Purity

"The wheat must not embrace the tares."

THERE WAS the wheat and the tares. The harvest was wheat. The problem was the tares had grown in with the wheat so thick that to pull up one was to pull up the other. They’d become united in the field. Decipherable up close, but impossible to see the difference between them from a distance. From a distance, it looked like a beautiful farm. Up close, it was worthless. Or so it seemed.

They have developed these incredible machines to harvest coffee berries. With thousands of “arms” they shake the ripe berries from the plants and drop them onto a platform where they are gathered. No human effort is needed it seems. But with a close view of the harvest, sticks and leaves and unripened berries are mixed in with what could make an excellent harvest. Some work is needed by human hands to remove what isn’t edible. And it’s a long process to the end product of roasted coffee beans. Is the famer discouraged by this? He can’t afford to be and be successful.

“What are we to do?” the workers asked in the gospel story. To pick or not to pick? They were told to wait until harvest, when the wheat would be gathered and the tares removed. Until then, it was left to the wheat to grow successfully as it was designed by the Maker of all things. But in the parable of the Seed and the Sower, both of which are Jesus (He is the Seed and the Sower of it), we find the thorns choked the Word and prevented the revelation of the Father which it was meant to grow. The thorns were described by the Savior as “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things (Mark 4:19).” So what are we, whose hearts grow the harvest of revelation, to do? Are we to abide and wait while the weeds grow larger and larger? Are we to toss responsibility for them onto the Savior and the Father? After all, it is not our fault we are in this predicament, or so we think.

The life of the Seed is the Spirit within us. He can turn an ocean into dry, solid ground. He can open up a river in the desert and grow beautiful flowers. Nothing is too hard or impossible for Him. But laziness is not our responsibility. And dependence upon God, which we are to have, is not an endorsement to be lazy. Stop waiting on the Farmer to do all the work. “Well, He can remove this from me,” you say, when you are making no effort to prevent the devil’s thoughts and push him away. For Satan plants the weeds. The wheat must not embrace the tares. Yes, they are there, but we can WALK IN THE SPIRIT and BE LED OF THE SPIRIT and know the lies from the truth.

“But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” (Matthew 13:25)

“Go to the ant, you sluggard, look at her ways, learn sense; for she has no leader, no foreman or chief, yet in the summer she provides her food, and gathers during harvest-days.” (Proverbs 6:6-8, Moffatt)

I hear an admixture of God’s Word and worldly philosophy all the time. The worst, worst, worst example was a quote-unquote “teaching” on marriage. I was appalled by what was spoken from the pulpit within the walls of a building dedicated to God’s truth. God created marriage. God upholds and celebrates romance, such as He designed it to be. And He heals hearts and mends relationships. He adores children on a scale humanity does not see. But God does not ever applaud or support lust, even if it is meant to be between husband and wife. Minister Jesse Duplantis makes a comment in his testimony about heaven, that marriage there is on a level we, on earth, do not understand. I have realized this in my studies and my time in the secret place, and that is where we are meant to be to grow the wheat and reject the tare.

The tares have crept into doctrine as well and speaking methods and styles and, a great deal, into our worship. Some of the most tender hearts for worship are not seen in the church service but in those gifted to write worship songs. Attend a Passion Worship Conference and come into God’s presence. Or those like Phil Wickham, Shane & Shane, and Brandon Lake, whose comments about the laughter of the Holy Spirit are so truthful and yet misunderstood. Singing isn’t against technology or dependent upon it. God has provided many with wealth to secure funding for venues and equipment and to pay any workers needed. Worship isn’t necessarily held back by time either. But it is greatly limited when we time it, and our time limit becomes greater than giving God the mic.

The simplicity and complexity of a sermon also can detract from what God wants to reveal. For every sermon is meant to bring revelation of Him. But when we wrap them up in mental reasonings and too many words spoken by unlearned men, the Spirit of God will not give what His heart desires and people will leave dissatisfied and confused. God is not the author of confusion but of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, our eyes being awakened to who He is, to His character, to His loving heart and mercy for all, and the great power He has to sustain, without worry or weakening, all that exists (1 Corinthians 14:33; Ephesians 1:17-18).

We are meant to speak FOR Him and sound LIKE Him, so much so the enemy has to look twice. “Is that Suzanne or the Spirit of God?” Both. It is my voice and my mind at work to speak, but it is His voice in me, His Words that I am speaking. If He did not endorse these devotions, and believe me, I know when He doesn’t, then I would not post them. But others make excuses or make a joke of worldly things, fronting them as godliness. This should not be.

A great man of God said the church is in danger of being defeated by victory. By this, he means we’ve taken political winnings and societal victories as celebration, and yet lost sight of the purity of the gospel and the true work of the church. Having won one victory, we’ve allowed in other things that are not God at all. Give an inch, as the saying goes, and the devil will take a mile. But can you live with him and still maintain your righteousness? Because some believe it is permanently intact. And though this is true of salvation for those who love God, we act most unrighteous with other people, NOT like the love of God at all, and unrighteous in our business dealings, in our educational knowledge seeking, and in our entertainment desires.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Though a woman does not have to wear a head scarf as Paul spoke of, because we are not living in that culture in that time, nor does she have to avoid the pulpit (for the same reason), she does have to be virtuous and of a humble heart, giving lordship to her spouse and to the Lord Jesus Christ. This applies also to men. The same word translated “virtue” or “virtuous” in the Scriptures is the word translated “valiant.” This is true in both Hebrew and Greek. King David is called “valiant” and the Proverbs 31 woman “virtuous.” So we can say, He was virtuous when those words were spoken, and she was valiant. There are not different standards for men and women, but there is a difference in God’s design. For woman was made SOLELY for man, human man to wed human woman in a beautiful poetry of word and behavior, of covenant, a word lost in modern thinking.

The world has created an admixture, taken the purity God has written and mixed in ugliness and mistruth. They’ve relabeled marriage and gender in favor of personal policies and tried to blacken God’s design. But just as Jesus saw the Pharisees’ hatred and violence in what they thought was holiness and He knew where it would lead, we should be so close to God that we stand firm for His truth. Down to the finest details of the Word of God. Where most are clear on major issues, we must be clear on smaller points as well and alert to what God is saying when we’re about to speak what He would never endorse, although His forgiveness is wide and His love so very deep.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:10-11)
Note: IN THE LORD, OF HIS MIGHT, ARMOUR OF GOD. They are HIS.

“Do all in your power to live peacefully with all people and to be Christlike, for without a loving, gentle, humble, Christlike character, no one will see God.” (Hebrews 12:14, Remedy)
Note: You will not necessarily know you are not seeing God but will believe what you see is God when it isn’t.

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” (James 1:13-14)

Image by Edinei Edy from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com