“If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Prov. 2:3-5.

When my youngest son was a toddler he loved to play with my keys.  He would climb up to the counter that I kept them on and take them to play with….eventually leaving them dropped in some obscure place when he was finished playing with them.  When it came time to go somewhere and I couldn’t find my keys I would always tell my two older children to look for them.  I would look as well but the kids always found them because they were closer to the same level that their younger brother was, and while I was looking in a higher area they were looking at the same level of a toddler. 

In this world many people put the wisdom of man above the wisdom of God.  It is those who are close to God who will find the hidden treasure of God’s truth.  The truths in the Bible are an inexhaustible treasure, but we fail find it because we fail to look for it.  The Bible sits on a book shelf or in a box in the storage closet while we read the supposed wisdom of man.  As we study the Scriptures, we should pray for the light of God’s Holy Spirit to shine upon His truths so that we may see its treasures.   Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.  (Matthew 13:44)

“This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:3.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, til the whole was leavened.  Matthew 13:44

Last week I decided to make some homemade bread.  I hadn’t made bread in at least 15 years and I was a little apprehensive.  I used to knead it by hand and it was a lot of work.  But now I have a Kitchen Aide that does the kneading of the dough for me.  Making bread is so much easier now.  I was a little apprehensive about the recipe I was following which said to put the yeast in with the flour and other ingredients then add the warm water.  For anyone who has made bread before you know that you usually, or at least I used to, dissolve the yeast in a little warm water with sugar then add it to the rest of the ingredients.  I was afraid the yeast wouldn’t be activated and I would be left with a useless lump of dough that wouldn’t rise.  When the mixer finished kneading the dough I covered it with a towel and set it in a warm place to rise.  I anxiously checked it several times and was pleased to see that it was rising just as it should.

The yeast only works when it is incorporated into the bread where it can’t be seen.  If you were to mix up the dough and then roll the outside of it in a coating of yeast it would not make the dough rise.  As Christians we need the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us working to change us.  Just putting an appearance of Christianity on the outside will not change us on the inside.

The grain of mustard seed is used to describe the Kingdom of God.  Jesus also said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed that we would be able to move a mountain.  Now in the parable of the mustard seed, the seed obviously starts out small and insignificant but grows to a large plant.  Maybe we can compare our faith growing in much the same way.  It’s sort of like all that grass growing out in my yard.  It once started out as a seed, just sitting there it could do nothing on its own, but when it was planted it grew.  Now just one blade of grass in my yard wouldn’t do too much for it, but there are thousands of blades of grass out there.  they are so ‘productive’ that I need to have the grass mown at least once every two weeks or it would become nearly impossible to mow.  I suggest that we don’t cut down our faith in the Kingdom of God, but let it grow til it is impossible to cut down. 

Some of the seeds I started a while back have begun to outgrow their starter tray.  So yesterday I transplanted the kale seedlings into the garden area.  We have deer that routinely wander our yard and since we don’t have a fence up yet for the garden I took a piece of green house roofing I found in the shed and propped it up over the seedlings as a deterrent to the deer.  As an added bonus the sun coming through the plastic will add extra heat and growing power to my seedlings.

 Sometimes when we read God’s truths we just don’t seem to “get” them.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit works like the green house plastic.  He enhances or “super sizes” the truths of God making them crystal clear to us and puts them to work in our life growing and changing us.

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26

When my kids were younger every year I let them pick out a Hallmark Christmas ornament.  One year when they were nearly grown up I saw a Carousel series that had just begun and since I like to ride the carousel I bought the first few in the series, then for whatever reason didn’t buy the last few.  Several years ago I decided I would like to finish out the series so I signed onto Ebay.  I noticed that one of the carousel ornaments that I had was selling for over $100.  I decided to sell my ornament rather than invest more money in buying the rest of the series. 

