A Planting

Quote: “You don’t get what you wish for; you get what you work for.”

I read this quote this weekend, and was very taken back by the way it made me feel. It made me think about a Parable that I love, the Parable of the Four Soils.  

Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23

³ Then he (Jesus) told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. ²² The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

I feel like I could end right here (but I won’t…grin). I think the most important question here is, “which one of the four soils reflects you?” I’ve mentioned before that sometimes I think we just make this all too hard. Maybe it is not that it’s too hard, maybe we just don’t know how to go about it. I think that after we have made the decision to repent from our sins, allow Christ to be Lord and Savior over our life (meaning to be saved) and getting baptized, we should ask ourselves this question. Is our life producing the Fruit of the Spirit?

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession— to the praise of his glory.

What this means is this, when we are saved our body becomes a temple for the Holy Spirit. That is why it is so important to make good choices and to not live in sin. We aren’t just a shell, but a holy temple to God. We also are to live our lives continually producing the Fruit of the Spirit which is:

Galatians 5:22-25

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
The question I ask myself often is, “Can I look at the last year, month, week or even day and vibrantly see these things?” And “Do others see the Fruit in me?” I can say yes to several and then I get to peace, patience, joy and the big one for me…self-control…those are hard. In our jobs, our families, our serving…anything that we do, we should do it with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If we aren’t producing these things, we should “reflect” and re-evaluate. We could spend all the money in the world on books about freedom and happiness and fail to see that it is all given to us right here. Hebrews 4:12 says, For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

You may think I’m crazy but I challenge you to grab something and list out each of these (example: love, joy etc.). Carry it with you and throughout your day tally up the times where you see the fruit being produced. It’s pretty powerful and really honest.

What this all boils down to for me is this. We cannot out give God and we cannot out sin from His grace. We can however claim our place in His Kingdom (by becoming a Christian) and live completely stiff and stale. This isn’t just a suggestion from God or a “How to” section of His word. It is the will of God for us to live by this. Ephesians 5:15-17 says, ¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live— not as unwise but as wise,¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

For the sake of making this post too long I ask you to please take the time and read Ephesians (at least chapters 4 & 5, if not the whole thing) so much incredible information in there.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Listen, we are equipped. No matter your situation, your hurts or your life we can do this. My heart hurts daily over this hard and unforgiving life. We are so hurt and confused sometimes that to even think about facing tomorrow can be more than what we can deal with in a day. Our God is HUGE. And He loves BIG. Lay it all out for Him and be willing to produce this beautiful thing He has given us, not just for His benefit but for ours. I know I have put this last scripture on here before but it is one that is so powerful to me, it makes me realize how powerful and glorious He really is.

Psalm 97

¹ The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.

²Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

³ Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side.

⁴ His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.

⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

Oaks of righteousness

If you live anywhere around Magnolia you are most likely aware of the tragedy that took place last Friday. Two 19 year old girls lost their lives in a tragic car accident, Anne Donlon and Katie Walker. The Donlon’s are part of our church family so as you can imagine we have surrounded them with love and serving to the fullest extent that we know. I promise you it was nothing compared to the love God poured over them. I know her parents Andy and Teresa from various events in the church (youth, women’s events etc.) and only knew sweet Anne from picking up my kids from Sunday school however the last 6 days have made me feel like I have known them my whole life, and that my friend is through the love that Christ has given us.

1 John 4:9-10 says, ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. vs 19, We love because he first loved us.

As I stood back and watched and heard what these families were going through I begged God to heal their pain. Monday night I watched the family greet and minister to over 1200 people at Anne’s wake, I then watched the family stand up and minister and preach to the 600 plus that attended her funeral. It was all about God and his mercy and grace and how they were giving him all the glory. Broken, hurting, bleeding people…desperate for their God. One thing that both of the families have said is, “If just one person comes to know Jesus because of my daughter’s death, then it will be worth it.” A statement I will never forget. I wish so badly that each of you could hear what they spoke. It was more witnessing than I have ever heard from any sermons combined. It was beautiful and gut wrenching and Jesus flowed all throughout it.

I have been reading in Genesis this morning and thought it might be fitting to share the story of Abraham and Isaac. This story is really special to me because of all the stories in the bible God has used this one to teach me the most. As a matter of fact at the ripe age of 18 my mother in law shared this story with me and I swore I would never serve a God that would require that of me. Oh little did I know back then. Many of you are familiar with the story, if not take a minute and read Genesis 22.

God had told Abraham to take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I tell you about. The story goes on to say (Genesis 22) that he did as the LORD had asked. He cut the wood and prepared the altar, he bound his son and laid him there. Then he took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy, “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” (Oh, thank you God that this story ended this way, I’m not sure I could have made it through it if not.) I always try and figure out how he explained this all to Isaac, I guess that is one of those things we will not know until we get there.

It took many years to realize that the reason Abraham was so willing and obedient was because he knew that God had made his covenant with him through his offspring (Genesis 15) and Isaac was his offspring. So, if God wanted him to sacrifice him, God was going to have to resurrect him from death. He had faith that I cannot comprehend and fear of the LORD that I cannot imagine.  I have been told before that God may have also wanted Ab to experience firsthand what it was going to be like for God when Jesus was to be crucified.

