Parresia · Beholding Jesus in His Amazing Grace, Session 15, “Jesus, Our Restful Fruitfulness, Part 2”

Introduction

Welcome to session 15 of Beholding Jesus in His Amazing Grace. This session is entitled, “Jesus, Our Restful Fruitfulness, Part 2”

Hosea 10:12, NLT – Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.

I hope by now when you see the word “righteousness,” you immediately think of Jesus and the free gift of His righteousness. I hope that when you think of the free gift of righteousness, you think of the great exchange:

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

I hope when you think of the Great Exchange, you think of the cross. I hope when you think of the cross, you think of the “finished work of Jesus.” I hope when you think of the “finished work of Jesus,” you instantly associate that phrase with one single word: LOVE.

Sow the good seeds of the good news of Christ’s righteousness given to us because of the extravagant love of God — which is the gospel – and you will harvest a crop of love.

The soil: Our heart

Today I’m going to talk about the spiritual principles that Jesus illustrated with the soil, the seed, the sower, and the harvest.

First we’ll talk about the soil. The soil receives the seed. The soil is our heart. The heart must be cultivated in order to receive the seed and become fertile ground for the the seed to grow. We do that by abiding.

Last week we talked about abiding in Jesus, the True Vine, by immersing ourselves in His love and being conscious of our union with Him.

John 15:7-9, NASB – “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”

• Do you need a financial breakthrough? Saturate your heart with “Jesus loves me.”
• Do you need healing? Saturate your heart with “Jesus loves me.”
• Is your child wandering? Saturate your heart with “Jesus loves me.”
• Are you feeling spiritually dry? Saturate your heart with “Jesus loves me.”

And then “go to sleep” (as we will see in Mark 4 in a few minutes).  Rest in the finished work. And, by the way, when you abide during the day, you will still abide in your sleep. You will pray without ceasing. Your life will be a prayer because of your constant communion with Jesus.

Preparation for the soil: no unnecessary disturbance

Every good gardener knows that the soil must be prepared if he wants the seed to sprout and grow. I looked up how to prepare soil, and I read, 

“It’s as simple as adding organic matter, mulching it, and letting it live free of compaction and unnecessary disturbance.”

My first thought was, the love of Jesus is organic and life-giving. Then I thought, we must rid our hearts of all unnecessary disturbance. 

And this is where understanding Grace really comes in. To know the love of Jesus for you, you must understand the great exchange and be overcome by the unfairness of it. Think about Hebrews 9 and 10 which instructs us that we can have a perfect conscience, that we don’t have to have a guilty conscience. No more consciousness of sin. Because every reminder of sin will bring doubt into our hearts that the lamb of God has really has washed away those sins. Every thought that we aren’t worthy disturbs our hearts.

So sometimes meditation on His love is simply receiving forgiveness. We have already been forgiven of every sin we’ve ever committed or will ever commit. We have been forgiven according to the riches of His grace, not according to the degree of shame we feel or the confession of every sin.

So we allow the love of God to pour over us with the washing of the water of “The Word,” remember from Ephesians 5:25, “He gave himself for us” and nothing can ever separate us from His love. Not our past sins, and not our future sins. Even now if we are in the midst of a temptation, we can say, “I praise the Lord for the love He has for me. Because He traded places with me, I know that even now as I contend with the flesh, I am still the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I don’t go with my feelings which betray my true heart. I go with what I know to be true: ‘Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.’”

The good soil must be rid of unnecessary disturbance.

The Seed: God’s word, Isaiah 55

Now, to the seed: [We’ll get back to the soil in in minute]

Luke 8:11 – [Jesus said] “The seed is the word of God.”

1 Peter 1:23-25, NIV – For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, [not of human origin – not natural] but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. [The “word of God” is a creative power working in and on and through the Spirit]  24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. [That phrase “the word that was preached” is the Greek word “euangelizō” – which means “to preach the gospel; to preach good news.” “The word” that is incorruptible seed that gave us life is the gospel! As I have said, the Gospel can be summed up with “He loves me and gave Himself for me.” The Gospel bears incorruptible fruits – incorruptible works that last, not dead works – because it is in itself incorruptible.]

Mark 4:14 – [Jesus said -] “The sower sows the word.” [The sower sows the gospel]

The gospel will produce a harvest when sown in good soil.

Isaiah 55:10-11 – [God says – ] “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” [Prosper – in other words, His Word will not only bear fruit, that fruit will be full of more seed that will be sown, and it bear more fruit. His Word is fruitfulness.]

When God sends forth His word, it will produce a harvest.

