Are You Standing in Stinky Water?

Luke 6:38 -  Give, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you. (AMP)

How is the flow in your house? Is there a flow or is there a standstill? Earlier this week as I was fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit in my quiet time, thanking Him for several things, He filled me in with some interesting insights.

Sow into the Kingdom. People need to be a distribution channel & not a reservoir of money & blessings. The great thing about a channel & stream & river is there is a CONTINUAL FLOW!!! A reservoir of water often gets stinky & also in dry times can completely dry up! You always want to stay in the FLOW!!

When we hoard money, time, our gifts, when we keep to ourself what God meant for us to sow, we get out of the FLOW. Just as oxygen & carbon dioxide are essential to the breathing and the life flow, giving (sowing) is essential to the receiving flow. The following excerpt may explain a bit of what a "non-sower" could experience:

Pools of standing or slow-flowing water provide a breeding ground for many insects, including mosquitoes that can transmit diseases. These mosquitoes are known as vectors. Different species of mosquitoes transmit different diseases, and they will also breed in different types of water collections. (World Health Organization)

When we stop the flow of giving, that is when the "stink" starts to happen in our lives. We may begin to experience lack in our lives. We may notice ourselves trending to "inward self", looking to how can "I" solve this money problem, how can "I" fix this, how can "I" provide? When we get out of the flow and stop giving of our time, money, resources, love, etc, we begin to look to ourselves for the answers. We begin to become self-reliant instead of God-reliant. Then we may eventually find ourselves standing in a pool of stinky water, infested with mosquitos. When the flow stops, the stink begins. The lack rises to the service.

Get a picture of this. When there is a continual FLOW, when we continue to give; sow money (or time or love, etc) into places we feel led (our church, ministries, people in need, etc), when we STAY IN THE FLOW an automatic result to that IS receiving. It is a natural cycle, if the giving stops, the receiving stops. If the cycle stops, it begins to breed death instead of life. When you STAY in the flow, you WILL find that you can not get away from receiving. It IS part of the cycle. You give and you receive! According to Luke 6:38, when you GIVE it shall be given back to you! Pressed down (envision packing down brown sugar in a measuring cups - these blessings will be pressed down tight so more can fit!), shaken together & running over! When you STAY in the flow, the AUTOMATIC default is to continue to be blessed! And last time I checked, God gives very good gifts! 30-60-100 fold return from God is WAY better than "keeping what we have" with a closed fist.

So friend, lets stay out of the stinky, mosquito-infested water! Let's STAY in the fresh, clean FLOW!

Do you want a HARVEST?

Mark 4:14 - The sower soweth the word.

The sower sows the WORD. Yesterday I tweeted out (@amyjmccart) a thought that is so fresh to me right now because I am experiencing it. The tweet said, "Continue to sow seed in faith and your harvest will catch up with you!" 

The sower sows!

Are you desperate? SOW!
Are you in need? SOW!
Do you need healing? SOW!
Do you need financial help? SOW!
Do you need friends? SOW!
Do you need a spouse? SOW!
Do you desire peace? SOW!
Are you sad? SOW!
Are you unhappy? SOW!
Are you searching? SOW!

Whatever you need or desire is right behind the seed that you sow! 

This is so fresh in my life right now. I'm witnessing harvest in so many areas of my life, Tyler's life and even our children's lives. As I watch blessing and blessing and blessing come, I stand amazed and in awe. How is this possible? One blessing shows up, my mouth is still gaping when another one is right on the heels of that blessing. I barely have time to be in awe, because I'm in awe of the next blessing!

BUT…. here's the BUT….

But…. I look back over the last 5-10 years of our life and what comes to mind? SEED. SEED. SEED. We have sown. When we saw a need in someone else's life, when we felt led, we sowed. I recall a girl getting stranded along the interstate. Her car wouldn't work and she was stranded. Her family was 6 hours away. We put her up in a hotel for the night until her family could get to her. Don't get me wrong, I don't tell you this to glorify the action of helping her, but to let you know, that was SEED! We specifically thanked God for the opportunity to SOW. In that seed, we believed God for our children's safety, the children we didn't even have yet. In that seed, we believed that people that LOVED GOD would help our future children if they were ever in a time of need without mom and dad close by to help. We sowed.
___________

SEED of the Word! Over the last 13 years, I've sown seed of the WORD of healing and health! One of my regular confessions has been, "Thank you Lord that my body operates in the perfection to how it was created to operate. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, my body operates perfectly!" Would you like to know a result of that confession? In High School, I had broke or severely jammed my right pinky finger. One day I went to show my niece who had just jammed a finger, "Oh look, I did that too and my finger is still disfigured and permanently bent." When I went to show her, I looked at my finger and it was COMPLETELY HEALED! It had been disfigured, fat at the knuckle and bent for 10-15 years! I looked at my completely NORMAL finger and it looked EXACTLY like my other normal pinky finger! IT WAS HEALED! As I sowed the Word and sowed the Word and sowed the Word, the WORD HEALED MY FINGER! I don't even recall specifically praying for that finger, but it came into line with my confession and the Word!

"Continue to sow seed in faith and your harvest will catch up with you!" 

I'm watching my children be blessed because we have sown. When we had enough and when we didn't have enough, we sowed. We sowed. We sowed. And then….. we sowed some more. In so many areas I am watching harvest come in. Overwhelming harvest.

