Faith and Hope Drive Spring Planting

When Spring arrives, farming communities get to work!  While some planners dream of a speedy shift to renewable energy in the form of wind and solar, farmers are busy starting up millions of creation's oldest and tried and true "solar collectors."  They call them crop plants, and they come with names like wheat, corn, soybean, and rice. 

Many farmers welcome planting season with a tradition of deep and abiding faith.  That’s right.  Faith that once again God will provide good weather conditions for a good growing season and harvest.  Their faith also rests  upon the amazing physiology of dry, lifeless seeds—a faith so great that farmers risk losing a large investment in time and money every time they mechanically plant seeds by the millions in agricultural fields.  For example, farmers plant or sow seeds of corn, soybean, and other crops by mechanically placing into the proper depth and density within rows of specified width.  But even with such highly developed agricultural technology, the farmer still must exercise great faith.

Speaking of faith, many of us are remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during this Passion Week. In light of this sacred week, let us consider how the activities of planting season on the farm are reminders of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. 

First, the farmer prepares the soil to receive the seed, then buries the seemingly lifeless seeds within the darkness of the ground.  Finally, he waits for the physiological processes within each seed to unfold in response to its physical environment leading to germination, and a “resurrection” of “new life” from the dark soil.  Let us consider how each of these phases of the farmer’s work draws him into partnership with the enduring order of God’s creation and His sacrificial death to redeem man and creation from its corruption.
 
He Creates Deep Furrows
Preparation of the soil for planting has rich biblical significance.  From Genesis 2: 15 we learn that God took Adam and placed him in the Garden to till (serve) and keep (preserve) it.  The farmer who practices good stewardship of the land will realize that clearing the land and working the soil is a forceful, transforming action.  Tilling the soil has the potential for either sustaining its life-supporting nutrients and microbial community or allowing it to erode and become depleted.

Plowing and making furrows in the sod is a violent, ripping and shearing process that the Bible compares to the brutal treatment given to slaves and criminals.  The psalmist wrote,
The plowers plowed upon my back:
 they made long their furrows (Psalm 129: 3).
 
The prophet Isaiah, 500 years before Christ, described the beatings Jesus would endure when brought before Pilate, the Roman governor: 
I offered my back to those who beat me,
 my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting (Isaiah 50: 6).

Later, Isaiah elaborated on how the brutal treatment of Jesus had affected His appearance:
Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations… (Isaiah 52: 14-15a).

Just as the ripping of the plow cuts furrows in the soil before a beautiful and bountiful harvest is realized, so the furrows and gashes produced in the body of the Lamb of God was necessary for Him to “sprinkle many nations” with the sacrifice of His Life-giving blood.  All of this came for our good as a Gift of the kindness and grace of God.

Romans 2:4 warns us not to think lightly of the riches of God’s kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. By His grace, God offers salvation just as also He offers year after year His blessings upon the farmland.  Again, the psalmist offers praise to his Creator for His care of the Earth:

You take care of the earth and water it,
making it rich and fertile.
The river of God has plenty of water;
 it provides a bountiful harvest of grain,
for You have ordered it so.
You drench the plowed ground with rain,
melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth with showers
and bless its abundant crops (Psalm 65: 9-10).

Having grown up on a farm, I had the blessing (though not always appreciated at the time) of helping to prepare the soil by plowing, disking, and harrowing, and then planting the seed.  I now realize from the study of science and from the Scriptures how much the farmer depends on God to water the Earth.  God sends rain in order to ”melt the clods and level the ridges.”  He created microbes and a host of other soil dwelling creatures whose nourishment leads to decomposition of dead organic matter while maintaining soil fertility through nutrient recycling.  Thus, farming is truly an example of the “Divine-Human Cooperative” in which farmers serve as good steward-caretakers of the soil and water.  Agriculture flourishes when farmers conduct their practices in accordance with the Divine design made evident to them through the created order and the Scriptures (See Isaiah 28: 23-29 and text box on right).

His Lifeless Body is Wrapped for Burial

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission.  So, he came and took away His body.  Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight.  So, they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews (John 19: 38-40).

Since our father Adam was charged with serving and conserving the Garden, farmers and gardeners have continually practiced the ritual of burying dry, seemingly lifeless seeds in the ground in faith that new life will sprout and emerge in due time.  But even before a seed comes into being, much surprising seed physiology must occur to form the seed within the parent plant.  [Click on image below to enlarge.]  

