You Were, But Now, You Are

Ephesians 5:8 – For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

    Everyone of us has a past, and usually checkered history, or, as my pastor says, ‘We are all ex-somebodies.’ The challenge of the new life in Christ is to leave the past and focus on the now. We cannot change a single thing about our history, we can only change our perspective and our response to it. Paul says that you were at one time darkness: not only in the dark, or living in the darkness, but darkness itself. I was united to the darkness. Like a cult-like, controlling family; I had a genetic bond with darkness and its’ power entranced me. I was surrounded by it on every side and captivated by its strange and alluring power. Darkness represents evil and all its relatives and friends; misery, destruction, disaster and death. Like a fish in water, we were engulfed in this realm, completely unaware that there was even another world.

    But now. You were at one time, a certain way, but now, you are changed. You were darkness, but now, things are different, and everything has shifted. You have left the old, tyrannical regime that kept you under its thumb; oppressed and enslaved. You have now entered a brand-new world of freedom and opportunity. You have not only entered in, but you have become spiritually, and thus vitally, connected to the light. You were darkness, but now, you are light. You were, but now, you are. That was then, this is now. You are light, but not light with its own power source. No! You are light in the Lord. You are in Him, that is, you are in union with Him, who is the power source. You are closer than two entities could ever be, in fact, your being has been assimilated into His, and you now have His identity. I have a new identity because of my new nature, which is light. It is natural now, we might say, to live and walk in the light.

    Our lives are not to be fearful and frantic, nor harried and hurried. They are to be a walk with the Lord in the light. Walk, don’t run, we sometimes tell our children. Walk. Slow down. Pace yourself. Enjoy the view. It is amazing how much ground can be covered if one keeps walking. We are children of light, which means, we have been born of light and we thus have a nature that is drawn to the light; it is completely at home in the light. Walk. Don’t strive, or struggle, or try to make things happen; just walk. Walking is normal to life and it is within the ability of all people. It takes no special skill to walk, and that should make us happy because we may not consider ourselves to have a special skill. Christianity is not a huge set of rules to follow, or tasks to accomplish. It is simply a walk with your Father through life. Let Him point out what needs to happen and which road to take. When we walk with another, we usually enjoy quiet conversation and we may also notice interesting things along the way. We walk together, we talk with one another, and we appreciate the companionship as we journey through life side by side. Be encouraged, friends, it’s a new day. The sun is up, and the light is shining; let’s go for a walk!

Mercy and Truth: Two Vital Elements

Proverbs 3:3, 4 – Let not mercy and truth forsake you, bind them about your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart. So shall you find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

God’s Word consistently brings us back to our responsibility. The pendulum, that swings between those who stress the sovereignty of God and those who stress the free will of man, is always brought back to the middle. Of course, God is sovereign in that He is in ultimate control but, obviously, He is not in control of all my daily choices. A quick inventory of the food I ate, and the words I spoke this week, may be an enlightening example.

Mercy and truth are to be closely united in our lives. Most of us identify with one or the other, but a delicate balance between them is to be maintained. Those who are motivated by mercy simply desire to bring relief from suffering and hardship wherever they see it; their first thoughts are compassion and concern. Quite often they are misunderstood as being too soft and may be told that they need to practice a more tough kind of love. Those who are motivated by truth, however, tend to be on the other end of that spectrum. They see reasons and causes for the difficulties people find themselves in. They rush to correct and fix the problem and then insist that people change. These people, likewise, may be misunderstood, in that they may appear judgmental and uncaring, and they are often encouraged to be a little more sensitive to others.

The reality is we need the balance of mercy and truth. All of life, whether in the home, the workplace, the school, or the church, necessitates the balanced application of both. Our experience of parenting has taught us that fact. There are times when your children simply need mercy; they need to be drawn into your arms and consoled no matter what has happened or whose fault it is. Conversely, there are times when your children need the application of truth and to be confronted and challenged to change their bad attitude. It is all based on the needs of the child and what is best for him.

Our verse tells us to not let mercy or truth forsake us, strongly implying that both can get away from us. We are to bind them closely to us and fix them upon our lives. Most Christians do not like the word bind because it sounds like bondage and restriction. However, there is a positive type of binding that fastens these critical elements to us so they can become an essential part of our lives.