Genesis 1:3 – God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Psalm 33:6, NLT – The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.

Psalm 107:20 – He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.

Matthew 8:8, NASB – [The centurion said to Jesus – ] “…just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

He gave Himself for us

Why? Because Jesus Himself is the Word.

• Jesus is the manifestation of Good News.
• Jesus is “the Word” that God sent forth to save and heal mankind.

[And that Word did not return to Heaven void]

• Jesus is God’s answer to the brokenness of man.
• Jesus has accomplished what pleased God.
• Jesus is the seed that God planted in the world.
• Jesus is the first fruit.
• And when Jesus is sown in our hearts, we prosper.
• Because Jesus is our Fruitfulness.

So whatever the need, the seed is the Gospel of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel [the “euangelion” – the noun form of “preach the gospel” in 1 Peter 1. The gospel is the creative, incorruptible seed of spiritual and supernatural life. I am not ashamed of the gospel – ] of Christ, for it [the gospel] is the [dunamis] power of God to salvation for everyone who believes… [pistis – puts their full hope, trust, and confidence in it]

Salvation – sōtēria – [the verb form is sozo] is every kind of salvation imaginable: eternal life,   welfare,   prosperity,   deliverance,   preservation,   safety,    health.

Last week after the teaching I shared with yall the reason I harp on one simple word: “He gave Himself for us.” All those years we studied topics – not just what we called “salvation”; but healing;   deliverance;   biblical marriage, parenting, and finances – and even grace was just a topic – and we learned formulas and steps to success – it was good instruction, but not good news! Why? Because we were central, not Jesus. We never understood the main thing – the Good News that connected all the dots – that all the promises of God are “YES!” in Christ Jesus!

When I was awakened to pure grace – to the cross, the New Covenant in Jesus’s blood – to the new creation and our union with Jesus –  I realized that every topic can be summed up with one phrase: “He loves me and gave Himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20, KJV – I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

1 Timothy 2:6 – [Jesus is our Mediator] who gave Himself a ransom for all. [a ransom is a purchase price for freedom. The blood of Jesus was the purchase price for our salvation and every need we have under heaven] 

Galatians 1:4 – [Jesus] gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

Ephesians 5:2 – …Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. [The Peace Offering, right?]

Titus 2:14 – [He] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us…[redeem is “to liberate by payment of ransom”]

Ephesians 5:25-27 …He gave Himself for her, [for us! the church!] 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

“He gave Himself for me” is THE WORD that connects all the dots – no matter what the topic is. 

Listen to what Von wrote in the forward to Unveiling Jesus – 

• Jesus died — that I might have abundant and eternal life. (John 10:10-11)
• Jesus was bruised — that I might be healed. (Isaac 53:5)
• Jesus was punished — that I might be forgiven. (Isaiah 53:5)
• Jesus was shamed — that I might walk in glory. (Isaiah 53:5)
• Jesus became poor — that I might walk in abundance. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
• Jesus was rejected — that I might be accepted. (Matthew 27:46)
• Jesus became sin — that I might be made righteous. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The storms come, and we say, “the Son of God loves me and gave Himself for me. He will care for me.” Trials come, and we say, “the Son of God loves me and gave Himself for me. He will make a way where there seems to be no way.”

Mark 4 – parable of the soils (see also Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 and Luke 8:4-8, 11-5)

Mark 4:3-9, 14-15 – [Now to the parable of the soils. Jesus said, -] “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”… [Jesus explains starting in vs 14 ] 14 The sower sows the word. [The seed is the gospel. “He loves me and gave Himself for me.” So Jesus describes 4 types of hearts – three of these hearts are not prepared to receive the seed, and they bear no fruit. These are people that do not know the love of Jesus for them and are not abiding in His love. #1 – ] 15 “And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. [The wayside is the road – it’s “common beaten path.” These are hard hearts.] When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.”

“Satan “ – the word means “the adversary.” Matthew, in his parallel passage, calls satan, “the evil one.” Evil is the Greek word “ponēros” which means “full of labors, annoyances, hardships, pressed and harassed by labors.” The “ponēros” adversary corrupts, deceives, manipulates, and abuses. 

Luke, in his parallel passage, calls satan, “the devil” – the Greek word “diabolos”  – which means the slanderer, the false accuser.  So here’s an expanded version:

Mark 4:15, expanded – And these are the ones by the wayside, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan, the adversary who falsely accuses and slanders them, bombards them with labors, annoyances, and hardships, and then corrupts, deceives, manipulates, and abuses them in order to immediately take away the word of the gospel of the amazing grace of Jesus Christ that was sown in their hearts.” [and therefore they produce no fruit.]

