So many of the thoughts I will be sharing come from a book that impacted my life earlier last year….The Well-Watered Woman…she’s got a book, a blog, a website, facebook and instagram, journals, etc…She's got all the things and I have benefited so much through her thoughts and writings….At the ladies tea I shared a quick devotional about being a cactus…. at the time, I was a COVID cactus but I didn't realize it….Just like a cactus stores up water and was built for survival in the dessert, we need to store up God’s Word in our hearts for our survival….THE WORD OF GOD IS OUR WATER…..but before I jump in let’s do a little word study about our WORD!
Cultivate is an action verb…it is something that you do. The formal definition: Cultivate means “to prepare for the raising of crops,” “to protect and encourage the growth of,” “to cause to grow by special attention or by studying, advancing, developing, practicing, or publicizing.” Part of the second definition speaks volumes: “to improve by labor, care, or study.” Cultivating takes work. It doesn't just happen.
When I think of the word cultivate, I think of helping something to grow…..When I think back over the last several years, we have renewed some things, transformed some things all together, and now it is time for us to dig deep….to get down in the dirt, pull out our pruning shears and put on our gloves and get to weeding and pruning and cutting back the dead parts…the useless parts…. To be pruned - is asking God to remove anything that causes our lives to be unfruitful - sin, distractions, expectations….And sometimes when we ask the Lord to prune us, He may even take away good things….for the sake of something better!!! I have to share this quote from the book….”INSTEAD OF GRUMBLING AGAINST GOD’S PRUNING SHEARS, WE CAN OFFER HIM THE DEAD AND USELESS BRANCHES OF OUR LIVES AND TRUST HIM TO BEING BEAUTY FROM THE BROKENNESS.” Friends, we need to be pruned….cultivating our relationship with Christ needs to be a priority….we need growth…we need to grow in some areas that will help prepare us to better believers and better prepared for this cuckoo for cocoa puffs world we are living in.
We don’t accidentally cultivate. We purposefully cultivate.
How do we cultivate??? How do we prepare the souls of our hearts for growth?? First and foremost by cultivating a relationship with Jesus…we can’t grow without a personal relationship with Jesus…we have to be disciplined and make it a priority…..we must incorporate spiritual disciplines….these habits of devotion….into our daily lives.
“Spiritual disciplines are those practices found in the Scriptures that promote spiritual growth among those who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” They are practical rhythms designed by God to conform our hearts, minds, attitudes, and actions to the ways of Christ. We have to work at them….they don’t come naturally…..examples….
prayer
Giving thanks
fasting
Giving…….worship, service, submission
Meditating and studying God’s Word - "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts." - Jeremiah 15:16 To “eat” God’s words means we take them in; we hear God’s words or read them. And when we do this consistently and meditate on them God’s words become a joy and the delight of our hearts.
The spiritual disciplines are for our growth, for our blessing, and they are instruments that help us grow in godliness.
And for this lesson, I want our focus to be on the spiritual discipline of being in God’s Word….the study of His Word. Cultivating a love for being in His Word….because there are two forces that will shape our thinking: either the world or God’s word:
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)
We will either follow the counsel of the world or the counsel of the Word….look at the state of our country….nobody really knows what in the world in even going on….masks, no masks, vaccinated, not vaccinated….our freedoms are being tested and if we listen too much to what the world has to say, we’ll be depressed, anxious, and in a downward spiral….we need to turn off Fox news and open the Good news because that is our only hope!!!!!
And so I want us to be well-watered women this year…..watered by the Word of God…..because we need “water” to grow. My hope is that all of us here have been to the well and received that living water that is the gospel….that we are all believers. We know the gospel….we know the truth of who God is, and now it is time to focus on growing in our faith in Jesus. And I don't care if you’ve been saved for 5 months, 5 years, or 50 years, our growth should never stop. The Word will continue to transform us….we will never know and understand all the things…we will need to continually seek…..we will only grow with a steady intake of God’s Word….just like a plant continually needs water to grow….it will never have enough water to where it doesn't have to be watered anymore. Get that mental picture in your mind to help you understand the urgency and the necessity of drinking the Word of God everyday. Even when a plant is full grown, it needs water just about every day.
