Light is sown like seed for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Psalm 97:11
What the Bible says about light and seed
The True Light "In him, (the Lord Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world,…the world didn’t recognize him." John 1:4,9.
The Good Seed and the Weeds “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”Matthew 13:24,25.
AUTHOR´S NOTE: I
always had difficulty resuming my thoughts, hence I am known among my
friends and loved ones as verbose. I prayed and prayed to the Lord to
help me for the sake of my writers to be able to be clear and
concise. As an answer, he sent me my wife Mirian!!!. True. With her
help, I started rediscovering my french heritage, even the beauty of
my language that I had hardly spoken for more than 40 years.
With
such lovely inspiration, I started writing poems, spiritual poems,
and not so “profane” poems. I didn´t expect such a turn of
events in my life as the answer to a simple but persistant prayer. I
got a double blessing, a wonderful wife and a way to resume my
thoughts.
And today, in the
early morning, He blessed me again. As I intended to post the poem on
FB, A thought came: “Why dont you turn it into a prayer”. Then, I
discovered an intentional "leitmotif" running through, reminiscent of
a hymn. Cutting most of the middle section and keeping the first and
last lines, I discovered that the essential, the beginning and the
end, if you will, is found in the Lord Jesus and His Word. And the
poem became a prayer and a blessing.
Keep on praying and
asking, the Lord will keep on answering and blessing your simple
heart cry.
"Better
is an open rebuke than hidden love.
Faithful
are the wounds of a friend."Proverbs
27: 5,6.
Oh,
Jesus my very best friend
Wash
me clean to make me holy,
Without stain, wrinkle or
blemish
Cleanse me with the pure water of your Word
When
I gaze upon your face,
Grace
and truth meet up close
Righteousness and peace kiss each other
Help me better
understand your grand purpose
In
the light of the truth of your Word.
Slowly,
the needle point, holy piercing hurts
The
ugly tear, mend
With
the painful truth of your Word.
The
wounds you give me, gratefully I receive
Make my fragmented
life whole and authentic
I believe and trust the eternal truth of your Word.
“But you will
not go in haste or go in flight; For the Lord will go before you, the God
of Israel will be your rear guard." Isn't it comforting
to know that we don't have to watch our back, that the Lord protects from the
attacks of the enemy from behind? All we have to do is keep our armor on, take up
our shield of faith and the sword of His Word and use them
efficiently. See a list of our spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:10-18 As spiritual warriors, we have
spiritual weapons to combat and defeat the enemy in prayer and gain the victory
in life. We are also figuratively speaking essentially a weapon in the hand of
our captain of the Host. Speaking of the servant of the Lord (which we are),
Isaish declares: He made my
mouth like
a sharpened sword, in
the shadow of his hand he
hid me; he made me into a polished
arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me,
“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. ” 4 But I said, “I
have labored in vain; I
have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my
reward is
with my God.”Isaiah
49:2-4 The enemy knows our
weaknesses and uses this knowledge in his schemes to try and defeat us. But, the
Lord will help us in our weaknesses if we recognize them and ask for
help. Another way our
enemy attacks is in our place of strength. We run the risk of being defeated in
those areas because we are prone to self-sufficiency and independence. If we
rely in our own strength, the enemy will encourage us to move in our own ways
and will defeat us. Usually there are 2
ways we can react to adversity. • First, we can
think that it's the devil's work and ask God to rebuke him by the authority of
Jesus’ name. • Second, we can
realize that the Lord is sovereign and the devil can only do what the Lord
allows him to do and that the Lord is providing us with an opportunity to strengthen us
and teach us an enduring lesson thus helping us to mature. In Isaiah 54:14-17, the Lord
declares: “In righeousness, you will be established; You
will be far from oppression, For you will not fear; And from terror, for
it will not Come near you. If anyone attacks you, it will not be my
doing whoever attacks you will surrender to you.” (or will fall because of you). 16: See, "it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the
coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. 17: And it is I who
have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon formed against you will
prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you." (The tongue that speaks the lies of the devil against us
directly or indirectly) this is the
heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from
me." One thing I learnt
when I took a course in forging metal during my technical studies is that you
use different kinds of cooling agents to temper the metal that you are trying to
shape. Perhaps we could use the analogy of the forge and tempering with oil to
understand the way the Lord works in our life to make us an instrument ready to
use. In forging, the blacksmith heats
the metal to a certain color that indicates that the metal is ready for a
certain application. If he wants the metal to be very hard, but brittle, he
heats it to a glowing red, almost white and cools it very rapidly in water. If
he wants to be able to work with the metal, he brings it to a blue and plunges
it in oil which allows a slower cooling to provide resilience to the
metal. The piece of metal
doesn't say to the blacksmith: Ouch, I don't like the way you are pounding on me
and heating me up and cooling me down.
