Looking Toward the Greater Harvest

‘My Father is the husbandman’ (John 15:1).  

Pruning seems to be destroying the vine; the Gardner appears to be cutting it all away, but he looks on into the future and knows that the final outcome will be the enrichment of its life and greater abundance of fruit.”
…….Dr. Miller

It is extremely hard to have our vine cut and/or clipped.  If we only live for today and make rules that will only work for a day, then the vine or the fun being trimmed or cut away would be a disruption that destroys today, but in reality we never plan to live for just today; we plan to be here tomorrow as well.

Learning correct and proper boundaries is what make the vine grow and produce abundance as opposed to allowing it to grow where it wants to grow and harvesting a minimal amount of fruit.

While raising our children we must consider if we want them to experience a lot of things or in the act of love keep them trimmed and allowing them to know and live within the true boundaries that our Father has designed, so that much fruit will be harvested.

It is not easy to say “no” and to receive our share of “no,” but the truth is that we can all learn to accept the way others feel and to share how we truly feel because we want our children to learn that “yes” is to mean yes; and we want them to know that “no” is to mean no.  If we will reap in the time of harvest our position is to determine what we, as parents, want our harvest to be. Do not forget that you are a child of God and learning.

Consider consistency as a true way of showing others what is most important to us.

May your day be filled to the full and running over.

----Freddy----

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Sometimes change is necessary to reap the "greater harvest."  Certainly the lepers in 2 Kings 7 needed a change, and they were able to harvest "fallow ground" that didn't appear to be productive.  God honored their determined efforts by providing the harvest they needed as well as providing for the the desperate inhabitants of the city--all this in spite of the fact that they were outcasts and unapproachable by those who benefited from their bold move.

Harvest is a time for change, a time for gathering in, a time of blessing!  Blessing for us and for those God puts in our ability to provide.

 Reaping the Greater Harvest

Why Sit We Here Until We Die?

When you are tired of being where you are and you know that change is a must, you fight your way to get out of the predicament you are in; and when you are standing at the entrance to your new life you become suddenly afraid.  Looking back at what you are leaving behind.  Wondering if you walk through the gates will your life be better or worse?  The question I would like to ask is, “Why do we linger at the entrance of the gate to the area that we have so longed for?  Why do we stand wondering if we are doing or making the right choice?  If we want what we have so long desired and that desire will bring life to us why do we linger?   Do we stand afraid to move forward or are we looking back wanting what is familiar to our lives?

Because we are familiar with the evidence that has surrounded our past we sometimes cling to or hold with where we are because change brings many things to our lives that we are not sure about.  Should we remain where we are and deny change in our lives because it is a safe and secure feeling knowing our past?  We are not for certain that our lives will continue in the sure manner we have lived. but we sometimes want to cling to it because it is familiar; and familiarity brings securities to us although sometimes these securities are false; we still want to hold to what we have known.

Change may initially bring some insecurities but knowing that the change is a good thing can also bring confidence to your life and allow you to move forward into the blessings that are in store for you.  Consider the following story from scripture.

2 Kings 7:3 – 20.  There was a famine in the land.  The Syrians had come upon these people and Elisha prophesied and told them that they would have plenty by the same time tomorrow.  How could this happen?  In the natural thinking we cannot conceive how they would obtain all the food they wanted in one day.  There were four lepers that sat in the gate of the city.  They were considered to be unclean, and as they sat there in the gate of the city they determined that they were going to starve.  The people in the city wouldn’t allow them in the city; there wasn’t any food anyway.  And the Syrians had threatened to slay them.  They knew the Syrians had food and decided that it would be better for them to go into the camp of the Syrians and try to live than to just sit and die where they were.

God had caused the Syrians to hear noises of chariots and horses coming and they dropped everything, abandoned all they had and ran away.  These four lepers feasted on the food that was left.  They not only took care of their needs but they went back and told the king so everyone in the city could have plenty.  There was one lord in the city that didn’t believe the prophet.  Elisha told him that he would not be able to enter and partake of the promise because he didn’t believe.  In verse 20 you will read that he died in the gate of the city and never received the promise.

There are more stories throughout scripture that help us understand that change is a must.  We should never put our trust and confidence in our own hands and with what we see or feel, but we are to put our trust in the Master’s hands.  He formed us and mapped out our lives; He gave us the path to walk in and today as you go through your life, remember to reflect on the Master.  Remember to ask the Lord for help in your time of need.  Today as you consider staying where you are or moving forward know in your heart that you are following the plan and purpose for your true happiness.  Follow the peace of God and you will fill in all the details of the plan in your life.

“Father in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray that everyone that reads and hears these words today will know in the depths of their hearts the plans and purposes that you have given to them.  I pray they will with confidence and assurance walk forward watching the details unfold; and as they trust and walk in their path of Life it will unveil itself, and the details and success of finding security and true divine happiness will be revealed.

“I pray that each person that has pondered on the next step asked themselves if they should go, prayed for direction and have just stood waiting at the Gate will with confidence and security in the Holy Spirit leap forward knowing you, Father, have prepared the way.  May they go with the Spirit and judge everything You do with the spirit of Peace.  Thank you, Father, that we have an ear to hear and a heart that follows direction.  In Jesus name.  Amen”

There is nothing that steals a man's time, his talents, his vigor, his energy, even his prospects of salvation, in greater degree than the crime of procrastination.
 

----Freddy----

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