Why do you think the devil would immediately steal the word from those whose hearts are hard? Because he knows the power of the testimony.

Revelation 12:11 – And they overcame him [the accuser of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb [which washed away their sins] and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. [Like Paul!]

1 Timothy 1:15-16, NLT – [Paul wrote] “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

Satan will do anything to immediately snatch the word from those with hard hearts who are heading in the wrong direction on the road of life, [Like Paul] because he knows that if that seed sprouts, it will burst with fruitfulness bearing more seed, and the word will spread.

Soil #2 – Stony ground

Mark 4:16 – [soil #2 – ] – “These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation [the Greek word there means “a pressing together, pressure, oppression”] or persecution arises for the word’s sake, [to steal the word] immediately they stumble.”

”Stumble” is the Greek word “skandalizō.” It means to put a stumbling block in someone’s path, to offend, to cause one to distrust another or to desert someone that he should trust; to cause one to judge another unjustly.

This makes me think of all those people that have been offended in church.  The seed of the Word – the gospel of amazing grace – is sown, they receive it with joy, but something happens –  pressure or persecution or offense is caused by the devil to steal the word.  Through circumstances the devil causes their gladness to turn to offense or hurt or resentfulness, and causes them to distrust or finger point and judge others unjustly.

“the Word” could not take root.  Why? Because the soil is mixed with stones. I see stones as the law.  I see a heart conflicted by a mixture of law and grace. They love the sound of grace, but victimization and self-righteousness prevent grace from taking root. 

Their hearts aren’t saturated deeply in the love of Jesus. So they can only endure for a time. They are shallow. They have no root, so they bear no fruit. “The word” stops with them.

That’s why I spend so much time on this topic of receiving the love of Jesus!

Soil #3 – Thorny ground

Mark 4:18-19 – [soil #3 – ] “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

“Cares” is the Greek word “merimna” means to be drawn in different directions by anxiety, to be distracted with worry. The “cares of the world” choke the gospel.  The “cares of the world” choke the  spigot of grace. The Greek word for “world” here is “aiōn” and refers to the life of the godless – the worries of this age for those who live apart from God.

We may encounter the same circumstances as the world, but we don’t have to be choked with the cares of the godless.   When we abide in the love of Jesus, we will receive hope and encouragement because we will have eyes to see and ears to hear from a heavenly perspective.

and when our hearts are saturated with the love of Jesus, we won’t fall prey to the deceitfulness of riches and desires for other things. What other things even compare to the love of Jesus?  When we know He loves us, we know that He will withhold no good thing from us!

Soil #4 – Good ground

Mark 4:20 – [soil #4 -] “But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, [akouō – give attention to is and understand it] accept it, [paradechomai  – to take for oneself, to claim as one’s own – claim the gospel, the love of Jesus for yourself] and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” [the more love you claim, the more fruit you bear]

Mark 4:20, Wuest Translation – [notice the verb tenses] They kept on yielding fruit, growing up and increasing, and they kept on bearing, (some) up to thirty, and (some) to sixty, and (some) to one hundred.* [There is no limit to the fruit we can bear and the answers to prayer when we give attention to and understand the love of Jesus and claim it as our own.]

Let’s look at the last verse of this parable in Luke’s account: 

Luke 8:15, NASB –  But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest [The Greek word is kalos – beautiful, excellent, precious, commendable, admirable] and good heart, and hold it [the Word] fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

The word “honest” is the adjective form of the adverb that Jesus used with the woman at the well when she told Him she didn’t have a husband, even though she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. 

John 4:17 – [He said] “You have well said, ‘I have no husband.’”

“Well said” – “kalōs”- and it means, “beautifully, finely, excellently, no room for blame, truly, nobly, commendably.”

He commended her on her honesty – even though she was living in sin. That’s pure grace. When we have an honest heart, we have nothing to hide from Jesus. When we have nothing to hide, we can receive pure grace – and bear fruit, 30, 60, even 100 fold! The more honest you are with Jesus the more fruit you’ll bear!

When our hearts are good soil, we will hold onto the word – we hold on to the love of Jesus for us and all His promises – and we will bear fruit with perseverance. “Perseverance” is the Greek word hypomonē – it describes a man who is “not swerved from his deliberate purpose even through the greatest trials and sufferings; He is steadfast as he patiently waits.” He has a sustaining perseverance. Why? In the context – because He knows he is loved.