Seeds will not form unless pollination and fertilization occur.  Pollination, the transfer of pollen from male to female parts of flowers, is aided by wind, or by animals—i.e. insect, bird, or mammalian pollinators.  Fertilization occurs when sperm from within each pollen grain are carried through a pollen tube into the female ovary and egg sac to form a zygote and to initiate accumulation of starches, proteins, lipids, and nutrients as food for the embryo.  A seed consists of an embryo and a food supply. 

But a fresh juicy seed would decay if were released from the fruit (enlarged ovary) too early.  So, the embryo plus its food supply is wrapped with a seed coat to protect it from predation and decay.  Finally, most seeds undergo desiccation, the removal of water, while still attached to the parent plant.  Desiccation prevents predation and decay, and delays germination by allowing a period of dormancy until the time when the seed is released from the parent plant. 

We marvel at the process of human development in which a baby forms within the mother.  It is not too much less marvelous to consider the complex processes whereby the parent plant forms seeds, each with a tiny embryo and a food supply. Then, each seed is allowed to desiccate, or become a dried up, hardened, seemingly lifeless form.  But we should note that this desiccation phase does not occur because the lifeline for each seed was “pulled.”  On the contrary, desiccation is precisely regulated by means of downregulation of some genes and upregulation of others.  Even during the period of seed dormancy (from Fr. dormir = sleep), physiological processes continue—e.g. some seeds slowly degrade inhibitors that prevent germination until conditions are suitable.

They Are Buried in the Ground
We should realize that when seeds dry up and shrivel up, they are not on an uncontrolled path to death.  It is also a mistake to believe that the fake trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ was beyond His control.  Instead, according to the Bible, Jesus was in complete control.  He was not captured against His will and murdered.  Instead, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was preordained by complete obedience to His Father's will from the beginning of time (Ephesians 1: 3-4).  His sacrifice for our sin was first predicted right after the Fall of Man in the Garden Genesis 3: 14-15).

During Jesus’s ministry on Earth, He predicted his death several times as witnessed in the accounts in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke as follows:
(1)  After feeding the multitudes:  
       Matthew 16:21–23, Mark 8:31–32, Luke 9:21–22
(2)  After His transfiguration: 
       Matthew 17:22–23, Mark 9:30–32, Luke 9:43–45
(3)  Approaching Jerusalem near His death: 
       Matt. 20:17–19, Mark 10:32–34, Luke 18:31–34
The Gospel of John records Jesus’s foretelling of His death numerous times:
       John 12: 3-8, John 13: 33, John 14: 25,  John 14: 29

The "Good Shepherd," Jesus Christ, willingly gave His life as the sacrificial Lamb.  John 10 records Jesus saying,
… I am the Good Shepherd (v. 11). 
…I lay down My life for the sheep (v. 15).
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down
of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.  This command I received from my Father (v. 18).

Jesus likened Himself to Jonah and predicted that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12: 40).  Just as the farmer plants with the purpose of realizing a bountiful harvest, so also Christ …died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3: 18).

So, they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.  Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.  Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there (John 19: 40-42).

Up from the Grave He Arose!
What would you think if you knew nothing about seeds, the soil, or farming?  And what if you saw a man driving a tractor equipped with a 12-row planter across a bare field without a single green plant in sight?  Then, after four days and an April shower, what if you returned and saw the field turning green with millions of tiny shoots of corn, all in neat rows?  Wouldn’t you think the farmer had worked a miracle?

Soon, you decide to study agriculture and soil and seeds, and you learn that a green field is not a “miracle” at all.  It happens each growing season, and has done so since the beginning of human history.  Still, you wonder how a farmer can bury millions of seeds in the ground in every possible orientation and, somehow each will produce a green shoot and a brown root.  What's more, each shoot (leaves and stem) knows which way is up and each root, which way is down.  

You also observe more closely the “resurrection” of tender new seedlings from the ground.  The first leaves of corn emerge from the ground with a protective sheath, or coleoptile; whereas, bean seedlings emerge from the ground with the soil-clearing force of the “hypocotyl hook.”  When red light is absorbed by the “hook,” it straightens out and the tender shoots orient themselves to expose newly expanding leaves.

Upon close observation, you are tempted once again to say “miracle.”  However, botany tells us that it is simply the result of water, light, living cells, genes, enzymes, good soil, and good farming.  But where did all of these come from?  Who made the living cells, enzymes, and genes?  In fact, which came first, the corn plant or the corn seed?   Maybe there is “miracle” and Divine Design here after all.  We don’t really understand HOW seeds do what they do—we can only describe WHAT seeds do.  For all of this, the farmer truly exercises faith during planting season:  He does his part, but realizes (or ought to realize) that he is simply a steward whose success depends upon operating within the created order established by God.

