What are you planting???

A man decides to plant a special type of bamboo. He goes to his yard and measures an area 20 feet by 20 feet. Over several days, he digs down two feet to break up the clay earth, sifts the dirt, adds manure to fertilize the soil, carefully plants the bamboo, covers it, and marks off the boundaries. Every morning, before breakfast, he carries water from the stream to his plot. He weeds and waters and waits. Every day.
After a year, no shoots have appeared. A neighbor who has observed the man's daily efforts stops as the man works away and asks, "Why are you working so hard for nothing?"
"It takes time, the man replies.
The next year, the man does exactly the same thing. Every day, he walks to the stream at dawn, carries the water, carefully soaks and weeds his plot. At the end of that year, still nothing has broken the surface. The same neighbor walks by. " Why are you wasting your time? He asks. " I have some good seeds I'd give you" "It takes time," The man replies.
The third year, the man builds a small fence around the plot to keep out animals. Each morning he walks to the stream and carries water to his plot. He continues to tend it with care. At the end of the third year, when no shoots have appeared, his neighbor asks, " Are you crazy? Why do you keep doing that?"
"It takes time." the man replies.
Three weeks later, the first small, green shoots push through the soil. They grow. And grow. And grow! Six weeks later, the man's bamboo towers over 60 feet high.
It takes time. During those years when it seemed the bamboo was doing nothing, critically important things were happening: The roots of the bamboo spreading, branching thickening, developing the strength and vigor to support the bamboo's future phenomenal growth and size. Only with watering and careful nurturing could the plant develop the root structure to support the towing stalks of bamboo. Every bit of the man's effort, every ounce of water, was needed.

This is the same with your faith. Your faith is the bamboo and you are the man that's watering and nurturing it as it grows. That takes time. Patience is  the key when you're waiting for the root of your faith to take hold and continue to grow. Don't let impatience still your hard work, don't dig up with doubt what you planted in faith. Your hard work will pay off. Don't listen to what someone else has to say about your process, continue to do what the man did in the story.  Be diligent, patience and as your faith continues to grow. And when someone says "why are you working so hard for nothing?" just reply back "it takes time." 

Be pure at Heart

God is seeking people who are pure in heart (Matthew 5:Eight)

A person who has a pure heart, who is wholeheartedly serving God, is truly powerful. In Psalm 51: Six, David tells us that having a pure heart means having truth in our "Inner being" which is who we really are deep in our hearts. Having a pure heart  starts with paying attention to our thoughts, because from our thoughts come our words, our emotions, our attitudes and our motives.

Be character Conscious

God will not bless actions that are not done out of wrong motives or an impure heart.
Purity of heart is not a natural trait: in most of us, it is something we must work on.

1 Thessalonians 4:Three teaches us to desire and work towards purity of heart because that is God's will. This is a challenge that every believer should be excited about accepting, but we do not have to face it alone.

God created use to be dependent on Him, to bring Him our challenges and allow Him to help us with them. Only He knows what is in our hearts.
 

He is an expert at removing the worthless things from us while retaining what is valuable.
There is a price to pay to have a pure heart, but there is also a reward. We do not have to be afraid to make the commitment to allow God to do a deep purifying work in us. We may not always feel comfortable about the truth He brings us, but if we do our part of facing it, accepting it, and allowing it to change us. He will make sure that we are blessed.

-Joyce Meyer

Don't Just Pray -Believe-

Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.    Mark 11:Twenty- four

When a rural farming community was hit by a serve drought, the local church called a prayer meeting. Almost everybody in town showed up (interesting how trouble has a way of getting our attention). As the pastor stood before a packed church he noticed an eleven-year old girl beaming with excitement in the front row. Lying on the pew beside her was a bright red umbrella poised and ready for use. The beauty and innocence of the sight made him smile, as he compared the child's faith that of all the others in the church. Looking at the congregation, he announced: "The rest of us came to pray for rain, but she came expecting God to answer!"

