Don't Get Weary in Doing Good

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Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray for all those watching, listening, or reading this and their families, all those connected them, and our church and governmental leaders.

Thank you for releasing us from darkness and transferring us into the light, into the kingdom of your dear son. Thank you for your purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 

I ask that you the father of glory would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so we would know you better. That the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know the hope to which you have called us, and the riches of your glorious inheritance that is in us, and the immeasurable greatness of your power to us who believe. The same power that you exercised in Christ when you raised him from the dead, and seated him at your right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,and every name that is named. Not only in this age but also in the one to come. And you put all things under his feet and made him to be the head of all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 

Heavenly Father, bless us and make your face shine upon us. Let us find grace and favor in your eyes.Expand our borders and our territory. Expand our capacity to receive your purpose and grace, and all that you want to do in our lives, and to let it flow through us so that we do good and are a blessing to people all over the world. Keep your hand on us and help us do TODAY what is right and best in your eyes. And to do it with peace and joy, and confidence in you. And as we do stretch out your hand to heal and do signs and wonders. And keep us from evil and pain. 

Through the mighty name of Jesus. Amen

Communion Meditation

Every time we take communion it should be with holy awe for the death of Jesus. His death marked the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Communion is a reminder to let go of the old and embrace the new. Galatians 6 says what really counts is a NEW CREATION. Faith expressing itself through love is what really matters.

We are to examine ourselves when we take communion. How are you doing? Are you showing up in life doing the things you know to do and doing them with a good attitude and presence. I felt God was telling me recently that either we are functioning in God's supernatural peace and joy by trusting in him or we are not. It is black or white, hot or cold, yes or no. Either we are in faith and trusting in God and operating by his spirit or we are not. There is no in between. The line has been drawn and we must choose which side we are on. Galatians 5 says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control. Against these things there is no law. We often break these up and think of them as separate qualities, but really they are not 9 different fruit, they are one fruit with many flavors. There is one source, God, and when we tap into his unlimited inexhaustible supply that he has given us in Christ all of these come together as a package. Psalm 103 says not to forget all of God's benefits... He forgives all our sins, heals all our diseases, redeems our life from the pit, satisfies our desires with good things, and crowns us with steadfast love and mercy so that our youth is renewed like the eagles. Don't forget all of his benefits. This all comes as one package. Either we are functioning in this and it is growing or it is not, there is no in between. It should feel like the pressure is off and everything is flowing together.

How well are we functioning in this? If the answer is NO, then the answer is to abide. This is fruit of the spirit which means we need to sow the seed of his word into our hearts consistently. Jesus said if we abide in him we will produce much fruit. 

Communion is a reminder of our covenant with God. A covenant is a partnership or agreement, which means that there are terms to the agreement. This covenant is a blood sworn oath in the blood of Jesus. God has promised to give us everything he has....His wisdom, purpose, grace, love, kingdom, righteousness, peace, joy, time, etc. Not only that God has promised to guide us and he said that if we are ever in trouble to call out to him and he would deliver us. He is among us as one who serves and is doing everything he can to make us great and lead us to a spacious abundant place that is free from all constraints and restriction. That is what he has promised us. But, we have a role to play in the agreement. Our role is to stay focused on him, keep our eyes on him, keep praising him, keep sowing his word into our hearts, follow his leading and voice, showing up with a good attitude and functioning in the love, peace and joy he has given us, and giving other people the same grace God has given us. When we step out of giving other people grace and get into strife with people, we step out of our covenant with God. It is not worth getting out of the covenant. It is better to be wronged and still give other grace so that we stay in God's grace. If we ever slip up there is always forgiveness. We can repent and receive our forgiveness and be right back in again. This is an amazing partnership God has given us. 

Don't Get Weary in Doing Good

Galatians 6:7 says do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked, a man reaps what he sows. The man who sows to his sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the spirit (What is it that pleases God? Loving him and loving people. Jesus said to love him is to obey what he tells us to do. Following him is one half and the other half is giving other people the same grace God has given us.? If we do these things we will reap eternal life. The word eternal is zoe in the Greek, which means both physical and spiritual life. Then Galatians goes onto say let us not get weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity let us do good to all people, especially to the family of believers. 

