Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed,
      and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth"; and it was so.

      And the earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind,
      and trees bearing fruit, with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
      And there was evening and there was morning, a third day (Genesis 1:11-13).
 

The basic understanding of both the old and new creation begins with understanding the seed. As stated yesterday, the Lord loves diversity, and to protect and preserve it, He created seeds that would only bear fruit after their own kind. Every plant has a role to play in the balance of creation. If a plant or animal was to lose its uniqueness, it could not play its role, and the balance that enables life as we know it on this wonderful planet would begin to erode. Knowing this very well, one of the basic strategies of the enemy is to destroy life and to blur the distinctions that God created. Fully accomplished, this alone could undermine and unravel the harmony of the creation that is necessary to support life.

If life is to go on, the basic differences between men and women cannot be compromised. The way a man and a woman become one is not by the man becoming a woman or the woman becoming a man, but by the recognition and appreciation of the differences. If this appreciation ever ceased, the human race would end. The reason the Lord created every seed to bear fruit "after its own kind," was so the uniqueness that perpetuates life would continue. As the Lord explained in The Parable of the Sower, words are also seeds. Seeds grow up to become plants that bear fruit. What is growing from our words? What will the fruit of our words be like? If we speak out of bitterness, we are planting bitter fruit in the earth. If our words are filled with faith, hope, or love, we are planting trees that will one day bear the fruit of faith, hope, and love in the earth.

I live in the highlands of North Carolina. On our mountain there are thousands of apple trees. Apples were supposedly brought to this region by Johnny Appleseed. He used to say, "Any man can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed." No one seems to know how many apple seeds he planted in our area, but now, two hundred years later, there are millions of apples harvested each fall. Like seeds, our words also take time to sprout. We may not even be here to see the fruit of them. And like seeds, words are very likely to multiply. Let us consider each day that our words will bear fruit, and determine we will only sow that which brings forth the fruit of the Spirit.

The Lord also compared faith to a seed. Jesus told His disciples that if they had faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, they could move mountains (see Matthew 17:20). History testifies that there is no force on earth that can stop true faith. The disciples not only moved mountains, they moved nations and empires. They understood the principle of the seed. If even the seed could move mountains, what could the full plant do?

Just as the wise King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 18:21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Let us be sure the fruit of our words will be something we will want to eat. Are our words imparting life or death? Are they building people's faith or feeding their fears? Are they bringing forth love and reconciliation, or division and strife? Remember, whatever the fruit is bearing, we ourselves will have to eat it eventually. We are told in Ephesians 4:29-32:
 

       Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification
      according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.
      And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
      Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
      And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
 

According to this Scripture, a primary way we can grieve the Holy Spirit is by letting unwholesome words come from our mouths such as those from bitterness, wrath, anger, etc. Let us determine that we will not sow these seeds, but rather always speak words which will edify and build up one another.