In Exodus 19 God told Moses to tell the people of Israel “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself.” God was turning the attention of the people to all that He had done for them and the reality that, while they were still far from their “Promised Land” they had already arrived at their eternal destination of being loved and chosen by God. I believe that one of the main reasons we often struggle with doubts, fears and anxieties when we face difficulty is that we don’t spend nearly enough time reflecting upon God’s loving character and the goodness that He has poured out in our lives. Reflection creates gratitude and faith that prepares us for the next steps that God will lead us on. Obstacles become opportunities when I reflect upon the goodness of God, but they are magnified to the size of giants when all I can see is the difficulty that I’m facing.

Today I encourage you to reflect upon God’s love and view all things in your life in light of God’s mercy. It is our choice to dwell upon present difficulty or to reflect upon God’s everlasting love. His love will guide you, protect you and even deliver you from anything that comes against you, today I pray that we will choose the goodness of God and trust Him to be true to His Word, He has born us on eagles’ wings and brought us to Himself!

II Corinthians 10:5 tells us that we have the power to destroy the lies of the enemy by taking our thoughts captive. Reality is that we can not always control what thoughts enter our minds but I believe we have complete control over whether or not those thoughts take control of our minds. The Apostle Paul tells us that there are arguments and pretenses that are constantly being spoken to and over us that are attempting to attack “the knowledge of God”; they are lies about God, lies about His love, His character, His goodness and His promises and plans. Day in and day out we are given tools to take those thoughts captive and be in control of our thoughts or we can give those thoughts room to grow and they end up taking control of us.

Philippians 4:6-7 says “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” If peace is a guard then anxiety is a thief. We have to take control of our minds and understand that our thoughts of worry, of fear, of doubt, of discouragement and of anxiety are attempts to rob us of the truth of God’s character, God’s love and God’s purposes. Paul is very clear as to how we combat these thoughts, through prayer. Every thought is to be taken to God in prayer, every moment of indecision, of lacking understanding and of feeling overwhelmed are to be objects of prayer. Prayer creates peace and peace guards our hearts and our minds. To protect our minds we must become people of prayer!

This place of prayer will not only create peace but it will also reveal the enormous love of God. Paul prayed in Ephesians 3 that we may have the power to grasp the love of Christ. When I know that God loves me, when His love becomes my first thought, then every thought that objects to God’s love becomes easily recognized as a lie. There is something powerful that happens when we have the power to be confident in God’s love. When I know God loves me I never fear His rejection, I never fear defeat, I never worry about outcomes and I never have to take my life back into my own hands.

If you are struggling today with fear, doubt, anxiety, discouragement or any other negative emotion, take your thoughts captive! Take your mind to God in prayer and allow Him to provide peace that leads to the revelation of His love. “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Peace comes when love is realized. I pray today that our lives of prayer would provide the peace that comes from living in the reality of God’s great and everlasting love.

In Luke 17 we are told a story of Jesus healing 10 lepers and one of them returning to give thanks. The man that returned didn’t simply come back and shake Jesus’ hand and thank Him, he fell at Jesus’ feet, he shouted, cried and in the midst of his gratitude caused a great commotion. God is the giver of life and so everyone ever born owes God a debt of gratitude and yet so few of us truly give thanks. Those of us that have trusted Jesus for our salvation have had our sins covered, the wrath of God turned back, eternal life granted and have been given the Promise of the Father via the infilling of the Holy Spirit and while we give thanks with our voices, I am unsure that our lives are defined by gratitude. The one healed man that returned to Jesus changed his course, he interrupted his life, he stopped everything because he understood that he was whole because of Jesus and so gratitude became the definition of his life, there was nothing he could do with himself until he had found the One that made him whole. I believe that this kind of gratitude is supposed to be the driving force of our lives. There needs to be a changing of course, an interruption of life and a stopping of everything else simply because God has loved us so greatly that constant gratitude must now become the reality of my life.

