{"id":127,"date":"2012-10-16T13:10:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=127"},"modified":"2012-10-16T13:10:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-16T13:10:00","slug":"the-banana-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"The Banana Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever seen a banana tree in bloom? I must admit, I never knew how bananas landed on a produce shelf. Not until I went to SE Asia and saw this amazing process.<\/span>
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There is a huge flower that grows on a banana tree. As each layer of the flower pulls back, there is a bunch of bananas growing beneath it. At the tip of each banana is yet another flowering bloom. I was so enthralled by this scene from nature. <\/span><\/div>\n
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And what\u2019s more, banana leaf salad is very popular is SE Asia. I am saddened that I did not have a chance to try such an exotic addition to a salad.<\/span><\/div>\n
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This is exactly how God revealed His plan to mankind. Layer by layer, He showed man how His plan worked.<\/span><\/div>\n
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First, God created man and woman, Adam and Eve. It was perfect until the fall. Sin entered the picture and the rest of God\u2019s plan was put into action.<\/span><\/div>\n
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God called Abram to follow Him in obedience. Abram had no idea what he was getting into, but he had trust and faith in God.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Then Jacob\u2019s name was changed to Israel and his twelve sons would make up the twelve tribes of Israel.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Throughout their history, the Hebrew nation was shown aspects of God. His love. His protection. His discipline. His redemption. <\/span><\/div>\n
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And then, God was silent.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Suddenly, God broke that silence as He revealed the next portion of His plan.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Jesus.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Jesus lived among men. He showed mankind how to draw closer to God. God\u2019s plan would take Jesus to the cross for the forgiveness of all sin.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But then as God\u2019s plan continued, Jesus would raise from the dead so that we might have the opportunity to live forever in heaven.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But God\u2019s plan was not complete. There were a few more details to reveal.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Church was established. And in God\u2019s remarkable plan, His Church was made available for every person on earth. No one was excluded.<\/span><\/div>\n
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God\u2019s plan, revealed little by little, is the<\/i>perfect plan. So why did He choose to reveal His plan in this manner? We may never know, but I believe Elihu shared the perfect explanation to Job. \u201cGod\u2019s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.\u201d<\/i> (Job 37:5 \u2013 NIV)<\/span><\/div>\n
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There comes a point when we simply cannot understand why God does what He does. We must accept His ways and trust that He knows what He is doing and that He is in control.<\/span><\/div>\n
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But we can also live in Christian confidence that the mysteries of Christ have been revealed. Ephesians 3:3-11 speaks of this revelation.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And there are other passages that speak to this as well. \u201cNow to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made know through the prophetic writing by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him\u2014to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.\u201d <\/i>(Romans 16:25-27 \u2013 NIV)<\/span><\/div>\n
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And also, Colossians 1:25-27 (NIV). \u201cI have become its <\/i>(the Church) servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness\u2014the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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God\u2019s plan was revealed little by little so that we might get His message. That we would have hope and forgiveness and salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And here is yet another way God is still revealing Himself. Through His Holy Word. Scripture continually reveals a bit of God\u2019s character to me as I study it. Layer by layer, I gain new insight into God on a daily basis. I am so thankful for these words that are so readily available to me.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I pray that you have accepted this plan. God\u2019s plan. I pray that if you haven\u2019t, this writing might encourage you to check out all that God has planned in advance for you. If you do accept God\u2019s plan, I can tell you for certain that a future filled with hope and assurance is far better than living this life without these benefits.<\/span><\/div>\n
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<\/a>If you have already accepted God\u2019s plan, I pray that you will continue to gain knowledge and wisdom by studying God\u2019s Word to see what new revelations He has in store for you. It is an amazing journey and one that is most rewarding.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I am so thankful to have seen a banana tree in bloom. To see how God put it all together to reveal such a fine fruit for our enjoyment. I am also thankful that He used this beautiful flower to reveal just a little more of Himself to me. I pray that you will never look at a banana again without thinking of this revelation. I know I never will.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/span><\/div>\n
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Donna<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever seen a banana tree in bloom? I must admit, I never knew how bananas landed on a produce shelf. Not until I went to SE Asia and saw this amazing process. There is a huge flower that grows on a banana tree. As each layer of the flower pulls back, there is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_s2mail":"","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12,13,15,14,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accepting-god","category-discovering-god","category-finding-god","category-knowing-god","category-seeking-god","category-trusting-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}