We Are Invited into Death and Resurrection
What would you think if you met a man who claimed to be sent from God?  He spoke words of compassion, hope, and healing.  In fact, he healed the sick with power he claimed to originate from God, and claimed God to be his Father.  He predicted that he would be killed, and after three days, he would arise from the dead.  Then, what if he actually was killed?  (Slain for no apparent reason except that he claimed to be from God, God in the flesh.)  And what if each of his predictions, including his resurrection from the dead on the third day, actually happened?

Would you call this man just another great teacher, maybe the greatest teacher that ever lived? Would you go on living as if nothing had happened, and then dismiss the witness of others about him as mere fabrications?  How would you reconcile with his claim, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me (John 14: 6)?”  What if, instead of believing his claim of being the only way to Heaven, you simply believed him to be a good teacher?  But then, how could this man called Jesus be a good and trustworthy teacher if His claim of being God was a lie? 

After extensive efforts to prove that God does not exist, former atheist C.S. Lewis wrote,
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse….”

What can we learn about Jesus from his followers, all of whom had betrayed Him and fled in terror?  (Maybe they had concluded that He was a fraud.)  After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus returned to His followers with gentleness and love (John 21).  He served breakfast and ate with them, allowed them to see and touch the scars from his suffering and death, and then gave them a “Great Commission” to tell others all that had happened because of his undying love for the world (Matthew 28: 18-20; Acts 1: 8).  In response, Jesus’s followers became emboldened witnesses of their resurrected leader to the extent that all but one was martyred for their faith.  By that time, the message of his love and forgiveness had spread throughout much of the known world. 

Resurrection to a New Life
As we observe the amazing “resurrection” of green shoots from the ground, and as we celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ this week, we hope that you have personally come to know Jesus and His gift of salvation. 

Personally, Abby and I are celebrating the “New Birth” of J.G.  On Monday evening on the balcony of her aunt M.L, this woman confessed that she is a sinner and asked Jesus to become her Savior.  Thanks to God’s rich grace, her aunt’s godly testimony, the preaching of the Gospel by our pastor, Zach Swift, and the prayers of many, J.G. is now one more grateful follower of Jesus.

If you have particular comments or questions, please use the “Comment” link below, or write privately to us at silviusj@gmail.com.  You may also wish to read “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-filled Life?” by clicking HERE.

Invitation to Abide: In the ‘True Vine’

Won’t you spend the night with us?
We don’t get to enjoy times like this very often.

Afraid we can’t stay very long this time.
I thought we had more time, but we’ll have to take a pass.

Aww!  Mom. Dad!  Can’t we stay longer?
Do we have to go home now?

Many of us remember as children the emptiness we felt when we had to say good-bye to distant cousins and friends.  Since our childhood, most of us have had to endure even more heart-wrenching trials-- unexpected illness or death of a loved one, conflict in relationships, personal struggles and addictions, and social and political turmoil.  As we face the ongoing repercussions of the pandemic, war in Ukraine, and the policies that have affected employment, economy, travel, education, recreation, and religious activities, perhaps we can identify with the following prayer of Ryan Frederick:

Lord, there are times when mental battles rage and finding lasting peace seems like a pipe dream.  This world is marred by sin, chaotic and tumultuous, prone to disorder.  In my sin nature, I often let that chaos and tumult invade my thoughts.  I forget how trustworthy You are, how caring You are, and how much You have already done to prove Your faithfulness in my life. Lord, in those times when I'm anxious (and even now), help my unbelief (Mark 9:24). Call out and calm the storms in my mind, flooding my heart with inexplicable calm.  Amen.             
 - Ryan Frederick, Day 29 (Forty Prayers for My Wife, Day 29); www.FierceMarriage.com

Beyond the comfort of Ryan Frederick’s prayer, we can find comfort in Psalm 91 written over 3,000 years ago. 

God Calls Us to Abide with Him
God calls us to come and dwell in the shelter of His presence, and abide in His shadow.  Our brief visits with loved ones must end, but God invites us to a never-ending walk with Him.  Ever since He came calling for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God has been inviting us to abide.  In this article, “Invitation to Abide:  In the ‘True Vine’” we discuss how God calls us into an abiding relationship with Him.  [For earlier articles, click HERE.]  