Can you imagine? What it would it be like to have enough faith in your God that you knew whatever the circumstance you would trust him? When I think about how the Donlon family spoke about accepting that she was no longer here but in heaven and embracing the love and plan that God has in all of this. I wondered if I could say the same.

I thought it was only fitting that our Pastor did and altar call at the end of the service. He gave everyone that opportunity to know Jesus and to spend our lives with Him forever in eternity with Him. Do you know Him? What I need you to know that if that were have been me at 19 my family would have been mourning in a whole different way than just the loss of my life. The one thing that I think we are able to hang onto when losing someone is the joy that they are in heaven, surrounded by his glory and splendor and majesty. They have accomplished our ultimate goal. If that isn’t the case I’m not sure how we cope.

If you haven’t come to know Him yet it’s time. We are not promised tomorrow. I don’t know how else to tell you that. Psalm 103:15-16 says, As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and it’s place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

I pray that the love of Jesus grabs a hold of you and never lets you go. I pray that you experience the urgency to have a relationship with him because if something were to happen you don’t get a 2^nd chance there. To be absent from body is to be present with the LORD, no matter which place you are headed. You will meet your Maker, eternity is a very long time.

Isaiah 61:1-3, I memorized this years ago from a bible study. I am pretty sure this is what Teresa read at her daughters funeral.

 ¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³ and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

Matthew 11:28, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

The Power of the cross

Romans 7:14-25

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature^[d] a slave to the law of sin.

I hope you were able to laugh a little at these verses, not because there is anything humorous about the content but by the simple fact that Paul may have a slight touch of ADD. I’m just saying.

Let’s take a look at what Paul was saying in this passage. Basically he was striving to do good, he wanted to live out the life of a great Christian and had all of the tools to help him (just like we do today). Then at times his flesh would win and he would give into the temptation to sin, all the time knowing better.

When I read this today it made me think about how many times I gave into sin knowing good and well that it was wrong. Many times I didn’t even want to sin but somehow the battle between my spirit and my flesh was lost and I gave into it.

Revelations 12:7-12 says this, ⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he (the devil) was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
¹¹ They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”

But woe to the earth and the sea…we aren’t fighting against the little man with a pitch fork and a red suit here. He is nasty, called the prince of this world, the ultimate deceiver…and he is filled with fury for he knows that his time here on earth is short and soon Jesus is coming back for His people.

John 16:33 says, I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. What Jesus is saying is that He already paid the ultimate sacrifice; the battle against all evil has been won. When Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure (to be seated at the right hand of God) He wanted to assure them that they would never be alone. He sent us the Holy Spirit (the Counselor or the Spirit of Truth) to guide us and to never leave us. Period.

Psalm 139:1-12, ¹ You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” ¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Ok, let me try and bring this all together. The devil has been hurled out of heaven, 1 Peter 5:8 says Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. That scares me. But then I remember that I am covered by the blood of Jesus and the devil has no authority over me or my life. Paul says in Colossians 1:13 For he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Paul also says that true believers have been transferred from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom, from guilt to forgiveness, and from the power of Satan to the power of God.

So I ask you this. Are you are true believer? Have you accepted Jesus into your heart as Lord over your life? Do you believe that He died for the redemption of our sins and that through Him we can be washed white as snow? If the answer is yes have you been baptized (any questions on this please ask me)? Will we sin, of course? Can He forgive us? Yes, if you turn from it (repent) and take it to Him. Does it get harder to live life without sin, sometimes but I always know I’m moving in the right direction when I am tempted by Satan the most. Satan loves it when we are just “good people”. When we are just moving along not doing bad but not doing anything good. In those times we will rarely her from Satan, why would we…we are in a safe place to him and not much threat. Jesus says, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot or cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Rev 3:14-16).

I live my life everyday with the goal of trying my best to know Him and love Him more. I want so bad to be used as a servant in His Kingdom. I can honestly say that most of the time I don’t fall into premeditated sin (planned sin), the times I do have become so painful that I can hardly stand it. I fail daily. I’ve said before that my mouth and my judgment nearly do me in at times. But I know that I am forgiven! I serve a God that knows us better then we could ever know ourselves. He knows when we will fail or give into sin. Every time we repent and choose to not turn back to the sin we are stronger and more knowledgeable than before (I guess you could say he educates us J). Just remember that if we are a child of God we will not be defeated. Psalm 30:5 says, For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

I hope you take from this today a feeling of hope and not defeat. We serve a loving God that never wants us to fail, but when we do he is there for us to pick us up and make us new again. The enemy we face is no wimp, but we are covered by the blood of Jesus and cannot be taken. Make the choice to seek Him. Ask God to make him real in your life. We have to stop wasting the time and energy thinking that we can do this alone. I am praying that everyone who reads this will experiance something with God this week that cannot be explained by anything other then the power of Him. So many times we are waiting on Him. I believe that He is waiting on you.

