Never Give Up!

How Does Your Garden Grow? Part 6
Our house faces the south. My husband tells people we live on the south loop of Tipton (it's a joke). For those of you who may not know, Tipton is a town of less than 1,000 and has only one light. Not a stop light - just a flashing warning light at a 4-way stop. Since we are the last south street in Tipton, across the street is out of city limits and it is a field. So, the front of the house gets straight south wind and hot, hot wind in the spring and summer. But despite that, every spring I get excited! I like to plant flowers. I look for pretty colors and spend time getting it all ready. Last year my parents gave me money for my birthday and I bought flowers. I got a gift card from my in-laws and I bought a wreath with flowers on it for the front (south-facing) porch. I also bought one of those small garden flags - you know, the pretty little ones?

A week after I got the front area all fixed and looking nice, we had a wind storm. It blew and blew and blew and blew and blew (do you get the point??!). It blew all day and all night long. The next day, I went out to look at my flowers, my wreath and my flag. Some of the flowers were gone, containers were dumped, the wreath was missing several things it had had, and my little flag was no where to be found.

I asked myself, “Why do you do this every year?” “Why do you try planting flowers knowing that south wind is going to blow hard most of the time?” Why? Because flowers are pretty. Planting and watching them grow is neat. It’s something the kids enjoy, and my husband and I enjoy. They remind us of God’s creation of beauty.

The next day, guess what I did? I went out and bought more plants!! I know. It sound ridiculous!

In our lives, the winds are going to blow, the storms are going to come, and even the weeds will pop up their ugly heads more often than we want them to. In the garden of our spiritual life, just like in our flower or vegetable garden, we shouldn’t give up. If we give up working in our flower or vegetable garden - give up watering, give up caring for it - that garden will die. If we give up working on our spiritual garden, we will not be doing God’s Will, but our spiritual garden will also wither and die..

Galatians 6:9 says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Our spiritual gardens, just like real gardens, need care to help them grow. By Growing with God (Part 1), Abiding in Jesus (Part 2), Reading His Word (Part 3), Deepening our Discipleship (Part 4), Expecting Weeds (Part 5) and striving to get rid of them, and by Never Giving Up, our spiritual gardens will grow to maturity.

After a seed is planted and grows and grows and reaches a certain stage of maturity, the flowering plant will begin to bloom. Well, guess what? GOD WANTS YOU TO BLOOM, TOO!

Maybe you don’t feel like blooming. Maybe you want to keep growing, you’re content with the way thing are now and you don’t want to change anything. But God says, “BLOOM”! Bloom and show your beautiful flower! Maybe you don’t want to bloom where you are. Maybe you want to bloom somewhere else. You want to be transplanted. But, God says, “BLOOM!” Show your beautiful flower! Maybe you feel too old, too young, too tired, or too busy. Maybe you want others to bloom and you don’t care to. But, God says “BLOOM!” Show your beautiful flower!

GOD SAYS "BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED!!"

To bloom is to fulfill your purpose in life. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that God had specific works in mind for each of us (uniquely each of us!)before we were even born! What an awesome thought! "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Doing the job that God has give you to do the best of your ability. Blooming is doing whatever you can for God where you are - where you live - right here and right now. We all want to live some day in Heaven with God.

I pray these lessons will help you as you grow your spiritual garden. Remember to BLOOM!

Soap Box Saturday - The Problem with ME!

Okay, now this is REALLY sad!! Last week I told you that every Friday night I would write Saturday's post and it would be called "Soap Box Saturday". The only thing is that the next day I started a "series" of blogs that spelled out G.A.R.D.E.N. So, that messed up my schedule. I don't LIKE my schedule messed up!! So, this post has the sub-title "The Problem with ME!"

Do you know what my hubby just now said as I was telling him my dilemma? I told him that I was going to sub-title my soap box "The Problem with ME!" and he said... and I quote, "Do you want me to write it??" Can you believe that!! :) Like he could write about what my problems are! (hee! hee!)

Well, truthfully, he could. Of course he could. We've been married 20 years, and so he knows my shortcomings. And, honestly I do, too.

So, my "soap box" problem this Saturday is with myself . I don't always think things through, and sometimes when I do and my schedule isn't just "so, so", I get a little upset. Not big upset, just little. Still a problem and most often sinful.

I need this verse today:
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

Dear God,
Thank you for continuing to love me. Continue to show me your ways and teach me through your Word. My hope is in you today and every day.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

What's on your "Soap Box Saturday"?

(Note: The last "How Does Your Garden Grow?" post will be Saturday night.)

Expect Weeds!!

How Does Your Garden Grow? Part 5
Flowers take a lot of work to grow, but weeds don’t take any work to grow, do they? They take work to make them NOT grow! The weeds in our spiritual garden are the same way. Christians striving to live by the example of Christ are going to grow good fruit. We are striving to allow the Holy Spirit to develop fruits in our life as Galatians 5:22-23 explains: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."

Sins in the Christian’s life are just like weeds. Left there to grow and multiply, these sins will begin to take over our lives. They will begin to choke out the good fruit growing in our lives. But, God’s Holy Spirit will help us get control over our weeds, if we will live by the Spirit.