After we have bound them to our life, we are to write them upon the tablet of our hearts. The picture here is of a stone tablet that must be inscribed upon by using a chisel. Our English word character comes from a Greek word which means; that which is engraved. The only way to ensure that mercy and truth do not get away from us is to have them inscribed on our inner man, chiselled into the rock inside, thus making them an integral aspect of our character.

When mercy and truth are activated in our lives it opens the door for God’s favour to be shown. His favour is His pleasure, expressed in acts of kindness. As a parent, you know how great you feel when your children act respectfully and carry themselves well. It pleases you, and when Dad is pleased, he opens his wallet. Our Heavenly Father loves to express His pleasure in giving extraordinary gifts to His children.

Someone has once said that if they had favour, wisdom and courage, they could accomplish almost anything. God’s favour isn’t just with Him, but also with other people. Having favour doesn’t mean that everyone will necessarily love you, but that they will do things for you even if they don’t like you, or understand why they are doing it. If you have favour with the right people, all kinds of doors will open wide for you to go through. As you continue to develop the qualities of mercy and truth, you should also go ahead and start expecting God to open doors of favour and blessing. Thank God for His mercy and truth!

Ever-Increasing Wisdom

Ever-Increasing Wisdom

Proverbs 9:9 – Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man and he will increase in learning.

    Wisdom is always associated with humility and humility is connected to gratitude. If you are a thankful person, you are travelling on a wise path, rightly acknowledging how much you have been given, and how much more room there is to improve and mature. There are so many people that think they know everything. If you bring up a subject, they seem to want to prove how much more they know than you, whether you asked for their opinion or not. That attitude springs from a place of insecurity and hasn’t that been the blight of us all. A wise person is different; they realize that they naturally have insecurities, but are, simultaneously, secure in who they are and have no need of proving anything to others. What a great place to be in life.

    Security is what everyone longs for and endeavours to attain, and yet, it is a moving target and is extremely elusive. Wisdom does not strive for earthly security because it springs from a place of confidence and that is why a wise person can accept corrective instruction and has a willingness to learn. If a young person is loved and secure in that knowledge, then he can also be corrected and not be shaken by it. He knows that correction and improvement are normal to everyone’s life. Contrary to that, if a young person is not loved and does not know the support of family and friends, then, when he is corrected, it is a blow to his identity and his life feels like it is rapidly unravelling.

    A wise person is on the road of ever-increasing improvement and excellence. Wisdom knows that no matter how much one has developed and succeeded, there will always be a need for more knowledge, better ways of doing things and deeper character growth. By accepting correction and receiving instruction, he becomes yet wiser. That attitude of humility and teachableness makes room in his heart for more of God’s wisdom. A proud and stubborn person, however, shuts themselves off from receiving correction, thus, further limiting and hindering their personal growth.

    Have you ever tried to give a gift to someone who refused to receive it? It is impossible. Wise people are those who understand the need to receive and because of that, they have the potential for increase. The same is true if you attempt to teach something to another who thinks they already know all there is to know on that subject. Again, it is impossible.

    Years ago, my wife had many potted plants beautifying our house and she learned a lot about what it takes to keep a plant healthy. One term that she used, to describe a plant that had ceased to flourish was, root-bound. That meant that the pot was too small for the plant and it restricted the roots from expanding; it had become bound and was suffocating from its small confines. Many of us might be like that plant; if we smugly decide that we cannot learn anything else, or develop anymore, we have become root-bound and can go no further. Wisdom says, Go ahead and re-pot me. Put me in a larger place so I can expand to my created potential. Whenever a person is given instruction, or correction, or a warning, that same person is also given an opportunity. We can reject the correction and remain in the same limited boundaries, with our roots being smothered and constricted, or, we can receive the correction, thereby, enlarging the borders of our life and allowing our roots to reach deeper into the soil of wisdom, drawing up the answers and the solutions needed for the difficulties of life.

Joseph: A Prosperous Slave

Genesis 39:2 – And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

    The account of Joseph’s life is a fascinating story and seems to reveal a pattern of how God works in the lives of men. He has just been sold as a slave and removed from his familiar homeland. He has been purchased and now owned outright as another’s property. Yesterday, he was a promising young man with a bright tomorrow, but today, he is an outcast and unknown slave. On the surface, things look very bleak for his future, but Scripture, as always, digs down below the surface to reveal the true nature of things.