Dwelling with God in Old Testament times was hindered by God’s insistence that a physical separation be maintained between His holy presence and sinful mankind—e.g. Mt. Sinai, “the mount of God;” and later, the Holy of Holies within the Hebrew tabernacle or temple.  God made it clear with forceful and sometimes fearful displays of His glory that He alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light…for no one can see Me and live.  (1 Timothy 6: 16 and Exodus 33: 20)!

Thankfully, God’s prophets like Isaiah pointed to the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel (“God with us”), who would come as God to dwell with mankind in human flesh (John 1: 14).  The Apostle Peter wrote (emphasis added), For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just (and perfect sacrificial Lamb) for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit… (1 Peter 3: 18).  Jesus died to provide an abiding relationship with those who spiritually identify with Him in His death and His resurrection into new life and intimate relationship with Him. 

Before His death on the cross, Jesus comforted His disciples with these words:  I am going to prepare a place for you… I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also (John 14: 2-3).  The New Covenant in Jesus’s blood guarantees for those who name Him as their Savior that they are welcomed to abide with Him now through His indwelling Spirit, the Comforter and Helper, and then forever in Heaven (John 15: 26).  Indeed, our sadness in being separated from loved ones here on Earth is an expression of our longing for lasting relationships; and most of all, our longing for a relationship with God through Christ who promises to abide with us forever.

Abiding Is Illustrated through Botany
Both the Bible and botany provide insights concerning God’s invitation to abide.  Jesus invites all who would be His disciples,

Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
unless it abides in the vine,
so neither can you unless you abide in Me (John 15: 4). 

Jesus may have used this botanical analogy when He and His disciples were passing by a vineyard.  In grapes and most flowering plants, leaves and branches are intimately connected to the vine or main stem of the plant.  Botanically speaking, branches and tendrils are outgrowths or extensions of the vine.  The origin of this intimate connection can be seen when we look closely into the growing tips of plants.  By carefully slicing vertically from the growing tip downward along the stem (or “stem axis”) of a flowering plant, one can prepare thin slices.  My students and I have prepared thin sections and then used colorful stains to bring out the contrasting structures.  Magnifying the slices with a compound microscope reveals what is shown in the figure below of a prepared slice of a Coleus stem. 

Notice first the tiny dome-like stem apex (A).  Here is where cells divide and differentiate to form leaves and branches.  New embryonic leaves originate from this apical region as ear-like projections (B).  Then, embryonic branches (C) originate at the base of the embryonic leaves-- i.e. in the leaf axils.  The embryonic branches grow outward from the main stem but remain connected through conductive tissues known as phloem and xylem (D).  The phloem and xylem include tiny tube-like cells that function as a circulatory system.  The resulting interconnections among leaves, branches, and main stem or vine is the basis for Jesus’s teaching on what it means to abide in Him.

Jesus, the True Vine (John 15: 1), explained that those who want to be His true followers must remain connected or abide in Him (John 15: 4-5).  Botanically, we have seen that no branch can exist without the vine or stem from which each branch originates.  Even before we can see the embryonic branch (C) forming, the vine is bringing it into being.  Likewise, the Bible reveals that … the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [who existed from eternity past] …chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him (Ephesians 1: 3-4).  David wrote in Psalm 139: 15 that God who had existed from eternity past had seen him even before he became visible as an embryo within his mother’s womb: 

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret…
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

Praise God, the True Vine is our Creator.  He welcomes us to abide in His very presence.

Abiding Is Invited by Jesus
As our Creator, the True Vine is justified in His desire for us to abide in Him as branches of the vine.  But there is an even more present and practical reason we should want to abide.  When we abide in the true vine, He supplies essential spiritual life support.  Without Him we are lifeless.

Botanically, the mature vine or stem transports water and minerals via the xylem from the soil to the developing branch.  Meanwhile, organic compounds are transported from mature leaves into the young branch via the phloem tissues.  In order to obtain these building blocks for growth, the tiny developing branch must send out hormonal signals to the mature vine as if to say, “I am here!  My life and growth depend on sustenance from the vine.”  As the young growing branch actively “calls” for and draws growth and life-sustaining constituents from the vine, it receives what is needed to grow into a mature branch that is able to produce fruit. 

A good example in which the stems of trees and vines supply organic compounds and minerals for growth of branches and leaves is seen in the sap flow from roots to the branches at the beginning of the spring in the temperate zone.  Those who tap sugar maple trees in March for the sugary sap to make maple syrup are well aware of how sap flows into young growing branches.  But there is another “responsibility” of the growing branch besides “calling” for growth building blocks from the stem.

