What kind of sirt are you - by pastor Greg Lathe

"What kind of dirt are you?"


"And be sure to put into practice what you hear. The more you do this, the more you will understand what I tell you." Mark 4:24

In today's reading in Mark, Jesus tells the story of the farmer who sows seed. We know that the seed lands in different places. 1. path (which the birds ate) 2. shallow soil (grew quickly, but roots weren't deep enough) 3. among thorns (which caused seed to produce no grain) 4. Good soil (which produced great crops)

We can often hear parables or familiar bible passages and we kind of nod in acknowledgment of their point & move on, but we really should take the time to pause and evaluate "what does this mean for my life?"

Let's look at a few points we need to take away from this parable.

-Each of us are dirt. The Word of God has been planted in us. The question then remains, "Which kind of dirt am I?

1. The footpath. verse 15 says, "The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message only to have Satan come at once and take it away." What happens when you hear the word of the Lord? Is your mind so well worn by worldly influence that the voice of God is snatched from your hearing?

2. The rocky soil. "The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word." (Mark 4:16-17) This doesn't describe someone living the balanced Christian life, it's someone living the "emotional" Christian life. There are tears at the altar, and jumping during the exciting worship, but because of lack of roots, it's the waves of trial that cause them to lose what they have. Are your roots deep? Are you connected to the Body of Christ in such a way that you can weather the storms of persecution?

3. The thorny soil. "The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced." (4:18-19) So many times I hear the stories of those who are "too busy" working or wrapped up in other concerns to do what God has gifted them to do. Some are paralyzed by worries and insecurities, and others are lulled to ineffectiveness by the lure of the illusion that things will be less busy "soon". God's message is crowded out.

4. The good soil. "And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!" There's one way to tell if you're good soil. Are you producing fruit? If not, what's the problem? What's holding you back?

Hosea 10:12 says "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you."

It's your job to keep your soil in good condition. Only God can bring about a fruitful harvest in your life, but he has promised that if you care for your soil, he will do it.

Be GOOD dirt!


Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

Pastor Greg Lathe

Words by Julie Bowles

Words
Julie Bowles


Proverbs 12:18 - Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (NIV)

The words we speak to one another are very powerful, and at times, we toss them about carelessly. I was recently on the receiving end of careless words tossed my way. The words that were spoken to me attacked my character and made me question if they were in fact a true representation of who I am. You see, those words had been true of me before coming to accept Jesus, but the person who spoke them did not know me back then. So when those words came my way, I began to question whether they were still an accurate representation of me now, in my walk with Jesus. I had prayed and sought the Word for an answer to this, but when no answer came immediately, I began to retreat and withdraw from people. Why did I do this? To protect myself from further hurt and also to protect others from the possibility that I was still of that character.

So how does God reach us and heal us during these times? He can speak to us through many means: the Bible, a Sunday sermon, a phone call, a note from someone, or something a friend says. At times, it happens that we just know that we know that God has spoken to us. For me it came through a simple three-word change that the Daily editor made to one of the sentences that I had written in another devotional, so that it read, "Am I like the cereal box, all flashy and showy, but giving friends a hard time seeing who I really am inside?" The Lord used this change as an opportunity to speak volumes into this situation.

Yes, I have been holding people back and not letting them into my life. I have been guarded with the people who have tried to come alongside me and help me through this time.

Psalm 12:6 - And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. (NIV)

Thank God that He is not limited in His ability to speak to us!

Prayer: Dear Jesus, thank You that You work through others to bring healing into our lives. Help us, Lord, to come quickly to You and leave it at Your feet. We thank You that Your timing is always perfect in our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen

Tips for moms

ometimes life runs ahead of us at 100 kilometres per hour and we struggle to keep up.

Here are a few tips I found helpful on staying on the road and in the running for God’s gift as a mother. (these come out of A mom after God’s own heart by Elizabeth George)

1.      Take time to nurture your heart.

You can only teach what you know; you can only teach faith by showing faith. Faith can only be had if we spend time nurturing ourselves (sometimes your quiet time will be on the floor with kids all over you but so be it, take the time, they need to see you do it too)

2.      Teach your children God’s word.

As we learn the verses we can teach our children to remember them with us.

3.      Talk to your children about God

Talk to them not just about what He is, but Who He is.

4.      Tell your children about Jesus

Tell them about Jesus and everything He did, and how much it all means.

5.      Train your children in God’s ways

This is fairly easy; His laws are what we need to teach our children and not the laws of the world.

6.      Take care of your children

Again do the best you can, give them your whole heart and take the time to give the hug when needed.(or even when it’s not)

7.      Take your children to church

8.      Teach your children to pray

Talking to God will help them feel connected to him, praying is not a difficult thing but it is extremely powerful.

