Posted in Christian Service, Life Inspiration

About what you’re S.O.W.I.N.G.

CHICK POINT 2

Its harvest time in many of the gardens of West Virginia. But because of the extremely wet season I’ve heard many of our farmers say that their gardens have been swampland for the most part, causing a few things to grow in great abundance and other plants to rot away leaving a disheartened farmer for all his or her labor. Life can be like that too can it not? I try so hard to be all “spiritual.” I mean really, I’m the Jesus Chick; if you give yourself that title you better be able to back it up with some proof! But the truth is some days I’m fruitful, and some days I’m just a rotten vine with little to show for what my Master has put into me. But that didn’t catch God off guard, he left me some instructions in the book of Galatians 6.

Apostle Paul wrote in the closing of his letter to the Galatians the results of poor gardening.

Spiritually speaking

Don’t throw rocks in someone else’s garden and think that you’re going to reap a bountiful harvest in your life. One of the greatest struggles for me, who tries to live spiritual, is the people around me who live like heathens. They frustrate and suck the life out of me. And they’re everywhere! I turn on the news and they are there, Facebook… they are there, in my family… they are there, in the church…. They are there, at the grocery store… they are there, everywhere. And then I hear the screeching of the tires on Apostle Paul’s car.

Paul said in verses 1-3

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

Questions: Have I tried to restore them with kindness? Have I looked in the mirror? Have I tried to help?

Own it

If I consider my own garden, what have I planted in it? I need to spend more time proving my own work; studying the Word of God and living the Word of God so that I can be a testimony and a help to those who need Christ. I’m first responsible for me. It’s hard to judge the fruit of another person’s orchard when you take care of your own as you should, there’s little time for judging. And I’m pretty sure when we get to Heaven we’ll not hear the words “Good job judging your neighbor,” come out of God’s mouth, but He will likely have much to say about the condition of the soil in our own lives.

4-6 ~ But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

Whatever it is

We know the “whatevers” in our lives that are not healthy. Spiritually and physically we’re constantly gardening to the body and soul. From the time my feet hit the floor in the morning I begin either sowing to the spirit or to the flesh. If I turn on the television before I turn on God, flesh. If I eat donuts instead of cereal, flesh. If I care more about the physical house I’m building than the spiritual house, I’m sowing to the flesh.

7-8 ~ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Idle Farmers

I don’t think I say it in judgment, just in reality, that I see churches filled with idle farmers. They come to church to get the store bought goods. The stuff that’s prepackaged and ready to eat. Spread out on the table like a banquet for royalty to pick over and discard the unwanted fruit. Church is not a grocery store, it’s a farm store and conference center. It’s where we gather together to hear and learn the Word of God and to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul took the time and effort to write a very long letter of encouragement to the church. It is said that because of Paul’s poor eyesight that he struggled to write at all, and yet he wrote the bulk of the New Testament. Paul truly cared about the church.

Paul said in verses  9-11  ~  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.

Nothing but the Cross

For me, work and service come easy. Often times it’s so I’ll feel vindicated or accepted by those I serve; both of which are wrong because in so doing I’m sewing to the flesh to make me feel better. I certainly need to serve but not to prove myself to anyone, I need only to prove to Christ that I am a new creature because of what He did for me on the cross. Many of the Jews who had gotten saved had a hard time separating the works of man from the grace of Christ. Even circumcision was viewed as a part of salvation. Sowing and reaping is not to bring our work before the Lord and say look what I’ve done, but rather to keep the harvest coming till the Lord returns. Then and only then will we discover what the fruits of our labor have been.

12-16 ~  As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Grace. Enjoy it.

If we sow seeds of grace in the lives of others, I believe we’ll reap and enjoy grace in our own lives, including forgiveness for all those times of sowing to the flesh.

17-18 ~ From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

 

Posted in Christian Service, Life Inspiration

Dear Mr., Miss or Mrs. Weary… read on

wearyI know I’m not alone when I say that I have days when I’m weary. Those times when I look around and feel somewhat like Elijah who though he was the last one left when Jezebel sought to kill him and the Lord had to remind him that he was not alone. I know I’m not alone, I know that there are countless servants of God out there on the battlefield with me, but Satan loves to get you feeling weary so he makes you believe you’re outnumbered.