    Everything had been ripped from him and stripped away; his family; his home; his friends; his possessions; and even, his hope. He had nothing and yet, he had everything, because the Lord was with Joseph. This verse does not say that Joseph was with the Lord; it says that the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord is with us. He is with us in our sin and disobedience and in our frailty and weakness. He is with us in our self-confident boasting and our self-deprecating whining. In the good and the bad; in the light and the dark; in hope or despair; He is with us because that is His choice.

    A survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, Victor Frankl, has written, ‘Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.’ Joseph exercised the last of human freedoms; he made a choice to recognize that even though everything had been taken, the Lord was present with him. He did not focus on what men had taken from him, he focused on the one thing that men could never take from him. A. W. Tozer would call this, ‘the blessedness of possessing nothing.’ A rich man who does not have God with him is poor, and a poor man who has God with him is rich.

   Joseph was without any material possessions of his own and, yet, we are told he was a prosperous man. True prosperity is always interior, as a cause, first, and exterior, as an effect, later. It is never a pursuit of mere money; it is always a product of much meaning. It encompasses and includes every aspect of our life; spiritual, social, emotional, physical and financial. The Hebrew word ‘shalom’ might describe it best; complete wholeness and total wellness; perfect peace and joyful satisfaction; nothing missing; nothing broken.

Prosperity means that we are advancing forward and making progress on the road of life, and that is always the will of God for His children. It includes the idea of making breakthroughs, and where would our world be if we did not have any breakthroughs? There are breakthroughs in many different areas of life such as medicine and technology, and each breakthrough blazed a trail, and made a way, for others to follow. In the account of Joseph’s life, he also prospered and had a breakthrough, and that breakthrough saved a nation. Be encouraged, friends, God is with us, and if that is so, then He is all we will need. Whatever your current station or status in life is, because God is with you, you have His wisdom, His grace, His strength, His peace and everything that comes along with Him. You are a prosperous slave!

God With Us

Matthew1:23 - Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

    Christmas means many different things to many different people; some say that it bears no real significance, that it is a great family time, just simply a cultural tradition, or maybe a time to show goodwill and kindness towards people. Others would just rather skip the whole thing and have nothing to do with it. Whatever one’s stance is toward the celebration and meaning of Christmas, the fact that the whole world takes notice of this season is a testimony to the historic reality of Jesus, the actuality of His birth and the impact and influence of those few years that He lived among us on Earth.

    The meaning and significance of Christmas is wrapped up in those three very potent and compelling words: God with us. Just think of it; the All-Powerful God chose to be with us. He came to be with us. He made the initial move toward connection with us. He reached out and touched us. God with us. He identified with us in every aspect by becoming a man. As we ponder the fact that Jesus was born into this world as a little babe, a picturesque word comes to mind: embedded.

    A journalist might be sent to a war-torn nation to cover the story closely, and in order to cover it closely and effectively, that journalist might actually live with the soldiers; eating, sleeping and walking with them into battle. He then would be present when the active fighting occurs; bullets whizzing by, explosions too close for comfort and wounded soldiers at every side. He is with the unit; he is accompanying their every move and experiencing what they are going through. We call that an embedded journalist. In a much more powerful way God literally embedded Himself into the womb of humanity. He could get no closer; the Seed of God was implanted and organically united to mankind. God with us.

    God submitted Himself to the process of gestation and birth without giving up His Heavenly identity. He became a man. God with us; Divine with human; Perfection with imperfection; Uncommon with common; Light with darkness; Strength with weakness; Hope with despair; God with us. And not only was He born as a babe but He grew as a child and developed into a man. He lived with us; He walked with us; He cried with us and He laughed with us. Jesus experienced the complete gamut of human emotions and circumstances. He knows what it is to be full of energy and He knows what it is to be exhausted. He knows what it is to be hungry and He knows what it is to enjoy a meal with friends. He was loved by many and hated by many. He was trusted and He was tested. He was believed and He was accused. He knew joy and He knew sorrow. He had friends that loved Him and then He had those same friends betray Him. He absolutely surrendered His right to defend Himself. God with us.

