To be continued...

This week I have been thinking about the difference between things you take hold of straight away, and things you need to tend to before you see fruit. 
I am not sure that's exactly the right way to say it, but I hope it will make sense when I am done.   I'm thinking about maybe an apple pie and an apple seed! 

If someone gives you an apple pie, it can be eaten.  You don't need to do anything to it (except maybe add cream or custard!! 😊 ).

In the same way, Jesus gives us salvation.  When we get saved, accepting Christ as our Saviour,  we don't need to go over and over that point. We don't need to get saved every day.  It's like the apple pie.  It is ready to eat.  Christ made it for us. 
It's immediate. We move from darkness to light in an instant.

God's gift of salvation is a completed action in one sense; we can take hold of it right away, but there are aspects of that salvation (healing, prosperity. peace, wisdom etc) that we will need to plant like seeds, and water, in order to see fruit in our lives.   They are like the apple seeds. They are all ours, but they will need time and attention to grow.

Sometimes we can hear a truth from the Word and understand it, but if we don't tend to it (meditate on it, feed it, study it) it can fade in our hearts.  It's not that the truth changes, but our ability to hold on to it diminishes.  (Think about the parable of the sower).

This isn't to say we need to panic and start cramming, as if for a final exam, but we need to maintain what God has given us, continue to grow in those truths and not neglect learning, linking them to other truths, discussing them, studying them and continuing in them.

John 8:31 (KJV)
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

In Greek, the word continue means: to remain; abide in; not to depart; to continue; to be present; to be held, kept, continually; to continue to be; not to perish; to last; endure; to survive; to live!

It's about staying or living in what we know.  When God speaks to us, say about healing for example, we need to study that, meditate on it, read about it, listen to others' teaching, practice it - so that we continue in that truth.

Are there things that God has spoken to you that you've neglected?  It's not too late.  God's word is an incorruptible seed.  It may sleep, but it won't become unproductive. It will live.  You can pick up, study the word and renew your mind. This is my challenge today. 

Have a good week.