God causes the growth

This leads me to my next point: we can prepare our hearts, we can receive The Word, we can water it, but we cannot make the seed grow. Only God can do that, and He will do it His time in His way.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7, NLT – [Paul said] I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

Acts 12:24 – the word of God grew and multiplied. [How? God did it!]

Acts 19:20 – the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. [How? God did it!]

2 Timothy 2:9, NLT – the word of God cannot be chained. [Why? Because it is the living and enduring word!]

The responsibility of the transformation of the seed to the harvest is God’s alone. Later in that same chapter of Mark, Jesus said – 

Mark 4:26-29 —“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, [other versions say “day after day,” “as the days went by”] and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he [the man] puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Mark 4:26-27, JB Phillips – the seed sprouts and grows up, though he has no idea how it happens. The earth produces a crop without any help from anyone. [Only God causes the growth]

Just as a farmer cannot see the growth of the seed in the ground, we cannot see the growth of the seed of the gospel in the heart. We plant, we water, but God causes the growth.

All good fruit starts in the heart in seed form and grows from the inside out. In my own life,  I was taught by my mom from an early age, and throughout my teens and my twenties and into my early thirties, I attended many Bible studies and church services and prayer groups and  conferences and retreats, and but often I never said a word. I was the quiet one that the leader probably never even noticed, but a lot was going on in my heart. God was causing growth that no one could see.

We shouldn’t get discouraged because we aren’t seeing fruit. There is a process to the season of harvest. It doesn’t happen all at once. Day after day there is change – we just can’t see it. And you know, at the moment when that seed sprouts in the hidden place of the heart, the harvest has begun. 

When Mark was healed, he believes it sprouted when we were at David Wilkerson’s Times Square Church on July 4, 1995. The choir sang “Amazing Grace,” but Mark couldn’t even stand because his legs were too weak. He was the only one sitting in the whole place. But with hands raised, he sang “Amazing Grace” – his heart was flooded with grace – and that was the moment when the seed of healing sprouted inside. His legs were still numb, and he could hardly walk, but harvest had begun.

Psalm 126

To conclude today, I want to share with yall some thoughts that came to me this week as I was considering all these things. The first is from Psalm 126 and sowing in tears.

Did you know that you can be sad, but still be encouraged? Some things are sad, and we cry, but we are still encouraged by the word of God and the love of Jesus for us. That encouragement compels us to keep on sowing and keep on watering. And even our tears are used by God to water the seed. Our perseverance is evidence that we know He loves us, and He will fulfill His promises – otherwise we would just quit.

Psalm 126:5-6 – Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

Psalm 30:5 – Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

The nature of seeds

While I was preparing this, Claire emailed me some old notes that we had discussed a few years ago. In those notes I included a couple of scriptures about how a seed has to die before it becomes a plant and bears fruit. It got me to thinking about how critical it is for us to let go of what only God can do. Not only can only God cause the growth, only God can raise the dead. Jesus said – 

John 12:23-24 – “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Jesus had to die before He rose again. He had to die before He was glorified. He had to die before He could be the first fruit of a new creation. He had to die so we could live.

1 Corinthians 15:36-37, NLT – [Speaking of our resurrection from the dead, Paul uses the analogy of sowing a seed.] When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.

This is the nature of seeds. A seed has to die before God causes it to germinate and sprout.

Imagine that we had never seen full grown wheat, but we were able to see what happens to the seed underground when it decomposes and dies, we would not think it was possible for that seed to become a harvest of wheat. But it is necessary for the seed to die before it is quickened by God, and then shoot up into the blade and the head and the full grown wheat.

There are some things that are only for God to know, not us. Things that He can see that we can’t. Things that only He should see.

When you sow the seed, although it is the promise of the plant that will grow, it doesn’t look anything like the plant! It goes in a bare seed, but springs up a green plant in a completely different form! 

That’s the way it is with God’s word. All of God’s promises come as simple words – just words. 

1 Corinthians 1:21 – it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

But they are God’s words so they are full of potential and power. 

And that power is God’s alone. We sow, we water, and but then we sleep. We wake up. We water the seed with the washing of the water of the word: “He loves me and gave Himself for me,” and we sleep. Wake up. Water it. And sleep. But God causes the growth. He raises the dead. It could be a dead dream or a lost child. Whatever it is, it’s His to raise.

Immeasurably more, plowman and reaper

Since 2020, God has given me a simple theme in prayer. Every day for years I hear, “Tricia, I will do immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine.” 

