Step by Step II

Right click here, open link in new tab or window to hear Rich Mullins sing “Step by Step” while you read.

Climbing to the top takes time.  It’s a step-by-step effort.  So it is with spiritual growth; one foot in front of the other.

“Wisdom is built layer by layer.  Like a varnished table, its depth comes from dozens of thin coverings.  After each coat has been meticulously applied, the table becomes almost translucent.  The depth looks haunting, giving you the illusion that you could reach through and touch the grain of the wood.  That kind of transparency and sheen doesn’t come with one thick pour but rather through layer upon layer of applied coats.

Wisdom is built in the same way.  So is solid character that will stand the tests of time.  You can’t get a shot or take a pill for it.  You grow into it day by day, step by step, word by word.  It comes only through consistency, and it yields its deepest gems only to those not in a hurry for a quick fix.” ~Pastor Wayne Cordiero, The Divine Mentor, p. 118.

Daily reading the Bible…

daily prayer… daily…step by step.

“Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.” Proverbs 8:34

“Give us today our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

For a daily Bible reading plan: http://www.enewhope.org/bible/

Sunflower Faith V

more sunflowers

Right click on song title, open in a new window to hear Give Me Jesus.

Sunflowers will cheerfully grow in any old soil, but they prefer good over bad.

The same, it is,  with truth.  It thrives in good soil (hearts).

Jesus compares our hearts to soil in the “parable of the sower”. Read about it here:  Mark 4:14-20

What makes soil good? 

The experts say two things are key: good drainage , balanced by an ability to retain just the right amount of water.

Following that model, may I present to you a recipe for a good heart, one in which the truth is able to thrive…

1. drainage/prayer: to keep your heart from becoming polluted with lies and compacted with worries, we need to daily (hourly, minute-ly) pour our hearts out to the Lord. “…pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.” Lamentations 2:19

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Take a minute to pour your heart out to the Lord.  What are you worried about?  Tell Him.  Out with the bad, in with the good…

2.water retention/verse memorization: A good heart retains the truth.  Thinking about and memorizing God’s Word is key.

“I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 

The more truth we hide in our hearts, the more room we have for more truth.  It doesn’t make sense, but it does!

Memorize a verse  to start preparing your soil, like 1 Peter 5:7 above.  That’s a good one to remember when you’re heart’s full of worries — just cast them out to the Lord!  He’ll replace them with peace — Phil. 4:6-7

“like seed sown on good soil, [they] hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:20

Sunflower Faith II

Right click, open in a new window to hear  Give Me Jesus while you read.

Before you read, pray –” Oh, Father, open my heart to hear Your voice — now and all day long.  In Jesus name, amen”

The back of the seed packet read, “Full sun.” 

If I ignored that, my sunflower would grow to be thin and weak.    Too much shade…  In a strong wind? It’s pretty face would splop down into the dirt!  To grow strong sunflowers, I needed full sun.

To grow strong faith, we need full Son.  We need Jesus.  Too much “shade”, and our faith will be thin and weak.

Have you been trying to grow in the dark?  Has your pretty face been smacked down into the dirt by the winds of life?  You need Jesus.

In sunflower fields, all the flowers face east in the morning. 

Their heads are patiently bowed down, waiting for the sun. 

As the sun rises, their faces rise with it.  They look toward the sun all day.  That’s how they grow.

Sing with me:   In the morning, when I rise…in the morning, when I rise.. in the morning when I rise, Give me Jesus.  Give me Jesus!  Give me Jesus!  You can have all this world.  Give me Jesus…

Hebrews 3:1  “…fix your thoughts on Jesus.”  Look toward Him all day.  Follow Him, talk to Him, sing to Him…  “They looked unto Him, and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed.”  Psalm 34:5