Saturday, October 23, 2010

AM I a Farmer?

A farmer harvests his fruit. He sells some, gives some, and safely stores the rest. What is stored is winters meal ,and springs seeds to be planted and grown again.

Am I a farmer? Do I plant the seeds I myself grow? Are goodness, kindness, patience, self-control, faithfulness, gentleness, peace, and joy all the crops I am responsible to grow? Each one starts as a seed and grows. But the question is, "Am I the farmer or just the soil in which the seeds are sowed?"

Does soil reap what it sows? No! It simply is what it is, fertile or not it remains motionless, unless stirred or tilled by the farmer.

A farmer is entrusted with seeds. In order for the seeds to grow he plants them where the sun will shine on them. He waters them, and weeds around the plants to help them grow. He cares for them by banking dirt around them during rain storms and by blanketing them when the weather turns cold. The farmer plants, grows, and eats the fruit, born of his own sweat; sprung forth by the working of his own hands.

I see two points of view and one is a deceptive folly.

One view says God is the farmer and we are the soil. God plants the seeds and makes us useful for the time we are used to help the plants grow strong. When we become infertile God tills us up and fertilizes us with hard times, giving us more character to grow better crops of his choosing. Our lives, like the seasons, go round in circles. We are as useful as soil or as useless as dirt, depending on whether we choose to let God farm us into something of worth or not.

View number two says we are the farmers. God provides us with the seeds, which are pieces of himself to bloom and grow in our inner field or being. These seeds need help to grow by the farmers determination, the working of his hands and heart. God is the light and the rain that influences the growth of our fruit. In times of drought and struggle God is the air we breath and we are sustained with the promise of spring and a new satchel of seeds, organic as they can be, straight from the purest source.  As the farmer, we reap what we sow. The fruit of faithfulness draws those who are faithful, the fruit of peace brings tranquility, the fruit of gentleness, goodness, patience, kindness, self-control,  helps us love others as God has loved us, also giving us meaningful relationships, and time well spent.
Galation 5:22   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
 Each fruit of the spirit lives and grows in us and through us. It benefits us, giving us worth, joy, and a life of abundance. Our fruit is eaten by those who are hungry and the seeds from our fruit eaten, get planted deep in a belly. A seed from a watermelon swallowed, really doesn't grow and grow into a watermelon inside us. But I assure you the seeds  of kindness, gentleness...etc. swallowed, will grow up another farmer, God will guide, sustain, lead, love, and cherish as his own.

You might be thinking both point of view sound right and perhaps even scriptural. You might even be thinking up some sing song scriptures that seem to confirm the first point, more than the second. Such as " From dust to dust, ashes to ashes" " the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground." There is more than one problem with this view.  If we were created to be his puppets on strings or soil to be turned, used and turned again, why give us free choice. Why give us a choice to love him or not, to serve him or not, to be lead by him or not, to believe in him or not? Why did he die for those whose worth is nothing but dust blowing here and there? Why bother trying to have a relationship with that spec of sand grating in his eye, causing tears of pain?

I will tell you why! Out of all of creation we were the only ones made as well as created. To create means to make something out of nothing. From the birds to the stars, he spoke life into existence. But us, he made as well. To make you have to have something to work with. You make something out of something!
Genesis 2:7    The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 1:26-27   Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,  and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them."
From the work of his hands he molded us, formed us, shaped us into His image and breathed his own breath of life into our lungs. We are not just soil to be trampled on . We are his sons and daughters. We are the very craftsmanship of his hands. However big and mighty they are, his hands were gentle enough, patient enough, to knit our souls, our bodies together. Who is God to the farmer? God is our Father!

He knew we were hard pressed and dying from the drought sin brought into the world. He sent his son a piece of himself, to be our brother, our best friend, our teacher, our farmers almanac! He died for us in order for us to be able to communicate with our Big Daddy again, in order for us to be washed clean and have life and have it in abundance. As farmers, with Jesus at our side; our well of living water, just imagine the crops that we can grow! Just imagine the difference we can make with our lives, and our fruit. Our Job: learn, grow, learn to love others well, more deeply and truly.
Luke 10:27 ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

1Corinthians 13:1-8
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud  or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

Choose to cultivate your patience, choose to water gentleness, weed your self-control and let the son shine more on your peace and joy. Yes! I am a farmer! Yes! You and I, We are Farmers!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

No Condemnation!

Romans 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Hebrews 10: 1-5,7-10 Christs Sacrifice Once and For All
"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me...Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—  I have come to do your will, O God." First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


Does this mean I can do what I please and not be condemned? 
  

If we know God as in as our dearly beloved friend, Father, our everything we need in life...is this even a question worth asking? Would we purposefully throw a sacrifice like Jesus's death on the cross, back in his face, by continuing on our same route of being a slave to sin and continue to choose living out of his presence, unloved, miserable, hopeless, chained rather than free. We are loved by a God, our God! Why do would we choose then to be runaways and abandon him who desires to never leave nor forsake us? Lets read some more scripture. 


 Isaiah 5:11-13
 "What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing. So my people will go into exile far away because they do not know me. Those who are great and honored will starve, and the common people will die of thirst.

Romans 6:1-4  Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ 

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

It seems forgiveness is not once and for all, because I continue to sin though I long to stop. How can this be if it says there is no condemnation?

Read these scriptures to help you understand you are not alone in your struggle. Read and understand Forgiveness more clearly. 

 Matthew 19: 16 'Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"'
Jesus said Matthew 19:17 "There is only One who is good." He was speaking of himself.

