Darrel Bird, Oregon

 

 

 

Needed Weight Gain

 

Seems like I always emerge in the spring with a few unneeded pounds due to the rainy winters we have in the North West, not enough exercise and mostly indoor work puts on the pounds and here I am titling this month’s article “needed weight gain.”

 

The ladies especially pay attention to those unwanted pounds, during my wife’s life of becoming a mother, at times she felt as if she needed to be towed around the kitchen with a John Deere tractor, in fact at times she felt that if she didn’t deliver soon she would just fall over frontward and lay there like a bug that has been sprayed with black flag.

 

But the one thing that many of us don’t seem to worry about is becoming “Heavy” with the word of God, in fact many of us are down right “Skinny” when it comes to feeding on Gods word. We catch a quick scripture here and there, a quick sermon on worship days as we run to and fro in a frenzy.

 

If we all ate like that we would never have to worry about losing those extra pounds. In fact we would probably be in ill health.

 

As I thought about this article I visualized a fruit tree that has grown heavy with fruit and ready to cast its seeds to the four winds. I visualized mother that has grown heavy with child and ready to deliver new and precious life of a son or daughter. I also visualized this bit of scripture Matthew 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.

 

If we do not grow heavy with the word of God we will grow heavy with the cares of this life.

 

So I want to put forth a question today. Have we read the word of God, meditated on it until we have become heavy with it and ready to deliver the precious fruit in its season? Or have we fed on the secular world to no gain?

 

There was a time in my life when the cares of this world had nearly choked out the word that I had taken in earlier on, the light of the precious Holy Spirit grew dim in my soul and there was no fruit to bear for any hungry soul. I prayed this prayer “Lord please don’t let my light go out” and it is only through his mercy and grace that it did not.

 

Have we grown full of the word of God or have we grown full of the cares of this world?  If we are not careful we may end up marveling at the speed in which our spiritual life “withers”, this I do know.

 

I reached a time when I sat with tears flowing and repented before my Lord, I knew the feeling that Peter felt when he discovered that he had indeed denied the Lord and wept bitterly. I wept oh so bitterly, I had not denied I knew him exactly I just drifted away in spite of my knowing better. I failed to feed on “The word”.

 

When I was a young Christian no more than three years with the Lord my Pastor laid hands on me and said a prophecy over me and these were the words “Satan has desired to have you to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for your that your faith fail not”, I thought “Aw, I have plenty of faith” I was so full if vip and vinegar and more than a little pride those days, little did I know of the years ahead.

 

Young Christian, I am here to tell you that he can sift you and sift you and then sift you some more. So is it OK if I say “Feed on the word and feed often, you are going to need it.” is that OK without sounding to preachy? The Lord will cause us to say “Did not our hearts burn within us as he opened up the scripture to us?

 

My prayer is that our hearts may burn within us as we prayerfully partake of his precious word often.