Day 9 is about Layers of the Rainforest and how our Faith can be like this, linking back to my A-Level Geography, this topic has been on my mind for sometime!

Forest Floor/Shrub Level — Hardly any sun light and can get very dark, little or nothing grows down here, these plants decay and die quickly.

Living without Jesus can be like this if we don’t have confidence, no path, no hope, and no faith we will struggle massively.

Under-story layer — little sunlight reaches this area, plants have to grow larger leaves to reach more sunlight.

When our faith is like this we are trying hard to reach the light, but we are still not receiving much. We are trying to live with God, but we are struggling, so we create many different ways that make us open to many things that may not always be God, which can cause us to rise and fall.

Canopy — This layer of trees is higher than the other two layers. It has many more leaves and branches and receives a lot more sunlight.

Our faith is stronger at this level, we are living with Jesus to an extent, however there are struggles against sin and other factors that hinder us from God. We are still looking for the fullness of God, but we are taking to many different directions rather than listening to God and in some cases becoming caught up in other situations.

Emergents — This is the highest layer out of all 4 layers. The trees here have the smallest leaves and lots of them.

Our faith here is very strong, here we are able to receive the fullness of God in abundance and experience the supernatural. We can stand firm in our faith as we are able to filter through with our wisdom and discernment what is right and what is wrong. When we are at this point in our walk with God we are in tune with the Holy Spirit and we are lead on the right path.

We need to be the ‘Emergent Layer’ reaching out to God at all costs and striving to know more and receive more of him.

We are like trees, we are constantly growing, we go through different seasons, e.g Seasons of abundance, seasons of drought, seasons of growth, and seasons of blessing.

God carves and shapes us as we grow, and leads us on the right path.

He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. (Psalm 33:5 ESV)

“After every winter, there is a spring. If you are in a winter season in your life, don’t give up, spring is coming”— Darlene Zschech