The growing branch must actively participate in its maturation.  It must utilize the water and minerals from the vine to grow toward the sunlight in opposition of gravity and a tendency to become flaccid and wilted.  To do this, each newly formed plant cell from the stem apex will expand by using the minerals and organic compounds to draw in water by osmosis.  As water enters, it generates turgor pressure.  This pressure makes cells turgid which causes new cells to enlarge like tiny balloons being inflated with air.  Organic compounds imported from the main stem or vine are used as building blocks for new cell structures—cell walls, membranes, etc.  

Turgor pressure also acts within mature cells to support the branch and its leaves in an erect position so they can absorb sunlight.  Light energy drives the photosynthesis of sugars and other organic compounds needed to complete the growth and maturation of leaves and branches.  When plants are wilting in dry soil, photosynthesis and growth are both hindered.

In summary, branches and leaves must “abide in the vine” in order to grow.  This “abiding” comes with the responsibility of the branches and leaves to absorb growth constituents and utilize them to grow and mature.  Once mature, the branches and leaves can begin to make their own growth constituents and eventually produce fruit.  In short, the botanical “abiding” of branches in the vine provides an excellent picture of what Jesus wanted to teach His disciples, committed followers, about abiding in Him (John 15: 4). 

Abiding in Christ by Abiding in His Word
Our lesson in botany helps us understand that abiding in Christ is not a casual association.  Abiding involves specific conditions of obedience to His Word that require an investment of our time and effort:

If you continue in my Word,
then are you are my disciples indeed;
And you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. – John 8: 31-32

Abiding in the True Vine is the spiritual responsibility of disciples of Christ.  John Eldridge (Footnote 1) explains that the Greek word for abide in John 15 and in John 8:31 is meno, meaning “’to stick with this.’  It means to remain, to abide; to tarry; not to depart; to continue to be present. Most Westerners have an approach to understanding that goes something like this: we hear an insight explained, we hear a fact, and we acknowledge it as it passes through our minds. Then we move on.  It is an approach that has been shaped profoundly by the evening news: we watch, we move on. That is the opposite of what Jesus is explaining here. The idea of “continuing” in his word is a deep abiding. It implies far more than, "sure, I read that. It was awesome." ‘If you stick with this,’ he says, ‘if you continue, tarry, abide in, linger with’ the truth, then-- and only then– it will set you free." 

When we choose to abide in (“linger, continue, stick with”) God’s Word, our minds are transformed by the Holy Spirit who illuminates and teaches us the truth of God’s Word.  As we “continue” in God’s Word, His Spirit reveals more about who God is; and we see ourselves as if looking into a mirror (James 1: 23).  The author of Hebrews wrote (emphasis added), The Word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4: 12).  For the Word of God to do its revealing and cleansing work in our lives, we must “stand still” long enough to meditate on its living, powerful, piercing message and submit to the Spirit’s discerning work within our thoughts and intentions.  Jesus said, when you abide (continue in and submit to) my Word, you will bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples (John 15: 7-8).

The Christ-follower loves God and loves His Word enough to continually abide in it receives the welcome invitation to a “comm-union” with Christ.  The result is knowing more and more the reality of the indwelling Life of Christ, and the freedom He brings—freedom to see and love God, to see and love ourselves, and to see and love our neighbor, thus fulfilling God’s two Great Commandments (Matthew 22: 37-39).  If we do these things, we become fruitful branches.

Albert Barnes, American theologian (1798-1870), in his Notes on the Whole Bible (Click HERE for source in Bible Hub), explains John 15: 2 as if Christ is elaborating on the union of true believer (branch) with the True Vine (Christ):

Jesus said, “Every branch in Me [is] everyone that is a true follower of Me, that is united to me by faith, and that truly derives grace and strength from Me, as the branch does from the vine. The word "branch" includes all the boughs, and the smallest tendrils that shoot out from the parent stalk.  Jesus here says that He sustains the same relation to His disciples that a parent stalk does to the branches; but this does not denote any physical or incomprehensible union.  It is a union formed by believing on Him; resulting from our feeling of dependence on Him and our need of Him; from embracing Him as our Saviour, Redeemer, and Friend.  We become united to Him in all our interests, and have common feelings, common desires, and a common destiny with Him. We seek the same objects, are willing to encounter the same trials, contempt, persecution, and want, and are desirous that His God shall be ours, and His eternal abode ours. It is a union of friendship, of love, and of dependence; a union of weakness with strength; of imperfection with perfection; of a dying nature with a living Saviour; of a lost sinner with an unchanging Friend and Redeemer.  It is the most tender and interesting of all relations, but not more mysterious or more physical than the union of parent and child, of husband and wife (Ephesians 5:23) or friend and friend.”

