The Eye
24 Jan 2005
by Joie Pirkey
Forthe past two weeks I have been asking God if He wanted me to begin to writeshort teachings about what He has been telling me about the Fox Valley and the Body of Christ as a whole. The burden to teach was stirred up at aprevious speaking engagement.
I was talking to 9th and 10thgrade church-going Christians and referred to the second coming of Christ. They looked at me like I was from some sort of cult. I asked them if they knewthat Jesus was actually going to come back for His church and they stared at mewith blank faces. I asked for a show of hands, including the teachers in theroom, from anyone who had heard of the second coming ever even beingmentioned. Not one hand from a group of at least 30.
I was amazed. “How about a spiritual battle? Hasanyone heard that we are in a spiritual battle?” No hand. I was actuallygrieved. “Has anyone heard of the Apostles Creed?” Hands finally went up. “Can anyone recite it?” I began the Creed to help them along but no onerecited with me so I stopped. I heard the quiet voice of the Lord whisper tome to be gentle.
At home that night I began to pray for the Body to beeducated. I was trying to teach these students about prophecy and how God hadbeen telling me to instruct them about their call to join rank and passionatelypursue their destiny. They sat there not even aware that being a Christian isa call to run a race, to fight a good fight, to know a Savior who has instructedus to wait, ready for His return. What has happened to the church?
Twoweeks after that night I began to ask the Lord if He wanted to use me to teachand in what format. On Jan. 19 I was lying down ready to go to sleep when Ihad a vision. The vision was very clear. I could see stars and a dove flyingabout in what seemed to be a clear night sky. (Most often the visions that Ihave look like this.) After a series of events He, the Dove, who is the HolySpirit, began to speak to me about the Church. I have had many dreams andvisions regarding the Fox Valley and the Body of Christ represented here. Those messages can be read on the Shouts of Joy website. This particularvision addressed the same issue that God has been speaking to me about lately-- Unity.
Hebegan by saying that I was to begin the teaching articles with this vision andmessage. He told me in an audible voice that, “the eye is the most fragilepart of the Body. It can not see itself. When the eye has a speck in it, itmust trust the finger to remove the speck. It must stay still and open. Ifthe finger is not careful (full of care) when it tries to remove the speck, theeye will close the hood. If the finger pokes the eye and the eye is damaged itwill not see for the Body again.” I asked if He was telling me that I had aspeck in my eye that needed to be removed. I actually said that I cannot seeit. He responded by saying, “You cannot see yourself.”
Asthis analogy began to sink in I came to realize that no part of the Body iswithout need of the others. The very thing that we are the most vulnerable inis almost always the very thing that gets “poked” by the Church. It is thebetter thing to stay vulnerable and trusting, out of control. As thecircumstances of being gifted with the ability to prophesy and to see, swirlaround me I find an ever present need to keep my focus on Jesus. To belistening for His voice. To be open and trusting to my local body andespecially the Elders and the Pastor God has placed me under.
I am so grateful that through the difficult years ofbeing married God taught me that the act of submission to my husband had verylittle to do with my husband at all really and had far more to do with God andme. Through that lesson I watched God break through extremely difficultsituations and have His way in both mine and Douglas’ life. So it is with theleadership of my church. God has an order to things, and we need each other.
WhenI was ten years old I was riding my bike around the Kimberly track at theathletic field. I was racing my best friend Stevie Kemps. When he pulledahead of me and gave it his all, a piece of the black tar track jumped up andhit me in the eye. It immediately made my eye water and hurt like thedickens. By the time I got home the eye had swelled up to the size of a golfball. I had been frantically rubbing it all the way home. I had imbedded thespeck of tar into the tissue of the eyelid. It took six month of extremelystingy eye drops to dissolve the speck and clear up that eye.
To this day, 30 years later, I can still recall theirritating pain in that lid to the point of tearing up even as I type. I knowwhat a speck in the eye can do. And I know how rough treatment can cause fargreater damage that could have been avoided. My quick fix to the pain was thevery worst thing that I could have done to that tender little eye. To bevulnerable and open that eye so that my mom or even the Doctor could remove itwas the wisest and best thing that I could have done. So again, it is with thechurch. Regardless of who is at fault, when there is pain there is usually aspeck.
I thought that my writing would be directed to thoseof you in the Body who do not believe and/or are apprehensive about thespiritual gifts but God has another plan. This article is for those of you whofind yourself gifted in the supernatural gifts here in the Fox Valley. You know as well as I do that in our pervasive German/Dutch culture a good stoicBible-believing hymn singer is far more desirable to the church at large than aperson who claims to hear from God directly.
Even many of our “Charismatic” churches are hardpressed to have the Gifts practiced in the services like they were in the NewTestament church. But here we are, many of us “poked”, or simply to afraid tostep out and take the ridicule. It’s you I am pleading with. It is you that Iam encouraging. Remain vulnerable. Be submissive. Speak freely and openlywith your leaders. If they hurt you, tell them. If they frustrate you, tellthem. If they are full of care and are loving you well, tell them. Be humbleand useable in all that God intends for the body around you. Keep those seeingeyes focused on Jesus. Test all things and hold to what is good. Do not beafraid of men but love the church. And when at all possible, trust the fingersof the body to remove the speck that it is feeling and you are not seeing,always trusting that God is the Head and He knows what He is doing.
Unity isdifficult. We must face the conflict to have it fully. The conflict must befaced with tender care and a deep understanding that we are not only part ofone body but that we have need of each other. With humility and love let uscare for the needs of others before our own needs, most especially when thereis a speck to deal with.