I didn’t pay a whole lot for the ornament….maybe about $15.  But, I sold it for over $100.  It didn’t appear to be worth much when I bought it, but after time it’s worth grew larger.  Like the mustard seed in the parable Jesus told.  The kingdom of God and it’s truths, which are opposite of everything the world believes, appear small and insignificant, but because it has the life of God in it, it grows beyond expectation.

When we took Aspen to the Discovery Museum we saw a large display about the Titanic.  The lifeboats on the Titanic reminded me of the grain of mustard seed in the Parable of the Mustard Seed.  So very small in comparison to the large boat it was on, but perfectly capable of preserving life.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God…” (Matthew 6:33)   “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed….” (Matthew 13:31)  In trouble or out of trouble we need to seek first the kingdom of God.  Only He can save us.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.   Ephesians 3:20

The rain fell from the sky most of last Sunday so we took Aspen to an indoor outing at the local Discovery Museum.  They were just begining a story about Earth Day when we arrived.   After the story the children had the opportunity to make a robot from some trash the story teller had collected.  The kids happily glued the trash together and in the end there were some cool looking robots.

Only God can take the rubbish in our lives and change it into something cool.  Only God has the kind of love  for us that could make Him want to take the useless stuff in our lives and turn it into something to be used for Him.

May this God of peace prepare you to do every good thing He wants. May He work in us through Jesus Christ to do what is pleasing to Him. Glory belongs to Jesus Christ forever. Amen.  Hebrews 13:21  God’s Word Translation

No fear exists where His love is.  Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear,….1 John 4:18. (God’s Word Translation)  But, how do we get that kind of perfect love into our lives?  This summer when you go outside into the sun you will receive the effects of being in the sunshine by getting a tan.  The longer you spend in the sun the darker your skin will become.  When others see you they will know that you have spent a lot of time basking in the sunshine. 

The same holds true for acquiring the perfect love of God in our lives.  The more time we spend in His presence the more of His attributes we will receive into our lives.  Just like we can’t create the process in our skin that creates the tan, we can’t make ourselves take on the love of God in our lives.  But the more time we spend with Him, the more we will just automatically be like Him.  Sitting in the presence of God will create His perfect love in us.  It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please him.  Phillipians 2:13  (God’s Word Translation)

Last night Aspen toasted some marshmallows.  We bought the bag of marshmallows opened them up and put them in a bowl.  We also bought marshmallow toasting sticks.  Brett took some paper and wood and got a fire going in the fire pit.  Now you know how to toast marshmallows….you put them on the stick and stick them in or near the fire depending on how well done you like your marshmallows.  But one thing is for certain……if you want your marshmallow soft and gooey it needs to go in the fire.  No amount of looking at it or talking to it or imagining it to be toasted will change it.  It will remain a white fluffy blob until you put it in the fire. 

The same can be applied to our spiritual lives.  We can talk about it and theorize about it til we are blue in the face, but until we get out of the bowl and into the fire of God’s love we don’t get changed into the finished product that makes us toasty and delicious.

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.   Ephesians 3:20

My husband spent part of yesterday morning ironing and putting away the clothes he so neatly stacked on the loveseat in our bedroom over the previous week.  While putting away his clothes he discovered that our white kitty had decided to sit on his navy blue sweater!  This was not a happy moment for Brett, he was annoyed that she hadn’t chosen to sit on the white t-shirts instead. 

After Brett shared his irritation at kitty with me an ah-ha moment hit me.  When is it that our sin becomes most obvious?  When we are in the presence of God.  Just like the white hair contrasted with the navy blue sweater is our darkened hearts contrasted with the bright light of God’s goodness.  If our hearts aren’t right with God we don’t like to be in His presence because that is when we can see the things that are the opposite of His will for us.  I’m sure that you have noticed that it is when we are doing something we shouldn’t that we begin to avoid the presence of God.   When we spend time in the presence of God, His light will eliminate our darkness.

Purify me from sin with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.   Psalm 51:7 Gods Word Translation