The Sower, The Seed and The Heart

The hard heart, the shallow heart, the crowded heart - each prevents the seed from burrowing down into a place in the heart where it is protected and it can thrive.  

Psalm 1:1-6 

¹  Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

²  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

³  He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

⁴  The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

⁵  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶  For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

My part is to be sure there's nothing blocking and that I allow the words of God's truths to sink deep by meditating on them and by walking in them.  I think that meditation and application make pathways for the seed to go deeper and bear more fruit. Otherwise,  I will walk away personally unaffected and unfruitful for His kingdom.

When we plant by the rivers of water, we will bear fruit, we won't whither and we will prosper.  What a powerful seed It is!

Knowing Your Election

The believers of Thessalonica:

Had a faith that works, a labor that loved, a hope that was patient

They became followers→examples→witnesses

They turned to God, served Him, waited for Him

These actions assured Paul and the believers that they were truly saved.  In what way did this first chapter of Thessalonians minister to you or challenge you?

Trust in Jesus' Name

And in His name Gentles will trust....   Matthew 12:21

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother  Matthew 12:30

And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."  John 6:40

1 Thessalonians Intro

"May we live as if Christ died yesterday, arose this morning, and is returning tomorrow".

Living as if Christ died yesterday should cause us to be ever aware of Jesus' love for us that He would give everything to pay for that which we could not pay. Gratitude

Living as if Christ arose this morning should cause us to know His mercies are new every morning and that all the rough stuff is settled and taken care of.  Rejoicing

Living as if Christ is coming tomorrow should cause our perspective of the things of today to be as it should be -

light touch on the earthly, great reaching forth toward the heavenly.  Hope

Gratitude, Rejoicing, and Hope  

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. Psalm 16:9

This verse begins with the term of conclusion "therefore".  Check out the psalm and join David in his rejoicing and hope.

Come To Jesus

The need for soul rest is so different than the need for physical rest.  Sadly, we tend to ignore both.  But, when the body becomes so depleted that it cries out in sickness or weakness, we begin to take heed and seek restoration.   But, the soul.  do you ignore the cries of your soul?  Some of its cries are physical.  As David cried out in Psalm 32: his vitality was turned into the draught of summer.  Jesus understands our spiritual thirst.

John 7:37  If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

From the Sunday morning message Matthew 11:28, 29 Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest in your souls.

Our objection?  Yokes make me think of work and I'm tired! I need to rest!  Yet, Jesus tells us rest is found in taking His yoke upon us – putting on something that really only works when we are moving.

But, I was thinking…. our souls are continually moving – moving towards Jesus or away from him.  We really don't "sit still" spiritually.

Pastor Dale shared with us that this yoke that Jesus desires us to put on (notice He doesn't put it on us) is well fitting, and designed specifically for each one of us.  It's designed to guide us as we move, to keep us from the ditches of life.  Because the ditches of life are exhausting, aren't they?  And --- His yoke for you has been designed by the One who knows every ditch that is ahead  of us.

Jesus says to us – Put this on.  It will make life a whole lot easier.  Come to Me.  Learn (literally, by use and practice) from Me.  The result will be rest (recover your strength, refreshment).    Ahhh, doesn't that sound like a very good thing?  It only comes by coming to Him.

Winning Over Worry

Here's a few thoughts I didn't get to share yesterday.  They are miscellaneous bits of information – which all can be summarized by David's statement in  Psalm 37:8   …    Do not fret--it only causes harm.

   

In the New Testament one Greek word translated as "worry" is merimnao, which means "to be anxious, to be distracted" or "to have a divided mind" (merizo, "to divide"—nous, "the mind").

—To worry is to divide your mind between that which is useful and worthwhile and that which is damaging and destructive.

—To worry is to block the flow of creative energy in your life.

               

The concept of worrying is conveyed throughout Scripture by numerous words and phrases.

•             —to be fretful

•             —to be anxious

•             —to be concerned

•             —to be weighed with cares

•             —to be heavy-hearted

•             —to be without peace

•             —to be distracted

•             —to be troubled

•             —to be distressed

•             —to be despairing

Disbelief

Worry reveals that you really don't believe God when He says He will provide all that you need.

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

Worry reveals that you are taking on personal responsibility and concern for that which God has already promised to provide.

Worry shifts the focus of attention from the all sufficient power of Christ to your human insufficiency and insecurity. Ultimately, worry can undermine your Christian witness by presenting God as impotent and unworthy of praise.

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

 What Is the Focus of Worry?

A specific characteristic of worry is a negative focus on the future. If you are a worrier, you are spending time speculating on what may or may not happen and then fearing the worst.

Destructive Worry	Constructive Concern
• paralyzes	• motivates
• decreases creativity	• increases creativity
• prevents initiative	• promotes initiative
• results in anxious fretting	• results in calm focusing
• attempts to control the future	• attempts to improve the future
• fears the worst	• hopes for the best
• appears negative to others	• appears positive to others
• distracts the mind from what is important	• directs the mind to what is important

What you worry about is not nearly as important as why you worry. You may know and love God, but when you trust in anything other than God's promises and provision for your life, then worry will turn your heart away from the Lord and turn your trust into distrust.

May the trials of our lives continue to cause our minds to run – to run to Jesus, rather than run from Him.

    Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

Finding Life

Matthew 10:34-40

What is life?   How do we define life?  How do we view a meaningful life?.  From our perspective, it hinges on what we view a meaningful life to be.  God views a meaningful life as one who chooses to follow Jesus. The disparity between the two viewpoints will determine much.  

I often find myself guilty of the same temptation expressed by Amy Carmichael and quoted by Elisabeth Elliot in A Chance to Die- praying that a particular trial in a person's life will just go away.  Amy found that the better advice was to encourage someone to see in their circumstances an opportunity to die.  

We have learned to consider death to be something that is painful and harmful.  Painful - yes, almost every time.  But, harmful - not necessarily.  The death of a virus is a good thing, many would view the death of venomous insects or reptiles as a good thing.  Google "How to kill mold" and you will discover the term and question welcome by just about everyone.  I found no websites proposing ways to help mold survive.

So, why do we try so hard to preserve and feed our flesh?  I would propose that it is because we have the wrong viewpoint of the flesh.  We see our flesh as being for us, as being profitable to us, as being a means to meaning, or maybe just satisfaction, or fulfillment.  Maybe, if we were honest, we would have to admit that we really do understand that our flesh is nothing but a means to temporal pleasure.

In some ways our flesh is good. But never when it dominates.  When we try to preserve our flesh rather than die to it, we are so often aiding and abetting our very own enemy.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 

    

1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 

In John 6:63, Jesus was talking about the things of the kingdom.  In the spiritual realm, the flesh profits nothing.  In the realm of this earthly life, 1 Timothy tells us that it does profit a little.

Matthew 10:39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

I like the order of this verse.  When we find our life in Jesus, it is so much easier to die to that which pulls us away from Him.

Before we can offer Amy Carmichael's encouragement to others, we need to consistently apply it to our own lives.  Then and only then is my advice something I can say is tried and true.  That's the wonderful thing about choosing to follow Jesus rather than the dictates of our flesh.  He never fails.