We are not supposed to grow weary in doing good. As we sow into following God's plan for our lives and into relationships with people there is often a time gap before we see the harvest or results. During the middle there can be the tendency to get weary or frustrated because we haven't seen the results yet. But, we can keep sowing trusting that God is going to bring the harvest eventually. It is just a matter of time. 

We can keep doing good and sowing into our relationship with God and people because we know God will ultimately cause the seed to grow and bring the harvest at the proper time. These verses say the one who sows to the spirit will reap from the spirit. Which, means we don't reap this by trying to figure it out and forcing it to happen. We reap it from the spirit which means God makes it happen at the proper time. It is God who causes the growth to happen. Our job is to sow the seed and God causes the growth. 

2 Corinthians 9 also contains a passage on sowing and reaping. Starting in verse 6 it says...

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (Are you generously sowing God's word into your heart. One of the most important principles of sowing is to always plant inside first. God always plants inside first. Start sowing God's word into your own heart. Sow into your relationship with God and his plan for your life. Then begin to sow into others by doing good at every opportunity. When you start sowing into others work from the inside out. Start with those closest to you like your spouse or kids and then expand out from there.)

7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (When you sow do so with joy. Do what you know to do and do it with a good attitude.)

8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Sowing generously from the inside out by sowing God's word into your heart, sowing into your relationship with God and his plan for your life, and sowing into the people around you, starting with those closest to you is the path to an abundant harvest. But there is a time period between sowing and reaping and you will reap at the proper time. If you haven't seen the harvest yet fight off the feeling of frustration or discouragement because you can trust that you are sowing into the spirit and at the perfect time God will bring the harvest. And remember you will reap from the spirit not by your works or figuring it all out. When you reap it will be like everything is coming together at the perfect time. As you wait in the middle keep your praise and thanksgiving high and stay focused on God. 

As I was praying about this message a passage from my book 7 Dates With Jesus: Crossing Over Into Abundant Life kept coming to mind. 

Here is the passage...

Faith and patience go hand in hand. When we walk in faith, we are willing to wait, knowing that the Lord will provide all that we need and desire. When we are truly in faith, we aren’t anxious. We don’t toil. We know that the Lord will provide, so our faith grows alongside our patience. Patience, like other fruits of the Spirit, behaves like faith: The more you exercise those muscles, the more they grow. The fruits start out small, as a seed, and grow into mature fruit. Remember, though, that the seed must be planted, cultivated, and harvested. Too often we want to skip straight from sowing the seed to reaping the harvest. During this time, we must learn to cultivate our seed and not give up as we wait for our crop. The more you see God come through for you, the more your faith will grow. As your faith grows, you will begin to truly trust the Lord. You’ll be willing to wait in patience, not fretting over whether the Lord will meet your needs.

How do we wait for the Lord to answer our prayers? Patiently and quietly. If we discuss our problems with everyone and complain all of the time, are we being patient and waiting in faith? Think of the person in front of you at the coffee shop, complaining about the long line. Is this person being patient? Sometimes we treat God the same way. We gripe that our prayers haven’t been answered instead of quietly acknowledging—and waiting for—God’s promises.

Those who are patient are also consistent. At the gym, some clients will grow frustrated. They’re exercising and eating differently, but they haven’t lost 100 pounds in six weeks. So, instead of continuing with their good habits, they move on to the next fad. Some people have tried every diet out there. They’ll eat one way for a month and then move on to another method. Through the years, my trainers and I have observed one truth: Clients don’t have to do anything fancy. They only need to be consistent. Show up, make progress in their workouts, and make good choices with food, and the results will come. Our progression with the Lord is no different. We only need to trust in Jesus, show up in our prayer lives, read the Word, keep growing, and be obedient. If we do these things, we will be successful. Start small and grow from there, rather than trying to “do the religion thing” hard-core for a month. We see this in the gym. Some people will start a workout program by going crazy on day one, and they end up so sore they can’t move for two weeks. They’ll miss their next three workouts because they’re too sore, and then get discouraged and quit. The key is to start small and grow from there—because he who gathers little by little will increase (Proverbs 13:11). It is better to start small and continue to grow than it is to start big and quit. Remember, there always will be a period of cultivation before the harvest, and most people give up before they reach their harvest. More than likely, you’ll go through a time when you’re doing all the right things without seeing results. This period of time is a test designed to see whether you will persist.