All you who labor

Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

This was a rough week for me. Will was out of town over the weekend and my son had a toothache that lasted from Friday night until Tuesday morning. We weren’t able to fix the problem until Tuesday because of the infection and the pain medicine that he was given made him very sick. I have never seen him in so much pain, and have never felt so helpless. Then we went through a very painful procedure on Tuesday that I think has taken us both the remainder of the week to get over. So the little amount of sleep I had for those first few days mixed with drama and emotional turmoil has created a feeling of exhaustion for me that I cannot shake. I have a sign that my mom bought me that says, I am woman, I am invincible, I AM tired. I usually look at it and smile, this week when I have caught a glance at it I’m pretty sure I just rolled my eyes.

When I sat down this morning and opened up my daily devo book Matthew 11:28 was the title. I immediately knew that was going to be what I wrote to you today.

The King James version says this, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The Greek word for laden in this passage is this Phortizo which means, to load up, to overburden with (spiritual anxiety).  The Greek word for rest in this passage is anapauo which means to repose, to refresh. It signifies to give intermission from labor, to give rest, to refresh so to recover strength.

I just stopped after reading that and made a list of all the things that I labor against, and I hope that you will stop right here and do the same.  After reading back over my list I placed each item into one of the following categories. a.) My responsibilities b.) Life c.) my choices d.) things that are NOT my choices. I realized that most of my items fell into the c category (my choices). Here are a few examples: activities, ministry opportunities, hobbies, scheduling and interests. The next in line was the category a.(my responsibilities), example: family, work and ministry commitments etc. Then there is b (Life), this one is hard because I put the list of people that are sick or hurting or struggling in anyway, basically my prayer list of everything that I emotionally labor against, this list could have been so long and detailed but I tried to simplify it today for the purpose of the example. Then last but defiantly not least category d (things that are NOT my choices), this one frustrates me the most. You know these things, the ones that somehow you were just sucked into. Whether it be from circumstance or relation we all have these and sometimes they can be the most draining. I am realizing today that if I could mark those things off my list I probably wouldn’t be as tired when dealing with the others.

Then God prompted me to create another separate list and title it “Things that I make people labor against”. Sometimes God just isn’t fair when shoving a mirror in our face as we are pointing the finger to others. He is always sifting, isn’t He?

Anyone out there tired of being tired? Are you worn out by your list of things that you labor against? Are you exhausted from fighting against someone or for something that is so out of your control but yet the cords that bind you to it or so tight that until victory is won over it you are stuck with it, being pulled along, sometimes dragged around by it?

Have you become so consumed by bitterness and hurt by betrayal or loss that you have lost all respect, and all focus on the things that really matter? And for your life you can’t let that person or that hurt go long enough for either one of you to take a breath?

Listen, can you imagine the thrill the Enemy must feel when we become our own masters of destruction? When he has to do nothing but make us acutely aware of how hopeless and desperate our situations become and then he sits back and waits for us to react. How many of us are tired of reacting off of our emotions! I know I am. We serve a God who is so much more powerful than that. He created us for heaven’s sake and gave us every single emotion that we feel, to every extreme that we can feel it. He didn’t set us up for failure. He offered us free will mixed with the power of hope that covers our faith. We are left with one choice, what are we going to do with it?

If after trying everything else why not give Him chance? Sometimes this can happen in the middle of what we feel are the best seasons we have with Him. I can’t tell you how it happens each time but I know that if I lose focus for a day, and God help some of us, for the loss of focus we have had for years, then the footing we have dug our heals into so deep gets ripped away faster than all the strength we’ve spent planting it combined. Then we are left with nothing but the overwhelming feeling of defeat.

So whatever you labor today, or whatever you are making someone labor against remember that He wants you to come to Him and He will give you rest (and thank goodness the much needed rest to others too).

Sometimes I think we just make it too hard. We think knowing Him and serving Him is too hard or too difficult and let’s be honest some of you think it is flat out just not a necessity or too weird.  I promise you it is all of those things and none of those things at the same time. There are times where I would stand on a street corner if the circumstance was right and wear the “Jesus Freak” t-shirt just like some of the others. Then there are the times I am so internally humiliated by doing something that He has called me to do that I hardly know how to pull it off. Just so you know, It isn’t always those extremes. I think they happen to me a lot because I still deal with pride and comfort that doesn’t belong within me. After all when I came back to Him I made the promise that whatever it was I would be willing, and I am always reminded of that when I want to crawl under my bed and hide...be careful what you commit to. Not really, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yes, I am tired and yes life is crazy but thank you LORD that you are offer us a resting place. Safe in the arms of you, secured by the sacrifice of your Son, and bound by the covenant and the promise of eternal life everlasting. I pray that each of us lay this list of burdens down to you this week and you minister to us as to where the changes can occur and in between all of this that you would give is rest. The old saying, “No rest for the weary” is only true if the weary don’t turn to you. For this is the day that the LORD has made, I will rejoice (after much needed rest) and be glad in it.