"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 natures. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Galatians 5:16

We know that we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism because we are told that in Acts 2:38-39: "Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."

And I don’t know about you, but it helps me to know that God’s Spirit is in me and ready to help me grow the kind of fruit that God wants me to. I can not do it on my own. God is ready, willing, and able to help us rid our spiritual gardens of those pesky weeds!

Deepen Discipleship

PART 4 - HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
Flowers pollinate. That’s how they multiply and grow. But how does pollination work? Well, it all begins in the flower. Flowering plants have several different parts that are important in pollination. If the flowers have those parts then they can successfully help make other flowers. Only 10% of flowering plants are able to pollinate without animals or bugs or assistance from people. Those 10% of plants, pollinate by wind or water. God, as our awesome creator, made flowers to be this way. God, as our creator, also made us this way.

Remember when Jesus called the apostles? What did he say to them? “Come and follow me” it tells us in the first part of Matthew 4:19. As a child of God we are also disciples. By definition, a disciple is a follower, one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another. The end of Matthew 4:19 says “and I will make you fishers of men.“ A Christian disciple is a person who accepts and assists in the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ. Just like the pollen of a flower is transferred to another flower, God’s Word is taken from us to someone else.

Jesus wants us to be fishers of men - just like he wanted those first disciples to be. We want to be children of God, we want to abide in Jesus, we will even read His Word, but we sometimes we tend say, “God, I can’t go….I can’t tell... I can‘t fish!!”

ONE TRUTH TO REMEMBER: THE GREAT COMMISSION IS FOR ME!!

That is a command that Jesus gave to us through God’s inspired Word. We will never do God’s Will if we are not fulfilling our purpose as His disciples. Jesus wants us to be His true disciples and follow him daily. Luke 9:23 "The he said to them all: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

He doesn’t say deny yourself and follow me when you want to. He doesn’t say "deny yourself and follow me when it is convenient to". He doesn’t say "deny yourself and follow me when you get everything else done". Jesus wants us today, tomorrow and every day of our lives.

My husband attended a workshop last year where one of the speakers made this statement: "Many people are church "goers", not "Christ’s disciples"." Many people in the church today believe that all there is to being a child of God is regularly attending every worship service....thinking that is all there is to being faithful to the Lord. While attendance is very important in our service to God, there are so many more things that are just as important as we strive to abide in Jesus.

Many people, after they retire, decide to quit teaching classes, quit helping out in various ways with church activities, they quit being involved with the church. But what does the Bible say? When does the Bible says we should retire? WHEN WE DIE!! We can still be Christ’s faithful disciple up until the very end of our lives. Our service may change, who we serve may change, but we will still be serving. We will still be Christ's disciple.

Read His Word

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PART 3 - HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
In our spiritual gardens, the way we GROW WITH GOD and the way we learn about how to ABIDE WITH JESUS is to READ HIS WORD. In Luke 8, which is the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that the seed is God’s Word. When a seed is first planted, even though we can’t see it, it begins to grow - it begins to change. The little seed grows and grows and suddenly, one day, a little plants sprouts up from the ground. But, the seed will never grow if it isn’t planted or cared for, will it?

God’s Word, the Bible, is just like the seed Jesus describes at the end of that parable in Luke 8:15 “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." To produce a good crop, the seed must be in good soil. We as Christians must be that good crop for God’s Word to grow in our hearts. If it’s not growing in our hearts - if we’re not concerned with our spiritual gardens, we have a problem, don’t we?

The Bible is God’s way of communicating with us. We all communicate with someone probably every day of our lives - most people do. We all enjoy getting phone calls or notes, letters, or even an email or text message from someone special to us. Or maybe an encouragement card or get well card from a friend helps us during a difficult time in life. We like to hear from friends and family - to stay in touch with them so we can hear how their lives are going, and we also enjoy telling others about what is going on in our lives. Words are important to us. God’s Word should be important to us, as well.

There are many books, magazines and newspapers we can fill our lives with nowadays. We can even go through life without opening God’s Word ourselves. We may hear it when we come together for worship, but we can go home to never open it on our own. God’s Word should be something we claim for ourselves. Take it to heart. Make it your letter personally - given to you from God.

It is important for you and I to know what we believe about God, His Son Jesus, and know what is written in His Word by reading it yourself. We shouldn’t just take what is said in a Bible class or even a sermon for granted. Of course we expect the lessons to be truth, but it is important to study ourselves to know how we ought to live and to know everything God wants us to know.

Many times we think we don’t have the time to study and read God’s Word like we should. Have you ever analyzed your time? What do you do in your free time? Watch TV? Surf the internet? Read a book? Enjoy a hobby? What could you give up to spend time in God’s Word? Make a chart of what you do in your day. List out how you spend your time. Just writing it down makes you aware of how you spend your time.

We don’t have to read for a certain amount of time to learn and study from His Word. True studying of the scriptures is not about how much time you spent, but what you get out of the study. The Bible is the best SELF-HELP book that has ever been written! Read God’s Word. Let God’s Word grow in you.

Do you make time for God in your day everyday? What are some unique ways you find to make time for God?