Abiding in Christ through Prayer
The emptiness and sadness we often feel when we bid our loved ones “Good-bye” affirms that God created us to value lasting relationships both with others and with God Himself.  And just as human relationships require two-way communication, so abiding in Christ requires that we receive God’s communication to us through His Word and communicate back to Him through prayer.  Daniel Henderson’s approach to prayer, known as "Scripture-Fed, Spirit-Led Prayer," is intended to create a Spirit-led convergence in which the living breath of God’s message to us stirs up a prayerful Scripture-fed, Spirit-led response expressed back to God.

In a subsequent article, we will delve more into how prayer is essential for abiding in Christ.  Meanwhile, you may want to read more about "Scripture-Fed, Spirit-Led Prayer" by checking out the following links.  Then, practice praying in this way individually and with others.  Here are two links from Daniel Henderson's Strategic Renewal website:

The Power of Praying From the Bible
PRAYzing!  Fear Not!

¹ Eldridge, John.  2013. The Utter Relief of Holiness. Faith Words, p. 114
² My thanks to Pastor Kirk Fairhurst, former student and brother in Christ for introducing me to Scripture-fed, Spirit-led prayer through a prayer group he started in 2016.

Weathering and Waking Up from Winter

We are writing this article while pausing occasionally to look through our picture window into a frozen landscape, seemingly held motionless by temperatures around 0^o Fahrenheit (-17.8^o Celsius).  A trail of squirrel tracks in the snow and an occasional cardinal are the only obvious signs of life.  Like those of us who choose not to live in, or migrate seasonally, to a warmer climate, the cardinals, squirrels, and other “warm-blooded animals” must face the long, cold winter.  These animals depend upon the food chain to secure the food calories needed to maintain their bodies at a set temperature.  Although body temperatures of mammals and birds vary, they commonly range from 97^o to 108^o F.

Animals Facing Freezing Temperatures
Unlike animals in the wild, many of us are blessed to live in the comfort of homes where thermostats are set at or around 70^o F (21.1^o Celsius).  Our indoor comfort is provided by home heating systems that run on natural gas, propane, or other “fossil fuels.”  Or, if we rely on electric heat, our electricity is generated by utility companies that rely on fossil fuel combustion or nuclear power.  Thanks to subsidy programs, more and more homeowners are installing their our own solar energy collection systems for part of their energy needs.  Regardless of the source, we can live through winter as if we were in the comfort of Florida by simply adjusting our home thermostats to 70^o F or even higher.

Our homes can feel cozy in winter because we enjoy a relatively small “temperature difference” between our body temperature (98^o F) and our indoor surroundings (e.g. 70^o F), a difference of only 28^o F.  In contrast, let’s calculate the temperature difference for a cardinal or chickadee whose body temperature “thermostat” is set at 105^o F while perched on a branch on a 0^o day.  That would amount to 105^o minus 0^o or a temperatuer difference of 105^o F!!  Or, if we venture outside on the same day, our temperature difference would be 98^o minus 0^o F, or 98^oF.  

Amazingly, while we can “enjoy Florida” within our homes, the winter songbird must face nearly fourfold higher difference between body temperature and its frigid surroundings.  This great temperature difference encourages more heat loss from the animal.  It also places continual demand on the “metabolic furnace” of the warm-blooded animal to maintain its set body temperature.  In order to meet this great energy demand, winter active animals must expend considerable energy to obtain food in spite of adaptations to reduce heat loss—e.g. thick fur, subcutaneous fat, huddling behavior.

Animal Adaptations to Cold
Understanding the great challenges of warm-blooded animals in winter helps us appreciate the variety of mechanisms and behavioral traits God has designed to assure survival and reproduction.  Hibernating animals such as chipmunks, woodchucks, and black bears seek warmer microclimates such as burrows and dens where they can become inactive and turn down their bodily “thermostats.” The shelter-seeking behavior of these animals places them within a more favorable air temperature. This fact, combined with the animal’s physiological reduction of body temperature, serves to narrow the temperature difference; and hence, the resultant heat loss.  The inactivity and lower metabolism of the hibernator also eliminates the disadvantage of having to seek often scarce food sources in the dead of winter.

