Planting Seeds for the Holy Spirit [Holy Spirit series]

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“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-9

I knew in my heart I shouldn’t be concerned about whether the conference had an impact on anyone else. That was for God to know. My job had been to be faithful to the call to help organize the conference. God’s job was to use the conference for whatever impact He intended.

Still, my human heart wanted to know; wanted some affirmation. Two years after the start of this journey, I finally got my answer.

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We were in a small group, sharing the stories and timelines of our faith journey. She was describing a key turning point in her journey, the point where her faith took a significant turn and she began to renew and deepen her faith. This new friend explained how she’d been at that women’s conference and heard one of the speakers talking about her faith journey. She didn’t remember who the speaker was, but went on to describe key points from the speaker’s story. How all of a sudden, it was like those words were spoken just for her.

Have you ever had that experience – where suddenly you feel as if you’re the only one in the room and the words being spoken or the words on the page are directed at you alone? Those moments where God is making a point and wants to make sure you don’t miss it? She had that moment the night of the conference — and I was having it now!

As she described the part of the conference that spoke to her the most, I realized it was my part, my story. I did have an impact, my story did resonate with someone! Wow! My heart did cartwheels the rest of the night.

I’m not sure I heard anything else that night in our small group, but I walked away grateful to God for giving me that peek into His results.

I was just the laborer who planted the seed, someone else watered it and God made it grow.

My job, your job, is to keep laboring as the Holy Spirit directs – planting seeds, watering and tending those seeds. Let God worry about the end results, the size and timing of the harvest.

I can assure you the impact wasn’t due to the way I wrote my story or how I delivered it  – only that I stepped forward and spoke. God was able to use even my amateur speaking, simply because I said “yes” to try.

When we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, we will make an impact. An impact on our own lives. An impact on someone else’s life. An impact in the world. 

Doesn’t that make you want to jump in? Take a chance and let the Holy Spirit work through you? See how He can transform you and transform others through your actions?

“Humanity is like an enormous spider web, so that if you touch it anywhere, you set the whole thing trembling… As we move around this world and as we act with kindness, perhaps, or with indifference, or with hostility, toward the people we meet, we too are setting the great spider web a-tremble. The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place and time my touch will be felt. Our lives are linked together. No one is an island.”  ~Frederick Buechner

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This post is part of a 4 week series about the Holy Spirit. Click HERE to catch up on other posts in this series.

This series will look at topics such as:

– Inviting the Holy Spirit to begin working within us
– How to listen for the Holy Spirit
– What it means to obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit
– How obedience is linked to trust
– How the Holy Spirit equips us, even when we don’t feel qualified
– What impact we can have in the world when we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit

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