Dormancy is Not Failure

It has been several weeks since I last wrote a post. I went blank and didn’t know what to share. I thought it best to be silent rather than talk just to be talking. Sometimes silence is golden. In the silence we have time to reflect and ponder.

For writers this can be a time preceding germination. Something is happening beneath the soil but we can’t see it. We just know that in the seed there is an apple tree. Our lives also go through this process. It is necessary to allow seed time and harvest to manifest.

As a preacher it is discouraging to be dormant. We desire to preach and teach regularly or we feel we are not being productive for the Kingdom of God. If the seed was not allowed to be dormant in the ground then there can be no germination.  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. John 12:24. Dormancy is not failure, it is necessary.

What do we do during this period? We must trust the process. Just as surely as the seed dies it will live again. Don’t dig up your seed to see if it is doing what it is supposed to be doing. Trust the Lord of the harvest to work the process in your life.

Hot, Cold, Make Up Your Mind

I live in the state of Alabama, USA. Although it is still winter, our temperature yesterday was 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius). This was very warm for winter in Alabama. Today it is cold as winter should be. The temperature is 32 (0 C). This is a drastic change in a 24-hour period of time. Some people like hot weather and some like cold. The ideal would be a mixture of hot and cold. 60 to 70 degrees would be so nice.

It is the extreme, hot and cold that is hard for people. We want to be comfortable. Comfortable to us is a mixture of the extremes. There is a Scripture in Revelation that seems to be contradictory, "But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth!" Revelation 3:16. Why does God want us to be hot or cold? There is no mixture of the two. Those who are hot are hot and those who are cold are cold. It is very easy to tell who is hot for God and who is not. No mixture.

Lukewarm is a mixture of the two. Sometimes hot and sometimes cold blended produces lukewarm. God's desire is that we be hot, but if we are cold there is still the possibility of moving from cold to hot. Lukewarm is not pleasing to the Lord. The description of what He will do with lukewarm is very graphic.

There is another Scripture similar to the Revelation 3:16 verse. The elements are different, yet clear to the discerning eye. It is found in Numbers 26:21 "And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the Lord." Strange fire and lukewarm. God is only pleased with the hot fire off of the altar. God does not accept substitutes. It is either altar fire or no fire (Hot or Cold). He does not accept strange fire. 

One of the reasons our nation is so weak is because of the mixture of so many religions. Many here believe that the God of the Christian is the same God of all religions. This is mixture, and it is strange fire. www.preacherscorner.org/tom4.htm It is a mixture of true and false. "If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." 1 Kings 18:21. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

Hot, cold, make up your mind.