Good Ground

Good Ground

“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 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. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 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. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 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.” - Matthew 13:18-23

I was reading this the other day, and God pointed something out to me about the different types of soil.

Maybe you already noticed what I’m about to tell you, but I had not!

I always assumed that the different types of ground here were just that type of ground already. In other words, I believed that the good ground was already good ground. That’s just silly, isn’t it? I mean, how does good ground become good ground?

If you want to take any old plot of ground out there and make it good ground, depending on the state of it, you’re going to have some work to do! You’re going to have to clear debris, pull up weeds, and probably remove a bunch of rocks hidden underneath the topsoil. Getting good ground takes WORK.

When we’re good ground to the Word of God, it means we’ve already:

•  Not allowed the enemy to steal the Word from us… no, we:
•  Heard the word with joy and accepted it. Affliction came, and we did not yank that Word up out of the dirt. We refused to get offended either at people or at the Word. We clung to the Word and walked in love!
•  And when the cares and worries and stresses and aaaall of the methods of distraction that are out there to get us off course came knocking, we stood against them and carefully plucked those weeds out of the dirt so they wouldn’t choke the Word! 

And then oh, glory to God, what happens? That Word produces FRUIT in our lives! Whether that fruit is a closer walk with Him, healing, provision, relationships being restored—whatever! If we’re good ground, the Word WILL produce WORD results!

It was so encouraging for me to realize that having thorns, rocks, and weeds that need to be dealt with in my life and heart DOES NOT mean I’m not good ground. BUT, I am always in the process of BECOMING good ground—woot!

Don't Bathe in Manure

Surrounding yourself with negativity = a negative thought life.

Several months ago, I was immersing myself in the misery of others, and doing little to rest and recover and strengthen myself spiritually. (I didn't realize what was going on at the time.) What did I expect to come from that sort of environment? Happy thoughts? Oops.

Practical example: if I were to fill my bathtub up with manure and slide on in, would I come out clean as a whistle?

Um.

No.

I'd come out with poop clinging to my body. It'd take more than a couple of rinses to rid me of the filth, and the stench!

On the other hand, if I immerse myself in GOOD things—in God—I will radiate HIM. Over time, I will become more and more like Him!

 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” - 1 Corinthians 15:33

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  - John 15:4-5

Healing Scriptures - Part 2

Part 2 is up on YouTube! The cat makes an appearance, sort of. The perils of recording things while sitting on the floor. 

Healing Scriptures - Part 1

A while back, I was getting ready to run some errands and felt like listening to some scriptures on healing while I was driving around. I hunted YouTube briefly, and there was some good stuff there, but nothing that seemed to be what I was looking for: hear the verse, then they give you opportunity to repeat it. I had the thought that I should make something like that, but the thought didn't turn into actually doing anything with it... until today!

More will be coming, and maybe even on other topics—we'll see what He has in store!

30 Days of Love - Day 30: So, Now What?

Day 30: So, Now What?

(Click here for Day 29)

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Philippians 3:12

Here we are at the end! There’s so much more I could write to you, but this is where we’ll stop for now. God will lead you to whatever else you need, but having a plan of action has always helped me, and I believe it will help you, so here goes!

My advice to you as we close is this:

•  Keep on going (see the verse above). If you were driving down the road to your favorite restaurant, would you stop the car in the middle of the road and still expect to get there? Nope! Seriously, just keep going. Even when it feels like it’s not working, and zero results appear before your eyes, do not give up!
•  If you’re having a weak moment and you need some encouragement, you get your faith friend on the phone and let them know you could use a boost! Don’t have one yet? Throw me a comment, and I'll get in touch with you! I’m telling you now: You can do this (2 Corinthians 2:14)!
•  Always remember that God is on your side. He is not against you (Romans 8:31).
• Continue to feed on God’s Word, especially 1 Corinthians 13, as you go along. This is so, so important! We don’t expect our bodies to perform without food, but we let our spirits starve—hello!
• Know that you are loved by God, and yours truly. I may not know you, but I’ve written this book as an act of love for my King, and for you!

Be blessed (James 1:25).

Homework:

Hey, no homework on the last day of school!

Know that I’m praying for you—that you would be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). That you would trust in Him with all of your heart (Proverbs 3:5), and know that He will never give up on you (Romans 8:38-39)!