5 feet per day
In 2015, on a family vacation in North Carolina, we took a day trip to an island called Cape Hatteras to see one of the oldest lighthouses in the U.S. On the visit, the Lord taught me a valuable lesson. At the original site of the lighthouse, the beach had eroded and waves had threatened the structure, so officials had decided to move the entire lighthouse to a new location a half-mile away—without dismantling it. This would be no easy task. Hydraulic jacks would have to lift the 200-foot-tall structure from its foundation, and the lighthouse would be pushed on tracks toward the new location. To prepare for the move, workers spent an entire year clearing a path through the trees. As the lighthouse was moved, the pace was painfully slow: 5 feet per day. Watching the lighthouse move was like watching the grass grow, according to a museum display. The movement was imperceptible—but at the end of the day, the lighthouse was 5 feet closer to its target.

Like the lighthouse’s foundation, where waves were crashing and the beach was eroding, your life may be in shambles when you’re first saved. The Lord has plans for you, to give you an abundant life. But you’ll have to spend time with him to hear his plans and to clear the path toward your goal. When you spend time with the Lord in prayer, reading his Word and listening, he will reveal his will and plans for your life. And those plans are truly awesome. For me, God’s plans are more perfect and complete than I could have ever imagined, just as 1 Corinthians 2:9 says. This is echoed by Ephesians 3:20: that God will do exceedingly more, abundantly more, than all we could ever ask or imagine.

Don’t be surprised, though, if patience is required. It will likely take a year or more for the plan to be revealed to you. Once you receive the vision, you can begin taking steps of faith. You won’t have all the details in front of you, but the Lord will. Break the vision down into small steps. The steps will feel like you’re a lighthouse, inching forward at 5 feet per day. It will feel like you’re not moving at all. But you are. Press forward. Every day, make the effort to move 5 feet closer to the Lord’s vision for you. Faith requires work and action. The “work” part is easy to define: Believe in Jesus and know that he is backing you. Then take the step or action that you know you need to take.

Know your enemy
Just like a scouting report helps a sports team know its opponent, we must know our opponent and the tactics he uses to derail you. First and foremost, Satan will try to bring pressure, in the form of sickness, symptoms, financial problems, marital disagreements, relationship problems, and more. He wants you to believe in what you see in the physical world rather than living by faith in what the Bible says. In our thinking we can’t be carnal, listening only to our senses; we must be led by the Spirit.

Along with pressure, Satan will also try to get you to believe that you aren’t reading your Bible enough, praying enough, or tithing enough. He wants your faith to fall on yourself rather than Jesus, so that he can stop your prayers from working. When you face these self-accusations in your mind, tell Satan that you are righteous because of the works of Jesus and not your own. Know that you have dominion over Satan. Know that God is working everything out for your good. Keep holding onto your joy so that Satan can’t steal your goods. Satan will question your identity, sending people who say, “Who do you think you are, that God speaks to you?” Satan wants you to doubt who you are in Christ.

Satan’s next tactic is timing. He’ll try to force you to make quick decisions or delay the answers to your prayers. But stay in faith. He knows that if you’re impatient, you may look to worldly answers or blame yourself. Remember that the victory already belongs to Jesus. Be patient and God will grant your requests in due time—and his timing is perfect.

Satan will also use others to disrupt you. Others will bring condemnation or persecution, or lead you to question your decisions. In sports, you’ll often see players who are completely taken out of their games because of words. On the baseball field in college, we were accustomed to hearing some trash-talking from the other team and opposing fans. At some venues, the fans were ruthless. If others’ words are persecuting you, you must learn to let the words slide right off. The words can’t do a thing to you. They’ll only get into your head and shift your focus away from your goal. On the pitcher’s mound, I could have listened to the fans yelling at me and grown distracted. Instead, I did my best to ignore them and focus on the next pitch.

Even if you haven't seen a harvest yet, keep your praise high, because it is simply a matter of time. It is also important to develop the skill of encouraging yourself in the Lord. David had this skill. One of the keys is looking at all God has done for you and how far you have come. Look back at how much progress you have made over the years, over the last year, over this year. It is encouraging to look back and see all God has done for us already, and he won't fail us in the future. Don't grow weary in doing good. Keep sowing into your relationship with God, his plan for you life, and into the people around you. Keep moving forward 5 feet every day and you will reap at the proper time. God will see to it!