ReFocus

I love a garden. I love to walk out in the early morning and look at the new growth. I have had some great gardens over the years. I haven’t planted anything this year. I still may do it.

The process of planning a garden is fun. I simply plan for the harvest. I know the things that I want to enjoy at the harvest time and thus that dictates what seeds I plant. I know that when I harvest, I want to be able to pick a large juicy, ripe tomato – in fact, several of them. I know that tomato is rich in lycopene. Lycopene has been shown to help protect not only against prostate, but breast, pancreatic and intestinal cancers, especially when consumed with fat-rich foods, such as avocado, olive oil or nuts. Tomatoes offer significant anti-oxidant protection. Tomatoes are a very good source of potassium and a good source of niacin, vitamin B6, and folate. Niacin has been used for years as a safe way to lower high cholesterol levels. Diets rich in potassium have been shown to lower high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. Vitamin B6 and folate are both needed by the body to convert a potentially dangerous chemical called homocysteine into other, benign molecules. High levels of homocysteine, which can directly damage blood vessel walls, are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. All of these nutrients work together to make tomatoes a truly heart-healthy food. So go eat a tomato.

When I harvest, I also want squash, cucumbers, banana peppers, watermelon, and green beans. The taste is awesome and the benefits are outstanding. Just think of how great a watermelon would taste right now. Did you know that a sweet, juicy watermelon is actually packed with some of the most important antioxidants in nature. Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamin C and a very good source of vitamin A, notably through its concentration of beta-carotene. Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene. These powerful antioxidants travel through the body neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are substances in the body that can cause a great deal of damage.

Sowing, reaping, harvest…are all terms that we use in the physical world of gardening and on a much larger scale of farming. God gives us physical lessons to help explain spiritual truths. There are three principles that I have observed in my garden:

1. You reap what you sow.
2. You reap more than you sow.
3. You reap later than you sow.

These are not only principles…they are laws of nature. This is set in stone. I know that when I plant 500 seeds of field corn, I will reap field corn…I will reap several hundred ears of corn possessing hundreds of kernels of corn…but I will not reap it for at least 3 months. So you reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.

But this same thing will happen in the spiritual arena also. So let’s plan a spiritual garden. What harvest would you like to see? Let me help you with your spiritual garden. What do you need and enjoy experiencing? For me, I would like to harvest encourament for me; I would like to receive acceptance; I would like friends; I would like to receive adequate funds to enjoy life; I would like to harvest good deeds. Ok…in order to receive that harvest, you must actively plant the following seeds: encouragement, acceptance, friendship, giving, and good deeds. In order for you to be encouraged, you must plant seeds of encouragement. That simply means that today encourage someone…you will reap what you sow, later than you sow, more than you sow. Be a friend today…tomorrow receive more friends than you know what to do with! Give to the church today, give to an orphan today, give to a ministry to day…one day that harvest will come in…in a big way! Accept someone today! Receive it one day! Do good deeds today and receive good deeds in the future. And guess what…in the spiritual arena, you do not have to worry about winter time…you can plant spiritual seeds all the time thus insuring that you will harvest all the time!

But there is another side to story…when you sow bad seeds, you will harvest a bad crop. When you are mean, critical, spiteful, hard, judgemental, rejecting, selfish, cruel, demeaning, disrespectful, and unfriendly….these are all seeds. Remember…even with these…you reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.

Inspect your harvest right now. What are you getting in life? Are people mean, abusive, critical…to you? Did you plant the wrong seeds about 3 months ago or a year ago or two years ago? You say…but I am good now and I am good to people now! Yes, but how were you in days gone by? Whatever flows out of your heart right now, that is what you are going to reap in just a few months! If you don’t like the harvest…adjust the seeds that you are planting.

Does that mean that all bad things that happen to you is a result of you planting bad seeds? No…you may be experiencing the benefits of someone else planting bad seeds.

God bless…go plant some good seeds!

Sheilah and I have a tremendous peace in our life right now. We are in the center of God’s Will for us. That is the most perfect place in life to be! We both are experiencing some wonderful times with the Lord. He is teaching us some great truths. The fellowship with the Lord right now is priceless. It is great to be in the flow of God’s grace and goodness.

