Day 342: Lessons From Nature

1 Corinthians 2:9

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

Philippians 1:6

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Joshua 21:45

Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

Today’s devo was inspired by the song Seasons by Hillsong worship, as I was listening to the song a couple of things stood out to me, but the biggest thing that stood out to me is how nature acquaints with not only patience but the promises of God. The lyrics are as follows:

“Oh how nature acquaints us

With the nature of patience...For Your promise is loyal From seed to sequoia”

I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a sequoia tree but they are huge. They are the largest, tallest, and longest living trees on the world. Some of the biggest trees you will ever see. The tallest one is 311 feet high, the oldest one has been living for 3500 years. These  trees are iconic and remarkable. But I am sure they did not end up this way overnight. They did not just sprout up to three hundred and eleven feet overnight. It took time, a long time. While they are the fastest growing trees due to how large they can be and how tall they get, it takes years for them to actually grow as high as they can. It can take thousands of years for them to grow as tall as they are. However, once they start growing they do not stop. The trunk gets wider and they tree gets taller. The foundation grows as the tree grows in order to support its growth.

I talk about these trees because in many ways they can represent us and also God’s promises to us. I love that the song says that God’s promise is loyal, “from seed to sequoia” as many times as I’ve listened to this song it took me a while to catch on the message of those lyrics. It’s interesting that they talk about the sequoia tree as it is the largest trees in the world. From a small seed grows this massive and beautiful creation. In the same way God helps us to grow from a small seed into something massive, something grand and beautiful. He makes us into something we never thought we would be. In the time that it takes to happen He remains loyal. His promises never fail. He remains who He is through it all. From the very beginning God has been there and He will be there for us to the very end, and when it’s all over we will be united with Him in heaven. He is there from the moment we are planted in Him, in the moments when the roots are growing, and we don’t see the growth. That first sprout He is there, as we grow taller and taller, He is there. The thing is He never stops being there and His promises for us and words towards us never change. It’s beautiful.

If you’ve ever seen a sequoia you will be taken by it’s beauty. These trees are so beautiful that you can make bridges out of them. You can drive through the arches of it’s trunk. It’s mindblowing how astounding they are. You never thought you would see something like that. This is how God’s promises are, so astounding that it blows us away. No eye has seen, no ear has heard the things that God will do for us. It will blow us away and leave us in awe.

There is a lesson that we can learn from nature. As the song says, “Oh how nature acquaints us, with the nature of patience.” There’s nothing that will teach you patience like watching a tree or a plant grow. There is nothing we can do to speed us the process we just have to trust the process of growth and wait. We can speed things up but the waiting makes everything so worth it. The waiting makes us want it even more, but if we are patient enough the waiting produces passion. Waiting on something makes you want it even more. My prayer is that the longer we wait on God the more passionate we grow for Him, the deeper we get with our relationship with Him. As we begin to see the value of who God is and the value of His promises. Sometimes waiting isn’t always a result of God “punishing” but it is the realization that God is working on something so great that we  have to wait a bit longer to see what it is.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond to what we discussed today. Respond in whatever way you feel led and let that response guide your prayer. Pray in whatever way you feel led, just take the time to talk to God.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 343!

Day 174: One Heart, One Soul, One Love- Day 4

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth

Genesis 2:15

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Today I want to talk about the environment and how we treat it, and how we are supposed to take care of the earth, God created for us. As Christians we should definitely care about the earth and take care of it. I believe from the beginning of time God has given us a responsibility to take care of what He has given us. It is our job to take care of our home and keep it healthy. From recycling, to keeping our streets clean. Using less energy or electricity or using solar power, planting more trees and gardens. Whatever it may be, just making sure we aren’t causing harm to the planet. It’s such a beautiful place, I mean God created it. Nature is so beautiful, let’s not take it for granted.

I talk about this because one of the things plaguing the world right now is climate change. Droughts and storms are happening all over the place. Glaciers are melting, animals are dying and close to extinction. If we want to live healthy lives we must do our part to make sure our planet is healthy. I truly believe that we should treat our home as a gift. God gave us something beautiful and gave us dominion over it. This our home for the time being and it’s the home of our children and their children and so forth. So let’s do what we can to protect the earth. Let’s do all we can to keep it healthy and safe.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Take the time to think about what you can do to be a part of taking care of the planet, and then do it. Nothing is too small. Pray for the environment, pray for the world, pray for climate change, pray for the animals. Take the time to thank God for this beautiful earth. Enjoy this earth, and enjoy the beauty of nature.

Day 122: From Adam to Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:45

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Philippians 2:8

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

There are many comparisons between Adam and Jesus in the theology world, but also biblically as Paul calls Jesus the last Adam in 1 Corinthians. Today we are going to explore these ideas, and get an understanding of what Paul meant when He called Jesus the last Adam.

