HEIRLOOM SEEDS

Have you ever wondered why there are so many religions?  Why are there several varieties even within denominations?  How do beliefs change from one generation to the next?  Every denomination believes their doctrine is “the truth” and all can “prove it” by tracing their history to the “Original.” So what happened?

Last Spring, I decided to plant a garden.  I prepared the soil and picked out the strongest, healthiest looking plants from the garden supply nursery.  After planting, I tended them with loving care; pulling weeds, daily watering and periodic fertilizing.  In August, my diligence began to pay dividends; I harvested a bumper crop of delicious, beautiful tomatoes.  What I did not know until later, is that this is the first and only crop that these plants will produce because they were grown from HYBRID seeds.  If I save the seeds and plant this spring, I may or may not get delicious, beautiful tomatoes.  If they do grow, they will have a different taste and appearance because I do not have access to the original “parent” plants.  A master gardener has this advice, “You shouldn’t save seeds from HYBRID VEGETABLES because they won’t produce “true” in the next generation.”

Then there are HEIRLOOM SEEDS.  Heirloom seeds are carefully tended and protected.  According to one source, “a true heirloom is a cultivar that has been nurtured, selected and handed down from one family member to another from one generation to another.”  Another important fact regarding Heirloom seeds; they adapt to the soil, climate and conditions they are grown in, making them MORE resistant to pests, diseases and weather extremes. Heirloom seeds contain pure genetic material from the original parent plants and produce the same uncorrupted fruit generation after generation.

If we examine the Christian church history, we find the teachings of the Apostles contained in the Bible, then we come to the Apostolic Fathers who were taught by the Apostles and attempted to carry on the original traditions and teaching.  In the next generation we find the ante-Nicene Fathers and the post-Nicene Fathers.  By this time there were so many teachings, opinions and writings that these men grew more “interested in methods of defending the gospel and less interested in transmitting the gospel in a true and pure form.” (author of quote unknown)  And here we find the BIRTH OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.  The teachings of Jesus and the Apostles became a HYBRID SEED!  RELIGION is always birthed from HYBRID SEED.  Remember, replanting a hybrid seed will produce different fruit every season.  They may still be called tomatoes, they may look, smell and taste like tomatoes but they will never have the purity of the original plant.

1 Peter 1:23 Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever.  

Take a look at your life, your theology; are you of HEIRLOOM SEEDS or have you become a HYBRID, producing beautiful fruit for this season and then passing on an uncertain harvest to the next.  The only true test is to measure your seed against that of the parent, which is the WORD OF GOD. It is only the HEIRLOOM SEEDS that will be resistant to the pests, diseases and storms of life.  Extreme measures must be taken to rid yourself of all the HYBRID seed. First, all the thriving Hybrid plants must be pulled up by the roots.  Then we must allow the “Fire of the Holy Spirit” to consume the plants, roots, little cuttings and buried seeds.  Then we must cultivate the soil, allow the Heirloom seeds to take root through study of the Word and water the seedlings with prayer.  Soon the HEIRLOOM SEEDS will grow to beautiful healthy plants, producing fruit and seeds to pass on to the next generation and the next and the next…

UTTERLY DESTROY!!

During my time of devotions, I felt the Lord speak these two words to my heart, “UTTERLY DESTROY.”  I paused, not sure.  Was that really God speaking?  Why would a loving God speak of destruction?  I had been praying for some dear precious people who have made the choice to explore on their own, away from the path God has laid down for them, so why would God say, “Utterly Destroy?”  Surely God wasn’t speaking of these dear ones; this was definitely going to take a little more meditation and a whole lot more prayer.

As I lingered in prayer, God directed me to get up and read the account of King Saul’s disobedience to the command of God, Samuel’s pronouncement of judgment and the end of King Saul’s life…there are lessons to be learned.

Many years before, the nation of Amalek had ambushed Israel as they were making the journey to the Promised Land, it was now time for them to receive the punishment, God had prescribed, for their actions.

1 Samuel 15:2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and UTTERLY DESTROY all that they have, and do not spare them.  But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

I am not sure what went through Saul’s mind as he went to battle.  Perhaps he thought God was unfair or unjust.  Perhaps it seemed such a waste to kill the animals that really had nothing to do with the ambush, besides they could be used for food, trade or breeding OR even to sacrifice to God.  Whatever thought process led Saul to make the choice to disobey the command of God, the Bible does not say but the decision to not UTTERLY DESTROY was the beginning of Saul’s UTTER DESTRUCTION.

