Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

4.20-  1600 Some of us get frustrated because perfect is an enemy of good.  We have good things we are doing and yet someone notices it is perfect and we quit our good work.  We need to stay busy doing what we can do for God the best we can.  God's powerful love will produce fruit.  We need to be assured of this in all our lives since we are children of God. Some may produce more than others.  What matters is fruitfulness and not comparing ourselves with others. Matthew 13. 23  But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” 1 Corinthians 12. 12  Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13  For we were all baptized by [ l ] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one ...

4.19- We tend to worry about riches too much.  Americans are very wealthy compared to most countries in the world, yet we worry.  Why?  Some of us have been deceived to believe that if we had higher wages we wouldn't worry.  No.  Probably we still would because we are not trusting God.  Jesus taught His disciples to be content with their wages.  The lack of fruitfulness and spiritual effectiveness for many of us is that we are distracted and our spiritual connection to God has been severed due to the love of money. Matthew 13. 22  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

4.18- To choose to follow Jesus is to choose a path that includes some trouble and persecution.  This is normal.  All lives will have trouble of some kind.  To choose to take the yoke of Jesus is to have the easy yoke.  He is humble and gentle with us. Matthew 13. 20  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  

4.17 It is bad to refuse to understand because it sets the mind for the word of God to be stolen from you by the evil one.  It is good to hunger for the word of God so that you learn to understand more and more of it even though no one can completely understand everything in the mind of God. Matthew 4. 18  “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19  When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

4.16- You get the choice to grow in your understanding or not.  Important choice.  Some people have a calloused heart because they resist rather than grow and change to walk with God. This causes a spiritual blindness to spiritual things. This causes a failure to turn when things need change.  Dug yourself into a hole.  Dig faster and deeper.  No.  To turn and move from darkness to light. Matthew 13. 14  In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;      you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15  For this people’s heart has become calloused;      they hardly hear with their ears,      and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,      hear with their ears,      understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ [ a ] 16  But bless...

4.15- Tax day. How can a follower of Jesus pay his/her taxes? Trust God. Matthew 17.27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin . Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” Matthew 6. 25  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life [ n ] ? 28  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30  If t...

4.14- According to Jesus the best prayers are secret. Prayers are listening to what God speaks to our own heart, mind, soul and body. There are moments we need people to pray with us and for us. This can open doors to gifted helpers. Last Thursday I asked prayer for Donna Wishard, our daughter in love, who is in a job search. This opened the door for her to one of the most effective networking groups in our area. Thank you God for prayer and friends who pray for us. Matthew 6. Prayer 5  “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because o...