I shall become a tree...

Luke 13: 18-21
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches. Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to?  It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

The Lord showed me that the garden and the dough signifies the child of God. I know this because in John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." & Luke 17:21b says "the kingdom of God is within you" NKJ, the literal Greek to English translation of the scripture is "the kingdom of the God inside of you is" http://www.scripture4all.org/

The text above from Luke 13 has a two fold meaning for me, the Holy Spirit showed me that I could take a stand based on that particular scripture and believe God in the face of doubt or opposition. Whenever doubt rises on the inside of us causing us to want to shrink back, telling us that we will never get there, that our beginnings are small, that we don't amount to much spiritually, this is what the Lord says in return: You will get there though your beginnings are small and you started off as a little mustard seed of faith in Him, you will become a tree where others can and will perch drawing on His strength within you. This is the confidence we have as we serve and continue to seek Him. I felt God's encouragement & comfort when I read this text in a very real sense, enabling me overcome doubts & opposition.

Here comes the second part on how we become trees: the woman in the parable takes some yeast and she mixes it till it is worked all through the dough. The yeast is the kingship of God that is His authority over us. As we make way for His will in our lives, His authority & sovereign rule leading, guiding, working in and through us, permeating the whole of our lives, allowing Him to spread through every area of our lives, holding nothing back, then like dough which rises because of the yeast applied & kneaded all through the flour, we too will rise becoming the trees we are called to be. The key to this is we stop compartmentalizing our lives from God, wherein we let God in only so far, but beyond a certain point He is not allowed in to rule & have authority.

I learnt something once, I discovered the sovereignty of God. That if He rules in our lives, we don't tell God what to do, He tells us what to do, we depend on Him. We find out what His will is on a matter then we seek it, not the other way round. When we don't know what His will is, we ask Him to guide us and trust Him to lead us to it. We also have the word of God which shows us what His general will for all of us is.

Simon Peter was afraid once when He looked at His own humanity I can't do this ...but Jesus said don't be afraid see Luke 5: 8-11. This same Simon Peter leaving everything & following Jesus, walking in the power of God's strength went on to turn the world upside down!