Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered
Remain spiritually tenacious.
OSWALD CHAMBERS
Behold a sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
Words of Jesus found in Matthew 13:3-9 NASB
Tenacity, refusing to believe my hero is going to be conquered. In the parable of the sower, Jesus tell us how not to be conquered. Its a matter of how well the soil of our heart is prepared to receive the seed of the Word of God. In my own life over the past forty years I can relate to each of the four places that the seed landed. The first fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up. When I was a young man my heart was not prepared spiritually and my life revolved around me, and my self-centeredness. When I would try and understand God, and the message of Good News sent to me by others, I found that I could not get away from the direction I was headed because of the influence of the many people I ran with. We were like fish in a school moving and turning as one large body. We were all on the same road, and that seed was sown by the roadside. Later after my military service and a few years of college, because of a few things I had read and the influence of drugs and alcohol in my life, I started to think of myself as becoming deeper in my thought processes. I was a legend in my own mind with these thoughts. I was truly very shallow and my heart was the rocky place that Jesus referred to. When the Good News of a better life was spoke to me, I immediately received it and with joy it sprouted. But having no depth in my spiritual life the sunshine of everyday living withered what little spiritual growth there was. Later when I became entangled in the vicious cycles of alcohol and drug addiction my life was spent living with the thorns. I myself was a thorn in the side of my family, friends, neighbors, and the legal system. Whenever someone would bring the Good News of a better life it would get no further than right on top of the thorns, it got choked out before it ever had a chance to get planted. It was during one of these times when a bunch of us thorny types were incarcerated together that prison guard named Smith began to tell of the Good News of a better life and as he did, his tears began to flow. They went down through the thorns, through the rocky places, past the roadside and landed on the soil of my heart. Just like a spring shower after a long cold winter, those tears of joy softened the hard soil of my heart and let a seed of Good News take root. For the next twenty-two years there have been many come along and water that same spiritual plant. Just a little of the crop that it has yielded can be seen in these words. I dont ever want to go back to my old way of life. By the grace of God and living life one day at a time I dont have too. God has done for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
Knowing a truth intellectually is only half the battle. So whats to be done? I have no certain cure, certainly no quick cure, but I know its important to rehearse the lovely, rich truths and promises that remain when other things change. Keep telling these truths, in all their many-sided glory, and one day, walls already cracked will crumble and fall.
Jim McGuiggan, Where the Spirit of the Lord Is
OSWALD CHAMBERS
Behold a sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
Words of Jesus found in Matthew 13:3-9 NASB
Tenacity, refusing to believe my hero is going to be conquered. In the parable of the sower, Jesus tell us how not to be conquered. Its a matter of how well the soil of our heart is prepared to receive the seed of the Word of God. In my own life over the past forty years I can relate to each of the four places that the seed landed. The first fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up. When I was a young man my heart was not prepared spiritually and my life revolved around me, and my self-centeredness. When I would try and understand God, and the message of Good News sent to me by others, I found that I could not get away from the direction I was headed because of the influence of the many people I ran with. We were like fish in a school moving and turning as one large body. We were all on the same road, and that seed was sown by the roadside. Later after my military service and a few years of college, because of a few things I had read and the influence of drugs and alcohol in my life, I started to think of myself as becoming deeper in my thought processes. I was a legend in my own mind with these thoughts. I was truly very shallow and my heart was the rocky place that Jesus referred to. When the Good News of a better life was spoke to me, I immediately received it and with joy it sprouted. But having no depth in my spiritual life the sunshine of everyday living withered what little spiritual growth there was. Later when I became entangled in the vicious cycles of alcohol and drug addiction my life was spent living with the thorns. I myself was a thorn in the side of my family, friends, neighbors, and the legal system. Whenever someone would bring the Good News of a better life it would get no further than right on top of the thorns, it got choked out before it ever had a chance to get planted. It was during one of these times when a bunch of us thorny types were incarcerated together that prison guard named Smith began to tell of the Good News of a better life and as he did, his tears began to flow. They went down through the thorns, through the rocky places, past the roadside and landed on the soil of my heart. Just like a spring shower after a long cold winter, those tears of joy softened the hard soil of my heart and let a seed of Good News take root. For the next twenty-two years there have been many come along and water that same spiritual plant. Just a little of the crop that it has yielded can be seen in these words. I dont ever want to go back to my old way of life. By the grace of God and living life one day at a time I dont have too. God has done for me what I could not do for myself .JRE
Knowing a truth intellectually is only half the battle. So whats to be done? I have no certain cure, certainly no quick cure, but I know its important to rehearse the lovely, rich truths and promises that remain when other things change. Keep telling these truths, in all their many-sided glory, and one day, walls already cracked will crumble and fall.
Jim McGuiggan, Where the Spirit of the Lord Is
