We will always reap what we sow. What does that mean? If a farmer plants corn, are peas going to come up? If he takes a handful of seeds and tosses them out on his field, can a farmer expect his entire field to be full when he needs it? NO! He will reap a harvest based on the seeds he plants.

What we call “God’s law of sowing and reaping” does not just apply to actual seeds. It is for everything in our lives. We are forgiven as we “sow seeds” of forgiving others. We experience love as we give love away. We are blessed as we bless others. God gives to us, as we give to others.

We can sow bad seeds too. That means it is important to listen to God’s voice, and only plant the seeds He puts in your hands, because He knows what harvest you will need, and exactly when you will need it.

We should be excited about the chance to sow all kinds of seeds in life, because it means there will be a big harvest from God. I encourage you to read Galatians 6:7-9 and start sowing seeds.

 

Satan is our enemy. He is very evil, and he and his buddies (called demons) can make plenty of bad things happen. There are some people who think God and Satan on are the same level of power; that God is the “good guy” and Satan is the “bad guy”.

But the fact is, God actually created Satan originally as an angel named Lucifer. Lucifer rebelled against God and thought he was so beautiful and so great, that he should be worshiped instead of God. So God had no choice but to instantly throw him out of heaven and take away his angel name (Isaiah chapter 14).

Now if Satan is only a rebellious angel created by God and was thrown out of heaven by God, who is more powerful, Satan, or God? God is, of course! But Satan doesn’t want you to know that, and he tries to fool people (especially kids) into thinking he has just as much power as God. But always remember, God is much MUCH MUCH stronger than Satan will ever be!

And since God lives inside of you, God’s power is in you to defeat the power of Satan that comes against you. When God’s enemy comes against you with something scary or bad, just tell Satan and his demons they have to “Go in the name of Jesus!” and they have to run away!

Do you like to celebrate birthdays? I sure do. The fourth of July is when we get to celebrate the birthday of our country, the United States of America. On that day many towns have carnivals, and it ends with fireworks. It is a day we celebrate becoming independent as a nation.

What does “independent” mean? It means we don’t depend on or need anyone for anything.  And that spirit of independence can easily creep its way into how we live. But is that how God wants us to live? No, it isn’t. God wants us to depend on Him for everything we need. I am not talking about things like how as kids you need to depend on your parents for food, or clothes, or getting you to school, or those kinds of things.

I’m talking about the attitude we can get which pushes people away and says, “I can do this by myself. Go away!” God created us to need each other, and He created us to need Him. Second Peter 1:3 tells us, “For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life.” The more you get to know Jesus, the more of His power He gives you to be able to live an awesome life.

So make sure as you grow up and learn to become independent, you do it God’s way and not man’s way. Ask the Holy Spirit inside of you to warn you, any time you start thinking you are too independent to need others or God, so you can have all the power you need to live the life God put you here on earth to live.

Have you ever been in a building that has more than one flight of stairs?  When you go up the first flight, you can either walk out onto the first floor, or you can keep going up another set of stairs to get to the second floor.  It’s kind of like going from the basement of a house to the main floor.  But then there is another set of steps that will take you all the way upstairs.

When we receive Jesus in our lives it is like going up the first set of steps to the first or main floor. Having the gift of salvation is fantastic, and the place we should be.  But there is also an “upstairs”.  There is another level that will give us even more of what we need, called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

When you get saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you, but He wants to take you up to a higher level and pour out of you with His power.  When I teach this to kids, I like to show what I mean by pouring water into a glass to fill it up, and then I take a straw and blow into the water, causing the water to bubble out of the glass.  (Have you ever done that with something you are drinking?)  You are filled with God, but He wants to bubble out of you to everyone around you with His power and His love and goodness.

Acts 1:8 says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Ask God to give you the overflowing power of the Holy Spirit.

I have a friend named Tory who has four kids.  One day she walked into their living room and said to her son Jonathan, “Hello friend!”  He looked at her and said with very serious eyes, “I don’t ever want to be your friend. It is so much more special to be your son.”

Do you realize how special it is to have your mom as YOUR mom?  Your mom knows God gave you to her as a very special gift.  But have you thought about how God also gave your mom to you as a very special gift?  Out of all the millions and billions of moms around the entire world, God hand-picked your mom, just for you! WOW!

You can have lots and lots of friends, but there is only one person who carried you inside of them, gave you life, and takes care of your needs every single minute, day or night.  Your mom has a very very special and powerful connection with you that no one else on earth has with you.

In the month of May, there is a day set aside called Mother’s Day that is specifically for honoring and blessing our moms.  Ask God what you can do for your mom to make her feel especially honored, loved, and blessed.  The Holy Spirit wants to speak to you and show you what you can do to let her know she is so much more special than any friend you could ever have!