It is largely understood that Jesus came to do what Adam could not, He came to fix the very things that had been severed and broken as a result of the fall. Jesus was the answer to a broken world that could only be fixed or saved through his sacrifice. From the moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit humanity was separated from God, and Jesus was the only one who could unite us once again.

Adam was created in the image of God, he was created a perfect man initially, completely good. When Adam was created there was no sin in the world, sin entered the world through him. Romans 5:12 states Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—We are the descendants of Adam therefore we inherited his sin. Jesus was also perfect, he was the very image of God. Jesus being conceived by the holy spirit was not born a sinner but born into a sinful world and was completely human, Jesus walked on this earth as a perfect man, never sinning or falling into sin. Both men were given a choice, Adam with the tree (Genesis 2:16-17) and Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1). Adam chose to eat the fruit which would result in the fall of humanity. Jesus would stand against the temptations of satan, and save humanity by giving his life up on the cross. The difference between the two men is that one came to fix the mistakes or even pay for the mistakes of the other. Adam was disobedient to God and chose death when he and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit, it was through these actions that sin sin entered the world. It was through Jesus that sin was defeated in the world. The scripture says that Jesus was obedient to the point of death, if saving this world meant dying the most humiliating and painful death known to man, then Jesus was willing to do it and He did. He was completely selfless in doing so.  

1 Peter 2:24

who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

Certain translations refer to the cross as a tree  seeing that cross was made out of wood. Ironically it goes to show that a man eating fruit from a tree is caused the fall of humanity. But years later, the promised Messiah would hang from a tree saving humanity from the result of the fall.

Adam is a representation of humanity as the Hebrew meaning of the name Adam is, man or mankind. The name Adam is also a masculine term for the word Adamah, meaning earth. We are Adam, we are the sinners who have chosen to live a life of sin, and we were and are in desperate need of a Savior. From the moment we were disconnected from GOd, He has been in constant pursuit of our heart in order to have relationship with us.

Colossians 1:14

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

“We are all connected with the first Adam (the natural and legal head of the human race) as depraved and guilty sinners, and so are included in the sentence of death which God pronounced on him. However, all who are connected with the last Adam, Jesus, through repentance and faith in His redeeming work, are forgiven, have ‘received the free gift of righteousness’, and so ‘have passed from death to life’.”

Jesus came to save and fix this broken world, it is through His sacrifice that we are able to have a relationship with God and live a holy and righteous life, which is what God intended from the very beginning. Jesus did what Adam could not do by carrying the sin of every man on His shoulders and taking it to the grave, and being raised from the dead three days later. By doing so he defeated the power of sin and death, so we no longer have to live in sin. We are no longer connected to the sin of Adam. We have been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus, who has taken away the impurities from humanity.

Reflection

Today was a bit theologically heavy, but what is your response? Do you see the parallels between Adam and Jesus and their choices directly affected humanity?

Prayer Time

As a response to today’s reading talk to God about what stood out to you. Thank God that He did not let us die in our sin, but He sent Jesus in order that we may have relationship with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 123!

Day 75: Removing What is Dead

We ended yesterday’s devo with the question we will start this one with.

What is stopping us from taking that leap of faith? What is stopping us from growing in Christ? If we had nothing to lose would we jump?

John 15:2

"Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit."

Sometimes we are carrying around dead weight, meaning we are carrying things that no longer belong to us, we are carrying a burden or burdens that we should have dropped long ago. We cannot jump because we are holding too much weight. When we are going places there’s some things and people that cannot go with us. If we want to grow, if we want to keep moving forward, if we want to take that leap of faith we have to remove the dead weight from ourselves. We have to free ourselves from the burdens we’ve been carrying around.

These burdens and dead weight can be anything from relationships, to habits. We have to release them in order to get to where we need to go. Where God is taking us, there is no room for the extra baggage, there’s no room for dead weight. We have been carrying things around on our hearts, in our lives, things we find security in or things and people we love. Letting go is the hardest when we love the thing we have to let go of. But we cannot let those dead branches remain, we must cut them.

Sometimes we hold on to people and relationships, friendship that have been gone but we’re still trying to make work. Habits that we can’t seem to shake. If we want a tree that bears good fruit we have to cut away the branches that are bearing bad fruit, or no fruit at all. It has no place in where we are going.

Once the dead branches are removed, God continues to prune the healthy branches. Meaning he makes sure that everything dead is cut away, making room for more growth. If we want to grow, if we want the fruit we bear to be good, we have to let go of the dead branches, we have to remove everything from us that is dead. That is the only way we will grow, and be able to make that leap of faith.

Reflection

1. Are you carrying around dead weight?
2. If you had nothing to lose would it be easier to let go?
3. What do you have to lose?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about letting go of that which is dead in your life. Allow Him to remove the dead weight.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Share this with someone and make sure you come back tomorrow for Day 76!