In the parable of the seed, some seeds were crowded by weeds. (Mark 4:13-20)
Not too long ago I had been reading some books and websites on time managements, wealth, productivity, and health.
They gave me many good ideas, but soon I found that I had to go through many trial and error to get to the best ones.
That made me miss my coach, Holy Spirit. When I still very much used to focusing on living a spirit driven life, every step I took I asked the Spirit first. I sought God’s specific will before I proceed, even for what to eat at dinner.
During that period of time, every step I took was precise, wasteless, no unnecessary actions. Everything I do seem to connect to profitable results that lead to more effectiveness. God was able to engineer my circumstance so that every action I take in accordance to His will always bring multiple good results.
To live in such a way was like being on call all the time. It was stressful to me. I gave up that lifestyle later, although I experienced God intensively because of that lifestyle.
I exchanged that lifestyle for a more predicable, self-driven, and planning based one. I wanted my life to be predicable and knew where I was going instead of a sharp turn after another on the call from the Holy Spirit.
I read many books and articles to increase my own decision-making, problem solving skill, instead of relying on God to guide me step by step.
I did it the same way for the Bible and Christians books. I wanted to lay out a study plan for the Bible and make a schedule. I wanted to do “Christian” in a systematic, predicable way.
For example, when the discipline of Christian meditation first entered my mind, all I was thinking was how to integrate Bible meditation into my daily live, without thinking about following the prompting of the Spirit. I said to my self how much verses I wanted to memorize each day, how deep I should go into in my personal bible study, and how often I should change my study topic.
You can’t start anything without the Holy Spirit! So the result was that I had started doing meditation many times, and every time I fell off the wagon quickly.
The best I could get in this lifestyle is randomness. And I have to overcome many obstacles, wrong turns, trials and errors, in order to achieve something.
Had I devoted my all to a spirit-driven life, everything would be more efficient and more direct – Take the leap of faith and understand the big picture later, rather than to understand first, and then take actions.
The Seeds From The Holy Spirit
The Spirit will give you ideas and directions on everything, micro and macro, in a still, small voice. It’s easy to crowd it out by all kind of worldly ideas, human reasoning, good ideas (Not best), visions (not from God), fears, worries, desires to control, and busy.
In whatever you do, you will succeed if you simply find out what those seeds are, where they are, and protect them with your total efforts.
How do you protect the seeds from the Holy Spirit? Exercise your discernment skill daily! The voice of the Holy Spirit usually accompanies God’s words. Jot it down when the Spirit give you highlight on scriptures. Meditate on them day and night with the Holy Spirit (Like conversation with the Spirit). Declare them loud. Think about all kind of ways to apply them. Trust your coach!
At first, the seeds are hidden underground. But if you nourish them carefully, they will grow, though slowly. Growth take place but human eyes can’t see. And later, they bears many fruits.
Guard your seeds carefully with the Holy Spirit!
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Tags: Bible Study, Discernment, Holy Spirit, Productivity, Time Management