The Doctor

A few summers ago, I noticed my green pepper plant wasn’t thriving. The leaves looked terrible, and no healthy peppers were growing. With my hands on my hips, after a few moments of looking at it, I said to the Lord, “What should I do about this?” And He gave me one word, “Cultivate.” I was so excited He lent me that advice; I went right to work and cultivated around that pepper plant. I noticed the dirt was hardened around the plant – just as He said, the soil really needed to be broken up.  

Then what happened? 

I watched it bloom. 

I’ve often thought of this memory and how remarkably it ties into the work of faith, and how heavily the Lord uses planting all throughout scripture.

He taught me this through my own spiritual battles. When the adversary was heavily persecuting me, the Lord opened my eyes to a specific scripture that goes right back to the farmer. 

By no coincidence, it happened while I was gardening one day; the Lord very clearly said to me, “It is time to break up your fallow ground.” It was a very powerful move of the Holy Spirit. I set aside my gardening and was led inside to open my Bible to The Parable of the Sower. 

As I read through it, the Lord made it known to me where I was in my faith, 

20 The one on whom seed was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and at once welcomes it with joy; 21 yet he has no [substantial] root in himself, but is only temporary, and when pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles and falls away [abandoning the One who is the source of salvation].

Matthew 13:20-21

And right then, the Lord showed me that He was bringing me here, 

23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands and grasps it; he indeed bears fruit and yields, some a hundred times [as much as was sown], some sixty [times as much], and some thirty.” 

Matthew 13:23

Around this time, the Lord shared something so beautiful with me. He reminded me of that basketball tournament championship. How I looked right to Him to make that victory shot in triple overtime, and after He reminded me of it, He filled me with these very words, 

“I am bringing you back to that place of trust in Me.”

There’s your good soil.  

The warfare that took place to prevent me from getting there was laborious. But it was a labor of love on the Lord’s part – He did most of the heavy lifting.

Sowing into the Spirit is a labor we go through to be still. 

“Be still, and know that I am God”

Psalm 46:10

The origin of the word still means to be fixed; stand. In the Lord’s own words, it means having your feet firmly planted. When your root has been established, you’re no longer blown to and fro by the enemy and its doctrines, who only seek to work against our faith.

You find so many scriptures that call us to stand and to stand firm. 

Wherefore putting on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the devil … and having done all to stand, stand firm …Ephesians 6:10-17

What are we standing on?

The Test for Sobriety 

If you are saved, is there any bit inside of you that might believe that you can lose your salvation or even add to it? If your answer is yes – There goes your helmet.

Do you seek to be justified by your own doing and tarry in believing that righteousness can actually be accredited by goodness and not by faith alone? If your answer is yes – There goes your breastplate. 

Do you believe that the Lord would ever leave you, that He is any shade of unfaithful, and that He would ever look at you as anything less than beautiful? If your answer is yes – There goes your shield. 

Do you believe that the Lord would ever tell you that you’re anything less than beautiful? If your answer is yes – There goes your stability.

Do you believe that there is such a thing as a good Christian and a bad Christian? If your answer is yes – Oh, you of little faith. 

Do you ever doubt His vast love for you? If your answer is yes, pull up a seat and listen. 

If your heart said yes to any of these questions, you are not walking in a straight line and the Lord is saying it is time to sober up and come back home. 

The Lord has called me a coach for the course in spiritual warfare training. This is the first time He has given me that title. I looked at the origins of the term coach, and find the word was used to describe a wagon. I was excited and surprised to see this –  I’ve had the term wagon and wagons in my dreams. The Lord gave me that a wagon symbolizes a pioneer spirit. And a pioneer spirit is defined as a willingness to endure hardship in order to explore new places or try new things. All that really symbolizes is walking in faith. 

Pioneer is defined as a foot soldier– a term the Lord does not use loosely, and He has given me a badge of honor for it. 

The origins of the word pioneer “one of a party or company of foot soldiers furnished with digging and cutting equipment who prepare the way for the army.” 

Some of you will be attending my courses and find that you have not been sober for a long while and have been walking around in just your skivvies as a shield, and that’s okay —  because the Lord loves you. And that’s what’s going to help you get back on your feet again.  

“Seagram 7” the Lord calls me. Seagram is a servant of the sea, a naval ship, He says.  7 is the Blood of Jesus, and this vessel is saturated in it. I was told recently that the actual drink Seagram 7 is a whiskey blend, and the origin of the word whiskey is water of life. Living water. I came to find that Seagram 7 is also called Seagram 7 Crown. Crown Royal. It’s a Liberty bell defined, and we’re ringing it in.