It's harvest time!

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

John 4:35

How much time do we think we have? How often do we think we have plenty of time for a task only to be surprised when the time runs out? We all know the term 'Time flies when you're having fun!'

If the harvest is ready, is the end near?  I don't know.  The end will come like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)  You can TRY to anticipate a thief, but you never know  When they might strike.  So, if the harvest is ready that means simply the harvest is ready.  If the forecast predicts foul weather, don't farmers work extra hard to bring in the harvest before the storms?  And, if there is a chance that the end is near, shouldn't we work extra hard to bring in the harvest before it happens?  I, myself, feel an urgency to return to the field soon. Am I predicting the return of Christ?  No, but I would rather have done everything I could before that time than be here in the States asking for help to return to the field.  God wants each of us to do our part, for some it's to go and others it's to send.  If God called us to go, has he called others to send us?

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?

Romans 10:13-15 (NLT)

Whom shall be called to send?  Neither calling is entirely easy and both are equally important.  It's a team effort and no one person can do it alone.  Without you there is no team.  Please join our team.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31 (NIV)

Irony (Patience)

I was driving in Atlanta last night to a Light For The Lost (LFTL) Banquet. Just a quick setting of the Atlanta area; it has been raining for the past 2 weeks (100 year storm conditions). It was raining hard and I just left on a 50 minute drive to the hosting church, not good conditions. Within the first mile, the road was under 6 inches of water; the point most NORMAL people would have returned home. I am not normal, I am an impatient missionary with a desire to get back to Colombia. I had a feeling that 50 minutes was not very realistic in Atlanta during rush hour and it was raining, so I left 2 1/4 hours before the banquet. Plenty of time, or so I thought. I was relaxed in the car, listening to some podcast sermons. After 2 hours passed, I was starting to get very nervous. The irony kicked in as the current podcast was dealing with "Waiting Patiently on the Lord".

How many of us truly know how to wait upon the Lord? We pray and if we don't hear anything, we just start doing. The Lord called and sent Moses up and down the mountain many times. He had no car, no horse, no cable cars, he just hiked and climbed. And when he arrived to where the Lord was, he waited...patiently. He waited 7 DAYS before the Lord spoke. Have you ever waited 7 days on anything? If we are expecting something, we want to know exact timing! "Oh Lord! 7 days? Okay, at what time in the day?" And we put God into our schedules. And for 7 days we fill our schedules with everything else, except God. "Okay God, you have 15 minutes, make the best out of it." When Moses came before the Lord, he wasn't told a certain day or time. He just waited patiently for 7 days. He didn't do any work. He didn't play with a phone or computer. He just waited patiently!

David wrote:
I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

Patience is a requirement of time with the Lord. I often pray, "Father, not my will but let your will be done." ...But in my timing! I don't say it, but it is in my spirit. We live in the "Age of Technology". We are the "Now" generation. The world has changed, but God hasn't.

"But Lord, I don't have time because of my two jobs" (to pay for stuff I don't really need). "But Lord, I don't have time because I need to run the kids to soccer, baseball, football, etc. and then run errands." (I got Stuff to do, You play second fiddle.) "But Lord, I don't have time because I am too busy doing ministry for You." (A problem that I struggle with) Excuses don't work with teachers or parents so why do we use them with God? EXCUSES are tools of the enemy!

"Father, I'm sorry for my impatience. I'm sorry for excuses. When you wish to speak to me, I will wait patiently. When I need to hear from you, I will wait patiently. Your return is at a time that you know and I don't need to know. Let me do as you wish in your timing. I seek only to please you. Lord, help me to learn and teach others the beauty of patience. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen."

Fruit #1: If you have not Love, then you have not!

There is no greater command from God than love and no greater gift.


The gift of God's love: For God so loved the world... (John 3:16)


It's nice to know He created us in His own image. He loves us so much that He sacrificed His one and only Son. He gave that love to us. Do you show others that kind of love?


His Commands: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40)


We are commanded to love. The most wonderful experience that our lives could experience is a command? God is good! Do you love the Lord? Do you love your neighbor? ...not just the nice ones, but the enemies and the outcasts? I'm not asking can you love? ...but do you? ...or will you?


If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)


I'll let the words of John bring this point to an end.


Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20)


Love the unloved, those that are mean, the "losers". It won't be easy at first and you may feel rejection. Don't ask why...just love!

"All you need is love."      John Lennon

Why do I have down days?

I have been on a roller coaster ride recently. At some points it feels like we'll never reach the bottom of the hill. I've battled with depression and the outcome is impossible. When I strive to get back up, there is another blow waiting to send me back down. Should I give up? Walk away from the call that the Lord put in my life?

I was reminded of a scripture I always held dear.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds (James 1:2)

I can't rely on myself to overcome the impossible. God would never have placed the call in my heart if He didn't have a plan. Yes, my task is impossible. And yes, it will take a miracle to raise our budget and get back to Colombia.

BUT!

YES, my God is the God of the impossible! And YES, my God is the God of miracles!

How often do we try to insert our capabilities over that of God's? We do have some work to do, but we need to allow God to do His work.