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The Eyes

12 Feb

This morning I was debating on going to church with this big bruiser black eye I have. I then was trying to decide where I was going with the scriptures and I went back to one of my favorites (Matthew 6), and guess what I ended up writing about? God even has a sense of humor I believe. As a Christian, you possess the ability to see Christ in other people. Isn’t it awesome when you just KNOW they are a brother or sister in Christ? But I do believe we also recognize darkness that may not be as visible to those whom do not possess the Light. We are told we are not of this world and I believe a discernment comes with that.

 

 

 

The Eyes

Matthew 6:22     The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

In this part of Matthew 6, he is speaking much of where do we place our focus? Do we place our focus on worldly pursuits and the worries that come with them? Or do we place our faith and trust in the providence of God? If we place our faith in Him, and the focus of our lives are the things of Him, we begin to emit a light that dwells in us, that is Christ. Verse 21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We all know what it is like to talk to someone who will not look us in the eye when they are speaking. How it is disturbing to our souls, and causes a big shadow of doubt, for the eye is the window to the soul. People can see Christ in you, or they can see through you when they posses the Light that Christ brings to dwell inside you upon Salvation. One of my closest friends, and the Godliest man I know said to me once, “You are what you believe.” A deep statement in only a few words. You will reveal by your every action what dwells inside you, good or bad.

 
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Posted by on February 12, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Good Soil

11 Feb

Good Soil.

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Good Soil

11 Feb

Wrapping up this parable, I have really been reflecting on growing up on my families farm. I was blessed to have instilled in me a very young age good work ethics. I understand that you get out of, what you put in to. I saw all the hard work that it took to raise cattle, to produce milk for your tables. That was the fruit that was produced as a result of the good soil as in this parable. Christ desires to produce good fruit in you also. But you must work at becoming humble to break the stony ground of pride and self, and allow him to nurture you to an understanding of what He has laid before you. In humility and obedience, you will produce fruit for others to enjoy that Christ has sown in you.

 

 

 

Good Soil

Matthew 13: 8-9    But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

My lineage is from a farming family for over a 100 years. I grasp the understanding of soil preparation and yielding a good crop as a result of good work. Your fruit is a direct result of your preparation, nurturing, and God’s provision in the fruits that are produced. In the closing of this parable in Matthew 13, this is where we strive to be the good ground and produce a good crop for our Lord. Verse 23 says, “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” When God’s Word falls on us, a good ground is blessed with understanding, that produces a good crop. That understanding comes by seeking God and application in your life.

Matthew Henry said “that which distinguishes the good ground from the rest was, in one word, fruitfulness. By this true Christians are distinguished from hypocrites.” John15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. We are to strive to implement Gods Word into our lives (the soil preparation); He will nurture the soil by the understanding of the Word, and therefore we strive to produce fruit as a product of that understanding. We are to strive for a hundredfold, but whatever fruit may be obtained for His glory, is to the joy of our Lord. Take what He has shows you, apply it to your life, share it with someone whom needs encouraging, and know that you too are producing fruit for your God.

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Take Root

10 Feb

Take Root.

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Take Root

10 Feb

I struggled with so many directions on this passage. The “on fire” Christian. The hypocritical Christian. The shallow Christian. The Christian that was full of pride and security in themselves and the rituals of religion. I pray that you will seek revelation of yourselves through prayer regarding these verses. We all can easily fall in many of these traps, and that comes from a very prideful man that Christ has been chipping away, and chipping away at the root of pride in my stony ground.

Matthew 13:5-6     Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

We all have heard of the term “On Fire” Christians. Someone whom has typically experienced a radical conversion and is eager to spread their good news. Many times we later begin to wonder what happened to them, and where they are now. That would be an easy description of someone who’s was fed the seed on stoney ground. Outwardly we appear to have good faith, but deep inside we are hard hearted and full of pride. Matthew Henry said “hardness prevails in the heart, and what there is of soil and softness is only in the surface.”

But what about those of us whom consider ourselves to have good root, and yet don’t water and nourish with the Word as we should any seed. Verse 21 says “ yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Much of the Christian life is described as a race, and the endurance to finish the race. “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1)  We can’t quit when the trials of life come, and they will come. We must hold true to the seed that is placed in us upon Salvation. Christ is the seed, and the root that takes place in our heart.

 
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Posted by on February 10, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Going through the motions

09 Feb

Wow. I have never seen so much in commentaries of Matthew 13. I am buried here. It is speaking to me so heavily, and so much towards our society today, that mirrors society over 2000 years ago. We haven’t gotten it right in over 2000 years. That really speaks to how lost we are as a people. Along with the realization of that depravity comes a security and understanding of our true need for God. Dr. Ed Gravely has been speaking of much of this on Wednesday nights in the book of Luke too. “We must come to an end to ourselves” as one of my favorites Oswald Chambers said. We simply cannot rest on religion, for religion is not The Way. Our hearts will become hard in its rituals and practices, and not soft to the humble reception of the Word of God, the Seed of God, as the only Way. Rituals bring death, Christ brings life. Rest in Him as the only way to truly understand the word being delivered to you, and consecrate yourself to that word, spending time in prayer and meditation, and you too will begin to see the change in your life that you have no explanation for. except Christ.

