Stick With The Plan

Don't Open That Door

Have you ever found yourself so engrossed with a show that you start yelling at the tv or is that just me? Let's say I'm watching a thriller and there is a group of people that are trapped by a psychopath trying to kill them. The group's leader has a plan for escape and it is a good plan and everyone is assigned their role to play to be able to successfully escape. Accept there is always that ONE person who when faced with the pressure of uncertainty goes their own way. Thus ruining the plan that would have allowed them to live. But instead, they chose to follow their own way and end up dead. As the viewer, we get to watch from a top-down view as the characters play their roles. It is always that one nitwit that wants to check out the random sound from a secret room that I find myself yelling at. From my vantage point, I can see what awaits them behind that closed door, and I'm screaming don't do it!

In the movie of my life, there have been many times where I was the nitwit that caved under the pressure of the uncertainty of not knowing how things will play out. My problem is that God who knows the end from the beginning has the plan. Seeing how He is God and I am not, God in His sovereignty chooses to not tell me the entire plan. Often times God will only tell me what I need to know in order to take the next step. Then He and all of heaven and hell wait to see what choice will I make. Will I stick with the plan that He has revealed through the Word of God and prayer? Or will I choose to investigate the random disturbance that I think may lead me out of my dilemma? 

The Plan 

Going back to the Bible we read of the journey of the children of Israel out of Egypt in the book of Exodus. There is an interesting truth nugget tucked into Exodus 13:17. "Then it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt". I have lived long enough now to know that I have been no better than the Egyptian Israelites many times in my life. The Lord brought me through trials to prepare me for His promises. At those times in my life, I can see how God was using the trials to strengthen me in the faith. However, there is always some kind of opportunity to abandon the unseen plan. Many times I tried to take the easy path because I don't like pain. Sometimes the Lord blocked me for my own good, but other times I suffered the consequences of going my own way. 

Once someone accepts Christ as Lord and Savior the process of maturing begins. A simple way of understanding it is that God has to start the process of getting Egypt out of us. If God gave us the easy path of glory in Christ Jesus we would fail. Because we have a strong enemy that will fight and try to derail God's plan for our lives. Satan is not going to let people just ooh and awe over your life and give praises to God, as much as I wish he would. No, our lives become living reminders and glory receptacles of the power of God when the unsaved look on us. Because God's plan is to put on the full display of the kingdom of heaven in your life. Our part of that plan (purpose) is to display the glory of God and make disciples of all men. Therefore the wilderness journey is something we all have to go through. It is designed to prepare us for a life of faith. In order to make it out, we first need to trust God and stick to the plan even when we can't see it.

He Is Always Working 

Both of those elements, trusting God and following His commands require faith. What is faith? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony"(Hebrews 11:1-2). An easy way of understanding the concept of faith is trust. Trust that the same God who delivered you before can do it again. Trust that God loves you and because He loves you He will make a way like waters flowing from a rock. That trust in God is not built upon an easy path, it can only be done in the Wilderness way. The good news is that when that reservoir of faith is built up in you and you start consistently choosing God's way over your own way. God will start to lead you out of the Wilderness because now you are ready. Now you are a good soldier prepared for the fight of conquering the promise land.

I'm going to leave you with a portion of Deuteronomy 8. When you get a chance I highly encourage you to read the whole chapter. Because one day after you have passed your tests the Lord your God will anoint you and be with you as you enter the land of promise.
"And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you" (Deuteronomy 8;2-5).

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Rooted and Grounded in Love

The Rose Vine

Spring is here and for many people that means the gardening season has arrived. For me, spring is a fresh start to build on what did well in my garden last year and correct some mistakes that were made in the previous seasons. This year my plan was to move a rose bush that was planted in the middle of my backyard. I originally thought I had a bush but found out that it was a climbing rose, and with nowhere to climb the limbs just drooped over dragging onto the ground. I picked out a spot along my fence that got plenty of sunshine and would allow for the rose's vines to climb and spread along the fence and trees. This move would involve digging up around the roses root system and transplanting to the new spot.

I figured that little project wouldn't be too bad, maybe 30-40 minutes of work and done. What I didn't realize is that unlike rose bushes whose roots only go down maybe 8-10 inches into the ground. Climbing roses can go as far as 18 inches down and spread outward! What I thought would be a quick project turned into 3 hours of digging into clay soil trying to get to the end of the root system of my roses! Long story short I gave up after over two hours of digging with no end in sight, way past the 18 inches mark! I cut the roots at the lowest mark and transplanted the vines and prayed that the roots will overcome the shock and dig deep and grow again.

In Ephesians 3 there is a prayer that the apostle Paul writes for the reader of Ephesians. The gardener in me noticed one particular phrase that popped out for me. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height; to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19). Let's view those verses using gardening as our lens.

Planting the Seed of Faith

Many times Christ used the analogy of planting, farming, and gardening to describe how to grow in God. If you ask me I think gardening must be one of God's favorite all-time activities! The first part of our verse says "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith". Well then, how does Christ come to dwell in our hearts? When a person becomes saved they are born again from incorruptible seed "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23)." Remember that the sower sows the word of God in our hearts and those of us that received that word are considered good ground (Mark 4:20).

Once we get past salvation and receiving the word, we now have to navigate life and Satan throwing everything at us to uproot the word that was planted. Growing in Christ will involve developing the root system that will allow us to withstand the cares of life and the wiles of Satan.

