The difference a little water makes!
06/11/18 20:54 Filed in: Jesus Time
Yet another 'Choose Day' - and an object lesson that I couldn't have planned better if I tried!
As our bathrooms are not yet functional, one has been used as a nursery of sorts for seedlings through winter and spring - chillies, tomatoes and this week - cucumbers.
As it happened, the last day and half they received no water and had started to shrivel...
Definitely time to kill two birds with one stone...
I didn't let on to the kids what the object lesson was about, but said todays Bible Sword was a scripture about the Holy Spirit from Genesis - they all got it very quickly:
The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Genesis 1:2 (NLT)
Next, I got them to read from Isaiah:
For I will pour out water to quench your thirst
and to irrigate your parched fields.
And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants,
and my blessing on your children.
They will thrive like watered grass,
like willows on a riverbank.
Isaiah 44:3-4 (NLT)
We talked about what parched lands would look like - about the effect and why water would be so important.
And I asked them what the link was between water and what new topic God was raising - the Spirit.
Here, the effect of the Spirit was the same as the effect of water on parched plants...
Next on to the famous Psalm:
O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.
Psalms 63:1 (NLT)
and how David captured the imagery of a dry and parched soul - getting it's desire met a few verses later:
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.
Such a difference!
Next we went on to the words of John the Baptist:
I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Matthew 3:11 (NLT)
And again looking at the link between water and the Spirit in this verse and just a few later when Jesus is baptised...
After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.
Matthew 3:16 (NLT)
The probable link here between being baptised in water and the Holy Spirit being around is made much more clear in the next verse we looked at:
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
John 3:5 (NLT)
Jesus makes it abundantly clear - there is an undeniable and unbreakable link between water and the Spirit.
Lastly we looked briefly at 1 John:
So we have these three witnesses— the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree.
1 John 5:7-8 (NLT)
We talked quickly about how God continually links His Spirit with water, from the first book of the Bible right to the last (Rev 22:17 if you need a reference!).
And, amazingly, how we had these plants that looked a little like 'parched' and 'weary' lands!
I let each of the children choose a plant - they could do anything with it...choose where to put it, what pot, what soil, what place - as long as they gave it water.
We would check at morning tea time, lunch time and dinner time to see if there was any difference...
Outside we went, to get some pots, mix some manures & soils and water our seedlings.
We spend quite a bit of time growing, so this was a 'normal' enjoyable time mixing our own potting mix (each did their own custom mix of sheep, cow & chicken manure, soil improver, coir, compost & sand), filling pots, mulching & watering. We did other things to do with plants, veggies etc while out there then came in for breakfast.
Morning Tea rolled around and and we went back out to see if there was any noticeable changes yet...
They didn't look like the same plants! Vibrant, upright, strong and full of life - a far cry from the shrivelled, dying and wilted seedlings of a few hours earlier!
This is the same with us - without His Spirit we are stunted, wilted, lifeless and dying. But with his Spirit, we quickly become full of life and even life giving.
We will monitor the progress of these 'Spirit Watered' seedlings and enjoy the 'fruit' that the Spirit produces in them!
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