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by:  Staci Stallings

In our last conversation we spoke about the circular nature of the seed and sower story from Luke.  We talked about how a person first is the soil where the Jesus Seed is planted and how he or she then grows up in their Christian faith and becomes the sower–planting Jesus Seeds in other people’s lives.

Well, the Bible also has a name for these people.  They are called “prophets.”

Prophets are those people who speak God’s Word into the lives of others.  You probably know some of them by name:  Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, John the Baptist.  These are men who at great risk to their own lives and often forfeiting their own lives over it, chose to spread God’s Word to as many people as they could.

The Seed of God (Jesus, but for John the Baptist, had not yet arrived) was planted in their hearts, and they did everything they could to tell as many others about Him as possible.

Now, I think there were prophets after Jesus as well, but we called them by the name “saints.”  People like St. Paul and St. Barnabas, St. Peter and St. John.  These men wrote about the Jesus Seed, the spoke about the Jesus Seed, they witnessed about what the Jesus Seed had done in their lives.

And because of them, the Jesus Seed began sprouting up in all kinds of places like Greece and Macedonia and to the far ends of what was then considered “the earth.”  It has spread, literally, for over 2,000 years–through sowers and harvests and seasons, all the way down to us.

I remember once hearing Mike Warnke, a Christian comedian, say that if he was alive during the rapture, he was going to grab one sinner by the collar in one hand and another in the other hand, and he was going to say, “So, do you get saved now, or do I let go?”

Maybe not so dramatically, but I think that’s what we’re all called to do:  take as many people with us as possible.

How do you do that?  By becoming the prophet you were always meant to be.  And how do you do that?  By nurturing the Jesus Seed in your own heart and then sowing it into the lives of those around you.

Becoming a prophet sounds hard, but it’s really not.  It’s extending forgiveness and grace into someone’s life.  It’s holding someone’s hand and giving comfort.  It’s encouraging people and being a living (not just talking) witness to what God has done in your life!

Come to think of it, I think sower is synonymous with prophet, which is then synonymous with Christian.  In your Christian journey, are you consciously spreading the Word and inviting other people along?  Or like the third man with the talents, have you hidden what you have hoping no one will try to steal it?

I challenge you today to be BOLD in your faith.  Step out and share what you have been given.  When you do, the harvest really will be amazing!

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