Going through the motions

Matthew 13:3-4 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

Are you going through the motions? Are you professing Christ and maybe going to church just to see and or be seen? Do you spend your time on Sunday’s just looking at your watch, or thinking of the after church plans? Christ is speaking of you here. Many of us today claim religion, and Christianity, but yet do not understand the Word being delivered to us. Matthew Henry said, “If we break not up the fallow ground by preparing our hearts for the Word, and humbling them to it, and not engaging our own attention; and if we cover not the seed (Word) afterwards by meditation and prayer”..we are this ground. We have become so dull to the Word of God by our lack of attention to it. “ For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed..” vs15.

Now the scary part in verse 19 “ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart..” Satan is like a bird who swoops in and steals the seed that was planted on the hard grounds of your soul. If you have a wayward heart, not keen to the things of Christ, you are an easy target for Satan when you are just going through the motions. But in the second part of verse 15 we are promised “Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” He is the only Way to truly understand the Word being delivered to you, by humbly accepting the free gift, and removing yourself from the snares of religious acts of going through the motions.

via Going through the motions.

 
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Posted by on February 9, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Going through the motions

09 Feb

Wow. I have never seen so much in commentaries of Matthew 13. I am buried here. It is speaking to me so heavily, and so much towards our society today, that mirrors society over 2000 years ago. We haven’t gotten it right in over 2000 years. That really speaks to how lost we are as a people. Along with the realization of that depravity comes a security and understanding of our true need for God. Dr. Ed Gravely has been speaking of much of this on Wednesday nights in the book of Luke too. “We must come to an end to ourselves” as one of my favorites Oswald Chambers said. We simply cannot rest on religion, for religion is not The Way. Our hearts will become hard in its rituals and practices, and not soft to the humble reception of the Word of God, the Seed of God, as the only Way. Rituals bring death, Christ brings life. Rest in Him as the only way to truly understand the word being delivered to you, and consecrate yourself to that word, spending time in prayer and meditation, and you too will begin to see the change in your life that you have no explanation for. except Christ.

Going through the motions

Matthew 13:3-4    Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

Are you going through the motions? Are you professing Christ and maybe going to church just to see and or be seen? Do you spend your time on Sunday’s just looking at your watch, or thinking of the after church plans? Christ is speaking of you here. Many of us today claim religion, and Christianity, but yet do not understand the Word being delivered to us. Matthew Henry said, “If we break not up the fallow ground by preparing our hearts for the Word, and humbling them to it, and not engaging our own attention; and if we cover not the seed (Word) afterwards by meditation and prayer”..we are this ground. We have become so dull to the Word of God by our lack of attention to it. “ For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed..” vs15.

Now the scary part in verse 19 “ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart..” Satan is like a bird who swoops in and steals the seed that was planted on the hard grounds of your soul. If you have a wayward heart, not keen to the things of Christ, you are an easy target for Satan when you are just going through the motions. But in the second part of verse 15 we are promised “Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” He is the only Way to truly understand the Word being delivered to you, by humbly accepting the free gift, and removing yourself from the snares of religious acts of going through the motions.

 
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Posted by on February 9, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Seeds & Fruit

08 Feb

Seeds & Fruit.

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

Seeds & Fruit

08 Feb

I ended up last night just parked in Matthew 13 and the parable of the Soils. I spend much time there and just digging into Gods Word. This morning I was back there, and I was headed in so many directions with it. There is so much in this parable that applies to our lives today, just as it did thousands of years ago. I do believe that I may try to expand on these Scriptures over the next couple of days. I pray that you will have God speak to you through them so that you may produce through Him fruit, for we live in a day that people are starving, or being given poison to feed on. The Word is the only Bread of Life.

 

 

 

Seeds & Fruit

Matthew 13: 3-8   Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded…

This is the parable Christ spoke of the seed and the soil. It is a representation of how the seed (the Word of God) is received by those whom hear it. It also represents what they do with what they have heard. It shows how some have hard hearts, and the Word never enters in. It shows how some receive the Word with joy, but soon forget or deny what they have heard when the trials of life come. It also shows that some hear the Word, and plant it deep in their hearts, and it grows producing fruit that multiplies.

The fruits that are produced are the evidence of Christ in your lives. Do you believe that you produce fruit? Do you possess something inside you that others are drawn to, wanting to understand what makes you different? How do you handle the stresses of life? Do you “loose your religion” and reflect the same thing the lost reflect? A fruit of the Spirit is peace under fire. A peace that cannot be taken away, a peace that will produce fruit for others to dwell in. Only Christ can give you this gift, and allow you through Him to produce fruit that multiplies. You can be a great tree that yields much fruit if you feed yourself in prayer and the Word of God. Ask Him into your heart, to open the door, to obtain the seed.

 
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Posted by on February 8, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 

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Can you hear?

07 Feb

Can you hear?.

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2012 in Daily Devotions

 
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