BreakoutSample

Day 4 - Wilddogs 

Luke Hancorn

The silence of the winter snow was almost deafening if it were not for the crunch of the predators' paw prints on the icy ground. Sojourning for days this hound waits for the opportune moment to strike. And finally, before night falls, it is time. With blood pumping, heart racing, nostril snarling & teeth gnashing- the beast chases its prey.

Sound familiar? 

This is the wild dog! This kind of pooch isn’t found in a cage, its divine passion is sometimes mistaken for rage- as it sprints ready for its kill, poised for the attack. These holy creatures, perceived as unruly are in fact under a different authority. They do not answer to the crowd, but to the one that calls them. 

You may feel like these descriptions don’t describe you, but I promise you it does. How do I know? If the Holy Spirit lives within you then there is something of a wild wind that has been placed within you.

And so with that in mind, it is imperative that we as Christians are not only meek and humble but also intentionally breaking out of anything considered civilised. A life that is not tame, but wild or even at times savage!

I believe that this matters when radical vision comes because God’s radical and wild vision will always require something radical and wild of us. So are you ready?

The fire of the Holy Spirit not only deserves the best of us but also the nth degree of us. Literally ‘everything’- all-encompassing with nothing held back. For when we give ourselves over to him in this unruly manner, he begins to work the unimaginable.

Remember this: A closed mouth never gets fed.

So whatever environment you find yourself in, make sure you go in hungry. It’s too easy to presume the puppy-like nature waiting to get spoon-fed on time, every time. But I believe that there is something God honouring when we come before him with open hands, open hearts but also open mouths- ready to devour everything he has for us. 

So can I ask you, are you hungry? 

If no, then there’s more, if yes there’s more. 

Psalm 107:9 (NIV) says,

“For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

Yes, I believe this has a physical meaning, but I also believe that there is a spiritual truth here as well. 

Typically God doesn’t force-feed. (Unless you’re the whale in the story of Jonah!) But rarely does he force those that don’t want it. So can I ask you in this season to come before God like a wild dog- unapologetic in its motive for more, because deep down it knows that you can misinterpret action but you can’t misinterpret heart. 

So challenge yourself to be more like Jesus, honouring and living out vision just as he would- by coming hungry to devour the mission before him, and to give yourself entirely just as he did.