The man who returned caused quite a stir, quite the commotion. His gratitude overflowed in such a way that, while it was directed toward Jesus, it was obvious to all of those around him. Our gratitude should be the same, always directed toward Jesus, but obvious to all of those around us. In John 3, John the Baptist famously declared of he and Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That statement in and of itself is powerful and true, but that statement is actually the conclusion of John’s statement. He explains that Jesus is the Bridegroom and the people are the Bride and then John reveals himself as “the friend of the Bridegroom.” John then says “the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.” And then, John says, “Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.” John’s declaration of decrease was the overflow of gratitude. His joy was fulfilled and so it was time for Jesus to increase and for him to decrease, this was not some wise or pious statement, it was a joyful declaration. Our vows, commitments and steps of faith are not to be to show how committed we are, they are to be outpourings of gratitude for who Jesus is and all that He has done. Commitments of our strength start with a bang but often end quietly. Commitments that are the overflow of gratitude endure, overcome and even cause a bit of a commotion for those around us.

I have heard it said that harvest can be messy, that might be true, but I believe that harvest should also be noisy. It should be filled with shouts of joy, cries of thanksgiving and songs of adoration. Harvest is not about our effort it is focused on God’s incredible love and awesome power. The reality is that there was never more of a commotion on earth than when Jesus walked here as a man, there will never be more commotion than when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom, as we pray and wait I don’t believe that we are to do so quietly. Scripture tells us that the living creatures in heaven are crying out to God eternally, it tells us that creation is crying out for the appearing of the sons of God, I believe that we, the Body of Christ living in this age should join in that song. May we cry out in gratitude, sing in worship and create a commotion of harvest.

Micah 6:8 gives us the command to “act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. These requirements from God fit perfectly into our three invitations for 2012. To act justly is our partnership in justice, to love mercy is our partnership in intercession and to walk humbly with God is our partnership in harvest. The sum of these three requirements/invitations is the realization that by walking in obedience to these places God then reveals His concern, His heart and His power. My prayer today is that we will join God, that we will trust God and that we will be used by God to show Himself to those that live around us. Jesus said that the harvest is ripe and that it is plentiful, may 2012 be the year that we choose to become laborers, choose to become partners and choose to become the revelation of the love of God.

God has sown the seeds, today, through justice, intercession and harvest, may the reaping begin!

The parable tells us that while the land owner sowed good seed, an enemy came during the night and sowed seeds of tares into the same land. These poisonous seeds were an attempt to ruin the good crop, to cause damage and even to remove goodness. If God sows good seed into all men, then the truth is that the enemy of our souls sows tares into every man. The distractions, temptations and desires of this world are all tares, they all serve one purpose, to cause damage and even death to the seeds sown by God. What we see in the parable is that the land owner is not distracted or anxious about these tares, he knows the power of the good seed he has planted, he knows that with proper care and attention the good seed will bear fruit and then, at the proper or due time, the harvest will be reaped and the tares will be destroyed.

To be true partners with God in His harvest we cannot get distracted or weary with the tares of this world. We must have our hearts and attention set on the Land Owner and on the good seed He has planted. Our role is to intercede, to declare the wonders of God and to believe and pray for fruit to come forth. There will be a time to reap and remove the tares, but that time is set by God, not us. God loves the harvest so much that He will not allow the good seed to be damaged by our zeal to remove the tares. My prayer today is that we will believe with God in the power of His Word. He has told us that it will not return void, that it endures forever and that He will complete everything that He begins. Let’s not get caught up in what others need to remove, but rather focus on what God has planted! He is a good sower.

Ezekiel 22:30 is the verse we most commonly refer to when talking about intercession, it says “So I sought a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” Intercession begins with God. It is not man trying to move God, it is God seeking out men that would stand with Him, for Him and between Him and those that are under His wrath. Intercession is all about the love of God. It is God’s love that seeks out those that will intercede, it is God’s love that births intercession in our hearts and it requires God’s love to be able to hear, listen and proclaim according to the leading of God rather than the desires of men.

I pray today that we will all take up the invitation from God to be those that build a wall and stand in the gap, that we would all love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and then love our neighbors as ourselves, that we would make our prayers, our petitions, our actions for and about the love of God. I pray that we would all choose intercession, choose the ministry of reconciliation and choose the heart of God toward the world. May the love of God move us to prayer, to fasting, to declaring and to obedience. May we choose to be partners with God in intercession so that we can become the laborers for the harvest that is ripe and ready to be reaped.

Acts 3 tells us a story of Peter and John going to the temple to pray and being used by God to bring healing to a man that had been lame from his birth. In this scene we find the man begging for money and Peter, being led by the Spirit and empowered by the Father, gave the man not the money he requested but the justice that he needed.