The children of Israel were in captivity because they listened to the false prophets instead of the True God. King Nebuchadnezzar, enemy to the children of God, became an instrument in the hands of God in order to discipline the Lord’s children. The same thing is happening today. God is using the enemy to humble this country so that we will turn our faces back toward God.

While in Babylon the children of Israel started looking for a word from God. So they went to false prophets, but God sent a word by the true Prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29:10-11, For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

I. God’s Time Limit

A. You’re not coming out until God says you’re coming out.
B. If it is a lesson to learn, the class must finish or if it is sin, you have to reap the harvest of the sins you’ve sown.
C. No matter what you do, you cannot escape the training of God or the judgment of God.

II. God’s Words

A. It’s been said that God whispers in our joy, but he yells in our pain. He had to get their attention. B. He said “I know the plans that I have for you.”
C. The reason some of us are in a mess today is because we thought we could plan our own lives.
D. Now we’re like Israel, in a strange place that has become our dwelling places.
E. God has to remind us that he knows what’s in front of us. In fact he’s gone before us, so when we get to the problem He’s already there.
F. Verse eleven isn’t just a reference to God’s Omniscience but it is a reference to his Omnipotence.

III. God’s Description of His Plan for Us

A. A Peace Plan
1. …with our enemies. …with God himself. God is literally saying I’m going to give you more of Myself. And I will be your peace. I will cause you to prosper.
B. A Plan without Calamity.

1. Calamity means disaster and misfortune.
2. Understand that the people of Israel during this time had gone through a lot. God had allowed the enemy to make them slaves. God knew that the people had a distorted perception of who he was. Trouble can make you see God in the wrong way. So the Lord says, the plans that I have for you does not include calamity, and if you go through something evil it will work for your good.
3. Some of us are still not trusting the Lord because of what happened in our past.

C. A Plan with a future and a hope.

1. God does not deal with his people based solely on their past or present condition but he consoles them and tells them that He’s working on their future. 2. God says I’m going to cause you to hope again. I’m going to cause you to believe again. And I’m going to bring you to an expectant end. Its not over just because it looks like its over, but theirs still time for me to connect you with what I have for you. But in the meantime, just hope.
3. In the meantime, have patience. So the Lord says, be encouraged in spite of your present situation, for I know the outcome. And don’t let anyone tell you differently.

IV. God’s Plan Unfolded

He says when you pray and come to me I will listen.

1. When you seek me and search for me with your whole heart I shall be found.
2. When you find me, I will restore you.
3. I will restore your fortunes.
4. I will pick up the broken pieces and put you back together.
5. I will bring you back unto myself.

God wants you to understand the need to;

1. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.

2. That He alone is God and knows the set time for your deliverance.

A. Faith Calms Our Fears – I am not sheltered from bad things, but in the midst of them I have His promise – Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 15:57; 2 Cor. 4:17. (Ill. Phil. 4:6-7)

B. Faith Cushions Our Falls – I am not immune from sin and temptations, but when and if I fall, I have His promise! It is possible for the Child of God to fall down, but we can never fall out – John 10:28. If we do fall, we have His Word that we will be forgiven when we turn to Him in repentance, 1 John 1:9. This is not an excuse to fall, but it is an encouragement to those who have and those who will!

C. Faith Confirms Our Future – I do not know what I will face tomorrow, but I know that when all my tomorrow’s are finished, I have a future secured in the Lord Jesus Christ, John 14:1-3.

D. Faith Claims God’s Finest – Faith doesn’t gorge itself on the slop of the world. It sets it’s sights higher. Faith believes that God will be true to His Word and there, faith responds to that Word, acts upon that Word and receives the fulfillment of that Word, Rom. 4:21; Heb. 6:18. (Ill. There are many who never learn what God can do because they are never willing to believe that God can do!)

E. Faith Challenges Our Failures – What I mean by that is that faith believes Phil. 4:13. Faith says that we can be all that God wants us to be. Faith accepts the notion that we do not have to settle for second best. Faith says that we can have everything that God has for us and that we can have it right now. Faith says that we do not have to live to the lower standard of the world. Faith just takes God at His Word and serves Him.

F. Faith Calls Our Friends – Faith says to those around us that what God has done here, He can do in your life too. Faith reaches out to those in sin because it knows that everyone who turns to Jesus for salvation will be saved. Faith believes God’s promises concerning salvation by faith.