PLANTING A SEED

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This is the time of year when seed catalogs arrive. For those that love gardening it is just about as good as receiving that toy catalog before Christmas when we were children. It generates the same excitement and captures our dreams of the future season ahead.

But my meditation today is more abstract than that. It is from the Bible. I Corinthians 3:6,7. In these verses Paul is describing in terms the gardener can understand what sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is like.

“I have planted, Apollos has watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God gives the increase.”

These verses are speaking of soul winning. So often we think when we seek to share the gospel with someone we have to drive home our point that they need to be saved right there and then. This is a valid desire because we know the eternity that waits the lost person is hell. Hell is a place of eternal torment with no reprieves. As one old time writer said,”There are no exit signs in hell.”

But in my experience I have learned that God calls each of His children to different places in the process of winning a soul. What we really want is to some how impress on a person his or her need for Christ when they may not understand. Remember Satan has blinded their minds.

It’s like that barren field. If you went out there and stomped on the ground and expected a harvest –well you get the picture. That would be a futile attempt to grow anything.

So first the soil is tilled and then planted and then watered and then—–

Soul winning is the same. I am a big believer in handing out Bible tracts or leaving them in places to be found. I see this as planting the seed. Then I pray that God will use that tract in the heart of some needy person and that someone will water that seed I have planted. Then in God’s good timing that person will come to know the Lord and escape an eternity in hell.

Yes, sometimes a door opens to do more. The person is receptive. Asks questions and the Holy Spirit gently nudges us into the position of that person watering the seed or even that person that has the opportunity to harvest. That is a true joy to win a soul to Christ.

So don’t be discouraged if you are called simply to plant a seed. Paul, one of the greatest saints of all time, said that he even was often just that one that planted the seed. So we are in good company.

And let me add these verses from I Corinthians for an encouragement—“He that plants and he that watereth are one and every man (woman) will receive his own reward according to his own labor. We are laborers together with God.”

While you thumb through that magazine of magnificent blooms. For a moment stop and see them as people. People who are longing to bloom in God’s garden even though they do not know it yet. Imagine how beautiful they will become and you will have a part in it.

EXPECT AN ANSWER

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Just a thought for today—A quote I found—-

I think this sums it up for so many of us. We believe in God and we believe He has the power to do all things and yet we stumble in our faith. Perhaps this is why.

“IF YOU HAVE NEVER KNOWN THE POWER OF GOD’S LOVE,

THEN MAYBE IT IS BECAUSE YOU NEVER ASKED,

EXPECTING AN ANSWER.”

Fredrick Buechner

God always answers our heartfelt prayers. He either answers with a resounding “Yes!” A difficult for us to accept,”No.”  Or  perhaps the more anxiety prone one “Wait until the timing is right.” But God is always good and has our best in mind for us.

So when you seek to know the power of God’s love(because all answers issue forth from His love for you) don’t hesitate to “ask.” That is the place to start and then EXPECT AN ANSWER.

I know this is true because I have lived it many times. Try Him and Trust Him!

Hearts

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Just a simple quote today to think about. I find this quote powerful and so true–

“What you love you empower–” think about what you love truly love.

What you fear you empower–” We all have fears. What are some of your fears?

What you empower you attract.” This is the scary one because we don’t even realize what we are empowering in us by loving or fearing.

Would you rather empower love or fear in your heart? The choice is yours.

The Bible tells us God is love. Literally He is love. By turning to Him with our fears He can take them and replace them with His love that will give us peace and hope.

OUR TRUE NEED

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I know that not everyone recognizes a need for God in their lives. Lives are busy and we are caught up in attaining our goals and desires in our own strength. My dad made this comment once when he was in his 90s, “When I was young I didn’t see my need for God but I need Him now.”

Also everything that the world has to offer is so enticing. Much of those things we inwardly know are wrong or what the Bible would call sin look so good and are so enjoyable for a short time. Drug addiction is much like this I think. The first times a drug is used are pleasurable. If it wasn’t people would stop there but then they continue because it is “fun” or “cool” and wake up one day with a craving that only the drug can satisfy. They have become a slave to that drug. The Bible warns against this when it says that a person who sins will become a servant of sin.

Many other pleasures allure us and fulfill our lusts for life. The last thing we want is to invite God into our life with all His rules and limitations. But life is strange this way for us in America as everything seems good and fun but it does not fill a mysterious void within us. In fact unknowingly we have been trying to fill that void with pleasures, fun, and success. But the void is there, if you have never invited God into your heart and life, you know it. You feel empty, deserted, and alone at times. When the music stops and the friends go home or even in the middle of a party you still feel alone inside. That is your soul’s longing for God.