Sometimes in our Christian life
we need the cool refreshing water of the Spirit to soothe our souls. However,
there are times when the Lord is trying to purify us, make us more resilient,
more usable, less brittle and breakable. I Corinthians 13:4 says: “Love is not easily angered.” Are we
sometimes brittle, easily offended and engage in spiritual joust with our
brothers using Bible verses, swinging our sword to prove that we are
right? So the Lord uses His Spirit as
the oil to cool his weapon or instrument down. This requires
patience on our part as we have to let Him do His work in us until He says that
the season of preparation is over and we are able to be used by Him for His
purpose. Look at verse 16 again. And this comes
right after the beautiful chapter 53 on our Lord Jesus-Christ, the suffering
servant. What a lesson! When the blacksmith wants to fan
the fire, he directs the bellows in one focused place and that place radiates
heat throughout all the cooling coals and that's the spot where he plunges the
metal. So sometimes the Lord will concentrate on one spot in our life and we
have to stay there until we understand what He is trying to do, and decide to
let Him mold and forge us into an instrument that he can use after tempering us
with the oil of the Spirit . That's His prerogative as the Lord of our
lives.
The
fruit comes at the end of the growing cycle of the seasonal life
of the tree. So it is with friendship and good, growing relationships. To enjoy the sweetness
and the goodness of friendship, one has to be willing to take
the time. In the meantime we can also enjoy the beautiful color
of the leaves, the symmetry and the shape of the tree, the strength
of the branches. Every season has its beauty and can be
appreciated for what it has to offer to those who wait and have the
patience, the inner qualities and the heart to understand.
Life
becomes simple if we apply some basic principles of locksmithing
to the relationship between a man and a woman; The lock usually
represents the woman and the key is symbolic of the male (I am not
talking here of the sexual connotation, although it could be
understood that way). However, In emotional, relational and
spiritual matters of which we are talking, it is not a matter of
gender anymore. Sometimes the woman is the one who has the keys or
sometimes it is both at the same or different times.
The
key doesn't fit the lock.
1. They are obviously not designed to
work together.
2. The
key can be inserted in the lock but doesn't turn. Consequently, the
key and lock cannot fulfill the function for which they were
designed. But there is hope, because if we understand the reason for
this, then we could make it work. Which is why people pay me
a lot of money to fix their problems.
(By
the way, I offer spiritual counseling for free. Jesus said to whom much has been given much is required and freely you have received freely give).
There
are at least 2 reasons why the key won't turn. It's either something
wrong with the lock or the key or both.
1.The
lock is dirty, the pins are worn out or the key is worn out.
2. The
lock or the key have broken parts that can be repaired or
ordered.
It takes
a qualified person to properly diagnose the problem that can be fixed
with the proper skill and experience. By the way everything I
say about this has been tested and proven true in the field with
my customers. They are so happy when I give them free advice on the
phone on how to make it work with a simple squirt of WD40
lubricant or heating the key in winter to unfreeze the lock. I would
be a rich man if I were dishonest or greedy!
You
might think I am digressing from the subject. So let's go back
to relationships. There are a lot of people that are not
designed for each other like incompatible locks and keys. So we can't
beat a dead horse. This is why I took my time to write so much in my
profile and My aim was not to attract a lot of people but the very
few that will stick around with whom I feel confident that a
real and enriching relationship will hopefully develop.
Following
the pattern of the lock and key, potentially good relationships are
thrown away, because people are too much in a hurry to cultivate the
relationship. They don't want to take the time to consult with the
Lord to let the Holy Spirit diagnose the problem and reveal to them
the right solution. The worst scenario is when part of the
key is broken in the lock, which is what happens when divorce occurs.
It requires painful surgery to remove parts of the key and remove the
cause of the malfunctioning before the lock can work optimally
again.
What
people don't understand is that you cannot open a lock with a piece
of broken key inside, neither can you turn the lock with a
broken key because it is missing some vital parts. Both the key and
the lock have to be repaired before they are able to work again
properly. Invariably what happens is that we end up with parts of
each other left inside.
This is
what is so devastating to people who do not take their time
to understand what went wrong, what caused the rupture. It could be
the key or the lock or both. It takes time to repair, time to
heal.
To take
it to a personal level, I thought it would take me maybe 3 to 5
years to be ready to consider marriage again. The Lord has been
rebuilding me in the desert. He is able to grow the most beautiful
cactus flowers where nobody else can. In the
meantime, I have enjoyed being single again and available. More
time to develop and cultivate friendships, to devote to personal
interests, for the Lord's service, for travel, etc.
I
finally got to it after much hesitation. Can you guess why?
This
sequel might as well been entitled “7 years later”. It seems that
my personal clock is set on big moves that alter my life drastically,
not always tragically but certainly in a way that expands my horizon
and bring new breadth and the chance to start a fresh new beginning, to learn new useful skills that help me navigate this tough and
dangerous world. I wonder how I was able to survive until now if it had not been for the love of God and his providential hand.
1995
was rough year for me personally. My mother living in France had an
accident in her apartment and needed to be under care in a retirement
home. I felt bad to let my elder brother who took care of her since
she was living in Montpellier in Southern France and he in Paris.
