The Ballestero Blog

The Saddest Sight Of All Is The Pacing Of The Caged Lion.

The Lion The King Of The Jungle!

Lions, they are no doubt one of the most magnificent of creatures. Even the Lord referred to Himself as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The lion is an animal so powerfully built, so capable, so beautiful, and awe-inspiring that it was chosen to be a type of the Messiah.

Some even travel on safari trips into the African jungle or veld to view this monarch of all animals in its natural environment. The photos such travelers bring home capture the heart of its viewers.

One of the saddest things to see is this noble creature pacing the floor inside of a steel cage. Back and forth, back and forth it goes looking for a way out. Occasionally it may stop to bite the bars and roar out of frustration.

• It sees others free outside the cage and wants to be free too.
• It wasn’t born to live on concrete.
• It wasn’t created to live in a steel showcase.
• It’s potential and strengths are forever confined.
• Its power will never really be known.
• It’s only a shadow of what could have been.
• It’s a caged lion.
• It’s a pacing caged lion wanting to be free.
• It’s a pacing caged lion looking for a way out.
• It’s a pacing caged lion.

The Caged Lion

No one has to go to the City Zoo to see the pacing of caged lions. They can be seen in many of our homes and most of our churches!

They are beautiful creatures of God with amazing potentials and abilities. Yet they live a life of meager existence. They watch others enjoy freedoms in God that they cannot. They are limited to what lengths they can even go because of their steel bars.

• People come by and look at them.
• Some point and make comments to their friends.
• Some take pictures of what they see.
• The similarities to the caged lion are there for all to see.
• The spirit of unrest.
• The pacing of the caged creature back and forth, back and forth.
• The frustration.
• The caged look.
• The biting at the bars.
• The occasional roars from the soul.

Every one is handicapped to help. Multitudes read the warning signs and keep their distance. They look and then they move on.

What Put The Lion In This Cage? Who Put The Lion In This Cage?

Were they captured in a snare or trap? Were they injured, found and then brought here? Did the lion walk inside willingly and let himself be lock in the cage? Is this cage real or imagined? What happened? No one really knows the whole story. All that is known is that something happened.

• Was it Condemnation?
• Was it a Personal Failure?
• Was it an Addiction?
• Was it an Attitude?
• Was it Rebellion?
• Was it a Rumor?
• Was it an Indiscretion?
• Was it Disobedience?
• Was it Bitterness?
• Was it a Past Injury?

Did Sin Make The Bars Or Were The Bars Man Made?

How Did This Happen?

Every day, everywhere, caged lions are seen. I watch them in churches. The potential for better things is obvious to all who see them. But their actions aren’t much different from the caged king of the jungle.

I watch them pace and hear them roar. They are still caged and confined by the events of the present and the past. They are held captive by things real and things imagined. They barely exist.

I watch them try to worship and they cannot. They try to pray and it sounds empty and hollow, but mostly just quiet. Occasionally they will roar out loud, but their roar does not threaten Hell.

They smile but they are not happy. They raise their hands, but never seem to touch Heaven. They keep their head down in despair while praying. They never feel worthy.

If they are called on to testify. It is a quick, low-voiced attempt that may last only ten seconds or so.

• They watch others worship and shout, but they don’t.
• They watch others sing from the soul, but they are still in a cage.
• They watch others pray with liberty and freedom, but their prayers are caged.
• They see their friends be used of God, while they pace back and forth.
• The bars keep them from doing what they really want to do.
• The bars keep them from being what they really want to be.

If I Could Talk To The Spiritually Caged And Pacing Lion…

I Would Share Four Passages Of Scripture To Give Them Hope.

God NEVER meant for His children to live a cage. He never meant for us to exist just pacing behind bars, a spectacle for all to see. A could-have-been. No matter who made the bars, or how the lion got inside, there is a way out for all.

1. Every One Has A Past. Understand That God Doesn’t Want Your Past To Be Your Future Or Hold You Captive. No Matter What You Have Done Or What You Have Been, There Is Hope.

1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

1Co 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

2. Paul Even Felt Caged By His Past.

(Roman law allowed the dead victim to be tied to the back of the murderer. In it’s decaying state, the worms slowly ate into and killed the killer. Paul felt his past tied to his back, eating away at him. Condemnation is a killer. So he wrote:

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

But Something Happened To Paul Between Chapter Seven And Chapter Eight. When He Broke Free He Wrote Anew…

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

3. Jesus Came Down To Earth To Unlock Your Cage

Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Dear Child Of God!

Do not allow your self, your sin, or your past to keep you in a cage. Believe in God’s Mercy, His Grace, and His Forgiveness. Accept It.

• The Door Is Unlocked And Open.
• The Cage No Longer Can Hold You Unless You Let It.
• Freedom Is God’s Gift To You.

4. The Door Is Open. God Didn’t Save You To Keep You In A Cage.

Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: