Showing posts with label seed sowing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seed sowing. Show all posts

December 27, 2011

End Times Witnessing: End Time Now -Last two jobs

The watchman was asked to read the Gospel of John again during these last few days that remain in this year. He was told that he would read and receive new revelation. So he obeyed. On 26th December morning, he read from Chapter one to four. Then he was asked to stop. He saw what the Lord wanted him to see. There is one type of real food that gives life at the end time. The food according to Jesus is "“is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work."
What is the will of the Father? What has Jesus just done prior to saying this to His disciples? He demonstrated how it was done.
The watchman read the following passage again with fresh revelation. His comments are in brackets.
________________________

John 4 Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
(He was sowing the seeds of God's Words and reaping the harvests)
3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

(How Jesus sowed the Seeds (God's Words)
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

(How Jesus reaped the ripe Harvests - many Samaritans' souls through one fruit: the Samaritan Woman)
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
(The woman became conveinced when jesus showed that He knew more all about her secret)

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus spoke about true end time worship: only in Spirit and in truth
(The Samaritan woman was concerned with cultural and religious differences based on political and traditional differences)

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

(The disciples were preoccupied with physical living like food, and were concerned about man's religious tradition and practice. They were no different in their lack of true worship like the Samaritans. They missed out the whole demonstrations of the two essential works for Jesus' disciples: sowing and reaping!

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”


(How The One Fruit of Jesus sowed and reaped more harvests!)
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
___________________________
(Jesus spoke on two end times essentials:
1. true worship: only in spirit and in truth.
2. true disciples of Jesus: doing the will of the Father in heaven.
what is the will of the Father in heaven? They belong to only two professions:
1. The Sower of Seeds (Words of God) for the advancement of the kingdom of God
2. The reaper of the crop for eternal life in the kingdom of God.
Observe that the disciples were asked to reap what Jesus (and the prophets until John the Baptist) had sown. "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it." Matt11:12)

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”


(Many Samaritans Believed and became sowers and reapers themselves!)

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.
_______________________________
There are only two jobs left for end times. Are you doing one of the two? If not, you need to seriously consider what Jesus has said to His disciples to enter the kingdom of God.

END TIMES VACANCIES FOE KINGDOM OF GOD:
A watchman/intercessor is a sower.
An evangelist is a reaper.
There are currently many vacancies for both types of jobs. Anyone applying?


May 26, 2010

Chapter Ninety-seven: "Urgent, go back to your original calling!"


He woke with time urgency on his heart. He knew time is running out fast. When he opened the Bible he was led to read Nehemiah 8-9.
Nehemiah Chapter 8 was all about Ezra the scribe reading the Book of the Law to the people (the children of Israel). The people gathered as one man in the open square in front of the Water Gate at Jerusalem. When Ezra opened the Book, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. The priests and Levites also assisted by reading distinctly from the Book, gave the sense and helped the people understand the reading. All the people wept when they heard the words of the Law. (Nehemiah 8:1-9)
As Jack pondered on this powerful and touching passage, he wondered why the people responded with their whole hearts to the words of God. The answer was in Nehemiah Chapter 9, in the contents of a song sung by the singing Levites. The song narrated how God had chosen Abram (later renamed by God to Abraham) and made a covenant with him to also include his descendants (the Israelite). God remembered and kept the covenant. Despite His great mercy, deliverance and blessings upon them, the nation of Israel rebelled against God and turned to wicked ways. However, as God had promised, after seventy years of bondage in foreign land, they were again set free to return to their homeland.  God had never imposed any requirement on them except heeding His voice and carrying out His Book of the Law.
When the Book of the Law was read, the people wept. Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
What sort of a man this Ezra was? When Jack read Ezra Chapter 7, he found that Ezra was thus described, "7:6 this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel".  7:11 "Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of His statutes to Israel."
Ezra was a captive just like other Israelite. But he maintained his original calling: a priest, a scribe, an expert of the words of God. He maintained his standing among his country men. He also established himself in that capacity among the foreign rulers. It was amazing how the foreign king could concede to his requests and gave him all the things he asked for. His trip back to Jerusalem was sponsored and financed by the foreign king!
What was his only goal? He just wanted to teach his people the Law of their God so that they know the true God and obey His words.
_____________________________
Reading this passage, Jack recalled his first vision about Jesus. In the vision, he saw in his spirit Jesus walked towards him in a hurry on a busy road, holding something in His hand. When he came near, He handed the thing to Jack. It was a rolled up scroll. In a subsequent vision, he saw Jesus handed him a quill pen. Much later he had another vision of Jesus holding an open scroll, reading the contents to him. Often in his visions, Jesus is teaching, demonstrating, showing to him or others as in a teaching and discipleship situation.
Last Sunday's sermon reminded him the passage in Matthew 13:12 "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." Indeed, he has been given a number of gifts and one which he has often been asked to utilize is teaching gift for which he has received confirmations. He also heeded the godly advice that God does not look at the numbers of how much/many we have accomplished. But He will want to see how faithful we have been using that gift and how we have improved our skill every time we use it to edify others.
Today he examined his blogs and found that he had been too engrossed in describing his experiences in the Holy Spirit to the neglect of teaching God's words!
This wake up call confirmed his previous day's discovery (led by the Holy Spirit) of the key role given to every Christian for end time living, "witnessing" God's Word.
To be continued...

