HARVEST

The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! (John 4:36 NLT)

Aah yes! Harvest. That thing that so many of us are working towards, pressing into, declaring.

Harvest. Finally the fruit we have been waiting for. Joy and blessing in abundance. Celebrations unequaled.

The whole concept of harvest is a major New Testament theme, central to the Kingdom, yet so often misunderstood. Preachers of the Kingdom life often use the term freely in their quest to encourage their hearers to be Kingdom minded, to grasp the things of the Kingdom, to experience the Kingdom here and now. Sadly the end result is far from what is taught by Jesus. The principles of sowing and reaping in our personal lives emphasized to the point where true Kingdom harvest is forgotten.

And so too many miss out on this abundance that God has on offer.

Kingdom harvest is about one thing only – bringing people to eternal life.

The principles of sowing and reaping do stand. However this is not a crop we have planted. It is not a harvest grown from our seed that we sow. This is a crop that has sprung up out of the incorruptible seed that died and was buried. This is God’s own seed that He gave and from which has come forth life.

The harvest therefor belongs to the Lord. Jesus calls Him the Lord of the Harvest.

It is not a harvest we work for, says Jesus, but a harvest in which we share by grace. It is however a harvest that we are called to work in. We are taught to ask the Lord to send us out to be a part of bringing it in, to work as harvesters who have had no previous activity in bringing the crop to a point of readiness. The harvest is there for the reaping just waiting for us to step in.

It is not a harvest that meets our needs but a harvest that glorifies its Lord. The angels celebrate, all heaven rejoices and the trees of the fields clap their hands with each swing of the sickle. The Kingdom celebrating each person brought in.

And we the workers go out in joy. The joy of the Lord being our strength and our portion. His joy at each salvation shared with us. The pure pleasure of  seeing the lost found, the prodigal returning, the dead rising and the blind seeing. The eternal gratification of having been used by God for the fulfillment of His purposes. The privilege of taking people by the hand and bringing them into the presence of God. Salvation belongs to the Lord but He lets you do it.

The reaper sharing the joy of the sower as if it was our own harvest to rejoice in. Our wages paid without fail. Blessing upon blessing.

Let us look around. Look at the world and begin to see true Kingdom possibility. People all around us just dying to be saved. The Seed planted and the age prepared for every knee to bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. See in this depraved world a harvest white with readiness.

And pray the Lord of the harvest will send in workers to bring it in. Make yourself available for Him to use. Jump up and down in front of Him shouting your willingness out to Him. Your prayer not that others will do it, but that He will use you.

Shout out the availability of your finances. Give that the work can be funded. Give it unto the Lord. Let Him use it. Give to those that go. Feed the preachers. Put shoes on those that walk to the far end of the fields. Take care of the families that camp out in the fields. Make sure those who go have no cares or burdens.

Shout out the testimony you have. Be as the sun to the sunflower making the heads of the lost turn towards you that they might see Jesus and be plucked into His grace.

Shout out your time. Use every moment ensuring that none are lost due to your slothfulness. Catching each ripe soul before it rots.

Shout out your authority. Intercede. Pray for protection and strength to ward off the thief who tries to steal the harvest.

Walk out into the harvest. Parade yourself in the fields as sons of the owner. Picking each one as if it was your own. Urging others on to work while there is time.

True harvest. Kingdom harvest. Lasting harvest. Swing the sickle for the Harvest is ripe.

OH WHAT JOY WE SHARE!!!!

 

 

 

 

WHEN GOD IS YOUR SOURCE…..

 I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NLT)

As children of God it should be our constant habit to run to our Father whenever we need anything. After all He can do all things and has promised us these things and has proved beyond a doubt how faithful he is in keeping His promises.

So we trust and rely on Him for all we need and desire. Our daily bread. Our jobs, our homes, our families, our successes, our health. Giving Him thanks and praise for the normal things of life (at least I hope you do)

Like David we tell the world that the Lord is the source of all our joy (Ps 43:4).

But there are times in our lives when we need more than the normal. When the cupboard of God’s provision seems to have become empty. When our health is suddenly not good. We have no prospect of a job. A relationship seems forever destroyed. When we find ourselves in a place that no “normal” can give us escape from. A place where  ungodly men would dig deeper and deeper into their own strength and turn on themselves in despair when even that runs out.

