LIVE LIKE JESUS ~ blog

Have you ever had one of those days (weeks, months or years) when everything seems to be stacked up against you? Nothing appears to be going right despite your prayers, good intentions, hard work, and determination.

It can be a very disheartening time.

A time when doubt and insecurity can slowly creep in and make you feel as if you are stuck in a hole with no way out.

Now imagine what it must be like to be a seed.

One day Mr. Seed is just minding his own business, hanging out with the other seeds, dreaming about how they can’t wait to become mighty fruit trees one day.

Then all the sudden the Farmer reaches his hand into the bag and pulls out Mr. Seed, shoves him into a hole, covers him in manure, almost drowns him in water and then walks away to do the same thing to the next seed.

Can you imagine what Mr. Seed must be thinking? His nice little life, dreaming of becoming a mighty fruit tree has been ruined. “Why Farmer, Why,” he shouts! He’s lost in the dark, feeling scared, defeated, unsure of what is next, wondering why the Farmer would just leave him there and worst of all… he’s covered in MANURE!

All his life he wanted to become a mighty fruit tree but now he’s just stuck in this hole with no way out.

Sound familiar?

You see, Mr. Seed only was able to see things from his limited perspective. He didn’t know what the Farmer knew. The Farmer knew than in order for Mr. Seed to grow and become that mighty fruit tree that he’d need to start out in the soil. Every day when Mr. Seed thought he was being drowned, it was really the Farmer pouring down the water that would give him life. Ever day when Mr. Seed thought he was being covered in more and more manure, it was really the Farmer helping him grow.

The moral of the story is this…

When you are stuck, when it seems like everything is against you and there’s no way out of the hole you are in… remember the Farmer’s Perspective. It’s in the hole, often covered in manure, that we experience the growth we need to reach our dreams and bear fruit.

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Loved this article. Had to share…

The Butterfly Principle
by Os Hillman, September 13, 2007

The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. - Exodus 14:8

Overprotective parents do their children a great injustice. The caterpillar that lies inside the cocoon will never become the beautiful butterfly if someone cuts open the cocoon prematurely. It is the struggle itself that allows the butterfly to emerge as a strong, new creature of nature.

God understands how necessary this process is. That is why we are allowed to experience difficult, often life-changing events. He even orchestrates them-all for our benefit. What the Israelites thought was a cruel joke when Pharaoh sent troops to pursue them after they had been freed and penned against the shore of the Red Sea became the stage for the most publicized miracle of all time-the parting of the Red Sea. Generation after generation has heard this incredible story of deliverance. God puts us against the “Red Seas” in order to show His power in and through us. If we do not know God can deliver, then we can never learn to trust Him. Circumstances that go beyond our capabilities of solving them place us at God’s complete mercy. This is how He likes it.

Do not fear the calamity that comes your way. If you are faithful to Him in the test, you will see God’s power manifested like never before. Just as the Israelites were able to sing a song of deliverance, you too will have your own testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness; and you will be able to recall it for others to build your faith and theirs.

Sign up for Os Hillman’s TGIF (Today God IS First) daily workplace devotional at http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/

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[ an article by Dallas Willlard - www.dwillard.org ]

How the disciple lives naturally comes out of who the disciple is.

As Jesus’ disciple, I am his apprentice in kingdom living. I am learning from him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of the Heavens as he would lead my life if he were I. It is my faith in him that led me to become his disciple. My confidence in him simply means that I believe that he is right about everything: that all that he is and says shows what life is at its best, what it was intended by God to be. “In him was life and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4 NAS)

Being his apprentice is, therefore, not a matter of special “religious” activities, but an orientation and quality of my entire existence. This is what is meant by Jesus when he says that those who do not forsake all cannot be his disciple. (Luke 14:26 & 33) The emphasis is upon the all. There must be nothing held of greater value than Jesus and his kingdom. He must be clearly seen as the most important thing in human life, and being his apprentice as the greatest opportunity any human being ever has.

When this orientation of the whole life has come upon us and been accepted, then the grace that brought it can begin to move throughout every aspect of what we are and do. Grace is God acting in our lives to bring about what we do not deserve and cannot accomplish on our own. But we are not passive in this process. We are commanded to put off the old person and put on the new. (Col. 3:9-10; Eph. 4:22-24) We are told to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 3:18) This is something for us to do, and , although we cannot do it on our own, it will not be done for us. Being alive in Christ means that we can do whatever it is we need to do to increasingly take on his character and live in his power.

The ultimate outcome of this process is expressed by Paul the Apostle: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Col. 3:17) And again: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (I Cor. 10:31) My entire life is to be caught up in the life that Jesus Christ himself is now living on earth and will continue throughout eternity. And that is why being his apprentice is the greatest opportunity any human being ever has. That is how grace possesses our whole life. That is how those “saved by grace through faith…are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)

Living as Jesus’ disciple, I am learning from him how to lead my life in the Kingdom of the Heavens everywhere I am, in every activity I engage in. There are three dimensions of this learning… Read the rest of this entry »

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Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and something that was said began to play over and over again in your mind?

It happened to me yesterday.

I was speaking with someone and throughout the conversation she kept saying things like, “I HAVE TO go do ____. Then I HAVE TO get ____ done. And after that I HAVE TO go ______.”

It wasn’t the person who was saying this that stuck with me. It was the phrase itself and the way it kept coming across in my mind. I use it all the time too but it just never stuck out to me as it did yesterday.

“I HAVE TO.”

If you think about it, “I HAVE TO” is actually quite negative. It signifies a duty, responsibility, and obligation or better yet… a chore that we don’t really want to do. In reality we should be using words that express our gratitude and thanksgiving for even the most mundane of things because, after all, there are many others in the world who are dying to do some of those things we feel like we HAVE TO do.

I think from now on I am going to try my best to replace “I HAVE TO” with “I GET TO.”

It’s in appreciation of even the simplest of things that we’re reminded of the grace we’ve been given and the joy that we should find in everything we GET TO do.

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