Lord of the Harvest

When Elizabeth came into my life last Dec, I really had no idea about the life & weight she carried for me. It was my response to the Lord’s gentle nudging from within that had me get her from the local nursery, but little did I know that a journey of sorts had just begun.

Over the months, I saw her go from a beautiful, bright red-leaved plant to a dry, dull green-leaved survivor that honestly, was quite discouraging.

After a 3-week battle where I shifted her in and fought for her, I knew I had to let her go.

So I prayed for her, committed her to the Lord and sowed her as a seed in the ground before finally bidding her adieu.

Friend, how often do we hit a curveball like this in life, and then think it’s all over when it’s actually only a new beginning?

Had I simply dumped Elizabeth on the pavement, it would have been a different story. But committing her to the Lord as a seed buried in the ground has fetched me a completely different result.

A few weeks later, I began to notice the entire landscape & geography of my living space shift. The Lord had been working within me, through me and also on my behalf in a way that has served to release a most beautiful, diverse and buoyant plant family in my life!

All this to say that should you have lost any thing/person dear and precious to you, then take heart. All is not lost.

As surely as I grieve with you, I also simultaneously encourage you to sow the thing/person as a seed in the ground, for Jesus is faithful to receive your seed, honor it and multiply it. In the kingdom of God, what is dead and buried is often used to raise a harvest of righteousness and bring in newness of life that could never have been anticipated.

For me, it looks like a brand new plant family springing up to life in the wake of one seed – Elizabeth – that was an unwitting sacrifice. For you, it can look completely different. But what we do have in common is the perfectly righteous God we serve who can and who does use all things for our good and his great glory!

Don’t hide it, deny it or bury it.

Sow it – for he is the Lord of the harvest.

Hallelujah!

🪴🌱🌻🌿

Glory

“Death, burial and Resurrection.”

It was perhaps around Thursday during the Holy Week when the Lord washed the disciples feet, thereby demonstrating the full extent of His Love which finds authentic expression in what Pastor Bill Johnson often says,

“Rule with the heart of a servant, and serve with the heart of a king.”

Jesus always used His authority to build up, never tear down. He released life and light wherever He went. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He opened blind eyes and unstopped deaf ears. He cleansed the lepers and cast out demons. He dignified women and ate with tax collectors. He taught in the synagogue and freely forgave.

And on Thursday, He stooped down to now wash the disciples feet.

“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.” (John 13:3-4)

It is astonishing and refreshing to learn that an awareness of His Identity as the Son of God did not lead Jesus to demonstrate any sort of worldly flamboyance which was not uncommon in those days for a king, but rather it led Him to serve.

He perfectly exemplified the heart of the servant-king that He was.

Not only that, He also encouraged His disciples to do the same.

And He encourages us too.

The Kingdom of God always works in paradox, sometimes too mysterious for us to comprehend. And what I’m learning is that what we can’t necessarily wrap our minds around, we certainly can choose to receive with our hearts by faith.

We may never understand the kind of Love that compelled the Lord to go to that Cross at Calvary, wilfully die a gruesome death both, ‘as’ us and ‘for’ us, and then on the third day, be raised again from the dead.

All so that we could receive a forgiveness of sin, an authentic hope for our future and life everlasting with our Father in Heaven.

We may never understand this kind of Love, but we are free to choose to receive it.

Revel in it. Bask in it. Glory in it.

He paid a most unreasonable price to ransom us and redeem us.

And there is perhaps no better way for us to honour this kind of Love, other than simply learn to receive it like little children.

Little children who belong to the family and the kingdom of God.

Sons and daughters that were on our Saviour’s mind as He breathed His last on that Cross.

So He could release a fresh breath of Heaven into us when He rose again.

Death could not hold Him. Hope could not be left buried or entombed. For He is Risen.

And He is alive.

He is breathing right now. Into you. Into me.

A new life. A resurrection life. An ascended life.

A life He paid with his own for us to receive.

Like little children.

Sons and Daughters that are marked with glorious divine destiny that have The Father’s fingerprints all over.

So as we head into the last three days that mark the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord; let us, like Him, remember whose children we are, where we come from and where we return.

For when all is said and done, He will get the Glory.

Because He paid a mighty price for it and as His Children, may we never settle for anything less than God’s best.

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Glory!

Prayer 💖

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

(Ephesians 3:14-20)

It’s one of my favourite passages, and thought I’d share it towards Easter.

Blessings.

Death and Life

“By Your Spirit, I will rise

From the ashes of defeat.

The resurrected King

Is resurrecting me.”

With Easter being just seven days away, the lyrics of this life giving worship song infused with my spirit seem to set the stage to rise to the occasion.

Yes. We know the story. But have we embraced its reality?

Lord Jesus Christ’s gruesome crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary for the atonement of our sins followed by His resurrection on the third day, that which we have come to commemorate as Easter, reveals to us the hope of the calling we have received.

Death and life go hand-in-hand.

In my experience, the death of toxic waste like fear, anxiety, shame, regret, unforgiveness, vengeance and pride only pave the way forward for a New Life to spring forth; one that is rooted in love, faith, hope, humility, gentleness, understanding, courage and compassion. It is the crucifixion of the narrow self-life which makes possible for us to walk into the wide, open spaces that God, by His Grace, has already pre-destined for us. It is a declaration of such death that is a precursor to inevitable victory; a victory over the narrow confines of self preservation, selfish ambition and false identities.

I believe with all my heart that when The Bible says that the old has gone, the new has come; it is boldly declaring the Truth that the old man with all of his flaws and limitations now has legal access to a new life, a life renewed with authentic Hope and Victory.

Do we just waltz our way into it?

Yes.

And no.

For it is by the Grace of God that we have this privilege and this promise. But at the same time, it is our daily obedience and commitment to living out our new life that determines to what extent we will tap into the victory that has already been purchased for us.

To what lengths will we go to see the death of those things that are poisoning us and plaguing our existence ?

How much are we willing to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone to reach out to those that are in need of what we have to offer?

Are we truly willing to let our hearts experience the beautiful paradox of what Jesus did?

Have we abandoned ourselves to His care enough to trust that where we have seen death and destruction, we will also see restoration and resurrection?

I believe that if God has you reading this, He wants you to know that you are chosen. You are loved and you are valuable. You are treasured and you are cherished. Your God truly does love you.

Will you love Him back enough to let those things that are tainting your experience of life die once and for all, as you simultaneously reach out for the newness that comes with trusting Him to birth within you that which will give you true life?

I believe you will.

I believe I will.

Together, we will.

And as I write?

I suddenly have the strangest feeling that Heaven is smiling upon us.

Have a blessed week towards Easter, dear friends!

All my love,

Simran.

❤️