Frozen Animals
Many so-called “cold-blooded animals” like amphibians and invertebrates survive winter by burrowing down deep into moist soil.  However, some frog species including the Wood Frog and Spring Peeper, known for their choruses in Spring, find shelter under dead leaves in the autumn.  When freezing temperatures occur, these frogs allow as much as 70% of their body fluids to freeze! 

Upon closer examination, the frog’s freeze tolerance is contingent on one major condition:  Only the extracellular fluids (plasma) surrounding the cells of the wood frog can be allowed to freeze.  The cytoplasm within the cells must be kept from freezing!  When temperatures surrounding the frog drop toward freezing, the frog’s liver releases massive amounts of glucose sugar.  The sugars are transported into the cytoplasm of body cells where they serve as cryoprotectants—that is, the sugars act to lower the freezing point of the cytoplasm within cells just like antifreeze works to prevent freezing in our car engines.  In so doing, cryoprotectants preserve the cytoplasm and cell membranes from destruction by dagger-like ice crystals that would otherwise form in the event of freezing. 

While cryoprotectants protect the cytoplasm of frog cells from freezing, extracellular freezing is actually encouraged in the interstitial fluids.  Here, freezing is triggered by ice-nucleating proteins (INP’s) distributed in these interstitial fluids.   The role of INP’s was described in a previous Oikonomia (Click HERE).

Biologist Jack Layne at Slippery Rock University describes what happens when the wood frog’s blood plasma freezes: “The heart stops, the breathing stops.  For all practical purposes you’d assume the animal was dead.”  Brian Handwerk, writing in National Geographic News (March 1, 2005), describes the unbelievable result: “When the mercury falls, … [the wood frog’s] body temperature drops to between 21^o and 30^o F.  … its metabolism slows to a crawl, and …heart and brain cease to function.  …the animal becomes, to the eye and touch, a frog-shaped ice cube.”  [For more light discussion of freeze tolerance in frogs, click HERE.  For a technical treatment with interesting methodology and charts, click HERE.]

Prolonging Life by Lowering Temperatures
The results of research on how animals freeze, thaw, and revive has provided support for the science of cryobiology and its application in the cryopreservation of embryos and body parts.  Using freezing temperatures to preserve life forms or to prolong life by decreasing the rate of physiological processes like respiration and heartbeat points to the little-realized relationship between temperature and time. 

Slowing or cessation of physiological activity when an animal’s body freezes have the effect of extending the time or duration of the animal’s life.  Both hibernating animals and the frozen frogs utilize the temperature-time relationship to survive winter.  That is, their lowered physiological activity in response to cold temperatures “buys time” for these animals to get through winter with less food demand.  The science of cryopreservation of life forms applies the temperature-time principle when it uses freezing to produce suspended animation in order to “buy extra time” for surgeons to conduct risky surgeries on trauma patients (See HERE.).  Extending this temperature-time relationship to an even further extent leads us to the possibility of using freezing temperatures to extend the lifetime of a person indefinitely.

It should be evident that many fascinating scientific discoveries and related ethical challenges await the student of winter survival strategies among plants and animals.  Peter J. Marchand’s book, Life in the Cold (4^th ed. 2014) is a good resource for readers who wish to learn more about plant and animal adaptations for cold temperatures.

Narnia: Frozen World under a Spell
As I continue to write, while looking out our window into the white, frozen, winter world, I am reminded of how the season of winter pops up in classical literature.  In our December Oikonomia article we referenced C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia (Click on “Advent of Lamb and Lion -- DWELL 3.0”).  Readers of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (See HERE) will remember how the Pevensie children pass through a mysterious wardrobe and enter the land of Narnia.  They discover this amazing kingdom locked in the perpetual cold of winter under the spell of the White Witch.  Eventually, the witch persuades the younger brother, Edmund, to betray his three siblings, and his own life hangs in the balance.  Then, Aslan, the creator and lion king of Narnia intercedes for Edmund by giving his own life on the Stone Table, symbolizing Christ’s death on the cross for our sins.

With Aslan gone, the wicked White Witch would seem to have prevailed as Narnia remains gripped in the cold of winter.  As Mr. Tumnus had said, “It is winter in Narnia, and has been for ever so long…. always winter, but never Christmas.”  But then, a rumor is heard in Narnia that “Aslan is on the move.”  The rumor of the king’s return is affirmed by the melting of the snow as Aslan’s kingdom begins to awaken from its long winter under the witch’s spell.
 
