Thursday 8 September 2016

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 « I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. »

The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians living in the city of Corinth and said that he had planted the seed of the gospel there.  The apostle Apollos had come later and he watered the seed that Paul had planted.  But God is the One who caused the seed to grow, to increase and to be enlarged.  The glory is not given to the one who planted, or to the one who watered, but to the One who gave the increase.

There are two very important elements to underline in this text. The first is that there is a job that we must fulfill, and the second is that there is a job that only God can fulfill.  What is our job?

Our job is to sow and water.  If there is no seed in the ground and there is no water coming to the seed, God has nothing to give increase to.  No intelligent farmer would sit at home and pray for a crop of wheat without first going out and sowing the seeds.  God is not going to bless you if the only thing you are feeding your soul is the food of this world: i.e. television, video games, magazines, etc.  If you want God to give you increase, you have to put something in your soul that will attract the presence of God.

The condition of your heart is your responsibility, not God’s.  Solomon told his son to guard his heart, for from it flows the rivers of life. (Proverbs 4:23)  We must do the same with our hearts.

I love my yard in front of my home.  And I work hard to have perfect green grass.  Every morning I get up early and pray while walking around my yard.  Some times I see a weed growing amongst the good grass.  I’ll go out and pull up the weed and then say, Father, pull out all the weeds of this world out of my heart.

When we have people over to our house they always remark on how beautiful my lawn looks.  Ah, but they have no idea the amount of time I spend on it to make it look so nice.  Well, dear friend, our heart is much more important than grass!  Our job is preparing the heart.  So, what then is God’s job?

God is the One who brings increase.  He causes things to grow.  This is His passion, His first desire, and His ultimate purpose in our lives.  He is far more interested in your growth than He is your comfort.  He is more interested in your enlargement than He is your prosperity.  And He is far more committed to your personal progress than He is to your personal happiness.

During this first week of the Daniel Fast I want to encourage you to dig out the weeds of the heart. Get help from the Holy Spirit to identify the junk in the heart that stops the progress of God’s grace in your life.  Then let’s get busy planting the kinds of seeds that God can give increase to.