Your Tongue, Your Ladle

Have you figured out what this picture is?  It is that of a dog’s tongue lapping water. In order to drink water, dogs (as do many other animals):
   --Curl their tongues backward
   --Extend (slam) it into the water
   --Pull a column of water upward
   --Then bite the column of water

Their tongues serve as a ladle in a sloppy, yet very effective manner, extended from one medium (air) into another (water) in order to satisfy their need (thirst).  The fact that all dogs and so many other animals satisfy their thirst in this manner suggests it is not evolution, but by Divine design.

We have made life on planet earth all about the stress of meeting our needs.  In His great wisdom, God has surrounded us with many examples, lessons, and models of how He intends for us to meet our needs.  The simple act of a dog lapping water could be one such example, if we will receive it. 

Still not with me yet?  Ok, here’s the significance and lesson as I understand it, in bullet form for easy comprehension, retention, and hopefully, application.

1. God, by/through Jesus, created all things by His spoken Word and corresponding actions. (Genesis 1; Hebrews 1:2)
2. In speaking, He ‘called things that did not exist, as if they did exist, and by His faith-filled corresponding actions, they (be)came into existence.  (Romans 4:17)
3. He not only created mankind in His own ‘image’, i.e., as a spirit being capable of the highest levels of reasoning, imagination, and speech, but He also cautioned us of the exceptionally strong linkage between our tongue and spirit (Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 12:34), and He informed us that words are spirit. (John 6:63)
4. He has met all our needs (physical, soulish and spiritual) in and on the earth.  (There is no need to leave planet earth to meet our needs, and stain another planet with our bloodthirsty lifestyles!)
5. He intended our needs to be met in the same manner in which He created all things, namely, speaking faith-filled words and doing corresponding actions.  (Hebrews 11:1, Joshua 1:8)  Sin changed this.  Rather, we started speaking fear/doubt-filled words and acting on them, thus producing  evil things, both desired and undesired. 
6. He sent His Word, in various forms (spoken by prophets, as Jesus incarnate, and written as The Bible), for us to study, learn, speak and act on the promises therein to get us off this treadmill, and back onto His plan for meeting our needs.
7. As we speak and act on His promises for meeting our needs, our tongues ‘curl back’, (as if ‘going against the grain’ or norm of only speaking our existing circumstances), dip deeply into our well-resourced spirit (just like the spiritual ladle it is), and dare to speak words to ‘call things that are not yet, as though they are!’

Got it?  Here is the connection back to the dog lapping water:
   Dog curls its tongue backward 
      ~~> We go against the grain of the world, speaking God’s promises

   Dog slams its tongue into the water 
      ~~> We slam faith words into the world of spirit manipulated by evil forces

   Dog pulls a column of water upward 
      ~~> We catalyze the flow of spiritual resources to meet our needs

   Dog bites the column of water 
      ~~> We take actions corresponding to seize this flow    

Bottom line: Your tongue is your personal ladle into God’s unlimited supply.  Learn well to use it to dip continuously and deeply into your spirit to draw out unending streams/columns of His abundance. 

Happy dipping~