When
I was in a catholic boarding school at the tender age of seven, I
didn´t miss one occasion to thank my mother profusely for all the
dedication and loving care she showed us four boys. So I could not
wait for Mother´s day to come so I could prepare a nice card to
prove that I was capable of showing the filial gratitude that I
genuily felt for all the years of being away from my family.
Especially missing the times we did to spend together as often as we
could to make up for all months we were apart.
One
of the Leit Motiv in my life was my desire to show her all the love I
could express when I was writing the cards so as to seal forever in
my mind why I sounded so melodramatic at the anticipationI imagined she was feeling when she would read the forever promises of eternal
gratitude and love a 7 year old could muster to compensate
for all the bad behavior he showed while back home and the bad grades he brought to display the lack of gratitude in exchange for all the
wonderful things my parents did for me and my brothers.
I
could not understand all the reasons they had to keep us separated
from the country we loved, from our friends, at that precious young
age when one still has not yet formed the undertanding that comes with the
maturaity and wisdom acquired later in life when adults expect that someone else will teach learn young boys and girls have to deal with their rough and tough
environment. A heavy load of guilt added to the psychological
problems and melancholy nature that had built up along my formative
years.
I
just could not understand why my parents sent me to a foreign land
across the sea where I felt rejected by my peers and the very
religious figures that were supposed to show me the love of Jesus and
the exemple of a life dedicated to service of God and
other needy people around the world. I had to be confronted
by the severe and real lessons of life that can make or brake the
most basic relationships.
A
young heart and mind are not prepared to fight back and stop the
bullies of this world. That was the conclusion I had reached when
confronted with the pain and suffering that was my lot in life. It pushed
me to become sulky, rancourous and vengeful in times of despair and
with the inability to control my reactions.
So
here it is after many years of learning, trying and failing again. In
spite of the rough terrain in front of us, I can see that there is
hope in this world for those who while being afraid of the unknown
can trust in God and know deep inside that there is redemption for
the human race and life in a wonderful dimension that is awaitng us
that will surprise us with more than we can imagine or dream of as
the Word of God says.
All
we need is to share the deep and durable lessons we have learned in
this life that we experienced so we may pass it on to
someone who need a touch from the living God as he has graciously
brought us in contact in the most miraculous way, even if at
the itme we didn´t even think that it would be possible because we
did not think ourself worthy of such love.
One
of the most helpful passages in the Old Testament is found in Joshua
3:5. “ But keep a distance of about two thousand cubit between
yourselves and the ark. Do not go near it, so
that you can see the way to go, since you have never traveled this
way before.” You might ask: How can a man know his way if he has
never been there before?
This
is the wonderful work of our gracious God and Father. his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
The
only thing that keeps you from taking the first step of faith toward
being a new creation with a new abundant life is yourself. But there
is hope.
"1
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his
neighbour for his good to edification. 3 For even Christ pleased
not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that
reproached thee fell on me.
4 For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience
andcomfort
of the scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:1-4.
So my
friends, here we are. Will you seek him while you can. Fear, shame
and guilt are the real enemies of your soul keeping you prisoners unable
to free yourself from their grip. It´s up to you.
While the millennium is commonly referred to as the Kingdom of God for which Jesus taught His disciples to pray (“Thy kingdom come…”), that cannot be true for several obvious reasons. Foremost of all, the millennium ends after 1000 years. But the Word of God distinctly tells us that God’s kingdom “is an everlasting kingdom” (Psalm 145:13). Even Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar knew that “his [God’s] kingdom is an everlasting kingdom…” (Daniel:4:3).
Daniel reiterates that fact (Daniel 7:14), as does Isaiah in his prophecy of the Messiah who will rule restored Israel: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father…” (Isaiah 9:6). The next verse, often overlooked, is conclusive, “and in the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” No end!
Yet the millennium ends, and with earth’s final war. At that time Jesus himself has been reigning on David’s throne for 1000 years during which Satan has been confined to “the bottomless pit” so that he could “deceive the nations no more” (Revelation 20:1-3). Christ has established peace on earth and has enforced it with a rod of iron (Psalm 2). The lion lies down with the lamb and eats straw like an ox (Isaiah 65:25). Yet as soon as Satan is released, mankind “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” follow him in battle against Christ in Jerusalem (Revelation 20:7-9). That war alone disqualifies the millennium from being God’s kingdom of endless peace.
There are other disqualifications. Jesus told Nicodemus that no one can even see, much less enter into, the Kingdom of God without being born again of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-16). Yet multitudes living in the millennial kingdom will not have been born again, providing another reason why it is not the Kingdom of God. Paul declared, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). But there will be millions of “flesh-and-blood” people living in the millennium—a further reason why it is not the Kingdom of God.
Then what is the millennium? Quite clearly, it is God’s final proof of the incorrigible evil of the human heart. Even Christ, having turned into a paradise rivaling the Garden of Eden, ruling with a rod of iron and the redeemed in glorified bodies reigning with Him cannot change the human heart or make men willingly obey Him. There is no way to reform the present human race. It must be put to death in Christ and created anew through faith in Him. The kingdom begins in individual hearts when Christ the King is received to reign within.
