Seeds of Promise (Day 1 from Cleansing Thoughts)

 

       IT WAS EARLY SPRING, and the warmth of the sun on my face was refreshing after the cold winds of winter. As I sat in our porch swing, I watched the busy activity of the birds in as they scurried about gathering twigs for their nest. Off in the distance, I could hear the sound of a tractor in the fields preparing  the ground for planting. With the coming of spring, all the trees were budding, and the first flowers of the season had pushed their way through the soil, bringing new life all around me. As I sat there, my heart was filled with hope and excitement as I looked to the future.

   It had only been a few weeks since the seed had been planted in my heart, and I had taken care to guard it from anyone or anything that might come and try to destroy or steal it from me. Oh, how I longed it see it mature, but for now, it needed time to grow until it became apart of all that I was becoming in Christ. 

   As I took a deep breath, the smell of fresh turned soil filled the air, and as I closed my eyes, I could visualize a tiny seed as it grew. I thought of all the years before as God prepared my heart to receive His seed of promise. The scriptures are full of such promises, but until they become revelation to us, we fail to fully apply them to our lives. Jesus compared the word of God to a seed that is sown into our heart, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you would say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible to you.” (Matthew 17:20, NKJV).The mustard seed was once thought to be the smallest of seeds measuring one to two millimeters. In Matthew 13: 31-32 Jesus taught a parable using this small seed to represent the kingdom of God by saying, “. . . The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”  (NKJV). That’s what was growing in my heart, a mustard seed of faith!

  In the Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew 13, Jesus tells us to guard the seed, the Word of God, that was planted in our heart because Satan comes immediately to steal it from us. This can easily be done if we don’t prepare our heart to receive From the Lord. Many times I have witnessed the damage left behind when Satan had done this, especially when someone is young in the Lord. They are not experienced in spiritual warfare. That’s why His Word warns us that Satan is the father of lies and that he will come to kill, steal, and destroy that which the Lord has sown into your life. In order to accomplish this he may deceive your family, friends, or even your brothers and sisters in the Lord. They do this by sowing seeds of doubt in your mind  that grow until it chokes out the seed of promise. This has happened to me early in my Christian walk, not once but three different times! But each time the Lord was with me, and I stayed in those churches until the Lord told me I could leave. Was it hard, you bet it was, but every time I walked into those doors I put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and loved them. 

   As I sat in the swing I visualized a clear heart shaped bowl and began to whisper my favorite scripture prayer, “Creat in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with in me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your gracious Spirit.” (Psalm 51:10-12, NKJV). I Instinctively knew the bowl was my heart that was being filled with good ground and I saw a seed being planted in it, and I remember smiling. I knew I would protect that seed and one day as it grew I would say to my mountain move and it would move. 

    I can be my own worst enemy, and because of it I’ve learned many of life’s lessons the hard way. However, one thing has remained constant; when I was ready to listen, God was always there, and would lovingly pick me up again. Over many years ant just as many circumstances I had learn not to trust anyone, and that there was no one who would ever be there for me. But when I accepted the Lord things began to change, every time He picked me up He took a brick out of the wall I had built around myself. It was through those times that I learned to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart,” in every circumstances, when I began to acknowledge Him, He would direct my life (Proverbs 3:5-6).  My seed was growing!

   I thought of that Sunday morning when His word became revelation to me. Suddenly, I saw both the water and the blood bring poured out to nourish the seed of promise, and remember the words spoken in Psalm 22 : 14, of the coming Christ, “I was poured out like water.” It has always been my desire that God would use my life to help others find their way. As I saw the small push it’s way through the soil, I knew I would overcome “By the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony” (Revelation 12:11). Like the mustard seed I would become a place of refuge to others.