What You Reap, You Sow
We all have faith in something. It may not be religious, but it's still faith.
I heard a sermon ages and ages ago about faith. The pastor was speaking about how we put our faith in so many inanimate objects everyday. We place faith without even thinking...in a car to take us to our destination, an airplane not to crash, a chair to hold our weight and not break as we sit down...
Today I heard a sermon making a side reference to the "wheat and the tares" from Matthew 13. In that principle he applied it to reaping and sowing. The pastor had just finished a point that the devil is warring to be at your "right hand"--a place where God said He wants to be. The devil hits you...not in a place where you think (where you are weak) but where you are strong, so He can have the greatest access of control. He will lie and cheat to undermine your confidence and steal away your identity and confidence in the God Almighty (So know that where you are being hit, God is saying you are meant/fashioned to be more than a conqueror in that area). Also, in that same message, the pastor was challenging and admonishing the body to take courage (encouragement) that the devil is out of order and has no business there because faith is a law that even he has to play to the rules of (I'm totally paraphrasing.)
Many people, including Christians, have faith in the wrong place... or the wrong side, I should say. Is this about a health and wealth gospel? No way. Though funny enough, you need to view this from the other extreme...are you believing in a disease and poverty "gospel"? Are your thoughts/concerns/attitude more poured out in concentration over sickness, fatigue, failure, poverty (or how to avoid these things.) If your answer is "yes" to the latter, you may want to ask Jesus about who He is, the cross and His intentions for you.
"...Do you know why you're 'broke'? Because you have faith for it." OUCH!
There are many Christians who are so tense and sensitive about the "name-it-and-claim-it" type of faith (and I know where they are coming from.) They veer away from it like it's the Black Plague, but most of us don't even realize that we are being overrun with a different "name-it-and-claim-it" faith. 'Oh, I think I'm gonna get sick.' 'I know I'm going to break all my goals this year.' 'Watch, I'll probably end up getting skipped for a raise.' 'He'll never change.' 'I don't hear from God.'
Sometimes we, as Christians, rather declare a bad word over ourselves and others so we don't have to deal with the disappointment of our own expectations rather than obey, wait, trust or see what God will or intends to do. That's sad thing about this is that when we come into this type of pattern, it is so automatic, but also spiritually, it is sowing and reaping tares/weeds that needlessly needs to be in our fields.
"'Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.' Not what the devil has done." (I Chron 16:8)
God's word even commands us from the opposite:
"4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." ~ Philippians 4
Now how can we do this? Rejoice always??? Is that even possible? Sounds all great in theory, right? Let's look at the focus. Are these God-powered thoughts or self-evaluating thoughts? Does this mean I can take a back seat? Nope! Do I need to take action? Yes! But realize this: This is not about a system you may have made up so you can feel comfortable living life out. This is not about figuring out the best scenario where your reputation looks the best. This is about God and His word. Hmm... that seems a little hard to swallow. Stay with me here.
God is not asking you if you can be a perfect performer. God is asking you, do you accept Him to show you Himself and His love to you and others? Are you willing to trust Him as He wants a relationship with you? Will you accept Jesus' gift of what He did on the cross for you? -- Not only to save you but makes a whole and full relationship with God? Will you let Him take over where He will complete every rule in the book so that you can reap the benefits as his child, his heir, his friend, his bride, his ambassador, etc. --how He originally created you when He thought about you before He created the world?
Where am I going with this?
Obedience is from trust. Trust is from relationship. Relationship is out of love. True love cast out all
fear. When you really know God/experience Him/have encounters/revelation of Him (whatever you would like to call it) and let Him have a relationship with you (not just you doing all the talking), you'll see, the rejoicing stuff becomes more natural. The lovely thoughts become easier (and kicks the concerning anxious suff in the booty.) The pure stuff becomes a joy because it becomes more about Whose you are, rather that Who you are. The ugly stuff (the tares) have some reckoning with because Jesus paid the price... once and for all. The harvesting, the price that was paid, the conquering of death, the forgiveness of sins and new creation happened when Jesus rose. There is victory now. We don't have to wait 'til we go to heaven to see it.
