Water (Spirit) Rights

Was just mulling over some old musings I had written down and I kinda got pumped up over it. I'll attempt to give you the shortest version possible.

I was musing the differences between two types of farmers in Eastern Oregon. First the dry-land wheat farmer and the farmer afforded water rights. The way these two types of farmers operate are vastly different.

The dry land farmer is fully dependant on Gods providence for the water. If it is a good year for rain, he can expect a good crop. This might not be true in a drier year. Also the dry land farmer (at least in Eastern Oregon) can only plant every other year, this is called summer fallow. Some farms place themselves in double fallow and only plant every third year.

Farmers with rights to water (let's just say well water for brevity's sake) can irrigate their crops from their wells in accordance to the priority of their water right. Not only can they irrigate whenever it's needed (in most cases) they are not subject to having their ground go fallow every other year (or two of three years). They plant every year with a reasonably certain probability of presenting a harvest.

Many, indeed most Christians are like dry land farmers. They plant every so often then pray for God to send rain on their ambitions. Every so often they produce fruit.

If you are a Christian there is a wellspring within you. The water you plead for is living inside of you. You can produce a fruitful ministry year after year. It is your birthright as a child of God. (Luke 11:10-13)

We all desire for the rain of God's revival to land on folks. We also need to listen for the inner witness and heed it as He tells us "Go here" , or "Tell him that I know him and all he's done, I waiting for him to come back" or "read this" or "spend some tiome with me".

When was the last time God used you Christian friend? How old are the stories you tell about His work in your life?

His Image

1Cor. 15:49-50. I believe one of the greatest hinderences to Christian growth is when we come to realize that He isn't who we thought He was in some way. We carried some image of Christ from our past that made us think He thought as we did, then we face the revelation that His thoughts are nothing like our thoughts, then we remember He cannot change.

If our opinions are particulary dear to us, something we have based our life on up to this point, this can be disheartening. Perhaps we invested a great deal of our life being wrong. We are now confronted with the issue of what to do next change (repent) or living in strife with the one who created us and redeemed us. We can try to bend the Truth to fit our opinion, but our conciences will continually convict us.

I had to come to the realization that Christ would never be a pacifist for me. He was as much the Lion as He was the Lamb. He will never change to become like us and He expects us to change to be like Him. It is not at all an equitable friendship, but why should it be? He purchased me as a plantation owner would purchase a slave, and He paid a great price for me.

Of course the best way to avoid this entire confrontation is to avoid the Word as much as possible. We will die a spiritual infant but look at the alternitive.