KEY Verse: 2 Peter 3;18, “ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
What does it mean to “grow in grace?”....one pastor said, ”True stability in the Christian life comes NOT from planting two feet and holding fast, but from putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward, one grace-empowered step at a time. A stable Christian is a growing Christian.” So in a nutshell…to grow in grace is to always be moving toward Christ by knowing His Word…..reading, knowing, memorizing, studying God’s Word is how we grow in grace…it is the only way!!!! This is why cultivating a love for the Word of God is so critical to our Chistian lives.
Goal for 2022…to help us cultivate our relationship with the Lord and a love for the WORD……
WORD BEFORE WORLD
My prayer is for us to cultivate our love for God’s Word…..I want us to love it, live in it, and act on it!!!!! I want us to adopt the phrase, “WORD BEFORE WORLD”....let’s have a New YEAR’s Resolution with some eternal significance….who doesn't want to lose weight or get in shape, get organized, stick to a budget, wake up earlier, etc….and these are all good things, and I want to do every one of them…again this year but the rewards for these things are temporal….What if our ONE New Year’s Resolution was to put the WORD before the world!!...Just a single resolution to put Jesus first.
So when we cultivate, we have to get in the dirt…. Now it’s time to get in the dirt….to do some weeding and pruning….
How do you start your day????? What is the first thing you grab when you wake up in the morning?.....coffee, your phone, the remote, a donut…lol….a baby for some of us….depending on our seasons we all wake up differently, at different times, and with different motives…some to get ready for work, to get kids to school or to get ready to homeschool….some of us are empty nesters, stay at home moms, we have some single ladies, some have parents to take care of…..all of our lives look different….but one way we are all the same is that we all need to spend some time with Jesus BEFORE we start our day. That is a bold statement and not meant at all to make up feel guilty……I know that may sound unrealistic for so many of us because of what our days looks like…but I want to challenge all of us to see the importance… it’s not a sin to NOT start our day with the Lord….don’t misunderstand me….I'm just saying how can we regularly face this brutal sin filled world, our own flesh, and the enemy without spending time with the Lord FIRST….for us working folks it might have to be after we get dressed and get in our car….or once we get to work…I don’t know each situations, but I know where there is a will there's a way…and how much time we have may be different….Realistically, Bailey is not going to have an hour to sit and read and pray and meditate every morning before Knoxs wakes up….she may be blessed enough to get 15 min of Scripture reading and a prayer just to help her through the day….It might just be one passage or verse that she can focus on for the day….that is why memorizing Scripture is so important….knowing what it says so we can recall it in the moments when we need it. She may not have time to go through the ACTS acronym where she adorns, confesses, thanks, and then supplicates….she might go straight to the supplicate some mornings…but here’s the things….THE LORD KNOWS THE DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS….He knows our seasons… BUT He also doesn't want…nor does he deserve the bare minimum….that should not be the goal…..He has to be a priority NO MATTER WHAT OUR SEASON. Because when we put God first…when we put the Word before the World, we shift our focus. His book becomes more important than Facebook….
Jonathan Edwards, the Great Awakening Pastor, the writer of the 70 resolutions…that he wrote as a teaenager…His first resolution serves as the foundation for all the rest….read on pg. 115…in a nutshell - Resolved to do what would bring the most glory to God….putting God first in everything - his desires, decisions, thoughts, time, his study and his speech, his reputation and relationships, his eating and drinking, his suffering and his repentance. YIKES!!!!...read on pg. 116
Philippians 4:13, “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’
Zechariah 4:6, “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
Matthew 19:26,” “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.
And to put “Word before the world” in perspective, it is easy to know that the Word is the Bible…and yes, when I say Word before the world, I’m talking about spending time in the Bible…reading and meditating on Scripture…but think about this… the Word isn't just “words” on a page…The Word is a person! The Word is Jesus…..the Word truly was before the world….John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
The Word created the world!!! “The Word is the very breath of Jesus”….to me this adds a whole new meaning to Word before the world…..and it makes me want to cultivate that time with my Savior….take it seriously…and make it a top priority in my life….so often I fail miserably at this.
Some quick things for us to keep on the forefront of our minds in regards to reading our Bible EVERYDAY….why we need to cultivate this time with the Lord:
because we are in a lifelong battle….things are not going to get easier….the battle is won when we are prepared for war, when we arm ourselves with truth…the full armor of God, and are ready to fight the good fight.
We need to be able to preach the truth to ourselves - we can’t preach it if we don’t know it!