Here's the scripture for the wheat and the tares:
"24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” ~ Matthew 13
I heard a sermon ages and ages ago about faith. The pastor was speaking about how we put our faith in so many inanimate objects everyday. We place faith without even thinking...in a car to take us to our destination, an airplane not to crash, a chair to hold our weight and not break as we sit down...
Today I heard a sermon making a side reference to the "wheat and the tares" from Matthew 13. In that principle he applied it to reaping and sowing. The pastor had just finished a point that the devil is warring to be at your "right hand"--a place where God said He wants to be. The devil hits you...not in a place where you think (where you are weak) but where you are strong, so He can have the greatest access of control. He will lie and cheat to undermine your confidence and steal away your identity and confidence in the God Almighty (So know that where you are being hit, God is saying you are meant/fashioned to be more than a conqueror in that area). Also, in that same message, the pastor was challenging and admonishing the body to take courage (encouragement) that the devil is out of order and has no business there because faith is a law that even he has to play to the rules of (I'm totally paraphrasing.)
Many people, including Christians, have faith in the wrong place... or the wrong side, I should say. Is this about a health and wealth gospel? No way. Though funny enough, you need to view this from the other extreme...are you believing in a disease and poverty "gospel"? Are your thoughts/concerns/attitude more poured out in concentration over sickness, fatigue, failure, poverty (or how to avoid these things.) If your answer is "yes" to the latter, you may want to ask Jesus about who He is, the cross and His intentions for you.
"...Do you know why you're 'broke'? Because you have faith for it." OUCH!
There are many Christians who are so tense and sensitive about the "name-it-and-claim-it" type of faith (and I know where they are coming from.) They veer away from it like it's the Black Plague, but most of us don't even realize that we are being overrun with a different "name-it-and-claim-it" faith. 'Oh, I think I'm gonna get sick.' 'I know I'm going to break all my goals this year.' 'Watch, I'll probably end up getting skipped for a raise.' 'He'll never change.' 'I don't hear from God.'
Sometimes we, as Christians, rather declare a bad word over ourselves and others so we don't have to deal with the disappointment of our own expectations rather than obey, wait, trust or see what God will or intends to do. That's sad thing about this is that when we come into this type of pattern, it is so automatic, but also spiritually, it is sowing and reaping tares/weeds that needlessly needs to be in our fields.
"'Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.' Not what the devil has done." (I Chron 16:8)
God's word even commands us from the opposite:
"4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." ~ Philippians 4
Now how can we do this? Rejoice always??? Is that even possible? Sounds all great in theory, right? Let's look at the focus. Are these God-powered thoughts or self-evaluating thoughts? Does this mean I can take a back seat? Nope! Do I need to take action? Yes! But realize this: This is not about a system you may have made up so you can feel comfortable living life out. This is not about figuring out the best scenario where your reputation looks the best. This is about God and His word. Hmm... that seems a little hard to swallow. Stay with me here.
God is not asking you if you can be a perfect performer. God is asking you, do you accept Him to show you Himself and His love to you and others? Are you willing to trust Him as He wants a relationship with you? Will you accept Jesus' gift of what He did on the cross for you? -- Not only to save you but makes a whole and full relationship with God? Will you let Him take over where He will complete every rule in the book so that you can reap the benefits as his child, his heir, his friend, his bride, his ambassador, etc. --how He originally created you when He thought about you before He created the world?
Where am I going with this?
Obedience is from trust. Trust is from relationship. Relationship is out of love. True love cast out all
fear. When you really know God/experience Him/have encounters/revelation of Him (whatever you would like to call it) and let Him have a relationship with you (not just you doing all the talking), you'll see, the rejoicing stuff becomes more natural. The lovely thoughts become easier (and kicks the concerning anxious suff in the booty.) The pure stuff becomes a joy because it becomes more about Whose you are, rather that Who you are. The ugly stuff (the tares) have some reckoning with because Jesus paid the price... once and for all. The harvesting, the price that was paid, the conquering of death, the forgiveness of sins and new creation happened when Jesus rose. There is victory now. We don't have to wait 'til we go to heaven to see it.
Here's the scripture for the wheat and the tares:
"24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” ~ Matthew 13
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