30 Days of Love - Day 29: My Personal Experiences, Part Two

Day 29: My Personal Experiences, Part Two

(Click here for Day 28)

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” Hebrews 10:24

Several years ago, I came to a crossroads. I hadn’t really been living to serve God, and my life showed it. I was unhappy all the time, and I blamed everyone but myself. Mostly I blamed my husband. Soon we came to a point where we were very close to divorce. I was a wreck. I didn’t know what to do. I was so done with life as it had been up until that point. Only one path seemed to make sense. I cried out to the Lord. I told Him I was done. I was done trying to do things my way. I gave myself back to Him. Even though the weeks that followed were incredibly hard, my marriage was saved.

After coming so close to the brink, I was filled with a lot of fear. I was terrified that we’d just end up in the same boat again. I went looking for answers, and I’m not quite sure when God started leading me toward teaching on walking in love, but I know it happened. I learned that God’s love casts out fear:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

I started learning that the way I treated others was going to come back to me. I started learning that I had to let go of the past. I started seeing results. They were tiny at first, and quite hard to see if you weren’t paying attention, but I saw it. (My battle buddy helped me to “see” quite often—thank you, BB!)

Oh, I’ve made my share of mistakes since. I just have to remember to repent and get back to it again. There have been a handful of times where realizing how badly I’d been hurting the people I loved gave me such a heartache, but God was always there to show His mercy and show me the path out.

I’ve written this book to you because God doesn’t teach us so we can keep it all to ourselves. He wants me to help you understand that there is hope. There is a way out of your living hell. Call out to Jesus, and do whatever He says!

Homework:

For almost thirty days, because of your study, God’s love has been in the forefront of your thinking. If you’re not diligent to remind yourself of the things you’ve been learning and receiving from God, you’ll lose sight of them (James 1:22-25; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). There are many ways you could go about reminding yourself regularly. One of my favorite ways is to print things out and put them up on the fridge. Do what works for you!

30 Days of Love - Day 28: My Personal Experiences, Part One

Day 28: My Personal Experiences, Part One

(Click here for Day 27)

“I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.” Psalm 9:1

I know that I always find encouragement in hearing how God’s Word has worked in other people’s lives, so I wanted to share some personal examples with all of you, in the hopes of doing the same!

I want to start off with what I view as the first time I realized that walking in love actually works. At the time, I just saw it as “killing them with kindness,” but even with just that, I was able to experience victory.

Decades ago, I was working in an office, and one of the girls there didn’t like me. To this day I’m not really sure why. It doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that instead of treating her rudely in return, I decided to be nice to her. I remembered Scriptures about heaping coals of kindness on people’s heads (see Proverbs 25:21-22 and Romans 12:20), and figured I’d give it a shot. (I didn't have quite the right heart attitude, but hey, I was actually trying!)

It worked. The results weren’t obvious immediately, but by the time I left that office, we actually enjoyed each other’s company. Just knowing and having faith in what God said in one teeny bit of Scripture, I got the victory, and so did she. I love how God went beyond just a more peaceful work environment and gave us each a friend. I haven’t seen here in a very long time, but the thought of her always makes me smile. Imagine what God’s going to do in your life with all that you’ve been learning?

Fast forward about a decade, and there’s this woman who is mad at me. She told other people why she was upset with me, but never came to me directly. The sad part is that her reason for being mad at me was something she had assumed to be true, but was entirely false. She thought I had slighted her, when indeed I had not. I made a handful of efforts to mend fences, but received no response. I still pray for her and love her dearly despite not having any contact with her, and I’m still open to reconciliation.

There was another office I worked at where God pointed out to me that I was talking too much and interrupting another person’s work. (Maybe this is the reason the girl from my first example didn’t like me? Moving along…) Oops! I felt bad for the many months of yakking I had put my co-worker through. Then came the challenge—the point where I actually had to change my actions. Boy, was that a struggle at first. I kept catching myself mid-blather! Again, by acting on the direction God gave me, someone else was blessed in the process—with silence. (You can laugh, go ahead!)

I’ll have some more for you tomorrow!

Homework:

I want you to take some time to think about what you want your relationships to look like in the future. Are your actions and attitudes toward others taking you in that direction?