At the Irrigation Gate – your Lion Bites word for today

What are you holding in your hand at this time? What spiritual responsibilities has God placed into the palm of your hand? The Lord asks us the question, ‘Are you releasing the spiritual responsibilities that I have given you to steward, so that they might flourish and grow? Or are you holding on to them so tightly that all life is being stifled?’

I saw a man sitting in a field of soil. He was beside an irrigation channel, by a wooden gate in the channel, with his hand on the lever that held the gate shut. Beyond the gate the irrigation channel split up into many channels and spread out in all directions – a whole network of empty channels, ready for water to flow. But the gate was closed and water had built up against it. The weight of water was such that it was a challenge for the man to even grip the lever to keep the gate shut. He was weary from his service at the gate but was pleased that he could see the build up of water at his feet.

But the man was labouring under a misapprehension. He had not understood that the water needed to flow through the gate and fill the channels beyond. There was more than enough of the fresh, cool stream of water… it did not need to be contained and constrained! It was being limited to the man’s narrow line of sight.

Again – What are you holding in your hand at this time? What spiritual responsibilities has God placed into the palm of your hand? The Lord asks us the question, ‘Are you releasing the spiritual responsibilities that I have given you to steward, so that they might flourish and grow. Or are you holding on to them so tightly that life is being stifled?’
 
Luke 19:12-13;15-17
[Jesus] said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
“He […] returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
“ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’