Romans 7:14-16 "So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.  I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate."


Galations 5:16-17 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

1 John 1:9 "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." 

We admit and move on. We do not hang our head in shame and try and hide from our mistakes. We learn from them. We practice transparency to help others learn from our mistakes, so that they may not have to make the same ones. We hold our head up and know we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. We know this by confession of our sin's to Him our God and it can be confirmed by confessing our sins to others when he asks it of us.

Psalm 103: 9-12 He will not always accuse,  nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Deep-press-on

The weight is heavy, time with God forsaken, replaced with sleep that never quenches the exhaustion. The weight of the world? The weight left displaced and dealt with turns distraught and last to deep sadness.This damm, (forgive me) Fibromyalsia! I could blame the small house I can't even manage to keep up, or the homeschooling books we gotta keep on reading and learning and leave no time for mental relaxation. I could blame the Taekwondo instructor I just signed a two year contract with, Whom seems to think I am making a pansy out of my son by teaching him at home. He hasn't a clue how hard it is to teach his own children and witness their struggles first hand. I could keep blaming for hours and tears might fall. Maybe. That is the only reason for entertaining such thoughts... isn't it? To let the Dam of stress being built up on the shoulders to finally break and flood away from us,  and maybe, just maybe stay off you for a few days or so.

I turned off my alarm again this morning. 5:30am, My hour and a half date with my Jesus was again slept away! Why is it when we need him most we stand him up and don't return his calls? Or is it just me? Is it the why's stacking up and the defeats of yesterday out weighing the victories that shrink my God, making his worth, less in my eyes and life?

I sat on the couch this morning. I would have knelt in awed thanksgiving, I should have knelt and let down my sorrow and let him hold me and lift my chin and tell me he's got it all and not to stress anymore. But I did not. I sat on the couch, Apologizing an empty apology, " Sorry I did not wake up again.." Chin to my chest in shame, I forget there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.  What is it that the Lords says.... "I desire mercy not sacrifice." The Lord did not come to steal, kill and destroy but rather to give life, and for us to live it in his abundance. The abundance of peace, grace, joy? Where is it I pleaded?

Awe but following after my beloved Christ was never promised to be easy. It is like a job well done, takes time and work and blisters, but the finished product brings bubbles of unpop-able joy floating up in side us. All of Jesus's disciples, may I say dearly beloved friends, were persecuted to death. I desire to be one of these disciples. I love him and want to love him more. My life does not belong to myself, it is his. I asked him, sitting there "Is this the persecution I get for following you? I thought it would come in the form of people not bad health I can't seem to conquer.  The question: Would it be any easier if it came from people?  I know He is right. I am trying to break my people pleasing tendency. But then why would it matter what a Taekwondo instructor thinks of me? I know I am doing the will of God and that is Victory enough! God did not say yes to my question mind you. Just asked another question:) So like him:) 

But he did not stop there. No! "A man can only ever be as big as his God." That did not come from my mind. Truth? A man can only ever be as big as his God? "mmm... God I am not reaching for a God title, I know I can never be..."He stopped me in my train of thoughts. "How big am I to you?"

The truth hurts. Can I still do all things because of him who is inside of me?  Why had I allowed my God to shrink in the reality of my mind again. Truth: My God is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow! Truth : My God is the Alpha the Omega! Truth: My God is Victorious over all things, over all circumstances, over all death, over all pain and suffering. My God has already won the battle he is just waiting for his troops to join his side of the fight so he can take us all back home away from the battle field once and for all. So since I am claimed his, can't I just give up, stop fighting? No! I fight all the more and try and reach the wounded in time and bring them to their healer. My life is not about me anymore. My life is WON! I am victorious in Him! I am loved, sang over, cherished... My everyday trials I can still give to him because this is how big he is. Listen! Hear!
 Ephesians 4:10
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

Hebrews 1: 1-3 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

 The universe itself is immeasurable. We know our small galaxy is smaller than an ant size portion of it.  How big is God to me? Not big enough. Not as big as he really, truly is! He is so great and so wide and so deep. He is enough, oh so very enough. He has given me my family, my husband and children, my friends ...so many loved ones. I am so very well cared for! I thank him for my reality check this morning. You see, one can only be as big as their God. Hope is in the Lord. Some people have self delusion gods that drive them to being successful millionaires. My God is not limited to my mind and who I make him out to be. My God is the creator of the universe. The God who made you and who made me! The God whose heart holds enough love to hold every single one of us, as a father holds his first born in his hands, tight, warm, swearing he will never let go.

There is Victory to be had in everyday! I fail and so do you. But we are not failures! We are His dearly beloved and we can rest assured his blood is enough to cover all inequities, ours and those we know. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus! His Love covers over all sin, plight, pain, stress. He overcame the world and through him we are promised..so can we!

Lord take my stress that loads me down and pounds me deeper down, pressing on me, ever pressing. Lord Take my pain and help me find joy each day knowing you are here with me, helping me through every difficult time or struggle, every head ache. I kneel in awe and splendor, I lay my head in your lap and let you caress my hair from my face and dry my tears. Whether they make it our my eyes or not, you reach into my inner most being and mop up the mess with in me. Thank You Beloved Father. Thank You! Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for never leaving me nor forsaking me as I have so many times forsaken you. Forgive me for entertaining thoughts of slanderous, selfish, lies about who I am and what you have for me! I praise you! I worship your Your name and claim power and victory in it!

Amen