What does a plant seed need to germinate? 

Warmth and moisture.

 

What does a seed planted in us need to germinate?

A loving environment and encouragement.

 

What does a young, germinated plant need to grow and bear fruit?

Good soil, light and water.

God provides all three.  All three can be either pleasant or unpleasant in how they arrive.

 

What does a germinated seed in us need to grow and bear fruit?

Good soil (see below), love and truth (which often arrives in storms).

God provides all three.  All three can be either pleasant or unpleasant in how they arrive.

 

What creates good soil?  Fertilizer.  And brokenness.

Fertilizer consists of animal waste and dead and decaying plants and animals.

 

For a planted seed to germinate and grow, it must experience warmth and moisture and be exposed intimately to death, decay, waste and brokenness. 

 

For planted seeds in us to grow (our Father is always planting), we must experience a loving environment, encouragement, truth and love and be exposed to pain, failure, brokenness and death (our own and that of others).

 

Fruit is born by those growing in, staying in, and appreciating the value of, truth, love, pain, and brokenness.

 

The difficulties and the wounds of life (combined with knowing love and having a perspective based on truth) allow us to grow to a place of being of value to others (bearing fruit).

 

Lack one or more of these and there will be either no germination or no growth.  Living always in the sunshine would be pleasant and sounds desirable but would not produce the growth that creates value in us and allows us to bear fruit.

 

All people of the Amazon basin, like all people in the U.S., are wounded.  The wounding either pushes people away from God or draws them to Him.  It either causes hardness and perpetual immaturity (stunted growth) or significant, humble growth and wisdom.  We see both here as we see both at home.  One response to being wounded is so sad, creating a cold hardness and superficiality (there is so much of this here).  The other is truly beautiful, creating a warm humility that sees and trusts beyond the pain (only intimacy with Jesus can produce this genuinely).  There is a minority of this here. 

We cannot produce growth but we can be used as fertilizer if we live humbly, sharing our death and brokenness.  The truth of the Kingdom is so lacking in the Amazon Basin.  We are called to love, and in the context of loving, tell the truth about our Father and His Kingdom, the source of all growth.  If you are experiencing difficulties, be encouraged.  Your soil is being prepared to grow your Father’s planted seeds and to bear fruit (be used for the benefit of others).

 

Reminders:

 

All people, in every culture, are wounded, broken, weak, and afraid.  Some realize it.

People are very much the same anywhere.  They both reflect the beauty of their Creator and manifest the wounds of lives lived independently of Him.

Sticks and stones may break one’s bones but words can wound one’s heart.

Look for the one outcast or wounded. It is there that the soil is likely ready for seed.

Hunger and thirst, disappointment and sadness, weakness and inadequacy, wounding and rejection… are all realities within the Kingdom of God.

I have seen joy in those desperately poor and misery in those with great wealth.

Beware of the ear-tickling "health and wealth" teachers/preachers.  They preach to the flesh rather than to the spirit.

The counsel of one 70 has been tried more than that of one 50, and the counsel of one 50 has been tested more than that of one 30.

To love without receiving love is as unhealthy as receiving love without loving.

To be critical of the behavior of someone who doesn’t know God’s love is to criticize, from the comforts of civilization, the decisions of one stranded for many years on a deserted island.

God doesn’t need missionaries to accomplish His work to the unreached just as Jesus demonstrated clearly that He doesn’t need physicians to heal.  He also doesn’t need preachers to communicate truth or to lead someone to Him and He doesn’t need us to pray for Him to respond to a crisis.  But He enjoys greatly allowing the people that He loves to participate in what He wants to accomplish.

Before giving advice, listen, think and pray.  Flippant, dispassionate advice is too often voiced and most often best held.

Give an opinion if asked for it.  Soil must be ready for the seed to yield life.