Administering justice requires confidence in what God has done in our lives and boldness to join God in doing whatever He has promised to do in the lives of others. Peter moved in confidence and boldness, he offered healing and the removal of shame and he was used by God to glorify the Father and magnify Jesus. A harvest of salvation came that day because when justice is restored hearts and lives are opened to the truth of God.

The harvest that God is speaking over this community and yours will require a partnership of justice and that partnership will require confidence in what God has done for us and boldness in what God has promised to do through us. If we are lacking in confidence or boldness today let us pray for the Holy Spirit to renew and restore us. May our community by shaken by our prayers for boldness and may harvest be poured out through a partnership in justice that destroys shame and glorifies Jesus. May we become partners in justice so that we can be laborers in the harvest.

1. Jesus restores order. Society had chosen prejudice. The Jews were prejudiced toward the Samaritans, they considered them to not be “pure” Jews and so they despised them because of their race. When Jesus spoke to this Samaritan woman He was rejecting the idea of prejudice, He was turning what was upside down right side up and He was restoring order that said that He came for all flesh and that no one was to be rejected on the basis of race or gender.

2. Jesus destroys rejection. Jesus asked the woman to go and get her husband, she responds that she does not have a husband and then Jesus reveals that He already knows that she has had five husbands and now lives with a man that won’t marry her. This woman had been constantly rejected. She had been “put away” five times and now, the man she lived with does not find her worthy of becoming his wife. Jesus is showing her that He knows her life and He has chosen her, not in spite of it, but in the midst of it. Rejection is destroyed when acceptance is offered. This woman was an outcast in her own town and yet it was her that Jesus chose to reveal Himself to and to use as the spark that would light the flame of salvation for her town. Being chosen by God heals the rejection of the past.

3. Jesus reaps a harvest of salvation. When order is restored, when rejection is destroyed salvation springs forth! In our minds, Jesus’ could have gone into that city and preached a great sermon and many would have been saved. God chose to not work according to our minds, but His promises. His plan was to bring salvation to this city, but the plan He chose was to use a rejected woman as the catalyst for the harvest. Our calling today is to see God’s plan and to enter into it. To listen to His promises and not just believe them but join Him in the midst of them. It is time  for the Church of Christ to restore order, to turn the worlds ideas, plans and thoughts right side up. Too many of us have followed culture rather than establishing culture. We are called to restore order to our communities. From that place we will be given the opportunity to destroy rejection. We need to stop weighing whether or not people have earned what they have, we need to realize that they are less than they were created to be. Jesus’ point to this woman was not to reveal her sin, she was aware of it, but to embrace her and heal and forgive her sin. Harvest is the restoration of God’s plan in creation, we take part in that restoration when we are led by the Spirit and when we long for harvest.

This next year will bring us many opportunities for harvest. It will be our time to restore order and destroy rejection, it will require us to make harvest our priority, to let nothing get in the way of salvation and to choose the ways of God no matter how much they seem to cost us in this world. The harvest is ripe, the only thing lacking today is laborers, may we pray to be the laborers and to see the reaping of the harvest of God in and through our lives.

For many, 2011 was a year of sorrow, a year in which there was loss and difficulty. Those sorrows are not to be hidden because of shame or given the power to overtake and consume us, but they are to be given to God and entrusted to Jesus. Matthew 5:4 says “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” For most of my life, I have believed that the comfort is the removal of sorrow and pain, but I have come to learn that comfort is not the absence of sorrow but rather God’s love in the midst of sorrow, His concern in the midst of hurt, His grace in the midst of failure and His joy in the midst of weeping.

My prayer is that when we look back at this year that we will not simply define it with one outstanding emotion or event, but rather that we will see clearly how God works in the midst of every emotion and event. There has been great increase in my life and in the lives of many, but what I have learned in the midst of that is what John the Baptist declared long ago, “He must increase,but I must decrease.” The increase of God always costs the decrease of me, of my understanding, my personal plans and my ambitious desires. There are even times in which sorrow, struggle and difficulty create a decrease of my own strength so that I can finally depend upon and trust in the strength of God. This year I set out to increase for His glory and God has kindly decreased me and shown me the increase of His life through mine.