so they no longer thought like the slaves they had been in Egypt:
“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as days of heaven upon the earth. For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.” Deuteronomy 11:18-25.
Total immersion in My Word to the exclusion of the doubts, fears, evil, and lusts of the world, the flesh and the devil. And I took them out of the distractions and slavery of the godless nation of Egypt to journey with Me alone to the Promised Land. But a majority of them were not diligent to renew their minds in My Word and kept looking back with longing to return to the familiarity of their slavery in Egypt. They had hated it but they wanted to go back to it every time they encountered a challenge to My Word in the flesh, that is, in what they saw and heard limited to the physical senses only. And yet they had seen impossible things, like the Red Sea parting and manna descending every day in a barren wilderness.
They had never renewed their minds to the freedom of My children. You began in the Spirit, do not return to slavery a second time. Living in the flesh only is a habit but you can change that by renewing your mind and learning how to align your words with Mine. You will find it gives you pure joy and freedom from the ups and downs of your flesh beyond all you had ever dreamed possible.
Joshua found it worked as he watched all the giants in the Promised Land go under his feet and melt away as he obeyed My Word. He even got so bold as to speak to the sun and the moon and make them pause.
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8-9.
If you are tired of crawling around with the devil trying to be the old you while all the time you could be enjoying the new you that I have made you in Christ, it is time to discover My Wonderful Omnipotent Words (WOW) and immerse yourself in them until the trickle you have been drinking becomes a fountain leaping up in your to eternal life refreshing and blessing your life. Why be content with sticking your toe in a trickle when you could be swimming with the flow of a vast and mighty river? Eagle’s wings are ready. Or shall I say butterfly wings? They have more colors.
I love you. Renew your mind and watch your words. They go together. Faith in your heart and speaking with your mouth to release what is in your heart. Remember, a butterfly can never go back to caterpillar food because he has a new mouth. Selah.