Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Battle for the Seed

I was watching a favorite pastor’s sermon this morning (Bishop T.D. Jakes).  His sermon was titled “The Battle for the Seed.”  What a profound thought and what perfect timing for me to hear this message.

The sermon was actually geared towards mothers, and in light of this coming Mother’s Day, I want to lift that up as the inspiration for this message.

It has been an interesting 4 years or so.  Every area of my life has been a “battle for the seed” and it was not until I heard this message that it clicked for me.  I am a mother to a 4 year-old, I have been growing a business for just over 4 years, I have been investing in a ministry for longer than that.  Little by little I have seen victory in these areas, in different seasons and at different levels.  But, for a very, very long time, it all seemed like a whole lot of hard work, heartache, trials, gutting it out and waiting.  Very little progress, much of what seemed like set-backs, losses to wholeness and relationship. 

As I was listening to Bishop T.D. Jakes, and his reference to the nurturing character of mothers, it dawned on me.  Our greatest glory and our greatest pain is imparted and inflicted through nurturing.  And, even if you are not a “mother” in the way that the world understands it, all women are mothers.  We "mother."  We take care of the people in our lives.  We fight for them.  We bleed for them.  We ache for wholeness in and with them.  We wait with them.  We carry their burdens.  We hold their hands.  We cry with them.  The Bible refers to this quality of women as Ezer Kenegdo.  This is what I am talking about.  Eve was given to Adam to be his Ezer Kenegdo.  His “lifesaver alongside” him.  We are Ezers for all of mankind.

So, when I heard this again, I realized that the pain in my life and the glory that I bear have been spend in the last handful of years battling for the seeds.  It is only now that I am seeing what was built in me during this battling process.  It is only now that I see that battling for the seeds was worth it.  And because of the degree of battle it took to fight for these seeds, I am beyond thrilled to see what will become of them.  However long I have to wait, I know that God will flood light and water upon all of it.  He will weed, tend and grow.  He will prune. He will grow in due season.  The harvest will be glorious and I look forward to the seasons of watching this extraordinary garden (Promised Land) bloom!

Deuteronomy 11:10-12

 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.