So… if you are discouraged, if you have been sowing, if you have been believing, if you have been standing in faith, if you have been working, if you have been longing for your dream…. Friend, I am here to tell you, CONTINUE! CONTINUE! Your harvest WILL COME IN! When you continue to sow, you will experience a season of harvest that just keeps coming! And when you CONTINUE to sow (not just sowing once and waiting for that ONE seed to come up), but when you CONTINUE to sow, when your harvest comes in, it will CONTINUE to come in.

Are you in need? SOW!
Sow, sow, sow!!!
Sow the Word. Sow money. Sow time. Sow love. Sow help. Sow encouragement. Sow friendship. Sow loyalty. Sow things.

SOW! As your harvest is coming in and your mouth just stands agape, in AWE of how good God is, you will be thankful that you chose to, in good time and bad, SOW!

Amos 9:13-15 

“Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” God’s Decree. 

“Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, 

one thing fast on the heels of the other. 

You won’t be able to keep up. 

Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! 

Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. 

I’ll make everything right again for my people… (The Message Bible) 

Friend, GET EXCITED!!! Shout and THANK GOD in advance for your victory and harvest! Praise HIM! Thank Him! AND SHOUT, for the VICTORY IS YOURS!!!!

Secrets!

Mark 4:14 - The sower soweth the Word.

Mark 4:22 - [Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to revelation.] For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything [temporarily] kept secret except in order that it may be made known.

Praise The Lord for the opportunity to get in His presence AND to be able to get into the presence of the Word. What good stuff!

In having my quiet time this morning, sitting with my husband like we usually do, Tyler and I got into a good conversation. Early in our marriage while we were visiting Charleston, SC, he got a revelation. As we laid on the grass looking up at the trees, he realized that the big water oaks were growing in that very moment. Effortlessly. With the right amount of water and sunlight, the trees grew big and beautiful. Tyler read this morning, "with the right amount of water and SON-light, we also grow!" With the right amount of LIVING water from the WORD of GOD, being in the presense of Jesus, WE as believers also can grow effortlessly.

Are you a sower?
It's ESSENTIAL to be a sower! If you are a believer and want to experience FRUIT and VICTORY in your life, it is ESSENTIAL to be a sower! When you sow the WORD of God continually into yourself, you can begin to see growth and victory in your life. Effortless. Victory. Every area of life.

More? As you spend time time in the presence of God, growing in the SON-light, those "SECRET REVELATIONS" are no longer a secret FROM you, but FOR you! As you dive into HIS presence, EVERYTHING is made clear. You begin to see with eyes that reveal answers. Mark 4:22 reminds us how to get answers! Secrets are hidden TO BE REVEALED by YOU the believer! Your answers are there, in the SECRET PLACE. As you sit in the presence of the Holy Spirit, seeking out answers, get your pad of paper ready for the answers to flow! The answers are not hidden FROM you, but FOR you to find when you get into HIS presence.

Your Christian Friends, "The Joneses"

2 Cor. 10:12b - … but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

We've all heard about the Jones family. At one time or another, Christian or not Christian, we have probably been tempted to compare ourselves to The Joneses. Most commonly in the world it's categorized as "Keeping up with The Joneses."   People often compare when The Joneses get a new car or new house, new shoes, new purse, new swing set for the kids or new go-cart for their kids, new this, new that, the list goes on.

Just because we're Christians, it doesn't mean we are exempt from "The Joneses" syndrome. Although, most recently, I've noticed that we may not always be comparing material things but comparing significance, comparing assignments. "Well she is doing 'this' for the Kingdom of God." Or, "Their family is going on a mission trip." "He is writing a book." "She launched a ministry." As believers, we may find ourselves looking at our own life and the calling on our life, feeling insignificant in where we are at or dissatisfied, then we compare to another believer who just did something great. We may have thoughts like, "They seem to have it all together, while I'm doing the monotonous day-to-day things around my house."

Just this week, I came across the verse in 2 Corinthians. Verse twelve of chapter 10 really is specific about this whole topic of "comparing." But they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 

Friend, I have been guilty of it too! Finding myself looking at "the calling" or "the assignment" some of my friends or family may have, then comparing myself to them, or even feeling contempt towards them. Looking at what they are doing and thinking it looks much greater than what I am doing. Feeling jealous or discouraged. Well, isn't it interesting, that is when the Holy Spirit comes and gives us a nice little reminder. Here's what he had told me…

You have YOUR OWN assignment. Don't focus on what others are doing. Focus on what GOD has called YOU to do. YOUR assignment!!

Each person has a different assignment. If we were ALL The Joneses, we would be without many parts to the body of Christ. If we focus on other peoples assignment and not our own, we are missing the strength zone that God has called US to operate in! If we are trying to operate in someone else's gifting, and not our own, we will most assuredly come up short! YOU are the only one who can complete your assignment! Next time that Christian couple in your Bible study does something great for the Kingdom, instead of coveting their seeming "significance" in the Kingdom rejoice with them that they are doing their part of the group project! Get before the Lord in prayer and determine, "What is my assignment? What am I suppose to be doing for the Kingdom on a daily basis?" Then put on your blinders! Applaud your friends, but let's not compare! It leaves us frustrated and discouraged.