He's Done it Already

And you've already got everything you need....

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:3-4

Yes, that's sourdough starter in the photo. I know it was a big thing during the global lockdowns, but I had 'got the bug' for all things sourdough before that was even on our horizon. Here's the thing though: in my kitchen, and probably in many kitchens, I've always had everything I'd need to make sourdough bread. I just didn't know it. All you need to get started is water and flour. That's it. The fermentation does the rest - 'captures' the unseen wild yeast from the air. You divide and feed with the same basic ingredients until you see that yeast activity, and then you're ready to make bread, or pizza bases, or whatever baked goodie you need. It's like that with our walk with God. He's given us 'everything we need for life and godliness' but we don't know it or see it much of the time. But just like with my sourdough, the unseen element - the Holy Spirit - is always with us. All we need to add is our faith - by spending time in His Word, renewing our minds until our soul agrees with our born-again spirit. I am loving this discipleship adventure, where God uses absolutely anything and everything to teach me the truth of His Word.

ACTION POINT: Is there something really simple, a routine or task that you do so often you almost don't have to think about it anymore? Invite the Lord into it and ask Him to show you how it relates to a Kingdom principle or truth. He's not a sometime Lord, He's the 'all-the-time' Lord and He wants to be in everything you do. Maybe for you it's cleaning, or reading bedtime stories to your children, or when you're driving here, there and everywhere. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. Psalm 25:9-10

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4

Just as with my sourdough, we need to start slowly and simply in our discipleship. When we were born again, we received the Lord - the author of the Word - into our spirit. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, He gives us evidence such as speaking in tongues. For some people both experiences happen at much the same time: my husband received the Holy Spirit baptism while waiting in line to be prayed for and baptized in water. I received the Holy Spirit three weeks after my water baptism. Both these experiences are vital to being able to receive all that the written Word of God has for us. Jesus modeled both, though His Holy Spirit baptism was unique - a dove and the voice of the Father rather than a new 'tongue'. When He gave His last instructions to His disciples, to go and preach the Gospel, He said also that they were to wait until they received 'power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.' (Acts 1:8) All too often we want to rush ahead, thinking we know enough to figure out the rest. Just as with the church in Galatia, we can make the mistake of starting in grace and faith, then walking in our own works or following other people. I know I can identify many times in my walk when I've done just that, each time thinking I had to work at it to make myself a better Christian. And while it is true that we are to 'work out our own salvation with fear and trembling' (Philippians 2:12), it's not in our own strength and understanding. Scriptures like that one must be taken in context and with help from the rest of Scripture, as Paul reminded us in Romans 15:4 above. In this case, that sentence starts with 'Therefore' - again sending us further back in the letter for clarification. And 'trembling' is not the end of the sentence, it's just one phrase. The sentence continues, 'for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.' (Philippians 2:13). So as we begin to move from believing to discipleship, we have to pay attention to the Holy Spirit. Moving slowly, going back over the same passages, we are more able to hear His voice, guiding into all truth. When we rush ahead to fulfill a reading plan or hit a certain number of chapters, or a set time frame, we can miss Him and come up with our own interpretation which can skew how we see God. With my sourdough starter, each day or each feed, I have to check to see activity - bubbles on the surface or a change in consistency. Now I've done it for so long, I notice the changes much quicker. And in reading the Bible, the more I do it, the more sensitive I have become to recognizing when I've got it wrong. And since with Jesus there is no condemnation, I repent and He corrects me. In my example above, I totally misunderstood the passage in Philippians 2, thinking my salvation was all about my performance, trying to gain understanding in my own strength, not asking the Holy Spirit to teach me. When I finally did, and God corrected me back to Jesus' words on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30), the truth made me free. I was able to walk in His righteousness away from fear of getting it wrong. It changed everything in my walk! It seems such a simple thing to some, but I know I'm not alone in this misunderstanding.

ACTION POINT: Think about your own history with the Bible. Can you look back and see where you took a Scripture in isolation and got into wrong thinking? Something God corrected you on? It may have taken some time for you to recognize, but at some point, a situation or a talk came up that got your attention. Take that as your starting point and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how that error affected your understanding of God's character or your part in your Christian walk. It can be very subtle, but when you allow His correction, it can open up the Word to you in fresh new ways. "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come." (John 16:13)

And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Mark 4:26-29

This is what God has been emphasizing to me over the past year or so: the importance of time. Here Jesus used the natural process of planting seed for a harvest. There is a part we play - planting the seed of God's Word in our hearts - the ground; then we trust God for the next part - the sprouting and growing. We don't really understand how it happens, but God has put a process in place in the supernatural, just like the natural process of growing grain. Firstly the Lord showed me that time is as important as the sowing of the seed. I can't put the seed - His Word - into my heart today and expect to get the harvest of His full purpose in me before I go to bed tonight. When I was born again, my heart was changed, began to soften to 'good ground' as in the other parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-8), so that as I sow the seed, it can take root in the soil. Again, if I try to rush this, I am more like the second kind of soil, where I grow too quickly but with no root system - no foundation - so in my walk I wither and die. This raises the second point God has taught me: notice how the Scripture from Mark says 'the earth produces by itself'. Some translations say 'of herself' or 'automatically'. In our natural understanding, we have thought that the life was in the seed and the ground just had to have the right combination of nutrients for it to grow. But Scripture shows it the other way round. The life is in the soil and the seed is the catalyst that tells the soil what to produce. Genesis 1: 11 confirms this: And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation,". So the changes I want to see in me, to know and live for God as a disciple, don't come by my effort, trying to change my behaviour in my flesh; they will come by trusting in His divine processes that never change. I plant the seed, I get up, night and day, caring for the ground - my heart - by meditating on the seed of His Word, praying in the Spirit and in my understanding, and giving it time to begin to grow and bear fruit. You've probably had similar experiences: 'today I'm going to start reading my Bible every morning for an hour, then I'll pray for half an hour, and read again on my lunchbreak and then I won't lose my temper/gossip/overeat'. Only to get stuck in traffic on the way to work, have an especially annoying conversation with a client or coworker, or an unexpected meeting that made you miss lunch altogether. Or you say you're going to fast tomorrow but not remember until you start eating your toast. Outward change is hard to sustain without inward change. I can look back over the last five years and see a change in me that I wanted but wasn't actively working on in my own strength: my temper. I used to lose it so easily and feel fully justified, but rotten afterwards. As God's Word has taken more and more center stage in my life, so that when I'm getting on with my day, Scripture is on my mind, I've been less easily provoked. I can still get angry, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't control me and doesn't steal my peace. So I can choose what to do with it. And the reason I get angry has changed; it's much less about me. We are to hate sin, and stand against evil. That's more what rises in me now, but because He has taken His Word and changed me with it, He directs me even in my anger. Of course the battle won't be completely won until He returns, but as one teacher says, "I've left the station and I'm on my way".

ACTION POINT: As you think on those simple daily activities that God can or has used, along with identifying where you can see He has corrected you with the Word, remind yourself that you aren't 'done yet'. Don't allow your unredeemed part - that flesh part of your mind and emotions - to try to rush you or condemn you when you trip up or fall back into an old way of thinking. Allow God's process of 'seed, time and harvest' to have its way in you. True lasting change comes from a changed heart and a renewed mind. This is how we fulfill Romans 12:1-2: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual [some translations have 'acceptable'] worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in my next post.