February 28, 2010

Chapter Seventy-four: The Holy Spirit confirms the same message twice


What Jack has learned since his journey in the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit responds to our prayers quickly and very often immediately. however, it takes us sometime to receive and respond accordingly. It is therefore our receivers that need fixing and not the transmission from God the Holy Spirit. Jack sometimes wishes that there is a shortcut for him to listen to the Holy Spirit.
However, the more he seeks God the more he enjoys the seeking process. It has been a wonderful and often awesome journey for him in the Holy Spirit. So a short cut would have been a waste.
During the last week he has been seeking God more intensely as led by the Holy Spirit. The advance intercessors conference has opened his inner eyes further and he can sense the urgency of the time. He feels like a man racing on a fast moving train going somewhere. He must race against time as all his assignments are urgent and must be completed before the train reaches its destination.

However he does not know each exact assignment until the last minute. He has to focus, watch and listen carefully for the signals. The signals are given in the supernatural. He may receive a vision. He may have a dream. He may have a name or a Bible verse appearing in his heart or right before his eyes when he reads the Bible. He may receive the signal in broad daylight while driving in his car. He may receive it when worshiping God. He may receive it in the midnight hours. All he needs to do is to respond.
When he is not sure he asks the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will speak to him again through another means: a song, a person, a verse, a sermon passage, a phone call, a mobile message, a piece of news etc. Sometimes he asks his spiritual mentor to pray too and see if she receives similar or further clarifications. Sometimes before he asks, she already receives the message for him separately and sends it in the form of a mobile message!

During the last two days he has been reading a very important book. He could not sleep last night so he decided to read more of it. When he reached some verses he meditated on them and prayed as led by the Holy Spirit. He tried to memorize some of them.
This morning he woke from a dream. In the dream he was back in his former company and was shown by an internal office inspector (his junior) of a list of operations under his charge which required his rectification. He only remembered one warning word for him when he woke.
In the morning before going to church, he decided to walk on his treadmill while worshiping and memorizing Bible verses. Then he remembered one verse in the book which he was urged by the Spirit to memorize on the previous night. The verse appeared in his heart strongly with urgency. So he looked through the verse in the Bible. To his surprise he found that just one verse below, the warning word which he received in his dream appeared!
The word relates to handling of God's word. It was not a common word. But it does serve an accurate reminder for Jack as he is trained to use his mind more than his spirit. He used to take pride in his mind as he thought all his former successes in the corporate world were attributed to his mind! So the Holy Spirit knows exactly what to warn Jack! The Holy Spirit confirmed the same message twice!
When he attended church later, another incident happened. He was asked to pray the opening prayer. He was led to pray the verse which the Holy Spirit has already prepared his heart for on the previous night. It occurred that the sermon on that day was on the same topic. Again, the Holy Spirit confirmed the same message twice!
In another incident, he was approached by someone to intercede for her close relative. He did not feel any leading from the Holy Spirit then so he did not commit himself. However, almost a week later while driving on a long distance, after listening to a message about Jesus' completed salvation on the cross, her name appeared and he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to pray fervently for her and that loved one of hers. He obeyed.

Jack has discovered that the prayers of an intercessor are not usual. He has become a person who does not pray much in the public. Prayers require the input of the Holy Spirit. Often times he needs to spend time before God and read and meditate God's word before he knows what to pray and intercede. God's word are like seeds. An intercessor needs seeds before he can sow by faith. He also needs the water from the Holy Spirit for the ground before he can sow them.
All in all he has learned to become a novice spiritual gardener. O, how he loves gardening this way, in the cool of the morning and evening, in the gentle presence of the Holy Spirit, knowing that the real gardener is in heaven ensuring the produce of fruits, thirty-fold, sixty-fold and hundred-fold!

February 20, 2010

Chapter Seventy: Prosper through The Seed (Word of God) and Water from Heaven (the Holy Spirit)


One day Jack was strongly urged in the spirit to do a search on all the verses about the rich provision of God. What was revealed has transformed his whole perspective about the blessings of God. He discovered that indeed God has supplied seeds and ensure material security and provision growth for all God’s children.
He is overjoyed to see how God provides the seeds for the sowers and food for them as well. The Lord supplies the resources he needs, ensures the right circumstances and environments and produces the abundant end results / fruits and profits of his labor/investment.
However, there is one crucial key: the whole operation process requires the pouring of the Holy Spirit! It is all about the Holy Spirit bringing forth the blessings (as covenanted with Abraham and re-validated by Jesus) and making them materialized. The word of God is the seed and the Holy Spirit is the water.
Isaiah 32:15 “Until the Holy Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest.”
Isaiah 32:20 How blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream. (The word of God and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand!)
Deut 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and  my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plant.

Those who believe will be richly and abundantly blessed by these verses!
Isaiah 30:23-26 God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide. Oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed well near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills. Better yet, on the Day God heals his people of the wounds and bruises from the time of punishment, moonlight will flare into sunlight, and sunlight, like a whole week of sunshine at once, will flood the land.
Isaiah 55:10-11
10 “ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,”
11 “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Psalm 65:9-13
9 You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
You greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
You settle its ridges,
You soften it with showers,
You bless its growth.
11 You have crowned the year with Your bounty,
And Your paths drip with fatness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness drip,
And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.
13 The meadows are clothed with flocks
And the valleys are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, yes, they sing.
Psalm 104:13-14
13 He waters the hills from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.
14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth food from the earth.
Psalm 72:6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.
Psalm 72:16 Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon; let it thrive like the grass of the field.
Psalm 144:13 Your barns will be filled with every kind of provision.
Psalm 147:14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

2024 not abandoned: a new spiritual journey

How may we hear God and understand Him more accurately? Last night while praying my heart purposed to start afresh the unfinished journey ov...