Author: kdorway

Harvest Time

First the giving, then the receiving.

Meditation Thought: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

The harvest is not usable until it is gathered – it has been long in reaching the harvesting state – but all the time and effort is wasted if it is left in the field to rot. There must be laborers to go at the proper time to bring it into the storehouses. The laborers must be knowledgeable, willing and strong to complete their task – they must give much of themselves before they can enjoy the fruits of the harvest. First the giving, then the receiving.

Flying Lessons

Do you know that I created you to love you, to interact with you, to have adventures with you?

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, the will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31)

“I am here. Do you believe Me? Do you realize that you could not exist if I had not created you? Do you know that I created you to love you, to interact with you, to have adventures with you? You do? Then base your thoughts and your actions on these promises. This is the key to the kingdom.”

 

Construction on the Base of Mercy

Do not look back to the old; that is now buried.

Meditation Thought: “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand saying to you, ‘fear not, I will help you.'” (Isaiah 41:13)

“We will take all the trash which has accumulated in your life and I will bury it with my mercy so deeply that it will not surface to ruin the shining new life to be built on top of my base of mercy. Do not look back to the old; that is now buried. Take the new materials of construction which I hand you: they are far more beautiful than the materials you were using before.

You will need to work hard to learn to use new tools and new materials – but what a beautiful, glorious edifice is built when you come to me for tools and materials. It is so lovely, so appealing, that none can resist wanting one as lovely – and when you are asked how to build such an edifice, you can lead them to Me that I can give tools and materials to them also. And so, a community of lovely edifices is built – one enhancing the other, all to My glory and My pleasure – all to the peace and pleasure of the builders.

Dream, work, and enjoy – think of these separate activities as cogs in the whole, content at the movement of the moment yet award that there will be other moments, other pleasures – but all pleasing to Me and to you.”

A Magnified Gift

Why wouldn’t it be logical for God to want to give more gifts to those who are using them to their maximum instead of just storing them away?

Meditation Thought: “I tell you to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not even what he has will be taken away.” Luke 19:26

God gives us precious gifts but not for the purpose of hiding them, hoarding them for our own selfish pleasure, to be sneaked out in secret and gloated over. He gives us gifts to enjoy by sharing them with others – which magnifies them as their value is spread to more people.

Why wouldn’t it be logical for God to want to give more gifts to those who are using them to their maximum instead of just storing them away? When we give a gift to someone, don’t we receive pleasure when the person uses it, shares the benefit from it – and aren’t we disappointed if the gift is put away and ignored? God’s gifts are too precious to be accepted and put on a shelf never to be used. They should be used constantly to His pleasure and glory, as well as our pleasure.

Expeditions

Look up to Me when you stagger and fall – don’t look to the ground where you lie – but up to Me to catch My extended hand so that I can raise you up and encourage you along.

Meditation Thought: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)

“The thirst has been created in you, that you might have the desire, the stamina to search for the water to quench it. And as the “Living Water” refreshes you, satisfies you, your delight will want to be expressed in helping others to recognize their thirst, and then to lead them to the place where they can quench that thirst.

Continue your expedition – in spite of all obstacles – for the goal is worth all costs. I will be your Guide, My strength will uphold you when you ask for my help – look up to Me when you stagger and fall – don’t look to the ground where you lie – but up to Me to catch My extended hand so that I can raise you up and encourage you along. The further you travel, the more you learn, and the more adept you become at traveling – I will show you the way, and I will also show the way to those companions you pick up along the highway. Come, let us satisfy your thirst.”

 

The Work of an Artist

…there is strength where there was no strength before…

Meditation Thought: “And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20)

“I – perfect love, perfect power – am with you – broken vessel – always.” What happens when a skilled artist takes a broken vessel to repair? He restores its beauty, he restores its use and so blesses those who use it, when it had been unable to be of use before.

God created the perfect vessel – which was broken by sin. But God sent his repairman-artist to mend and renew. There is strength to be used – there is strength where there was no strength before. And there will be no weakening as long as the vessel is kept safely in the care of the Artist, where He can keep it in good repair, using His strength to keep it strong and useful.

 

 

The Beauty of Grace

…they will be attracted to an unusual beauty, a sweetness of spirit, someone who is effective and willing in helping them.

Meditation Thought: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

“I put on you the mantle of my grace for all to see. The beauty of my grace is to shine immediately to all those who look at you. My power is beneath that grace, working through you – but if you are not cloaked in my mantle of grace, and appear powerful in your own right, people see your human power, which will blind them to my power working through you.

The mantle of my grace protects you. If your own pride and thirst for power and recognition grow to the point that they burst open the fasteners of the mantle and it falls away, then what is visible is only your arrogance. If you stay meek under your mantle, keeping yourself healthy and fit and the proper size by feeding on My Word and My Guidance, and not indulging in the food of the world – false pride, selfishness, greed – so that you get too fat for my mantle of grace which I have thrown over you, the ones to whom I would have you witness of Me will not see a common, gross, unattractive creature, unappealing to them; they will be attracted to an unusual beauty, a sweetness of spirit, someone who is effective and willing in helping them.

In the first attraction they may not perceive that your power to help them, and their attraction to you, is not of your own doing, but is due to your dependence on Me. In deeper communication with you they will understand that your effectiveness is based on My power released in you: This is the purpose of each of my believers – to bring my beloved children to recognize Me as their Father and to delight in Me as their Guide and Protector, and the One who created them in love.”

Over. Come.

The evil says “come”  the Lord says “come”. We must decide where to go.

Meditation Thought: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

Overcome: Over. Come: “over” implies a movement upward – we move “up” to God’s higher methods, more effective methods, when we consult Him. “Come” – implies the invitation to movement. The evil says “come”  the Lord says “come”. We must decide where to go.

We have our “manual” – all we need to do is to consult it, to determine which destination we must choose. Good is always concerned with love, with peace, with joy, with giving – evil is always concerned with malice, with conflict, with envy, with taking.

 

What was Impossible Becomes Possible

You must see yourself as part of a great Body, able to accomplish miracles which would not happen if you think of yourself as an isolated cell.

A sense of response to meditation on several verses and a devotional:

“My strength shall pour into your limbs, into your heart, as a transfusion. What was difficult before shall become easy, what was impossible shall become possible. The ‘greater works’ shall be done through you and through the other members of my Body as my strength surges through that Body.

You must see yourself as part of a great Body, able to accomplish miracles which would not happen if you think of yourself as an isolated cell. Seek that interconnection with the other parts of the Body and coordinate with the rest to cause the whole to function as it was created to function. The Head wants the Body to function, it does not want it paralyzed! Respond to the impulses from the Head so that the Body will be active – not only active, but vibrantly active.”

Choose the harvest by choosing the Seed

Once we know the Truth – our relationship with our Creator, our dependency on Him, and the glories of being totally His child, then we know what seed to sow to reap the best of harvests: peace, joy, love and communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Meditation Thought: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

As the parables are the echoes of the principles, so are the material laws echoes of the spiritual laws. The elements of everyday living are really a school we are attending – once we recognize that we are attending a school in which to learn, we change our actions accordingly. We have purpose, we seek knowledge, we become alive and aware in a new way.

As our Teacher inspires us as we learn in one area, we begin to see an interrelation of which we were ignorant, we find knowledge of fields which were completely unknown to us before. But every field has one thing in common: the results are based on the action, or in other words, the harvest depends upon the seed sown. Once we know the Truth – our relationship with our Creator, our dependency on Him, and the glories of being totally His child, then we know what seed to sow to reap the best of harvests: peace, joy, love and communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.