The Rotting Time

~ A hungry man stands in a beautiful green meadow, and tho the sun shines down and the green of the grass is dark and lush and rich.. he is still hungry for lack of food and soon he will starve to death and die... because even tho some things are beautiful, they don't give life. The only way to live is to rip up the field, that thing that is beautiful but worthless.. and plant something that will produce fruit/food. Hmmm... so much comes to mind when you consider such a thing...

~ The sharp edge of the blade, hooked and plunged deep into the ground.. the farmer plows through the soil, violently ripping thru that thing that once appeared so beautiful. Row after row, until the entire field is laid open and scarred and broken. He works the ground and works it until the green is gone and the once lush green meadow is barren and brown.. no wonder brown is symbolic of humility.

~ The seed is planted and buried in the darkness of the earth.. and the dying begins.

~ Such a parallel.. we are planted in the earth and all of life is that dying process..

~ Looking out across a planted field, the ground just looks like dirt.. but under the soil the dying process continues as the germ (that tiny plant inside the seed) fights to live. At the same time, the seed concludes it's death as it enters into the rotting time... so many ppl are in that rotting place right now in this moment of life.. but there is something I really wanna say about that in just a minute.

~ The seed that dies and rots becomes food for the life that lives inside of it... you know where I'm going with this...

~ And suddenly after that rotting time, the most amazing thing happens to that empty barren field... the tiniest of infants breaks thru the deadness of that soil, and new life is birthed into the earth.. not the same green life that covered that grassy meadow, but a new life that has the power and potential to multiply itself, to sustain life, to take all the rot and death that surrounded it during that dark time in the earth and use it for something good and powerful and truly BEAUTIFUL...

~ The seed was planted and is dead... but new life stands in the field in time.. covered with fruit, with countless seeds.. all in the image of those who died in the earth and rotted to give sustenance and health and strength to the harvest that will bring LIFE...

~ Such is life on this earth.. it is the dying process.. and the life that will come from it will be an eternal existence.. the church has come thru such a time of darkness, that rotting time, such a stench, such suffering and testing of our faith.. and yet, it is a good thing, an exciting thing if you consider the whole picture of what God is doing...

~ All things are ready, the ground is about to burst open, new life is about to be birthed on the scene of the church.. revival is at the door.. don't let this rotting time discourage you.. ask God, truly seek him, petition him with all that is in you to use this dark time in your own personal life to bring strength and health to what he is about to do in the church as a whole. Your hurt, your suffering was not in vain, God wasn't blind to it, nor was he deaf to your cries, he hears the dying, and he weeps just as Christ did.. but he waits for the right moment to bring the greatest good to those he loves. And he loves you.

~ The rotting time is coming to a close soon.. but it must reach it's darkest point before the church emerges strong and refreshed and full of LIFE once again... the season is changing, and so is the face of the church.. Christ is still the head, still the image we are to conform to and to reflect.. but God is about to do something new that will affect a generation and the world. I truly believe that. The timing of much of that is going to depend on each of us dying to our own will and seeking God for His to be manifested in each of us.

~ Malachi 4

1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

3And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

4Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

~ Malachi 4 was the last chapter of the OT.. a dark time for the nation of Israel, 400 years of silence, God did not speak.. then suddenly there is Matthew 1.. the Gospel, Good News.. God had come to us.. Come Lord Jesus.. we need you as never before.. hope has been so deferred and our hearts are sick.. arise and bring healing to your Church ♥