Master Potter

by Jill Austin

“Will you let Me take the bitterness and all the pain that’s behind it?”

  “Yes Lord, now that I understand that she only did what she could. It makes it so much easier to forgive her.”

  “Beloved, I am so proud of you. You have done so well. Every time you deal with one of these heart issues you come closer to your destiny,” He says as they exit the bedroom door and walk down the hall. “But part of your heart is still shut down. You need to trust Me and be willing to go through this next door.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  GOLDEN KEYS OF FORGIVENESS

  The heat in the kiln continues to intensify in the all-consuming refiner’s fire.

  Recognizing her bedroom door, Beloved panics. “No, no, not there. I don’t want to go in there. Please, don’t make me,” she pleads as she clutches Master Potter and buries her face in His shoulder.

  Tenderly holding her He speaks, “Beloved, he can’t hurt you anymore. I’m in control this time and I’ll protect you. Will you trust Me?”

  With her face still buried, she hesitantly nods.

  Turning the door handle, He carries Beloved into the darkened room. They enter just as her father is getting up from the bed, leaving little Forsaken weeping under the covers. Time freezes in the fiery vision and Master Potter tells her, “He doesn’t have the power to harm you anymore. Now you can tell him what you’ve always wanted to say.”

  Still feeling vulnerable, she turns slowly to face her father. She stares at the floor, trembling in fear.

  Master Potter says, “Go ahead, you’re not Forsaken anymore, you’re Beloved. Tell him what Forsaken, as a defenseless, helpless little child never had the power or voice to say.”

  Beloved hesitates, unable to make eye contact, and in a timid voice asks, “Why did you hurt me and make me think it was all my fault? I was just a little girl!”

  Realizing that her father is locked in the past and can’t hurt, hear or see her, she begins to feel safe in Master Potter’s arms. “Year after year you came into my room and hurt me! You said it was our secret and I couldn’t tell anyone.”

  “That’s good, Beloved. You can say anything you want to. What are you feeling right now?”

  Uncapped anger surfaces, and she blurts out, “You lied to me when you said mom would leave if she found out. I was so scared she’d go away and I’d be left with you.”

  Looking at Master Potter, as hot tears pour down her face, she says, “I felt so dirty. I don’t think I can ever forgive him. He was so mean to me. I finally had to leave home just to get away from him. That’s how I ended up at Madam’s. He should be begging me to forgive him, but he’s not even sorry! I want him to feel pain like I did! I wish he were dead!” Suddenly the flames flare up as her anger fuels the fire into a raging inferno.

  Sitting down in the old rocking chair next to the bed, Master Potter holds her close. She lies like a limp rag doll in His arms and sobs until she can’t cry anymore.

  “You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore. It broke My heart to see you suffer,” says Master Potter as He continues to rock her.

  Looking up with her big brown eyes into His tear-stained face, she cries, “I was so innocent. How could he do that to me?”

  “Every person has free will. Each person’s choices have the power to destroy or to bless. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t My plan for you to suffer such devastation and betrayal, especially from your own parents. But My Cross has the power to bring life out of this terrible anguish. Your part now is to forgive.”

  “It’s too painful. I could forgive the others but I can’t forgive this. I can’t do it. You’re asking too much. Besides, You’re all I need. I never want to see him again.”

  The purifying fires are unrelenting as Master Potter continues, “Beloved, I created you to experience deep intimacy with Me. The enemy has tried to prevent that by using your father’s brokenness and perversion to shut down your ability to love and trust. Your fear of intimacy blocks our relationship, because painful memories and unforgiveness have locked the door of your heart.”

  EVIL CONSEQUENCES

  Now weeping softly, she sighs and tells him, “I want You more than anything, but I still want my father to pay for what he did to me. He belongs in jail!”

  “He already is, Beloved. Let me show you.”

