The Harvest

When the friends of Jesus saw him talking to a questionable woman at the well, they thought all the wrong things. Jesus had spoken to her about abundant and eternal life so she went away fully alive and began to tell everyone about him. Meanwhile, the friends of Jesus were still thinking about natural things like food and could only see the woman with natural eyes instead of seeing her as one ripe for the spiritual harvest.

Jesus went on to tell his friends in John chapter 4 that the harvest is not four months down the road, but is now. Essentially he was saying that the people who come across our path today are the harvest. It seems that Jesus wanted his followers to be aware of every encounter, every opportunity, and live with a sense of urgency and eternal purpose on a daily basis. My personal application is simple: If we put off ministry and sharing the life of Christ today, we will miss the harvest and our opportunity to lay up a reward in heaven.

Your fellow harvester,
Mark

It is waiting for you down the road

Jesus told his followers in Luke 19 that there was a colt waiting down the road that he wanted to ride on. The men proceeded to go find the colt. Verse 32 says "So those who were sent went and found it just as He had told them". The principles of faith and provision are in the three verbs: sent, went, and found.

When the Lord sends us to people or places, our job is to just go in faith. Christians should be "just went" people. The pattern in the Word of God is that those who go find what they are looking for in the going. It will be as He has promised when we get down the road. We just have to go on to find the provision, the solution, the answer, or the promise. Keep going friend. Don't stop. You will find what you are looking for and all that He has promised as you keep going down the road in faith.

Your fellow traveler,
Mark

Revelation Needed

I have been praying for some help. It is become increasingly clear to me that a huge problem for most of us is that we don't know what we don't know and only God can help us. It may seem self evident to the astute, but we can't see what we can't see and we can't hear what we can't hear which is why we keep finding ourselves in more messes with more troubles and more difficulties. Only a revelation from heaven will open our eyes so that we can make better choices and better decisions and finally be made whole. My prayer has been something like this, "Help me Lord with what I don't know that I don't know that I really need to know to walk upright before you".

You see, I really want to please the Lord in every area of my life, but without a revelation from God, we are in trouble. Only He can show us how to please him and how relate to people and how to live as people who are sold out for Jesus. As he reveals himself to us, we receive life and help in a world in which everything is colored by sin and selfishness. We need a revelation of Jesus if we are going to survive another day, another month, and another year. Thank God that He delights to reveal himself to his children! Jesus is the consummate revelation of God. He said, "If you have seen me, you have seen my father which is in heaven". May this be a year to see him more clearly than we have ever seen before!

Mark