Digging Deeper: Surviving the Scorching Sun

In order to survive the withering heat of summer climbing roses will develop deep root systems that do two main things. The first is that the roots dig deep and cling to the earth so that when strong wind storms come they will not be uprooted and blown away. The second reason is that deep in the earth water can be found below the surface allowing for the vine to survive bouts of drenching heat so that the vine can survive the temperature changes and wait for when the weather becomes cooler. Paul's desire for the reader of Ephesians is that they would become rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. With that grounding in love comes an understanding of how deep and wide the love of Christ goes into a believer's life. That understanding of Christ's redeeming love will guard your heart against the trials of life.

In discussing the sower in Mark 4, Jesus mentioned that some would receive the word with gladness but when the sun came, the plant was scorched because it had NO DEPTH of earth. Tribulations and trials will come because of the word planted in our hearts. There is no way around that. In order to endure the scorching heat which will pass, the roots of the word and the love of Christ have to go deep into our very being. Jesus said that the ones that didn't make it had no root system in themselves so only endured for a time (Mark 4:17).

Digging Deeper: Planted by the Rivers of Living Water

Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night (Psalms1:2). For that person will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also SHALL NOT WITHER; and whatever he does shall prosper (Psalms 1:3). In order to enter into the kingdom of God, a person has to be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). So what exactly does that mean to be born of water and the Spirit? Taking it back to basic gardening concepts, a plant needs water in order to survive and flourish. In order to flourish where would a believer (plant) get the water, it needs to be full? 

In Isaiah 33:21 it says "But there the majestic Lord will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will sail". God has made clear throughout scripture that He is the living water, the river that flows throughout our being. Jesus during the last supper told the disciples that He would give us another Helper, the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Holy Spirit is our seal and guarantee of our heavenly inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14).  In talking with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus talks of the Holy Spirit as the living water.

"Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. The woman said to Him, Sir You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:10-14)."

Flourishing Fruit

The ultimate goal of the Christian life is to be filled with the fullness of God. In doing so we will produce much fruit that the Master can use to spread the kingdom of God. You know what is the beautiful thing about fruit, besides being delicious? Fruit can be replanted and reproduce more fruit according to its kind. God can use your life to produce much more than just what you see around you. Despite what you may feel right now continue to dig deep and become rooted and grounded in Christ our Lord.

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Heaven's Test Kitchen Part 1

The Prep Work

A couple of days ago I had a conversation with my cousin who runs an online bakery business. We were talking about the shortages with finding key ingredients for baking like flour, sugar, you know the basics. Because of the shortages, the baking had to be paused until supply lines open back up again. My cousin then mentioned something that I found to be really profound. During the course of baking a batch of cookies, some come out looking perfect and some come out looking, well not that great. The end batch that goes to the customer and is posted online is only the best of the best. The rest of the cookies are placed in the family cookie jar. Those cookies are studied to find out what went wrong but are eaten anyway because nothing goes to waste.

In Heaven's test kitchen lives are prepped and prepared to be put to the Master's use. In the service of the kingdom, no individual life belongs to himself or herself. Each life dedicated to the Master is to be used in service to others and to advance the kingdom of Heaven. In some of the best restaurants in the world, master chefs have something called a test kitchen. Recipes are born after multiple trials and errors to develop the perfect taste and texture before getting put on the menu. These tests are not done out in the open for the public to see. The master chef chooses the ingredients to go into the yet born recipe. These ingredients are thrown into all kinds of trials. They then are broken down, thrown into fire and water until the refining process is complete. The end result is a dish that has the chef's name placed on it as a signature dish ready for the public to consume.

God's refining process can feel lonely, disorienting, with all semblance of control having been lost. At least that is the perspective of the one going through the fire. However, the view from on high is quite different."Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another (Isaiah 48:10-11). 

Every saint in the kingdom has been called to be an image-bearer of Christ Jesus. "Then God said let Us create man in Our own image, according to Our likeness (Genesis 1:26). But because of sin, there are some things that have to be purged from our hearts and consciences in order to be fit for the Master's use. We as believers in Christ represent the glory and name of God here on Earth. If our lives reflect the consequences of our own whims, our own pursuits, and our own glory then God's name is profaned in front of the world. As ambassadors of Christ we were made to bring glory to our Lord, and one defining trait about the great I AM is that He will not share His glory with another, and that includes you and me.

The Baking Process

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men so will bring offerings in righteousness, (Malachi 3:3)". On its face, the thought of being purified through fire is pretty frightening and something that I wouldn't voluntarily submit myself to. The times that I have spent in God's furnace were crushing and in many ways broke me down to my core. I would never want to go through those experiences again to be truthful. I can honestly look back and say that I am not the same woman that I was before the fire. His fire is all-consuming but God knows what temperature our lives need in order to come out pure. The American Heritage Dictionary has an interesting list of the meaning of the word refine.

1. To reduce to a pure state
2. To remove by purifying
3. To free from coarse, unsuitable, or immoral characteristics
4. To become free from impurities
5. To acquire polish or elegance
6. To use precise distinctions and subtlety in thought and speech.

God is preparing His people to rule and reign with Him on Earth one day. "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on Earth (Revelation 5:10)." The purpose of refining is to prepare heirs worthy of the responsibility to rule as kings in the next life and to minister as priests now in this life. Because God is a good Father, He will not entrust to babes the authority that comes with ruling in the kingdom. "Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father (Galatians 4:1-2)". Therefore it is to our benefit when we endure trials and come out of them. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12)". There will come a day when the trials will end, and for those that make it out of the Wilderness, there is great reward on the other side.

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