  The scene changes and her father no longer appears so big and powerful. She notices how his outdated, tattered clothes hang on his emaciated frame. His eyes are sunken into a thin and bony face covered with a dirty, scraggly beard.

  Once tall, strong and handsome, Beloved’s father is now bent over with age and the burden of his sinful life. His eyes are dull and dead. She remembers looking in the cracked mirror in the Potter’s Field and seeing that same look in her own eyes.

  Prison bars crash down around him as she watches. Now, a heavy iron door slams shut with a loud, thundering boom. Her father looks around, eyes filled with terror and dread, as tormenting demons laugh cruelly at his captivity.

  Beloved recoils in horror as she watches long, sharp talons sink even deeper into his mind—winding and vining around other talons that have long twisted and controlled it. Terrifyingly little is left of the soul God created; talons of perversion, rage and addiction have grown large and formed a thick, tangled system of demonic control.

  Overwhelmed with sadness and grief, Beloved feels compassion well inside her for the first time as she realizes how deeply he is suffering. “That’s why he acted like he did. The demons were fueling his addiction just like they did mine. He looks like he’s going to die. Lord, can You free him?”

  Master Potter gestures toward him. “I want to free both of you, but only your forgiveness and his repentance will open the prison door. Remember, the battleground is in your mind and heart. In this test you will become bitter or sweet. How you respond determines whether you will fulfill your ultimate destiny. You can disqualify yourself from your high calling by harboring judgments and bitterness, which will keep you captive to your past. Will you choose love, Beloved?”

  I CHOOSE LOVE

  The vision of her father disappears and she looks into the face of Master Potter. Softly weeping in His arms she says, “Yes Lord, I choose love.”

  Gently He leads her, “Will you forgive your father?”

  Haltingly, painfully she weeps openly as she says, “Father…Father…I forgive you for abusing me and not taking care of us.” She pauses and takes a deep breath, “I hated your cruelty, but I choose to forgive you.” The hardness of her heart breaks open, releasing painful blockages of shame and devastation. She bursts into deep convulsive sobs as the years of bottled-up pain are released.

  Mercy and compassion flood her as she cries, “I’m sorry I hated you. I don’t want you to hurt anymore.”

  Master Potter strokes her hair and says, “Beloved, your hatred and judgment toward your father imprisoned you as well as him. You needed to ask his forgiveness for your hatred in order to break the curses of your own words.”

  Holy Spirit gently places His mantle of fiery conviction over Beloved. “Father, I was also wrong for hating you. I used to hide in my room at night and wish you would die. I want you to know Master Potter the way I know Him! Please forgive me.”

  THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN

  As her words go forth in the unseen realm of the Spirit, golden keys of forgiveness unlock ancient doors of bondage.

  She watches in horror an open vision of Master Potter as a spotless, innocent lamb being slain in darkness—before the foundation of the world. Unable to stop the slaughter, she watches the light glisten off the plunging knife blade. His life departs and His blood pours out.

  Loud cracking noises rumble throughout the earth as generational curses shatter. Beloved feels shaking, like an earthquake under her feet. She grabs Master Potter to steady herself.

  Angels apply His blood to the doorposts of past and future generations of her family, bringing deliverance and freedom. In the distance she hears the blast of an anci
ent shofar. The voice of His blood cries out, “Mercy and forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness for all who ask.”

  The voice of the blood reverberates in the heavens, through earth and into the darkest abyss of hell. Satan and his angels scream and writhe as it renders the enemy’s kingdom impotent. With no way to overcome its power and no place to hide, they curse and blaspheme as the blood’s voice cries out again, pronouncing freedom for Beloved and her father.

  Thunder, lightning, and whirlwinds of glory swirl around her. Radiant light illuminates through her clay vessel as the kiln turns into a golden furnace of healing. The dross of unforgiveness, bitterness and anger is demolished by His all-consuming refiner’s fire.