    Many of us will spend the next few days with family and with friends, enjoying the blessing of close relationships; food, drink, laughter, hugs. However, many will also be alone, and some who are not necessarily alone may still be lonely. Sometimes this season brings to mind what we may not have or maybe what we once had but have since lost. No matter what difficulties we may be experiencing this year, whether it is a sickness, a loss of a loved one, a broken marriage, or a betrayal of trust, I hope that we can be reminded of this amazing truth; Jesus is the same as He always has been. He will never change. He came to be with us and He has never left. He is with you and He is with me. He remains eternally the God who understands; the One who never leaves us nor forsakes us; He is the Embedded One: God with us!

Are You Filled with a Spirit of Wisdom?

Deuteronomy 34:9 – And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him, and the children of Israel hearkened to him and did as the Lord commanded.

    Moses was the kind of spiritual leader that the world had not seen before. He was used by God to confront one of the most powerful leaders and greatest military strategists of the earth: Pharaoh, King of Egypt. God instructed Moses on how to approach and deal with Pharaoh, but we can only imagine the kind of faith and courage it took to go face to face in conflict with this ruthless and formidable dictator. God worked through Moses in an unusually amazing way, and the children of Israel were miraculously released from four-hundred years of collective slavery. Moses’ successor had some very large shoes to fill, and Joshua was the one whom God chose to step into them.

    If Joshua was going to be able to succeed Moses as leader of the newly formed, rebellious, and ragtag nation, he was going to need, among many other things, a spirit of wisdom. Wisdom is the supreme need of all leaders. One can be strong and courageous but have a wrong motive. One could be able to influence and direct others, but be headed in the wrong direction. One could have many resources, but use them in the wrong way. Wisdom gives us precisely what we need and more, and it is vital that we acquire it. The principles of wisdom must be instructed, line upon line, but the spirit of wisdom must be imparted, time after time. The laws of wisdom must be learned, but the force of wisdom must be earned. 

       Joshua had served Moses from his youth. He spent many hours with Moses; watching, waiting, listening and obeying. He served Moses daily and helped him in whatever way was needed. He was up in the morning before Moses was up; he got him water and a basin; he brought him food and drink. He climbed the mountain with Moses to meet God. He was always close by, as Moses prayed and talked to God. He could hear Moses reciting the powerful spiritual truths that God had shown him. Joshua watched as Moses endured the pain of misunderstandings and betrayals from people that should have known better. He watched Moses suffer under the weight of responsibility and the sense of loneliness that comes with any leadership burden but, especially one of that magnitude and capacity.

    The laying on of hands is one of the foundational principles of the New Testament and it is a fascinating subject and practice. However, there may be more involved in it than we have experienced. I do not believe that Joshua was full of a spirit of wisdom because of a one-time event of Moses placing his hands on him. No doubt, that would be a very powerful experience for any of us, but, I believe, that it was over a period of years that Moses, by Joshua’s close association and proximity, continually laid his hands on him. Something was happening deep within Joshua as he served the man of God and spent much time in his presence. Something was transpiring within him, something was being transferred to him; and all of it was taking place slowly and silently, incrementally and incessantly, purposely and precisely. This wasn’t something that Moses was intentionally doing, per se, and it wasn’t something that Joshua was especially conscious of. It was something that God was doing, and He was doing it in the way that only He can. Every act, every thought, every prayer, and every circumstance were being woven together by the Master Designer, weaving the fabric of wisdom with which He clothed Joshua.

     Moses had brought the Israelites out of Egypt but, for some reason, he failed to bring them in. God wants us to be brought out, but the job is not complete until we are also brought in. Joshua brought them in. The spirit of wisdom which was within Joshua made it obvious to the children of Israel that God had equipped him to assume leadership. So, they listened and obeyed, and God brought them into the land of promise and inheritance. There is so much more that God desires for us, but we must desire it, as well. We will need that same spirit of wisdom so that we can enter our promised land, drive out the illegal squatters, and reclaim our rightful, God-ordained inheritance.

Rock of Ages

Psalm 18:2 - The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 

    The Book of Psalms is probably the most quoted book of the Bible; it is loved by many people and is a place where people, of all walks of life, frequently come, for comfort, hope, strength and security. One of the reasons that it is so loved is because it is so personal. Every human emotion and experience is recorded within its pages and it is easy to identify with the struggles of the writers. One of those writers, who seemed to always make his relationship with the Lord so very intimate, personal and vulnerable, is David.

