We were able to travel to the capital city of Tripura, which is Agartala. While there we went to the zoo, and God spoke to me through what I saw.
Of course like all zoo’s, animals are locked up in small cages so that people can see animals in real life. That being said, I’ll explain what I saw and what God brought to my mind. Revelations from God!
The most depressing animal I saw was a lion. All alone in a 40 by 40 foot cage. Just sitting there, then just laying down. We were told the lion was 20 years old, how long that lion has been stuck in that cage is uncertain, but for many years is accurate to say.
This lion lives by instinct, it knows what it is created to do. What it lives to do is be free, survive, and thrive in it’s pack. This lion know’s it’s purpose, it’s embedded into it’s DNA. And yet it’s hindered, the lion can’t catch it’s prey, run free in the plains, and have offspring. It’s circumstances have left him in a small cage. With only a small breeze in the hot Indian climate. No other lion is their,he’s alone.
This lion represents a lot of people in the world, including a lot of Christians. You live your lives in a victim circle, enclosed by the circumstances, struggles, and hardships which encompass your lives.
You know what your heart longs for is something much greater than itself. YOu know that THIS LIFE is more than working everyday to simply exist. That naked we came into this world and naked we will return. So what’s the point of it all? Why are we here?
You know your purpose is to have an intimate relationship with the God who not only created you and knows everything about you, but also the same God who willingly took the WRATH OF GOD upon Himself and took the punishment of death for our sins.
And truth be told, you’ll never truly understand the payment and ultimate sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for us, for you and me; until you first realize and come to terms with the undeniable fact of your brokenness and depravity. That by our sin nature we are always wanting to choose the wrong things. To gain more we lie, cheat and steal. Our flesh lusts after the riches, relationships and materials that the world has to offer. And yet no matter how much we are always trying to fill ourselves, we are left with a present emptiness, asking ourselves,” why can I not feel complete? Why is it that I’ve tried and done everything the world has told me will make me happy and satisfied, and yet I find myself hurting more inside than when I even began?”.
The state of all mankind, the sin nature that we were born into, our own depravity, is that we are lost, broken and evil human beings. As Paul says, “ we know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. I agree that the law is good. As it is, it no longer myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want I do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do , it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! WHO WILL RESCUE ME FROM THIS BODY THAT IS SUBJECT TO DEATH? THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO DELIVERS ME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” ( Romans 7: 14-25)
This lion is stuck in a cage, in which you will have one of three perspectives.
First we can be in this cage as a victim of our circumstances, having come to the realizations in our own minds that we can do nothing to get ourselves out of this situation. That we will be miserable in the state that we are in, having no hope of ever getting out and no hope of ever doing anything that we know we are created to do.
Second, you can be in this cage with the mind of being OKAY with never getting out. Having come to the realization that this is your life and you can’t grow, God isn’t big enough to answer you or to help you. You’re basically perfectly fine being locked up in a cage of restrictions, when your full potential is what God is calling you into. Both the first and the second perspectives are complete deceptive lies from the enemy himself, where you’re stuck in a stagnant victim circle of being locked up in a cage of doubt and unbelief. Yet praise be to God who, through His Son, Jesus Christ, has broken the chains that entangle us, and the lies that deceive us.
Mindset three, you’re getting out of the cage or you’re not in the cage at all. This is the stage of where you know your purpose in life, you know that this life isn’t about you. The Gospel isn’t about us, It’s about Jesus. This life isn’t about what the world has made it out to be. This life, you’ve realized is what God has said it is. That you’re purpose is to know Him, to love Him. That no matter what obstacle, no matter what heartache, no matter what comes your way, you know God is good and God is in control. That whatever happens God is with you. You face each new day with the knowledge and truthfulness in your heart that God holds each day, and nothing happens outside of His will. That though trials, temptation, struggles, hardship, heartaches, persecution, insults, and everything else will affect your life, you know that nothing, absolutely nothing can seperate you from the LOVE OF GOD WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
Animals live by instinct, they know their purpose for existence. Humans live by reason, that each moment of everyday, we have two choices we can make. Only two, the right or the wrong, there’s no inbetween. As a follower of Jesus, He wants you to not be stuck in the cage of self pity, with the mindset of a victim. But to know and experience the fullness of God. To know your purpose and use the unique gifts that God has specifically given each of you. That the body of Christ cannot function if not everyone is doing their part, which they were created to do and to be.
Jesus says,”ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” ( Matthew 7:7).
KNOCK down the door of the cage that hinders you from wholeheartedly and passionately serving the LORD. Say “get behind me Satan” when he speaks lies into your ears. Know and live in the fullness of God and all He wants to do in your life and through your life that He gave you. Say NO to the passion, lusts, and deceitfulness of this world, and say YES to Jesus. Jesus is the one who loved you that He willingly took the wrath of God upon Himself and hung on a cross, dying for your wrong doing. If you’re in the cage, break it down, and run out free, for where the Spirit of the LORD is, their is freedom.
