This is the scripture the Lord brought to me as I was praying during one of our services. I was asking Him to bring His body together. The above scripture was His answer, then He told me the funniest thing. He said that most believers don’t know how to "be gathered" and find refuge under His wing because they were not hatched naturally, they were incubated. I just love when He shows us His Kingdom through His creation.

The church in America goes to great lengths to create the right conditions. The proper amount of light, temperature, "ambiance" . We have 10 step programs, 5 step programs, the 4 spiritual laws and so on. But these are all conditions of "incubation". Salvation is not a lasting, life changing experience until God’s Spirit bears witness with man’s spirit. Let me share with you a few things about incubated chicks and naturally hatched chicks. First incubators and how they work. These are the main characteristics of an incubator, controlled heat, controlled light, controlled humidity, can hatch any size egg and they can be mixed. Thousands can be hatched in an incubator all at once. Quite often it is a styrofoam surrounding. It is all controlled by man, or robotics. When the chicks hatch they only see their peers so they don’t recognize a parent. They grow in false light with prepared food, they are often crowded and so that they don’t develop disease they are medicated from the beginning. Sometimes they get a little cannibalistic so their beaks are partially cut off. They usually have their climate controlled so they get no fresh air or naturally running water. They have no predators. Since there is no parent they have no need of a unique sound, they all sound alike. They will not know how to naturally hatch their own chicks later. Since they are mostly hybrids they most often all look alike. Sounds dangerously close to most Christian’s salvation experience, controlled. "Just say this prayer after me and everything will be OK", we hear Sunday after Sunday. And we want it fast so we can get out to the local restaurant before everyone else gets there.

But now, the naturally hatched chick is a different thing. The momma hen decides when the timing is right to set. She will pick an nice private area and scratch out a safe place, lined with a few feathers or leaves. She gathers her eggs and completely covers them with her body. Her body is exactly the right temperature, the right humidity. She will protect her eggs unto death. She may have 2 eggs or 20 but there are usually closer to 10 at a time. She clucks softly to her eggs teaching them the sound of her voice, that will be important later. She will often sit on them for 23 1/2 hours of each day. She sometimes will not get up for days if she feels they might be threatened. She will do without food and water for amazing amounts of time. Finally the time comes, they begin to hatch, funny thing too cause some were laid on one day and some on another yet they all seem to hatch about the same time. When the time is right. It may be fast it may be slow. But as they hatch they begin to peek out. She will take them out and scratch around for some food, when she finds it she will call to them, they know her voice. When a predator comes or a storm or even the dark of night she will call to them and they will come running to her. She will completely cover them with her wings and her body, keeping them safe and warm and dry. And when the day comes they will know how to do exactly what she has done and hatch out more. But even though she is a good momma, if you surround her with a bunch of incubated chicks they won’t respond. They won’t come to her call, they don’t know it represents safety. They don’t even know she is a chicken, they only recognize their same hatchlings!

Most Christians today don’t last past the first storm because they don’t know how to take refuge under the Lord’s wings. Further more most of them don’t even know storms will come. They don’t know how to feed themselves from the Word. They don’t know where to go when it gets dark. They don’t know they have a predator. They don’t know how to recognize the voice of the Lord. They also don’t know how to reproduce. They have been incubated and they are alive, they are hatched, but without some help they will end up in the dumpling pan. So how do they get help?

"1 I lift up my eyes to the hills
where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalms 121

The hill represents worship. Over the last few years we have started seeing the most amazing thing. During worship many times just as the presence of the Lord comes in we will see people who sometimes aren’t even paying attention begin to change. First they will get a little fidgety, kinda squirming. Then the tears start. Then the surrender. You can see it happening. As if a wing has been spread over them and drawn them in. Then the joy and refreshing. They leave changed and the next time you see them there is a renewed strength. Then they begin to share things that affect the people around them and they start to change to. This is God’s Spirit bearing witness with man’s spirit. Then they recognize His voice. They may have already been saved but it is like the Lord is doing it all over again and doing it His way. Then when the storms come they know where to run. We can have a part in this. Worship till His Spirit comes and watch what He does!