By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."
Knowing that God desires to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, my attention was alerted early in August this year when I noticed a stalk of corn coming up at between the edge of my lawn and the driveway. My neighbor feeds corn to the squirrels, and I am sure that one of the squirrels planted the kernel. However, when a stalk of corn starts growing in my yard, my spiritual ears open up. My maiden name is Corn. That stalk seemed to call me and to intrigue me.
My husband and I decided to let it grow. It didn’t grow very tall. It was growing in the shade of a tree, in soil where it is difficult to grow even grass, but it grew in spite of its adverse environment and late start. We didn’t expect much from it. The neighbors joked about wanting the corn crop from it because it probably grew from their seed. Little did we know that the corn stalk was an overcomer. It was determined to bloom where is was planted.
I backed over it one day. Actually I backed over one of the leaves that it had carelessly let drape onto the driveway. When I examined the damage, the stalk was bent to the ground, but not broken. I left it alone. A few hours later, the stalk was standing upright. It was a bit crooked near the bottom, but it was erect.
The first lesson of the corn stalk came into my spirit. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9) "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show us that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
This scripture is especially encouraging as we sense satan’s determination to secularize the world and make Christianity obsolete. We, like my corn stalk, may be a bit worn, frayed and bent out of shape, but we are still standing and the gates of hell will not prevail against us.
I examined the corn stalk again on the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the evening of September 16. I was delighted to see that it had produced a ear. A second ear appeared 10 days later on Yom Kippur. I felt that the Lord was telling me that if we walk in obedience to Him, we will have a double portion of the fruits of the spirit in the coming year, a double portion of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
A friend of mine who knows more about farming than I (which is basically nothing), examined the stalk in amazement. "Lonnie," said he, "this is hybrid corn. The seed produced by hybrid corn rarely produces any fruit. " My hybrid corn stalk not only produced fruit, but a double portion of fruit.
From this experience I feel that God has a message for His church as a whole and especially for those of us who have entered that time of life when our white hair is a sign of wisdom. "Remember that it is not the seed in the ground, but the seed in the fruit of the stalk that is significant. This is your time. It may appear to be late in season just as the growth of the corn stalk was late in season, but it is not late in My timing."
The Lord is saying to us, "Because you have endured, because you have overcome much, you have become resilient and capable of flourishing in a difficult place. You are drought resistant because out of your innermost being flow rivers of living water (John 7:38)."
Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of the following passage:
"Psalm 92:12-15 (NKJV)
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. "
May the living water of Jesus Christ flow from our innermost being and a double portion of the fruit of the spirit be manifest in our lives.
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