Make a plan! Do something! Turn in any and every direction seeking help!

Yet nothing works. The deeper you dig the deeper the hole. Hunger weakens you. Illness seems to rule rampantly. Whatever the situation it is bigger than any answer you can see.

You pray and you pray and then you pray some more. Others are praying with you and for you. Still you cannot think of any way that this can be resolved.

There is nothing.

When God is your source that is not a scary thought.

We serve a miracle working God. We serve the creator of the heavens and the earth. We serve the God who created all things out of nothing. It is our Lord through whom and by whom all things exist, Jesus, the source of all life who has made it possible to come to the Father in the first place.

He doesn’t need anything to be able to do what we need. We need a miracle – he does them.

The human mind seeks answers. It calculates and searches back and forth. Depression, denying God often the outcome.

When God is your source the mind renewed by the Holy Spirit is filled with joy and peace. The hopeless void replace by hope above and beyond all hope. His Spirit quietens the voices in your head, removes the questions and holds your vision fixed on Him

When God is your source we need to embrace that void that is created where there is no hope. Realizing and celebrating the fact that it is where we are devoid of plans, where we are not trying to manipulate or bring influence that God will do His greatest work

.Its not easy as it sounds, especially the more desperate your situation but be assured that just by His Word your need will be met. Just by His Word your answer, your breakthrough, your miracle already exists.

Look into the void and see what you are calling as if it were. Look into the nothing and be blessed in the knowledge that it is there that God will do it for you.

When God is you source……….

nothing matters.

 

 

Context?????

LOVE JESUS – LOVE THE WORD

so many folk these days, while claiming to be preachers of truth and shouting WORD! WORD! seem to have no real knowledge of the Word.

This is the first of a series of mini messages

 

Most important scriptures??

 

 

Please enjoy this sample of a new mini message series we are posting.

Psalm 17 – One step at a time

I’m staying on your trail; I’m putting one foot In front of the other. I’m not giving up.

So you are a Christian. A disciple. A follower of Jesus. It is so much more than what you believe, it is who you are.

Being a Christian is not always easy. Life experiances are not all blessing and joy. It doesn’t all happen the way we think it should. As much as we are now sons of God, as much as the Kingdom is now within us as the Spirit of God dwells in us, we have not arrived. We have a heavenly destiny but we are not yet at our destination. To reach it we must walk with God.

Living by God’s Word is more than living because God has spoken life for us. It is living with the word as a lamp and guide for our feet. That already implies we are on a journey. We are travelling a road and doing it day by day, facing and overcoming the challenges and trials that we face along the way.

It takes determination. Not strength and courage and skill. Determination. being determined to follow God. Being determined to hold on to His Word and walk in His way.

It is so important to always hold your destination before you. This is not yet it. There remain promises that God has made that are yet to be fulfilled. We are living in a time that will end and there will begin the new perfection that God will bring about. To keep that as our prize always mindful that it awaits us, fuels our determination to live by the word of God. As David says sticking on God’s trail. Following Him wherever He leads. All the time though knowing what the final destination is.

That is what gives us hope for today.

That’s actually what this verse is about – today. Getting through today. Allowing that hope to pull me through. David says he put one foot in front of the other. He walked one step at a time. So often we just want to fly, to skip the steps,  to find a short cut. To jump across and miss the obstacles. So often that leads to a fall, dissapointment and landing in the pooh. So often not following the way of God makes today a difficult place to be.

This is not like the one day at a time like the AA teach. That way allows today to give strength for tomorrow. Our tomorrow is already determined. We have a hope that is sure and certain. Our tomorrow gives us strength for today. We look to that tomorrow found in God’s Word and then follow God’s Word to bring it into fulfilment. One step at a time. Dealing with each day, with the events of each day, overcoming, conquering each challenge, speaking and bringing into play God’s report, God’s vision that tomorrow, into today.

Hold on to God’s Word. Hold on to every promise. Hold on to what the Word tells you is your destiny. Hold on to every dream and vision God gives you for tomorrow. Step into today as if it is tomorrow. Bring tomorrow into today. Stand on the Word and then step forward onto the Word. Let every step be onto the Word. The Word will remain solid and true. You can can trust it. It will carry you. You will be safe. Look forward. What does the Word say. Now step onto it.

Today has past. Tomorrow awaits. Give praise to God. He is faithful. He will not fail you.