We are now back to the pitch, ground, field or rectangle. Our lives are full of trials. Things that have happened to us, the things we have accepted, and the lies we have received. They are like rocks. They are hard and heavy. We carry them with us every day wherever we go. We can become so used to carrying them that we forget, or they are so painful that we hide them from our everyday lives.

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Our lives can remain in a state of rockiness never evolving past our past. BUT GOD. When we receive Jesus, the Holy Spirit is a new life, we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new life is like a seed planted within. We may not be aware of it, but this is the operation of faith. Faith is believing in the unseen (Hebrews 11:1).

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Over time, as we gain insights into the truth of HIS word and trust in God and his promises, these rocks are brought to our consciousness. When we invite God into our hearts, He transforms us, heals us, by taking these rocks and one at a time, crushing them. We may ask God to completely remove them from our lives because of the pain and grief, but God has a better plan. 

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As our rocks are crushed, they are being converted by God into soil, very rich soil.   It is not possible for a seed to take root in rocky hard soil (Luke 8:12). But God is REDEEMING the bad things in our lives for the GOOD (Romans 8:28), so He is preparing our spiritual ground for something magnificent. Slowly the Holy Spirit seed takes root and grows, deeper and deeper. The more we open ourselves to HIS gentle hands the more we receive the healing, and knowledge, and understanding and even wisdom about our lives and our past. Finally, we see the work of God’s hand. We now have our testimony of what God has done for us and to us, the result of God’s redemptive work in our lives.

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What happens when God’s seed takes deep root? Something is going to sprout. Something very good and potentially very big (Luke 8:15). Trust and truth grow and mature throughout this process. They are the anchors that support our transformation. We call this the Tree of Transformation. The fruit of God’s love (Galatians 5:22-25) in our life is the fruit produced by God’s Holy Spirit seed planted within. God is now moving within our lives to produce an outward flow of the abundances of His goodness. We could not do anything by our own power or work. Our testimony is proof that this is God’s doing and not our own (Ephesians 2:8). We get to see God working through our trials to produce the most beautiful and amazing fruit. As followers of Jesus, our highest calling is to live, and act like HIM, and this glorifies God.

 

Questions to Ponder:

What are some of the trials that you have been through, where you see God starting to crush those rocks and turning them into testimony?

What fruit have you seen being produced in your life that wasn't there before? 

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2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

 

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

 

Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.