    The Lord is my rock. This is either very presumptuous and arrogant of David to say, or, it is the height of faith. Of course, we know it is the latter; it is the highest expression of faith. Can we say along with David, ‘The Lord is my rock?’ Only those who know the Lord can say it, but saying it is also another way of drawing close to God and knowing Him better. The Lord is my rock. Say it out loud. Say it slowly. Say it daily. Say it in the good times and in the hard times. Say it to yourself and to others. Say it because it is real, and say it to make it even more real. The Lord is my rock.

    The Lord is the one and only God; the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Almighty One against whom none can overpower. He is the Self-Existent One; uncreated and eternal. He always has been and He always will be. He is the highest Being in the universe, truly, there is none higher, and this is He of whom we are speaking and declaring that He is my rock. This almost defies understanding; that the Almighty God would descend to my level and have a very close association with me. He knows everything about each one of us and yet He chooses to come to us and be to us what we need Him to be. He is my rock.

    The rock, to the ancient Hebrew, was the steady, weighty, unchanging and immovable One. He is our steadiness because, like the rock, he holds us solidly to the earth and keeps our feet planted firmly on the ground. He creates within us stability and constancy, which enables us to build an orderly life. He is my rock. Sometimes when we speak of someone who has a lot of power and influence we might say that they are heavy, or, that they are a heavy hitter. That means that they carry a lot of weight and authority. There is no heavier hitter than our God, and by virtue of our relationship with Him, He communicates a measure of that weight and authority to us. He is my rock. The rock does not change. It persists through the centuries, remaining the same through every season. It endures intense heat and bitter cold and yet remains unchanged. The Lord is my rock and He will always be the same. It matters not what I have done or haven’t done; I change, but His Word never changes, His heart never changes, His will never changes, and because of that, I can rely upon Him fully. He is my rock.

Occasionally we may hear people speak of those who are faithful friends, or loyal spouses and they might say, ‘She is my rock’, or, ‘He is my rock’. However, no matter how faithful and reliable another person is, and, of course, we are thankful for it; they are not in the same rock-like category of God’s eternally unchanging nature. God said elsewhere, ‘I am the Lord and I change not’, and because of that, we can have a measure of predictability in our lives. We know what God wants because we have read what God wrote; His Word is His will. When the winds of adversity begin to blow with great intensity, remember that you are tethered to the heaviest and most secure One in the universe. Do not fear. Do not panic. He has you, he has you covered, and He has you held in His hands. All of God’s children can say with great confidence, ‘He is my rock.’

The Seed Meets the Need

Luke 8:11 – The seed is the word of God.

    Only God, with His infinite mind, and limitless intellect, could come up with the idea of a seed. Man could never have conceived of such an amazing concept and remarkable system. Man cannot, now, or ever, create seed; only God can create it. Man can cultivate and cross-pollinate seed; he can even modify it, but he does not have the ability to create it. Seed bears the stamp of God’s supremacy and the seal of His private ownership. He does not need to patent it because, no matter how smart and innovative man is, he will always be dependant on God’s higher ability to supply seed.

    Seed is impartial; it does not discriminate. If a rich person, or a poor person sows the seed, it cares not who sowed it. If an educated person, or an uneducated person sows the seed, it does not differentiate. Also, when the seed enters the ground, it does not discern the type of soil it lands in. If it is sown into hard clay, or loose soil, it will put forth the same effort to germinate. Regardless if it is introduced into deep, rich soil, or shallow gravel, its latent power will spring into action. The seed has innate and instinctive powers of growth and reproduction. Expansion and multiplication is built in to its DNA. It desires to grow; it longs to reproduce. It is always the will of the seed to germinate, increase and reproduce itself within the fruit.

    It is an amazing thought that every seed can be traced all the way back, through the centuries, to the original tree from which it owes its existence. There is no original seed being made now; the seed came from the tree that God created in the beginning. From that time forth, He gave mankind stewardship and entrusted him with the cultivation, conservation and preservation of the seed.