9.      Try your best

God expects nothing more from you!

10.   Talk to God about your children.

You can share with Him too, about everything.

These are fairly simply guidelines but our lives sometimes interrupt our routines and we get side tracked.  I am merely posting this as a reminder for us all.

Sometimes our quiet times are spent in between doing dishes or in the car on the way to work, but we have to remember that our children need to see us practice it too, not just as a family but in private too. This helps them understand the position in your life too and not just as lessons for them to learn.  God is not an institution but a life line.  Some have not accepted his blessings yet, but we can show our children that we have and teach them the blessing they are and we receive as a family.  The little hugs and kisses and talks die too quickly as sincere talks and turn into a role that must be played out of responsibility.

Enjoy sharing His love with yourself and your family.

Life's Highway

We all plan our lives and live it according to what we feel we want out of it.

I have seen many things lately which show that we tend to feel life is out of our control.  Yes there is a destiny that we have and we can only control so much.  My question is this, is the frustration and turmoil worth it all?

Yes we can control life in the choices we make but it does throw us a curve ball every so often. I am not saying give up control at all, I am saying we need to concentrate on that which we can control, like our decisions and let the rest go. We need to stop worrying about things we hear might happen and only worry about them once they actually happen. Cross the bridge when you get there.

Things we can control:

Our emotions – we can choose our outlook on life and our outlook will affect our emotions. We choose every second whether something is going to bother us or whether we will ignore it. We choose to see the negative or the positive in a situation.  Once we have conditioned ourselves to look only at the positive, life will be so much brighter! When our emotions are under control, the mountains don’t seem like the same mountains we see when we are frazzled and stressed.

Our Time- Most times we can choose how to use our time. I have found that the more we do, the more we are able to do. You will find that when most of your time is spent on quality not quantity, this also leads to more feelings of fulfilment. Is it really necessary to wash the clothes now, when the kids want to play, or do dishes when hubby wants to watch a movie? Prioritising will show you how you can eliminate time wasters and concentrate where you can gain precious time needed.

Our mental wellbeing: we need to concentrate on relaxing and doing stuff we enjoy, To break the monotony of everyday life. We need to take time to prioritise our lives and ourselves. Take time to congratulate yourself on a job/project or something that you have done well. Go get that manicure or facial or read that book you have been wanting too.  We too often wait for other people to show appreciation when we don’t even show it to ourselves.

So take the time to organize chaos and turn it into managed chaos!

Woman of the House

 This is a fairly long one which I am going to try my best to compress as much as possible.

As the woman of the house we have so many roles to fulfil.

·        Homemaker

·        Accountant

·        Cook

·        Cleaner

·        Mistress

Now we add a family or children to the mix and you get

·        All of the above

·        Nurse

·        Teacher

·        Friend

·        Jungle gym

·        Doctor

·        mother

Luckily for us, we are woman which is only a couple letters short of SUPER woman!

Valentine’s Day is not just on the 14^th of Feb. It is everyday of the year! We don’t give our husbands credit because they don’t appreciate us. We don’t accept help because we try to convince people we are super moms. In my case I don’t go to the doctor when I am ill, because moms don’t get sick – there is no time for being sick.  Needless to say I was very ill and had to realize AGAIN that I am not super mom.  It is okay to ask someone to watch the kids for an hour so you can nap or go to a coffee shop to have a coffee alone and in peace! Yes I repeat it is ok.

I have found not through just the studying but experiments and experience that the more we accept help, the better we become. The more we praise our partners, the more they praise us, and will therefore be much more willing to help us in return again.  Men try to hide their emotions as we well know but they are extremely dependant on feelings of pride and sufficiency towards us.  They thrive on knowing we think they are good enough, they are the ONE for us, and they are what we need and that they can provide it for us.  Take this away and you will have endless problems. Men have 1 or 2 reasons for being, to be able to provide for his family, so there is nothing lacking and secondly to be his wife’s hero.

So my theory is this, make your man believe like you do, that he is good enough for you. Thank him for all the care he takes of you and the family and how he provides. (It is always good to list what you are grateful for from time to time) Show him how much he means to you – Yes girl you know what I mean!  

The more we give of what we want the more of it we will get back. Begging a man for something is definitely not the way to go.  And remember that they were born with a wild heart...to hunt and the have adventure and our current lifestyles do not allow them to have these emotions. So we should grant them the time to get these things, like allowing them to do the things we fear for them for.

So if you want to feel loved and appreciated – show your hubby how much he is, he will give you points for this, and in return do it unto you tenfold.