God created us and in doing so placed in our hearts a desire to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. The Bible says “No man seeks God.” But He seeks us. He beckons to us to call on Him. He sees us in our darkest hour, our loneliest moment, and beckons us to search for Him.

Unfortunately our sin has separated us from God and He implores us to return to Him confess our sin and accept Him into our lives and hearts. What is sin? You need only look at the 10 commandments. They are God’s laws written to us not to restrict us from having a good time but to protect us from the consequences that good time brings. Like the drug addict I mentioned. Other “good times” result in unwanted pregnancies or STDs. Sexual addictions eat up our very soul and leave us empty. Relationships form with other people that while good in the beginning become toxic and unbearable. Why not turn to God and give up whatever it is before it is too late. He is looking for you. You just have to open your eyes and call on Him. He wants to deliver you from your sin and create in you a clean heart. He wants to give you hope and joy and peace like  you have never experienced before. He will love you like no lover on this earth is able because His love is unconditional and you can never lose it. It will stick to you like glue. You will experience Love that knows no boundaries.

Fill that void with Him and know true enjoyment in life.

“I Could not stop for death–“

“Because I could not stop for death

He kindly stopped for me-

The carriage held but just Ourselves and Immortality.”

Emily Dickinson

On the local news last night they ran a clip of a lady celebrating her 103rd birthday. This is what she said as she pointed her finger at the camera—“Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow will be too late. Today is the day of salvation.”

This on the same day as the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter.  It is a moment of loss and prayers for his loved ones. And it is a time to be reminded of our mortality.  Research into the human brain indicates that when it comes to one’s own mortality something was left out. We just don’t have a conscious realization of the possibility of our own demise. But at times like this we are brought up short for a few minutes to think, ” what if?” What if I die tonight or tomorrow? Where will I spend eternity? Am I ready to meet God? Even for the unbeliever in God there has to be some moment of panic realizing that this life is not promised to last for ever. We had a pastor years ago who used to say, “No one gets out of this world alive.”

Death stalks us all from the cradle to the grave. It doesn’t recognize our age, our potential, or our place of fame. It arrives for all people. Sometimes when we are at our busiest and have no time for it’s unwanted intrusion.

I don’t know anything about Kobe Bryant’s faith. I hope he and his daughter are enjoying heaven right now. The question is for you the reader. Do you know what your eternal destiny is? If you died today are you secure in the knowledge that you will open  your eyes in heaven or are you afraid that you will open your eyes in hell?

Yes, I know no one wants to talk about or think about hell. There are all kinds of thinking that it doesn’t it exist, cannot exist. But Jesus spoke of it often and warned people of its real existence. He warned people to confess their sins and get right before God otherwise they would be eternally lost in a place of fire,  torment, and loneliness.

You may be thinking that you are secure in your plans for eternity because you are a member of a certain church and keep their teachings. But the Bible teaches that it is more than that. It tells us that all have sinned and a just and righteous God cannot let us into eternity in heaven covered with the stain of our sins upon our soul. Romans 6:23 reads,”For the wages of sin is death(eternity in hell). We are hopelessly lost with no ability of our own to obtain righteous before a holy God.

However God made us and loves us and is patient and kind and merciful and does not want anyone to go to hell. He wants us to spend eternity in a beautiful, peaceful, and exciting place.

So He made a plan for His Son Jesus to atone for our sins. He became the sacrifice of sin for us because He was sinless. He died on the cross and shed His blood for you and I so that if we believe in Him we can be saved from death and hell.

There is so much more to it that I could share with  your today but I think for now I will leave it here. Some of you reading this know all about salvation and some of you may have a multitude of questions.

But as that elderly woman said,”Today is the day of salvation.” Don’t put it off. Seek it. Pray over it and God will lead you to the truth. Jesus said,”I am the way, the truth and the life no man comes unto the Father (in heaven) but through me.” (an edited translation)

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved from your sin and from the certainty of hell. Invite Him into your heart and life with all sincerity. So if death kindly stops for you today or tomorrow you will be ready to enter an eternity of peace and love.

If you have questions or want to continue this dialogue please message me through this site and I will be glad to help you understand the plan of salvation. I don’t want you to miss this opportunity to save your soul from death in hell. The main thing to remember is that, while life on this earth has a beginning and ending, your time in eternity, the next life, will be forever.