Two places in the Bible we find the phrase “weary in well doing,” both written by Paul, someone who assuredly had moments that he could have been weary. I found it interesting that both forms of weariness were tied to other people.

Don’t grow weary of the weak

I can handle an unsaved sinner’s bad behavior, but I run the risk of growing weary at a child of God who uses the excuse “Well it’s just how I am” for obnoxious and rude behavior or blatant sins against God. But Paul encourage the believers to take care of one another, encourage those who are serving in the faith, and leave all others to God; because we all reap what we sow, good or bad. So I’m here to encourage you today! March on soldier, we have work to do!

Galatians 6

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Don’t Grow Weary of the Wicked

Watching the news is enough to make you want to tuck your head under a covers and yell “even so Lord Jesus come!” But couple that with attacks and persecution on the local level and the days are rough. We’re living in a time that our grandparents could never even fathom; a time when men (and women) embrace wickedness and shun the gospel. A time when people defend a religion of hate and hate a religion of defenders, it’s insanity is it not? But Paul said don’t grow weary.

2 Thessalonians 3:13

13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

In reading the text that leads up to verse 13 Paul encourage the believers that he has confidence in them that they’ll continue on even in the face of wicked men that do not have faith. What a supporter Paul was even in the days that he himself needed encouragement to continue. Paul tells them to draw away from “that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.” There’s a time that you need to get away from the naysayers and the blasphemers and those who tear down our God and us.

I hope that today you’ll get your Bible and get alone with the Word of God and let Him speak great peace to your soul.

Perhaps this is your only time today and you chose to spend it with me. I’m honored and humbled. I pray that I encouraged you to keep on keepin’ on and that you’ll encourage me back by a comment or by sharing this blog with your friends.

Weary not my friends… I’m with ya!

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Posted in Christian Service, Church attendance, Leadership, Life Inspiration

The Blossom Gang

I love beginnings! And I “mostly” only like endings because I know once something is completed, something new is beginning. It’s the part in the middle that I have issues with. Genesis 1:11 ~  And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

And so it was that the summer of 1996 a sapling sprung up in the depth of my soul that I believe God planted long before the baby known as Shari was born to Gene and Violet Hardway in Braxton County, West Virginia. Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” So I believe that God sowed a seed in eternity past that He knew would take root, and I believe the same is true with every human on the face of the planet, although every seed sown does not take root. The anomaly (inconsistency) that some get saved (accept Christ as their Savior) has nothing to do with the seed, or the Sower, but the soil for which it was planted. We are still free willed, God won’t force Himself upon us, at least at this point. There will come a day that everyone shall see Him as He is and know that He is indeed Truth and light. But for now, if men and women choose to stay in a state of denial, it’s their choice, and truthfully their loss.

But that fruit after its kind mentioned in Genesis 1:11 has captured my thoughts this morning. When God formed man He created him in the likeness of Himself (Genesis 1:26), and each child born, generation to generation is born from the same seed sown at Creation. Our lineage began with Adam and progressed over the years, or digressed over the years into a generation of people who many consider themselves independent of God; but whether they confess Him as Lord or not they cannot get rid of that seed in their soul that continues to try to take root, even in stoney soil. As Jesus described in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:5-6 “Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

But it’s not always a soil issue entirely. Sometimes it’s the lack of growth in those little saplings. There are some trees in the orchard that have beautiful bloom but that’s where it stops. They go to church (on Sunday morning and other “special services” and they look “churchy” when the go. They have a Christian fish on their car and if anyone asks they’re more than happy to tell them they’re a Christian and that everyone should have a home church. But… they are far too busy to make Sunday evening and Wednesday a priority, and sharing the gospel runs the risk of offending “good people” or even worse offending “bad people.” Then there’s the whole issue of church and state and the state they’re in… but they look pretty. I think I’ll start calling them the blossom gang, all flower… no fruit.

God planted the seed within us and if we allow He will continue to fertilize the crop with the expectation that the fruit He’s already given root to and nurtures Himself will be fruit bearing also – in His likeness.

So my question to myself and you as well is are you a member of the blossom gang, or the Alpha and Omega Orchard? There’s a beginning and an end to everyone’s story…