Narnia:  Aslan Turns Winter to Spring
Edmund, still a captive, realizes that “The witch’s magic is weakening,” and Lewis treats the readers of his Chronicles with a beautiful picture of redemption from sin’s curse.  The heart and soul of each person, frozen and lifeless without God, melts and springs into New Life through faith in Jesus Christ.  Lewis beautifully writes what some believe is a metaphor of his own conversion from atheism to a strong faith in Christ:

All around them, though out of sight,
there were streams chattering, bubbling, splashing
and even (in the distance) roaring.
And his heart gave a great leap (though he hardly knew why)
when he realised that the frost was over…
And much nearer there was a drip-drip-drip
from the branches of all the trees.

We began this article with a description of the fascinating ways animals face the frozen world of winter.  We described how certain frogs by design refuse to seek deeper, warmer locations in the wet soil; but instead, locate in shallow areas, resulting in freezing of over 70% of their body fluids.  Their risky approach to survival in winter yields some logical advantages.  When spring comes, Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers are already located near the surface, so that, when their bodies thaw, they can quickly move to vernal pools for mating and producing offspring—and sing their lovely choruses that revive our hopes that Spring is here.

From Frozen to New Life in Christ
What lessons can we learn from the parallel between frigid and frozen animals and the frozen kingdom like Narnia?  Maybe this comparison has already spoken to you about your own spiritual life.  If we are honest, all of us go through “seasons of winter” in our lives.   For some reason, or sometimes for no apparent reason, we experience periods of spiritual coldness.  Some may not remember a time you actually experienced real life and purpose for being.  Others may have experienced a cold, emptiness in your life which you tried to fill through various pursuits, none of which have satisfied.

Thankfully, as the Chronicles of Narnia remind us, our lives need not be trapped in a land of “Always winter, but never Christmas.”  In fact, C.S. Lewis is famously quoted as saying:  If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.  Lewis’s words and God’s revelation in Scripture have inspired many to realize that we have been created to aspire toward a world “beyond winter;” a world free from the curse of what the Bible calls “the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2: 2).” 

In Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul explains that there are only two categories of people with respect to their standing before God.  In the first group are those who are dead in their trespasses and sins…children of wrath (v. 1-3).  Like the frozen Wood Frog, there is nothing within us while we are spiritually “frozen and lifeless” that can warm us up again.  Only the light and warmth of the sun can thaw the lifeless animal.  Likewise, only God can raise us from spiritual deadness. 

The second group are those who, because of God’s great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions [like the first group], made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)… (v. 4-5).  According to these Scriptures, we are either spiritually frozen and lifeless, or we are made alive through faith and acceptance of Christ’s substitutionary work of grace.

Elsewhere, Paul’s writing in Romans 8 explains the contrasting dispositions that separate people into the two groups noted above.  Members of the “frozen, lifeless group” seek acceptance before God based on the law of sin and death through dependence upon “the flesh” (our “old Adamic nature”) still under the curse of sin (v. 1-5).  Spiritually lifeless people seek God's acceptance by trying in their own strength to “be good”—e.g. doing good works, going to church, giving to good causes, trying to be “wok,” or supporting “Green Earth” causes.  Doing “good works” is commendable, but God wants our hearts first before our good works.  Members of the “alive in Christ” group have died to their old Adamic nature and are set free to set [their] minds on the things of the Spirit [resulting in] life and peace (v. 4-6); and good works motivated by Christ’s life and love within.    

Waiting Now—Spring is Coming!
The Bible reveals that all of us will live forever, but members in each of the two groups will have a very different eternal destiny (Matthew 25: 31-46).  For the time being, however, the Scriptures reveal that all of us are in a waiting period in the “winter” of a groaning creation (Romans 8:  19-23):

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Each of us have the choice how we will respond to God’s Word and His Spirit who call us out of the cold and frozen world into new life with the Spirit in life and peace.  Jesus said, I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10: 9-10).

Look, the winter is past,
    and the rains are over and gone.
The flowers are springing up,
    the season of singing birds has come,
    and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.
The fig trees are forming young fruit,
    and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming.
Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!
                    – Song of Solomon 2: 11-13 (NLT)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
    he is a new creature:
The old things passed away;
   behold, new things have come!
                   -- 2 Corinthians 5:17

Comments or Questions?
As always, we invite your questions and comments.  Please use the “Comments” link below, or e-mail us at silviusj@gmail.edu.  If you want to know more about how you can find peace with God and newness of Eternal Life in Christ, click HERE to read a short online booklet entitled, “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-filled Life?”