Week Three: Sowing Seed Day 15: Spiritual Seed April 10, 2016

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"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of

unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;

for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes

and showers righteousness upon you."

(Hosea 10:12)

Day Fifteen Devotions:

MORNING MEDITATION

AFTERNOON DEVOTION

EVENING PRAYER

MORNING MEDITATION

Glean the Word: John 2:1-11

Glimpse of Glory: "This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him." (v. 11)

From the moment the Lord called His disciples to follow Him, they were invited on a lifelong journey to learn about Him. Each new day with Jesus was a day of new revelation and new understanding of the One they called Master and Lord. The Lord's greatest desire is for His followers to experience a life of deepening intimacy with Him. Each day should provide an opportunity for a new encounter with the Lord, as we study the Word of God, spend time in God's presence in prayer and worship, and in fellowship with other believers. We have been called to this incredible relationship with the Lord, one that cost Him His life, so that we can know personally and intimately the One we will spend eternity with. In every step of our journey the Lord wants to build a strong foundation of faith for His children to walk upon, so that we can walk boldly and confidently, steadfast and unwavering as we advance His kingdom in the world.

It was at a wedding feast at the beginning of His ministry that the disciples witnessed Jesus' first miracle and His glory; it was here that He began to lay the foundation of their faith. "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now. This, the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him" (vv. 10-11). It is significant that Jesus' first miracle was at a marriage feast, for it is an honorable covenant, and represents the consummation of all things when we will be joined together with Him, our Bridegroom, at the glorious wedding of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7). It will be a joyous celebration when we join Him when He lifts the cup of praise, and drinks from the fruit of the vine anew with us in His Father's kingdom (Matthew 26:29).

Faith is our response to what the Lord has revealed in His Word. Jesus had instructed the servants to fill the pots with water, and then draw some out for the master of the banquet to taste. Jesus spoke, but they had to take Him at His word and do what He said. The Lord invites us to participate in His works and miracles. His divine sovereignty doesn't negate our human responsibility. Our faith is proved by our actions. The pots that were used for this miracle held water for washing and cleansing - and while they may not have understood it at the time - Jesus took the opportunity to demonstrate, from the onset of His ministry, that He came to clean the inside of the cup, when He turned the water into wine. May it be our prayer today that we would remain available to the Lord, like those clay pots, so He can fill us with the best of Himself and then pour us out for His special use that other may also experience the fullness of His joy which only He can provide.

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AFTERNOON DEVOTION

Glean the Word: Matthew 13:1-23

Gift of Grace: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sow and bread for the eater, so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Jesus walked with His disciples and taught them about the Kingdom of God, speaking to them in parables prior to His crucifixion, and them opening their minds to greater understanding of His eternal and internal kingdom as He appeared to them for forty days following His resurrection. Early on, when He shared the story of the parable of the sower, He described to them how the kingdom begins - with the seed of the Word of God planted in the fertile soil of men's hearts. "A farmer went out to sow his seed...seed fell on good soil where it produced a crop - a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown...the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it." (v. 3, 8a, 23a). "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).

From the miracles He performed to the parables that He told, Jesus shared the secrets of His kingdom with His friends - He revealed to them that the kingdom that He was establishing would be an eternal and internal kingdom - where He would reign as King within the hearts of men. "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance..." (v. 11). At the wedding in Cana, not everyone knew where the wine had come from - it was a secret revealed only to a select few. "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15). As His children, we are in a privileged position to be entrusted with the secret things of God. The more we are willing to spend time with the Lord in His Word and in prayer, the more of Himself He will gladly reveal to us - if we are willing to cultivate the silence in which He can be heard, and the soil in our hearts where He can plant His Word! May our prayer each day be to know the deep things of God's heart, and may we keep our hearts open and be willing to wait on Him until He shares them with us. "Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
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EVENING PRAYER

Glean the Word: Hebrews 11:1-6

Fruit of Repentance: Pursue FAITH

Evening prayer focus: Faith that pleases God (click on the image below for our evening prayer).

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

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