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 The Room
By Randy G. Foncree
Theme:
Jill Christian’s ability vs. God’s ability in her.
Characters:
Jill Christian (on stage at all times)
The Voice (off stage at all times)
Scene:
Jill Christian is standing in the middle of a room. There is a door at the other end of the room that she’s making every effort to reach. There’s only one problem, Jill can’t move. If she tries to move her arms or take a step, it’s as though some unseen force is restraining her.
Script:
Jill: (Pushing her arms outward, but being restrained) "I…I can’t hardly move, the pressure!"
Voice: But there’s nothing around you.
Jill: (Strained) It’s holding me back … what is it?
Voice: That’s what you have to figure out.
Jill: (Tries to take step, but is pushed back in place) I can’t go anywhere.
Voice: I thought everything was fine.
Jill: I feel fine, but the frustration of not being able to move…go anywhere, THE PRESSURE! I can’t move!
Voice: Can’t, or won’t! What about fighting … you know, spiritual warfare?
Jill: (Bewildered, but still straining to move) I can’t, I think. Actually, I have no fight left in me.
Voice: (With sad tone) Well then, I guess you’re stuck.
Jill: (With a hint of sarcastic frustration) That’s not what I needed to hear.
Voice: According to your own admission, you can’t move… you’re stuck.
Jill: (With a little resignation) Maybe I should just stand here and rot.
Voice: That’s an idea, easier just to give up, hmmm? Don’t YOU need to be doing something more to get yourself out of that predicament?
Jill: Yeah, but I have little strength left…no fight, if you will.
Voice: (With a little more tenderness) Have you considered praying? One caution though; don’t make your praying a matter of "duty" as you have everything else. Otherwise the pressure in your nothingness will become even tighter.
Jill: (A little brokenness in her voice) I know, I feel it tightening already.
(Jill strains to move her arms but has difficulty.) All right, I have no choice but to stand here, so I’ll pray. Here I am Lord, confined in this room of pressured nothingness…hopeless to get myself out. I can’t move (her voice begins to quiver and tears well up in her eyes).
Voice: (Soothingly) Calm and still.
Jill: (Inquisitively) What do you mea…
Voice: (Interrupts in almost a whisper) Ssshhh, STILL!
Jill: (Still praying) Ok, I’ll do as you say.
Voice: (Very deliberately) Take a step.
Jill: (With uncertainty) BUT…
(Interrupted by the voice)
Voice: (Stern, yet with compassion) TAKE A STEP.
Jill (Jill begins to step out, but is halted) Au, au, au, just a small step.
(With uncertainty and trepidation, Jill takes a small step without much effort.)
Jill: (With sincerity and brokenness; voice quivering) Lord, my trust is in you.
(An object flies by her head. She ducks as it barely misses her.) Lord, what was that?
Voice: (With patience and understanding) Just an obstacle. You did well ducking out of the way. TAKE ANOTHER STEP! Just trust me.
Jill: Al…Alright! (With a little more confidence, she takes another step). I praise yo…
Voice: (interrupts her in mid-sentence) Ssshhh, take even another step. Only take the steps that I direct.
Jill: (With a strained look) Ok Lord, but what else do I do?
Voice: (Firm, yet gentle) Nothing Jill, only listen and follow my directions.
Jill: (Almost interrupts) Ok, I "need" to take another…
Voice: (Interrupts firmly) Only when I say.
Jill: (Feeling the pressure again and worrying) The lost, the poor, the hungry.
Voice: (Not changing emotion) They’ll be there until I come again. Right now, you need to just do as I say.
Jill: (With sincere despair) I feel so alone.
Voice: Jill, you must learn that your worth is not defined by what, or how much you do for me, but in who you are in me.
Jill: (Comforted) Thank you Lord. I praise you!
Voice: (With pleasure) Now THAT was sincere.
Jill: I didn’t feel the usual desperation. I felt strangely confident.
Voice: I know, spiritual growth is easier when you trust. Don’t do, just be.
Jill: Kind of like, "If any man BE in Christ, he is a new creature", not "if any man "do" in Christ?"
Voice: Exactly, keep learning. Step! (Jill takes a step effortlessly) Step, step, step.
(Every time the voice says, "step", Jill steps. This happens until Jill is standing in front of the door at the other end of the room.)
Jill: (With amazement and anticipation) What’s beyond that door?
Voice: (In a somewhat flat voice) Your destiny Jill.
Jill: (A little uncertainly) Mm, my destiny? What do you mean, "my destiny"?
Voice: (Like a teacher) Beyond that door, you’ll be able to see some things more clearly than you do now.
Jill: Really!
Voice: Beyond that door is a new level in me. If you begin to trust in your own efforts over there, the pressure you feel here will return. (The voice becomes more serious) If you get into self effort over there, the cost will be much higher.
Jill: (With a little fear and trepidation) Sort of like, to whom much is given, much will be required of him?
Voice: Exactly. Over here was a training ground, a time of proving, and a time where a certain amount of immaturity was tolerated. Understand it was never acceptable, but my mercy is great. My mercy will be great beyond that door, but if you fall, there is a greater distance between where you are and the ground. Through that door is a higher level in me. Just as you’ve learned here, you need to allow me to direct your every step.
Jill: What was that pressure I began to feel several months after my salvation that caused me to end up here?
Voice: (With emotion) The pressure you were feeling, and why you got to where you were going nowhere, is nothing more than self-effort. You trusted in me at first as a new-born baby is completely dependant on its mother. But when you began to grow, you started stepping out on your own without my direction. You stopped consulting me in your ministry plans, so I was not able to put my stamp of approval on your efforts, because I needed you to go in a different direction than you were going.
Jill: (With penitent, almost quivering, tone) Oh Lord, I’m so sorry. I don’t ever want to get that far out of your will again. Please forgive me!
Voice: (With compassion and love) You’re forgiven child. Many of my people never get beyond where you are right now. They get called into the ministry, they feel the unction to tell others about me, and then they just go, not considering the cost at all to what they’re doing. They leave the church I plant them in, they start ministries that I didn’t tell them to start. When I call a person into the ministry, what they need to do is be still and learn of me first. I will begin to open doors for them at the right time. What happens is they get so far away from me that they began to feel the bondage of self-effort, and they get to the point where they’re tired and wore out. They can’t move to the left, or to the right, as you’ve experienced. I have lifted my grace and favor away from them for a season as a wake-up call. Many heed the warning, but many do not.
Jill: Am I ready to go through this door?
Voice: I’m glad you asked. But remember, my child as you enter your destiny: Kingdom principles are always opposite from those of the world. To go up, requires you to go down. I’m always moving, but you must learn to only move when I tell you to move. Remember as you go through that door, don’t do, just be. I have a work for you, so remember, you don’t work for me, I work through you.
Jill: (Raises both hands in praise, then opens the door and goes through) Thank you Lord for showing me Your true way.
© 2004 by "Psallo Praise Ministries", all rights reserved
Randy Foncree gives God all the glory for everything He does and has done in his life. Randy believes the things he writes are from God, and are given first of all to glorify and uplift His name and His Son, and secondly, to uplift, admonish, encourage and build up the body of Christ. You can write to Randy care of the Letters page of this magazine.
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