    Jesus informs us that, in this parable, the seed is the Word of God, which means, that just like seed needs to be sown and nurtured, God’s Word must be planted and cared for in the soil of our hearts. We have a vital and necessary role to play in the growth of God’s Word in our lives. The seed is dependant on the one who has been entrusted with it; it cannot grow and reproduce without our cooperation. This is the system that God has established. He set this unchangeable law into motion; the law of reproduction. This is where our thinking must be correct; God is not going to bulldoze into our lives and overpower our ability to choose; He honours His system. Even though certain things may be His will, He waits to see what we will do with the seed. He is looking for us to assume some responsibility for our lives and future. Make no mistake about it; for results to occur, the seed of the Word must be sown.

    As we have said before, there is no new seed being created, or produced, that did not come from the original tree. In the same way, there are no new words from God that do not spring from the original and established Word of God. Don’t look for originality; take what has been given to you. Use what is available. Be proactive and begin to plant the seed of the Word that you possess. Give time regularly to the reading and meditation of the Scriptures. Read slowly and think deeply. Do your best to apply what you know to your daily life. Seeds always produce according to their own species, and the Word-seeds from God will do the same. The Word of God contains life and that very life will be reproduced in you. The Word of God includes wisdom and that same wisdom will be replicated in you. The Word of God carries inspiration and that creative inspiration will be duplicated in you. The Word of God is powerful and that similar power will be repeated in you. Take heart, friends, by taking the Word of God and planting it within. Whether it be in our own lives, our families, our organizations, or our churches, we are not helpless and, no matter what we face, it is not hopeless. We can sow our way, and grow our way out of weakness, into strength; out of despair, into hope; out of sorrow, into joy and out of death, into life!

It's Not Rocket Science

Mark 4:26 – And He said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground.

    Jesus was the master communicator of all times. He spoke to people in such a way that they could understand and apply what He was saying. He did not tell people that the kingdom of God is like rocket science, calculus or quantum physics, and that should make most of us very happy. In this case, He was speaking to people who understood farming; they understood the value of growing food for family and others; indeed, for them and many today, they had a vital and intensely practical connection to the ground.

    In studying the term kingdom, we learn that in the original language, it has the connotation of basic or basis; in other words, the kingdom of God is simple and foundational. We do not need any new truth because God has given us His Word which is the truth. We do not need to discover any so-called ‘lost’ books of the Bible for we have sixty-six ‘found’ books to focus on and that should keep us all very busy. We do not need any additions to the truth any more than we need additions to the alphabet. Let’s just keep it basic and simply assemble the letters together and build, and there is plenty of material to work with for there is an unlimited number of potential combinations.

    Jesus said that the kingdom of God is uncomplicated, like a man casting seed into the ground, and it doesn’t get any more basic than that. When we were in our primary grades at school, we put seeds into small containers of soil. We watered them and watched them grow over time. It was an appropriate life lesson that all must learn; seeds sown and nurtured will eventually produce a harvest, and we reap precisely what we sow, be it good or bad.

    Man cannot create seed. He can plant it, cultivate it, and, as we know today, he can even modify it, but he can never create it. The seed comes from God; it is His stamp of Supremacy; it carries the indelible mark of the Creator, and it lies within His domain. Luke tells us, in his gospel, that the seed is the Word of God and Peter informs us, in his letters, that God’s seed is incorruptible and endures forever. Just as God never needs to brag, likewise, the seed never boasts of its power; it grows silently and increases steadily until it bursts forth out of the ground and no matter what kind of opposition comes, it eventually breaks through all barriers and conquers its enemies.

    Jesus is giving us vital instruction that clarifies the responsibility of both God and man. God has roles to play, man has roles to play, and the kingdom has rules that come into play. God alone gives the seed, which carries the latent power, and man alone sows the seed, which releases that latent power. God took the first step and buried His power in the seed, but now man must take the next step and bury the seed in the soil. God and man working together to produce a result; that is the kingdom of God, and that kind of partnership is what He desires to have with us. Be encouraged, friends, you and I are not helpless victims of the circumstances of life, we do not have to surrender and submit to whatever comes our way. No. We can take the seed of God, which is His Word, and sow it into our lives and into the lives of those around us and watch it grow slowly and steadily until it prevails; bringing about victory over every adverse circumstance.