Our seasons and circumstances are constantly changing….and God’s Word prepares us for them all….the good, bad, the brutal, and the beautiful….pg.170….remember the cactus…we need it stored up for times of drought…we need to read it in the slows seasons so when things change, we have some on reserve….we are already in the habit…it is already a priority and we will do what we have to do to make it happen
The Word of God gives us roots….every season has a purpose. Nothing is ever wasted in the Kingdom of God…but we need to be grounded in the Word to see the big picture, to see the character of God, to remember His promises.
Conclusion:
Cultivating takes work. It’s a verb—an action word. We must actively and purposefully cultivate the things in our lives we want to grow. This year, I hope we will focus on cultivating what matters. So I want us to think for a minute…..here comes the questions and the reflections….we are going back in the dirt…..
Where are some areas you need to grow? What are some things you (Gretchen, Laurie, Mistie) need to cultivate in your lives that will help you grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus?? Ask the Lord to do some pruning….ask the Lord to reveal some areas in your life that need to be weeded or cut back….it could be such simple things like taking facebook off of your phone, or going to bed earlier so you can wake up earlier…or it might be big things….harder things….whole roots that need to be pulled up.
Is being righteous before the Lord important to you?, Do you trust Him like you should….do you truly trust His sovereignty, What about Grace - are you a grace giver?? Forgiveness….does the Lord need to do some cultivating in your heart to help you forgive,.....what about Humility - is pride an issue???
What fruits of the Spirit do you need to cultivate?? Do you Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself?, joy….is the joy of the Lord where you get your strength???, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, goodness, faithfulness
What are some areas in your life that need pruning??? In your marriage, as a mom, daughter, sister, friend….servant of Christ???...at your job.
What are some thoughts that need weeding out…or cut back altogether??? About a person or relationship….a situation.
In what ways do you need to grow to look more like Jesus?? And what will you give up to spend more time with Him???
What keeps you from spending time in God’s Word? Laziness, other priorities, sin, time, lack of discipline, lack of self-control….TV
Have you ever read the Bible all the way through? If you answer is no, don’t beat yourself up…don't be discouraged…..instead commit to reading through all of God’s Word…not in a year if that seems overwhleming….it may take more than a year depending on your life at the moment…but that’s ok….start!!!....tomorrow….there are so many plans out there….Bro. Jim has one…Facebook and instagram has been inundated with links to different plans and ways to read….there are tons of accountability groups out there…I’d love to start an accountability group just for us…not to fuss or make each other feel guilty but rather to encourage each other to grow in grace everyday some kind of way!
And I want to encourage you in another way…read good books…watch tv less, and read more! Be on social media less, and read more!!! Let’s fill our hearts and minds with the good stuff, not the easy stuff. I know it’s easier to lay on the couch and watch to TV….it’s easier to read Facebook posts than to sit down and digest a book that requires us to think and reflect and be convicted of our sins…but friends, we are called to do the hard things….
Grow Slow
The glimmer of the pruning shears Catches the rays of light. I cringe as they draw near And cut me like a knife.
Extra branches, dead leaves, Dried flowers taking up room Are removed and cut away, Giving space for more blooms.
Growth is not always vertical; It requires cutting back. It’s taking away what shouldn’t stay To make way for a life without lack.
Growth is also horizontal; It requires stretching out, Relying upon the help of the Gardener, The sun, the rain, and drought.
Time and time again, I want to grow faster than I am. But you can’t hurry a flower’s bloom— You wait on God’s greater plan.
In the waiting and the longing, Receive the nutrients given To flourish and keep growing, To be faithful to God’s mission.
God’s nurturing of our souls Takes time, pruning, and trust. Abiding is the way we grow. Remain in him, we must.
Growth is never ending, And it looks different in every season. Trust the Gardener’s skillful hands— He is working for a reason.
Keep growing, stretching, reaching. Every moment of the day, God is working, pruning, teaching. Follow his Word—the Way.
Verses to ponder
Proverbs 12:1 He who tills (cultivates) his land will have plenty of bread, But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.
Proverbs 28:19 He who tills his land will have plenty of food, But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.
Ecclesiastes 3:2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
Psalm 92:12-14 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
Hebrews 5:12-14, “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Psalm 92: 12-14, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
Jeremiah 12:2, “You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
2 Peter 1:5-8, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Comments
Post a Comment