On July 13, 2020, about 4 years ago, I was meditating on Ephesians 3:20 in several different versions of the Bible, and I wrote a composite: 

Ephesians 3:20 – [Tricia’s composite of 6 versions] God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He will accomplish infinitely more. He is able to carry out His purpose and do exceedingly, superabundantly, immeasurably far over and above, all we ask or imagine or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams].

And then about a year later on May 23, 2021, I was meditating on Solomon’s story when God said to him – 

1 Kings 3:5, 13 – “Ask for whatever you want me to give you. [He asked for wisdom – God gave him wisdom, but much more]… 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for [riches, long life, honor]…”

And I wrote, “I see Jesus going ahead to the future to grant requests yet to be made and defying my greatest hopes and dreams.  I don’t know how to describe it, but a picture is coming to mind: it’s like a snowball rolling down a hill and gaining steam. At some point it will go faster than it can be pushed. And somehow we’re all in that snowball rolling with it. It is grabbing up every prayer and request, past, present, and future. The Great I AM was there in the past preparing the way, He has gone ahead of us to the future and now has returned to clear a path for us to get there.”

And then this verse came to mind: 

Amos 9:13, NASB – “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed…”

The Cambridge commentary says “this is a hyperbolical description of the fertility of the soil. [When I read that I thought of the heart! the fertility of the heart saturated with the love of Jesus] So rapid will be the growth of the crops, that the ploughman will hardly have finished breaking up the ground for seed, when the corn will be ready for the reaper; so abundant will be the vintage, that before the grapes are all trodden out, the time will have arrived for sowing seed for the following year.”

Amos 9:13-14, The Message – “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people.”

Kairos, Chronos

James 5:7, 17-20 – See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it [makrothymeō] until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand..… 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Patience…. In this season, pretty much every day, I hear the Lord say, “Tricia – 

Proverbs 21:5, TLB – Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty.

What is my “steady plodding”? Marinate in His love. When I get frustrated and impatient and worried, I release it as quick I can. I want to keep the soil of my heart as undisturbed as possible. If I can’t seem to let go of disturbance quickly, and I bear bad fruit, I refuse to be ashamed. I just marinate in His love. That’s the day to day.

There are four words for “time” in the New Testament. Two of them are kairos and chronos. Chronos is the yearly, daily, the hourly, the minute by minute. Kairos is the “opportune time”; the moment when everything aligns, when all the circumstances come together for God’s intended purposes. 

A scholar named Skip Moen wrote, “Most of the time we aren’t even aware that this [kairos] moment is speeding toward us at the pace of life. Most of the time we are caught in the ordinary, the repetitious, the grind. We fail to see that alignment is taking place constantly. Then suddenly everything fits, and in perfect hindsight we realize that it couldn’t have happened any sooner.”** 

“Kairos is the time when everything is perfectly in alignment so that a slice of the heavenly can arrive in a moment of chronos, the daily repetition of our lives. The reason we confidently wait through the long ages is that kairos is unpredictable. It is God’s perfect moment when the course of the universe is arranged so that God’s perfect purpose comes to pass.”*** [He’s moving heaven and earth for us because He loves us]

Galatians 6:9, TPT – And don’t allow yourselves to be weary in planting good seeds, for the season [the due season – kairos] of reaping the wonderful harvest you’ve planted is coming! 

I’ll end with this: Have you ever heard of the Chinese Bamboo? I was reminded of it yesterday as I was thinking about patience. while we wait for harvest. 

The Chinese Bamboo seed is planted, and nothing happens after daily watering for 5 years, and then all of a sudden it sprouts and shoots up from the ground. In 6 weeks it grows 90 feet. One bamboo harvest can provide for a farmer and his family for generations. 

I found a video about a farmer who plants the Chinese Bamboo seed – which I’ll include in the notes online.  [Video: Chinese Bamboo]  At the end of the video, all of the people in the village who had mocked  the farmer for spending all those years watering what appeared to be barren ground – after they saw the harvest – they were then planting their own seeds.

Through abiding in the love of Jesus, watering the soil with the gospel, “He gave Himself for me,” we will bear much fruit – fruit that will last and feed others, and fruit that will inspire others because they see the harvest in our lives. They will say, “I want what you have.” They will say, “What must I do to be saved?” And then they will look to Jesus and believe for themselves. Amen?

NOTES:

* Wuest’s Word Studies, “Mark”, copyright, 1950, by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

** Hebrew Word Study / Skip Moen, “One of Three,” https://skipmoen.com/2017/07/one-of-three-2/

*** Hebrew Word Study / Skip Moen, “Two of Three,” https://skipmoen.com/2017/07/two-of-three/

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