Glean

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. – Colossians 3:2

We as fleshly humans tend to mess up and even fail at times; I for one am far from perfect. We tend to get off track of how we’re supposed to be living. We appear to be weighed down by the things of this world and of the flesh time and time again, some days it never seems to stop. Whether it be with our schools, our jobs, our finances, our friends, or even our families- it can all get pretty heavy when we don’t give it to Father God. It creates worry and stress.

The last couple weeks of school at East Texas Baptist University as well as up until recently I have held on to the worries of this world and let them get the best of me. School and transferring schools can be rather stressful at times. Especially when you’re going to a school where you hardly know anyone. I am approximately two hours away from home, which means that I’m away from the community of amazing friends that I have there and I now have to establish or become part of a new community filled with new friendships. It’s a new experience for me and it’s also kind of a slow process.

Even though it is a slow process I’m not getting discouraged. I’m trying my best to glean to the best of my abilities when it comes to the Lord and His word; as well as friendships. Glean means “to gather slowly and laboriously, bit by bit.” To me it means to gather things bit by bit while making the best out of whatever it is. Gleaning kind of goes with situations too, like when there’s a bad or hopeless situation I then try to see the good in it and build up from it. It’s like taking a circumstance that seems as if there’s not much hope, picking something up out of it and making the best out of it by giving it to God. We usually have to do this slowly and diligently moment by moment; giving it all to Him. We can also glean when it comes to using scriptures in our daily lives. What I mean by this is that we can take the passage verse by verse and word by word allowing it to really be broken down so that we can understand it on a deeper level of intimacy with Father God.

When I do this I find that the problem isn’t as big as I thought it was and that the good that I took from the circumstance is fed by Father God which in return He turns it into such a beautiful hope that wasn’t there before. It’s as if we start out as a shriveled up flower that appears to be hopeless but is breathed back to life after it is in the position to get watered and it drinks and suddenly it blossoms into a beautiful flower. When we do this it just gets better and better, moment by moment. But it is so hard to do; it takes so much effort and time. It’s probably one of my biggest struggles ever in reality.

Father God wants us to glean. He wants us to hang on to His every word. The Lord loves us even when we can’t love ourselves, He loves with an everlasting love. He wants us and delights in us. The battles that we fight aren’t merely just physical they’re also spiritual. It is so important to glean. In 2 Peter 1:5-8  it says, “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We should want to make every effort to grow our faith. Perhaps its a smidge offensive to say- yet in reality if we don’t want to grow our faith living for Him every moment then something is probably wrong with our hearts and we need to check it.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,” – Ephesians 6:10-18

I know that I’m so guilty of not always putting on the full armor of God, I get caught up in day to day life forgetting my true purpose. It is so hard to do, but we desperately need to chase after Him. We receive revelations from Him when we’re truly giving our everything to Him and living off of every word that He says. We must wear the full armor of God at all times. I understand it’s a struggle, I’m pretty sure I struggle just about everyday with it…

Today’s society is so broken, it seriously needs us to show them a love that they’ve never known before. I challenge you to glean more than you ever have before with the Lord, I’ll be trying my best too. This is one of the main things that I’m trying to work on, I am far from perfect. We may fall short at times but that’s okay, we’ll get right back up. We’ve got this ! We can overcome anything by the blood of The Lamb and the word of our testimonies! (Revelation 12:11) Don’t let the devil win. Father God is on our side, nothing can ever stop us! BUT it’s a choice and it’s not an easy choice. To go hard for Christ is however a choice that is more than worth it.

Not to go hard after Christ means that either you don’t trust his power and willingness to change your imperfections, or that you want to cling to your imperfections. In either case, Christ is scorned and we are lost. -John Piper

I love you all, and thank you so much for being you. You’re more loved than you will ever know.
With love,
Lydia