One of the dangers in praying is not expecting God to answer. The Bible says, "Without faith no one can please God. We must believe......God is real and He rewards everyone who searches for Him. (Hebrews 11:Six) The only currency God trades in is faith and " faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:Seventeen) As you immerse yourself in Scripture, faith takes root and begins to grow. And faith is what makes your prayer effective. But what if your faith lines up with God's Word and the answer is delayed? Keep praying and believing!

Author Unknown

Are You Serving Two Masters??

No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches or anything in which you trust and on rely on) Luke 16:Thirteen

When the Lord calls you to do something, you should do it. If you do not,  the anointing in that area will dry up until you move into what God has called you to do.  When God is finished and has moved on, you may as well be finished and move on too or you'll end up being miserable because we are  trying to serve "two masters"

God will call you out and set you apart.

When God called Abraham, He told him to leave his country, his relatives, and everything he knew, and go to the place that He would show him. (Genesis 12:One) When God calls us to leave what we know it's because He know that what is familiar can have an influence on our destiny. If we continue to surround ourselves with what is familiar (doing that has always been done) it can cause a struggle between our past and our destiny and open a door for us to serve two masters. God does not want our past to influence the decisions we will make in our future. This is why He will remove us from certain people or situations because He knows the impact it can have on our destiny.  Paul said we must let go of what lies behind and press on to what lies ahead (Phil 3:Thirteen)  The Lord told Israel through the prophet Isaiah, " Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing!" (Isaiah 43:18-Nineteen)

Do not allow your past to have a influence over your future. Let God do a new thing.

Our problem is that we go into our future holding on to the past . And when we do this we are being double-minded and serving "two masters." I want to encourage you to let go of the past while embracing what God has in store for you in your future.  God has called us to wear 2 crowns but He did not call us to serve two masters.

Uncomfortable for the increase

You have to be uncomfortable for the increase. Faith does not work well in the familiar (our own limitations and power) Faith works in the unfamiliar (all dependency on God and only God) Throughout the bible every person that God used, he used them in what was unfamiliar to them. They were always moving and seeking Him through the unfamiliar. They were not complacent and unreliable. They were faithful, trusting and dependable. 

  Many of our greatest moments will happen in the unfamiliar. Don't be afraid to step out on faith and be a witness to God doing something new in your life.

Who has room to judge and criticize you?!?!

Do not judge and criticize or condemn others, so that you may not be judged, criticized and condemned yourselves.   For just as you judge, criticize and condemn others, you will be judged, criticize and condemned in accordance with the measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you.        Matthew 7:1-Two 

We judge and criticize in others what we do not like about ourselves. The devil likes to keep us busy by  identifying and judging the faults of others. In hopes that we never see or deal with our own personal issues.   When we focus our thoughts or talk about the flaws and faults of others, we deceive ourselves about our own conduct. This is why Jesus commands that we not concern ourselves with the wrongs of others when we are flawed and faulty ourselves. 

It's true that you do not have the power to change others or yourself, only God can.

If you truly want to help someone change, then don't be judgmental about it.  Be an example of that change. Allowing God to deal with you first, then be a humble and loving example of that change.  When sharing your process with others  try to be open and honest  about how you were able to accept your own personal challenges and flaws. That way someone may identify and relate to your personal struggles, seeking God for change. If you're choosing to seek change, it should always be a personal choice. Something that should be done not out of  obligation but because of love. Someone who feels obligated to change may seek it temporally only to return back to their old habits and behaviors. But choosing to changing because of love is felt in the heart. This is the place where God wants us to  change first. He wants you to change on the heart level  because this is a lasting change.  You learn to not judge or criticize others base off of your own flawed thinking, but seek to understand them better.

We may not like everyone we come in contact with but that does not give us the right to judge them.

Instead of focusing on what you dislike about a person. Find something that you like and focus on that.

We should not use our judgment as a way to  criticize and attack someone personally. True judgment only comes from God. This is when the Holy Spirit convicts us about something we have done in hopes for us to notice our behavior and change it.