  Beloved feels the shackles of her judgment fall away. Freedom is released in her spirit and joy floods her being. She feels as light as air. She continues clutching Master Potter for fear she might float away. She revels with Master Potter in the new-found freedom she is experiencing as they laugh and continue to watch the celestial glory and light show.

  INTERCESSION

  “Where is my father now? Did he get released from his cell?”

  “No, Beloved,” responds Master Potter. “You forgave him, but he can’t be released until he repents.” The vision of her father reappears and she watches as he cries out, “I want to die.” He rattles the bars again and again, unable to free himself. She recognizes the tormenting voice of Suicide saying, “That can be arranged,” as his python-like body slithers toward her father, seeking to crush what little remains of his will to live.

  Beloved, who just a few minutes ago was wishing her father dead, screams out to Master Potter, “They’re going to kill him. Do something.” Master Potter replies, “I won’t let them take his life now. I’m giving him another chance.” He turns to Suicide, who is just beginning to coil around Beloved’s father and with a whisper says, “Be gone.”

  The vile snake jerks his head toward Master Potter and drops to the floor. It writhes as if mortally wounded, rolling from back to front, hissing and gasping until it shrivels and is finally consumed in the fiery kiln. The vision of her father fades.

  Awed at the power of Master Potter’s words, she says, “You make it look so easy!”

  He looks at her affectionately and chuckles. “Beloved, there’s power in My words, power in My blood, power in My name, power in forgiveness—and My power resides in you, but you just don’t realize it yet.

  “There is real warfare for your father’s soul. You need to continue to release My power as you intercede for him so I can deliver him into My Kingdom. No one is too lost to be found by Me.”

  Deep agonizing groans of intercession rise from her spirit as she cries out, “Save him, Lord!” His power through her prayers begins to break through the heavy oppression of the prison cell.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  GLORIOUS RECONCILIATION

  As her intercession subsides, she is surprised to hear muffled weeping and looks around the room to see where the crying is coming from. Master Potter rises out of the rocking chair and carries Beloved to the bed.

  “There’s someone you need to meet. This is you when you were four years old. You’ve blamed and rejected little Forsaken and considered her your bad side in order to deal with the abuse. Your father convinced you that it was your own fault and said that you were a bad little girl.”

  As she looks down at the quivering heap, the sobs of little Forsaken under the blanket tug at Beloved’s heart. “Help me Lord; I don’t know what to do.”

  “You need to reconcile with the little girl inside of you, to forgive her—to forgive yourself.”

  Sitting down on the bed, He gently pulls back the covers and lifts Forsaken on His other knee. He puts Beloved’s hand into hers. Looking at Forsaken, Beloved sees her dirty little smudged face and sad eyes. Compassion wells up in her. She begins to tremble and her breath comes in short uneven gasps. Beloved tries to hold back some deep traumatic emotion but is unable to as hot tears pour down her face.

  “Forsaken, is that really you? You’re so tiny and vulnerable. I didn’t realize how little and helpless you were.”

  Forsaken shrinks back and tries to hide in Master Potter’s robes.

  Beloved is overwhelmed with the painful losses the little child has suffered. Beloved realizes how beautiful she really was and longs to know her.

  “Lord, I don’t understand, why is Forsaken separate from me?”

  “Beloved, many times when someone is traumatized they wall themselves off and disassociate while the trauma is going on. You are really only one person, but that was the only way you knew to survive. It was as though you saw the little child in you, Forsaken, as the bad girl so you didn’t have to feel defiled.”

  “But she’s so damaged. I don’t know if I want to be part of someone who is so damaged.”

  Master Potter replies, “But she is the part of you that you shut down. Through My blood you can forgive yourself and be healed, reconciled and made whole.”

  Beloved looks at little Forsaken and says, “Oh Lord, I do want to be reconciled. She’s been through so much.”

  “Beloved, you need to embrace her.”

  Tenderly Beloved pulls Master Potter’s sleeve away from Forsaken’s face and says, “I’m not going to hurt you. Will you come out?”

