Is Your Spiritual Seed Being Nurtured?
Good Morning Friends,
The Lord works sprouting us from the inside out while the world works from the outside in to uproot us. The world would shape human behavior but Christ can transform human behavior from new starts. Through hope, holiness, wisdom and love, God has given us the way to receive the mature power that can keep us growing, the way to have victory over sin in our lives that helps sanctify us. Is Your Spiritual Seed Being Nurtured?
Scripture: So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSV)
So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17 (NRSV)
Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” That word is the good news that was announced to you.
1 Peter 1:13-25 (NRSV)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
Luke 4:18 (NRSV)
Message: Several years ago One by One Leadership participated in a Federal program out of the Department of Justice called Weed and Seed. The result for Immokalee was a dramatic and lasting decline in crime. Our role was to design a program for the community to address the need to support ex-offenders and help them return to community and not reoffend. And I mention it because it really relates to today’s scripture. Let me connect the dots. Now the words power and the word victory do not appear in today’s text and yet they are there beneath the surface in the scripture. The message from 1 Peter is essentially about the power to change, the nurturing needed for victorious living to occur in the life of one who has sinned. It gives us hope of a future in God. Most of us take this for granted because grace abounds in our lives, us with lots of little sins. But for someone who has been convicted of a crime in the United States, when they get out of jail or prison, the consequences of actions still remain pretty harsh for our society does not forgive. In this world if these ex-offenders do drugs they will die. If they get involved in gangs, they will die. If they steal from the wrong person, they will die. If they cannot get a job and establish a support network they will get rearrested. There is no margin for error. It often comes down to three options …commit a crime and die… commit a crime and get rearrested… or pray for a miracle and change. The options are serious and the stakes are high. I have found that the Holy Spirit and the Word, validated by a person who loves the sinner yet hates the sin, is the only way to nurture these ex-offenders into a victory. We at One by One were blessed and continue to be blessed by such a person. His name is Sinclaire Williams. And he has helped many to become part of the larger community as we all grow together, in the hope found in the life, death, resurrection and return of Christ. Friends, we grow in holiness as we conform to the character of God, embrace the consciousness of God. We grow in the fear of God and the wisdom of God, knowing that He has conceived a new life in us. And finally we grow in the love of God, a love that undergirds and sustains everything… even our faith. Jesus came to set the captives free, and guess what, that means you and me too.
Pray we prepare our minds to sprout new ideas. Pray we prepare our bodies to grow strong and balanced. Pray we prepare our hearts to propagate love. Pray we become all that God designed us to be. Pray we bear fruit that glorifies God. Pray we realize that holy lives help others recognize what it means to be a Christian.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 