I love how God leads us and speaks to us as His witnesses and disciples. He can even speak to us through a garden! There are some specific steps you take to grow a garden, just like there are some specific steps you take as His witness. Let's compare 5 steps of the two:
Step One: Choose a location to plant. Just like you choose a strategic place to grow a garden, it is also strategic when you choose specific people to share Jesus with! The main point of this step is to take the first step, perhaps out of your comfort zone, and talk to people. I pray that Mark 13:11 will give you courage to speak to others that you may or may not know that need Jesus, Mark 13:11 says, "...don't worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit."
Step Two: Prepare the soil. Just like the hard work it takes to plow the soil to grow a garden, it can also be hard work to prepare to plant seeds of the Gospel as you prepare your own heart and life to be His witness. As His witness, it takes daily preparation in prayer, Bible study, training, growing as His witness to be prepare to share Jesus with others. Just like a garden will not grow on its own without good soil, as His witness you will not grow on your own without good soil in your heart, you must depend on God and the specific steps it takes to be His witness as you prepare to share Jesus with others, but the rewards are His Harvest of Hearts, just like the rewards of a garden are His Harvest of Vegetables. Think about your heart as His soil, what condition is your heart in? God's Word helps us understand and prepare the soil of our hearts, Mark 4:1-9 "Again He began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty fold and sixty fold and a hundredfold.” And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Step Three: Plant and water the seeds. Just like planting and watering seeds in a garden produces vegetables, planting and watering seeds of faith in the lives of people that need the Lord is important for them to grow towards a believer. And guess what, God causes seeds of faith that we all plant and/or water to grow in the heart of those that need Jesus, it's all about Him and that takes the pressure and pride off of you and I!! I love how God's Word says it best in 1 Corithians 3:6-9 "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field..." (NASB)
Step Four: Pull the weeds. Just like weeds in a garden will choke out the life of the plants that you are trying to grow, weeds of sin in the life of you as a witness will choke out the desire to share Jesus! Daily pulling any weeds of sin out of our lives as His witness is vital and important! Throw off any sin that easily entangles you and keep sharing Jesus. Confession is good for the heart of His witness just like weed pulling is good for the growth of a garden! Hebrews 12:1-3 says it best; "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
Step Five: God blesses His Harvest. Just like a healthy garden produces a harvest of vegetables, a healthy growing witness will be blessed by God for sharing Jesus with others! Oh, it may not be material blessings and it WILL NOT be easy, but the rewards from God through the sense of joy God gives to His witnesses for saying YES to His Gifted2Go calling is one of the greatest blessings you will ever experience!! Psalm 126:5-6 says it best "Those who cry as they plant crops will sing at harvest time. Those who cry as they carry out the seeds will return singing and carrying bundles of grain."
Please always know that we are praying for you as you keep stepping out of your comfort zone, preparing, planting, watering, pulling weeds of sin out, and get ready to be blessed....as GOD will make all evangelistic seeds grow!! You are Gifted2Go Grow & Share Jesus!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bg2cJ5bw2k "Press On" Selah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN9SpcWLbLs "I Bless Your Name" Selah