  Shyly little Forsaken tells Beloved, “I thought you didn’t want me. I was trapped in that dark secret place where demons tormented me. They said you didn’t love me or want me to live.”

  Beloved softly answers, “I’m so sorry. Will you forgive me? I thought you were bad, but I realize you were a victim like I was.”

  Forsaken hesitantly searches Beloved’s eyes and finally nods. Beloved stretches out her arms invitingly and Forsaken buries her head on Beloved’s chest and a torrent of pent-up emotion is released as tears wash down Forsaken’s cheeks.

  Beloved feels overwhelmed with Forsaken’s pain and continues, “Please forgive me for rejecting you and for even hating you. I blocked out all those years because the pain and shame were too great for me. It wasn’t your fault either.” She gently rocks Forsaken as she continues to embrace the little sobbing girl.

  As Beloved forgives herself, little Forsaken’s voice comes forth. Beloved watches as she transforms from a dirty little waif into a beautiful little girl.

  Master Potter looks tenderly at little Forsaken and Beloved and proclaims, “I break the code of secrecy and silence over your lives and I free both of you to have a voice again, to feel again, to live again, to play and laugh again.”

  Beloved says, “You’re so beautiful and you have such life about you. I think I left all my childhood playfulness behind.”

  Giggling, Forsaken says, “Maybe I can teach you how to play. Bet I can beat you at jacks!”

  “You can not!”

  “Can so.”

  Holy Spirit appears as smoky golden flames, bringing the fire of glorious reconciliation to rest upon Beloved and Forsaken.

  Forsaken leans over and motions Beloved closer as if to tell her a secret and touches her shoulder and says, “Tag you’re it,” as she jumps down off Master Potter’s lap.

  Squealing with delight, Beloved chases Forsaken around the room.

  Roaring with laughter, Master Potter watches them embrace each other and merge into one.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  SPIRIT OF ADOPTION

  Beloved questions Master Potter, “Why has my life been so hard? It could have been so much easier! Why didn’t you give me a normal father and mother? Why has there been so much pain and loss in my life?”

  “Beloved, I chose the exact time and the family into which you were born. All fathers and mothers fail miserably, for you were born into an evil, sinful world. Even so, the kindness of God is well able to deliver you from generational curses and lead you into eternal life. If your life had not been so difficult, if all your needs were met by them—you wouldn’t need Me.

  “Only I can fill that God-given void in your
heart. My Father and I purposefully designed all vessels to find complete satisfaction and joy in only one place: the Father heart of God.”

  LOVED FROM ETERNITY PAST

  Beloved sees herself in the spirit as a pulsating golden light, an unborn destiny, being sent forth by the very breath of God into her family line. Even her generation was chosen and ordained by Master Potter before the foundations of the earth.

  Suddenly she sees herself hidden deep inside her mother’s womb and she feels Master Potter’s hands forming and molding her. At the time of her delivery, she hears her parents arguing, and she cringes back in the birth canal, not wanting to be born. But the voice of Master Potter woos her, “Beloved, I want you to experience life. I have loved you from eternity past, and all the days of your life are written and scheduled in My book.

  “I want your life to be as beautiful as it was in My mind’s eye when I first conceived of you. I have redemptive purposes in the circumstances of your life and the family I place you in, so come forth little one. You are not a mistake—your name, Beloved, is written on the palm of My hand.”

  Beloved gasps with wonder as she watches the spectacle unfold in the vision before her eyes. In just moments she realizes that the truth presented in the vision is changing her from deep within.

  A demonic shroud of generational spirits of rejection and death dissipates as Master Potter’s words penetrate her spirit, freeing her to choose life. Weeping turns to laughter and celebration as the heavy oppression lifts.

  She shouts, “Lord, You wanted me to live and even to be in this family. You have a plan and prophetic purpose for my life. It doesn’t matter if I don’t totally comprehend it all. I just know You love me and want me. That’s all that matters.”