Living the Spirit Filled Life

[Fool4Christ]

Kingdom Growth

For the earth yields crops… the blade… the head… the full grain. Mark 4:28


The poster read, “Lord, please give me patience; and give it to me NOW!” How like us all! And the same trait seems all the more tempting as we begin to learn of our privileges as people of the kingdom. Since our Lord has commissioned us to “Go and bring forth fruit,” it is understandable that as we pray, or as we do kingdom business, that we would prefer quick or immediate action.

But Jesus is reminding us of how “kingdom growth” occurs. As surely as it is true that the words we speak in prayer are heard, and as surely as the promises of God we claim are seed, so just as certainly it takes time for those promises sown in prayer to come to fruition.

The parallel is beautiful: we sow as God’s Word is laid hold of in faith; we water with prayer and praise; His love and grace provide the sunshine—and the fruitfulness of harvest will come! But remember the process: first, the small, grassy blade of mere beginnings; second, the growing evidence of coming fruit; and finally, the fulfilled promise in its completeness.


Jack W. Hayford and Sam Middlebrook, Living the Spirit Filled Life

 

[Aeliana]

Kingdom Growth

For the earth yields crops… the blade… the head… the full grain. Mark 4:28


The poster read, “Lord, please give me patience; and give it to me NOW!” How like us all! And the same trait seems all the more tempting as we begin to learn of our privileges as people of the kingdom. Since our Lord has commissioned us to “Go and bring forth fruit,” it is understandable that as we pray, or as we do kingdom business, that we would prefer quick or immediate action.

But Jesus is reminding us of how “kingdom growth” occurs. As surely as it is true that the words we speak in prayer are heard, and as surely as the promises of God we claim are seed, so just as certainly it takes time for those promises sown in prayer to come to fruition.

The parallel is beautiful: we sow as God’s Word is laid hold of in faith; we water with prayer and praise; His love and grace provide the sunshine—and the fruitfulness of harvest will come! But remember the process: first, the small, grassy blade of mere beginnings; second, the growing evidence of coming fruit; and finally, the fulfilled promise in its completeness.


Jack W. Hayford and Sam Middlebrook, Living the Spirit Filled Life

Looks like an excellent devotional. I'll keep reading them if you keep posting them. I post one here everyday called Promises for your Everyday Life. I'll be looking forward to seeing yours.

 

[Fool4Christ]

Looks like an excellent devotional. I'll keep reading them if you keep posting them. I post one here everyday called Promises for your Everyday Life. I'll be looking forward to seeing yours.

You got it will do

 

[Fool4Christ]

Kingdom Balance

The kingdom of heaven is at hand… the harvest is the end of the age. Matthew 4:17; 13:24, 39


Life in Christ is lived in a marvelously wonderful tension between points of balanced understanding. For example: We are saved (from sin’s penalty, death), and we are being saved (from the efforts of sin to rule our flesh) and we will be saved (from the presence of sin) at Jesus’ Coming. This progression is crucial to understanding life in Christ. Another essential balance point is seeing that God’s kingdom power is present now, and that yet it still will not be fully present until then—when Jesus comes.

Learning to live with both a holy boldness in faith and an appropriate humility in patience is a grace few seem to learn. In Matthew 13, the same One who said, “The power of God’s kingdom is right here, right now” (Matt. 4), gives a series of parables which show three things. First, there are immediate things that happen when God’s rule is welcomed and received now. Second, there are many things that faith sets in motion, but which take time to conclude. And third, there are some aspects of Christ’s ultimate kingdom dominion that will not be manifest until “the end of the age.” Let us pray today: “Lord, make me bold to expect what is for now and patient to wait for what is yet in the future.”


Jack W. Hayford and Sam Middlebrook, Living the Spirit Filled Life

 

[Fool4Christ]

His Workmanship June 18

You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13


We all need reassurance about who we are. Doubts arise. Who am I? Why am I here? This may be even more true of our children.
Reading the above words of the psalmist can bring confidence, assurance, and self–worth.

It is God who made us. His handiwork began in the womb where He skillfully wove our white bones, blue veins, and red arteries into a beautiful embroidery. The thought is repeated in verse 15 where “wrought” means “embroidered with various colors.” His finished work is awesome, wonderful, marvelous.

The Apostle Paul later wrote, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10).

The word “workmanship” comes from the Greek word poiema, which means “that which is manufactured, a product, a design produced by an artisan.”

It emphasizes God as the master architect, the Creator of the universe, and the Creator of man. We are His workmanship; we were formed by the master designer Himself, and marvelous are His works.


Jack W. Hayford and Sam Middlebrook, Living the Spirit Filled Life

 

[Fool4Christ]

Serve the Lord June 19

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15


Near the end of his life, the great warrior Joshua addressed the children of Israel. Now that they were in the Promised Land, they would have to decide where their spiritual allegiance would lie—with the God of their fathers or the gods of their newly conquered land. With boldness Joshua proclaimed that he had made his choice—he and his family would serve the Lord.

Every couple must make this decision for their families. It not only determines their future, but also that of their children. To choose to serve the Lord will bring peace and blessing to the family both now and in the future. “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children” (Is. 54:13). “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him” (Prov. 20:7). The influence goes even beyond our children to our “children’s children” (Ps. 103:17) and our “descendants’ descendants” (Is. 59:21).

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. And let that choice be to serve the Lord.


Jack W. Hayford and Sam Middlebrook, Living the Spirit Filled Life

 

[Fool4Christ]

Keep This Commandment /November 11

Keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing. 1 Timothy 6:14


The Apostle Paul is writing to his beloved spiritual son, Timothy, offering fatherly advice—“keep this commandment.” Referring to more than the immediately preceding verse, Paul’s encouragement is to keep all the commandments that have been given to this emerging spiritual leader so that God’s blessing will continue on his life and ministry.

In 1 John 3:23 this commandment is taught in its most potent and definable terms, that “we should believe on the name of [God’s] Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” We lay claim to His name, because He has laid claim to us. Pressing on in faith the kingdom of God advances, pushing back every work of darkness that destroys men. Loving each other we fulfill the mission of the Savior who has unlimited love for His people and a passion for sinners that compelled Him to sacrifice His life.

“[Keeping] this commandment” guarantees our faithful witness and releases His abounding blessing in our lives. “Until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing” calls us to ongoing obedience and steadfastness of faith without compromise.


Jack W. Hayford and Sam Middlebrook, Living the Spirit Filled Life