1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to UTTERLY DESTROY them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

BE SURE YOUR DISOBEDIENCE WILL FIND YOU OUT!!!  It wasn’t long before God sent Samuel to confront Saul regarding his disobedience to the command of God.  Saul is told that because of his disobedience, God is taking the kingdom from him and his heirs and giving to another.  Samuel, then has King Agag brought before him and hacks him to pieces.  Pretty gruesome stuff, but when God commands, He doesn’t mess around! 

REMEMBER THE WORD, AMALEK!  If we jump forward a few years, we read of a young man running to tell David the news of Saul’s death.

2 Samuel 1:6-10 Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 7 Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 8 And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an AMALEKITE.’ 9 He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’ 10 So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen.

Did I really just read that the young man was an AMALEKITE?  One of the people that King Saul was told to, “UTTERLY DESTROY?”  The man who killed King Saul was an AMALEKITE?   YES, YES and YES!!!   Now the lesson becomes a little more clear, when God says to UTTERLY DESTROY, He means UTTERLY DESTROY…don’t separate the good from the bad, don’t save the best parts; UTTERLY DESTROY!!

What has God told you to ELIMINATE from your life?  Has it been UTTERLY DESTROYED?  Have you learned to COMPARTMENTALIZE your life?  Separating the things that belong to God from the things that “aren’t so bad;” the things you keep hidden to be cuddled and stroked in private.  Your life CANNOT be compartmentalized; the profane will taint the holy.  God says, “UTTERLY DESTROY!”

DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF!  You canNOT COEXIST with the enemy and at the same time be pleasing to God.  God will NOT share his authority in your life with anyone or anything.  It doesn’t matter how alluring, how beautiful or how valuable the offerings of the enemy appear, your choice to coexist with the enemy means you accept the ENEMY’S TERMS and play by the ENEMY’S RULES.  You must also understand that the enemy’s end game is YOUR ABSOLUTE DESTRUCTION!”

The command of God is NOT up for debate.  When God says, “UTTERLY DESTROY,” move swiftly and be thorough.  The little “things” you set aside for a special purpose will eventually be uncovered and their beauty and value will require your soul.  “THAT WHICH YOU REFUSE TO DESTROY, WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY YOU!”

1 Samuel 15:22-23 So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and the stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."

SHELTER IN PLACE

“SHELTER IN PLACE,” I can still remember the first time I heard the phrase.  On April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech, a lone gunman went on a shooting rampage. The alarm went out and students were told to “Shelter in Place.”  The authorities were not sure who they were searching for, how many shooters were involved, their location or if and when they would strike again.  Students were instructed to lock all doors and stay where they were until further notice.  This limited the number of people on the street as police conducted a search for the gunman and also lowered the risk of more victims being shot down by the perpetrator or getting caught in police crossfire.  It was finally learned that the lone gunman had committed suicide and the “All Clear” signal was given to allow students to leave their shelters.  Since that time, there have been terroristic shootings in more schools, malls, coffee shops, military bases and even churches and we wonder where can we “shelter in place?” 

This has been a week of terror in France with terrorists entering a newspaper office and killing several people.  As I watched the story unfold on a 24 hour news network, fear threatened to paralyze the freedom I have always enjoyed and destroy my peaceful existence.  Is there no place of safety?  What if?  Could it happen here?  As I continued to watch, God spoke these words to my heart, “shelter in place.”  The Peace of God flowed over me and His Word filled my heart.

Psalms 91:1-2 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust.

YES, there is a place of safety; a place we can run to when the affairs of the world threaten to shackle us with fear.  Proverbs 18:10 tells us “The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”  God is MY refuge, MY fortress, MY strong tower; in HIM will I trust.

If confusion is clouding your mind, if fear has a firm grip on your heart and your circumstances threaten to overwhelm you, it is time to “SHELTER IN PLACE.”  Find that “secret place” in God and REST!  Say His Name; JESUS!  It is a STRONG TOWER.  There is NO place of safety outside the “shadow of the Almighty.”  It is there that God will restore your soul.  It is in Him that the crooked path will become straight.  The storm will pass over, the “all clear” will sound, but for today, “shelter in place.”