Seed of Promise (Day 2 from Cleansing Thoughts)

 

   Several months passed, and the seasons had changed. As I sat alone in the swing, I saw the fields were about ready for harvest. I thought back over the last few months, things had changed, but more importantly, I had changed. I wish I could tell you it was got the better, but I can’t. The month prior had brought with it a feeling of hopelessness and dread. My emotions were changing like the leaves on the trees, the harder I tried to control then the more upset I got. I had been doing so well . . . why can’t I control these mood swings? My  heart was grieving, and I felt alone and confused.

   When I reached the point that I was ready to listen to what the Lord was speaking to me, He took me to Matthew 27:35 through 28:10. Concentration to read that I had as the words tan together and when I finished, I was lead to Mark 15:24 through 16:6. This continued until I had read all four accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord. I sat there more in a state of wonder than confusion. I had relaxed enough that I was able to concentrate a little easier. Then that still small voice from deep within me whispered, “Before there can be a resurrection, there must first be a crucifixion.” Then I was led to John 12:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it will produce much grain.”  As if a veil had been removed from my eyes, everything was made clear to me. I had failed to remember one very important thing when a seed is put in the ground there is a process taking place we can’t see. When the seed is watered it allows the germination process to begin, but before the sprout emerges from the soil it must first begin to form its root system. 

   Once I understood what the Holy Spirit was teaching me I realized the purpose of these last few months and the part each circumstance had played. When someone we dies , all of us go through a grieving process, where we may experience feelings of hopelessness. Tears filled my eyes as I realized this was not just another Manic-Depressive Cycle, it was a time of teaching as well. I had renewed hope that the seed of promise was still growing.

   Remember Abraham and Sarah, Romans 4:19-2, it tells us that the seed of promise, Isaac, was given to them by the resurrection power of God, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was around 100 years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not weaver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised Ge was also able to preform” (NKJV).

   The Word says that Abraham, “contrary to hope, in hope believed” (Romans 4:18, NKJV); in other words, he continued to grow in faith, putting his expectations in God’s hands, not in his circumstances. He did not take his eyes off the promise. For almost ten year’s, he continued to give God the glory, until his circumstances were impossible in the natural. The seed of promise, by all appearance, was dead to all but Abraham. Then after the death came the resurrection power of God! Abraham was one hundred years old the word says, “The Lord visited Sarah, as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him” (Genesis 21:1-2, NKJV).

   With tear-stained eyes I looked out over the fields that were ready for harvest and I thanked God for all that He had shared with me this day. And as looked up into the heavens could hear that still small voice from within, “I know the thoughts that I think towards you . . . Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 28:11, NKJV). 

   It is when our faith grows like the mustard seed that makes miracles happen.