A Seed-Producing Life

When the Word of God talked about the herb, grass and tree yielding seeds in Geneses 1:11 most of us never think anything beyond that. Often times we do not realize that we live in a seed filled world. It is as if though all of God’s dealing with humanity is about nothing more than seeds, sowing and reaping.

We have the harvest seeds (soul), tithing seeds, seeds for the sower (spiritual and physical farmer), seed of the woman, the generational seeds, and the animal kingdom seeds. 

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Living In The Gap

As a teen, our daughter would have loved to live in The Gap, the trendy clothing store at the mall.  Many of us live in the gap, but it’s a gaping hole between jobs or perhaps relationships.  There are gaps in our health (I had three surgeries at three hospitals in two months for one stubborn kidney stone).  No one wants to live in those gaps, but they are inevitable.

There are two major gaps in the life of Jesus.  Twelve years separate the story of Christ as an infant and Christ as a twelve-year old.  Then an eighteen-year gap between twelve-years old and the beginning of His ministry at age thirty.

Luke 2 fills in those gaps with two short verses.  Between infancy and pre-teen:

“And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him,” Luke 2:40 NET.

And between twelve and thirty:

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people,” Luke 2:52 NET.

We rarely think of Jesus, the Son of God, needing to grow in wisdom and maturity, but that is exactly what Luke records.

As gaps open up in my life, my first reaction is to panic or get depressed.  But the gap is also a time that God, in His grace, can help us to mature and grow through the experience.  And pray it doesn’t last twelve or eighteen years!

PRAYER: Father, may Your grace and blessing be with me during life’s gaps.  And may I use them as a time of spiritual growth.

Today’s devotion by James N. Watkins is reprinted by permission from www.jameswatkins.com  copyright © 2009.  He is the author of fifteen books, including Squeezing Good Out of Bad, and over two thousand articles.  He has spoken across the United States as well as overseas.

The Balance Between Long and Short Term Goals

What are your goals?  Yes, I posed that question last month.  Goals are an integral part of life.  They are vital to personal growth and development in every area of life – fitness, spiritual, intellectual, vocational, and even family.

Far too many people float through life without any goals.  I asked one of my sons recently, “What do you want to accomplish in school this year?”  He said, “I don’t know.”  Then I asked, “How about football?”  He said, “I don’t know.”  I said, “If you don’t know, I sure don’t either!”

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Who Is Calling? How to Discern the Voice of God

By Dianne Butts

Go visit Archie.  His cancer has advanced.  I wanted to visit, but my schedule was full.  Was this thought from God?  My own nagging conscience?  Or the enemy drawing me away?

When we hear a spiritual “voice”, how can we tell if it’s God?

Constant.

When I first felt the inkling to write, I thought.  Me?  Write?  Was God asking me to write for Him?  “Is this my idea or God’s?”  I asked my friend, Linda.  “Our desires come and go,” she said, “but God’s desires persist”.

God called Samuel three times (1 Samuel 3), but young Samuel didn’t recognize God’s voice either.  When Eli figured it out, he instructed Samuel to respond to the Lord.  God didn’t knock Samuel out of bed with a blast of thunder, but His persistent calling didn’t let Samuel rest.

Calm.

How can we differentiate between God’s nudges and impulses that are not from God?  Impulses feel urgent, often coming in “shoulds” and “oughts”.

Jesus and the disciples certainly felt the pressure of impulses.  One day a message arrived from Mary and Martha: “Jesus, come quick!  Lazarus is sick!”  “Yet…Jesus stayed where he was two more days” (John 11:6).  When He left for Bethany, Lazarus was dead (vs. 7, 14).  Jesus calmly continued His work.  Then, He went to Lazarus.

Do impulses pull us away from God’s work?  Distinguishing between God’s nudges and other impulses brings less fruitless busywork, more eternal fruit — and calm.

Convicting or Condemning?

We can distinguish between our enemy’s voice and God’s by where it leads.  Surely when the religious leaders brought the adulterous woman to Jesus, she wanted to run away.  After He ordered anyone without sin to throw the first stone and the people left, He asked, “Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared (John 8:10, 11).

Satan’s voice condemns us causing us to want to run from Christ.  But as believers, we no longer stand before God condemned (Romans 8:1).  God’s voice leads us to Christ for forgiveness.

Character.

Sandy grew up in a home filled with anger.  “I associated these angry ‘voices’ in my mind with the voice of God.  Now,” she said, “when I ‘hear’ a negative voice, I ask, ‘Is it characteristic of the God I know and love through Scripture?’”

God’s voice reveals His character.  He is holy (Leviticus 11:44), righteous (Psalm 11:7), just (Psalm 9:16), merciful and forgiving (Daniel 9:9).  He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Psalm 86:15).

When the voice within us causes us to mistrust God or believe He won’t forgive us, we are not hearing the voice of God.

Clear.

“My husband and I wanted another child,” said author Tricia Rhodes.  But six years passed, before a familiar voice said, “Tricia, your pain isn’t because you haven’t had another child but because you’ve come to believe I’m not good”.  I heard Him because I was still listening [i] Jesus prayed, “‘Father, glorify your name!’  Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (v. 28).  The crowd said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken (v. 29).  Thunder?  An angel?  Did they not recognize the voice of God?  God speaks clearly, but are we listening?

Go visit Archie.  I left my writing and headed to Archie’s house.  We had a wonderful visit, I still completed my writing work, and Archie soon went home to the Lord.  Step by step, God is teaching me to recognize His voice.

Dianne E. Butts (www.DianneEButts.com, http://Twitter.com/DianneEButts) has written for more than 50 Christian publications and fifteen books. Read about her current book-in-progress at www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com.

This article first appeared in the February/March 1999 issue of Virtue.

Scripture quotes are from the New International Version.

The First Mystery Writer

Do you like a good mystery?  I love to watch mystery movies; you know the ones that give clues along the way but don’t give the whole picture until the very end. The really good ones toss some turns in there to throw you off so when the mystery is finally revealed you say, “Ohhh, I missed that!”

Did you know that God was the first mystery writer?  Yes, and just like in a good movie, He gave the real clues all along, but many people missed it. And just like at the end of movies, we turn to our friends and say, “Did you get it?” Paul is saying that now. In fact he explains the whole mystery to us because so many missed the clues. People began to think that God might have tricked them with some of His turns, but Paul explains that God’s timing is perfect. He was not withholding the mystery from past generations, but was revealing it in His perfect timing. Praise God, the mystery is revealed: God’s plan includes all the people of the world.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that from the beginning of time You have scripted the greatest mystery ever written to include all the people of the earth.  We praise You today for revealing the mystery to us and for giving us a role to play in revealing the mystery to others.

“Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 3:5-6 NET)

Today’s devotion is written by Cheri Cowell, a student at Asbury Theological Seminary (Orlando).  Cheri writes and speaks on the deep questions of faith.  Her first book Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life (Beacon Hill) is called a biblically sound, no nonsense approach to making God-centered life choices.  For comments, or to inquire about her speaking schedule; visit www.DirectionAndDiscernment.com.

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