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Week Six: Future Harvest Day 38: Willing May 3, 2016
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"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of
unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes
and showers righteousness upon you."
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MORNING MEDITATION
Glean the Word: Matthew 22:1-14
Glimpse of Glory: "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come." (v.2-3)
Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding feast, and one day we will all celebrate the Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9). In the meantime, the Lord has spread before the world a great gospel feast and He is holding an open house for all to come and partake. The great provision at the feast is Himself - Jesus is the feast for our soul. And His invitation has been extended to the whole world. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him" (John 3:16-17). Our heavenly Father places the utmost importance upon marriage. He has presented His Son as the Bridegroom and has found the church for His bride, and He has laid before us the richest and most abundant feast, because He is a King and gives out of His infinite supply. He is a loving Father who desires for His children to be filled with all good things, and so He lavishes us with His love and gives us the best of His kingdom, so we will be satisfied and lack nothing. "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare" (Isaiah 55:1-2).
Sadly, those who were first invited rejected the King's most gracious offer to attend His great feast. They had been courtiers in the kingdom, but they were too in love with the business of life to give any attention to their soul. So they ignored the invitation of the King. "Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner...'Come to the wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business" (Matthew 22:4-5). The Jews rejected God's offer provided in His Son and forfeited all their privileges of the kingdom; and so their riches fell into our laps when God opened up the highway to call the Gentiles in. "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: " 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' " (Acts 13:46-47). The door was opened to the Jews, but they excluded themselves. He then graciously sent His messengers and opened the door to the spiritually poor and weakest on the earth who had yet to hear of His kingdom and invited them in, so that the Jew and Gentile would be gathered together (Ephesians 2:11-18). "Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you can find" (v. 9). How grateful we should be that in His wrath the Lord did not slam the door shut to the entire world, but in love opened the door of His grace wider so that we would have opportunity to enter in in this time of His grace. Let us pray today for the gospel message to continue to go forth around the world and to lift up those who are enduring persecutions as they remain faithful to God's call. Let us take advantage of the open heaven above us and the open field that is before us and intercede for the perishing that are all around us. May we all be sure that we have put on the garment of Jesus Christ and not be found as hypocrites when our Bridegroom returns for His Bride. "For many are invited, but few are chosen" (v.14).
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AFTERNOON DEVOTION
Glean the Word: Matthew 9:35-38
Gift of Grace: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field." (v.37-38)
Prayer is God's way of getting His work done in the world. All of His work will be done in answer to prayer. Jesus demonstrated His absolute dependence upon the Father with prayer and fasting. His example in prayer was so powerful that the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus had commanded His disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, and after a ten day prayer meeting, the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. The apostles regarded prayer as the most important business of their ministry and lives. "...and we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). Their faithfulness in their witness and service to the Lord led to their boldness in prayer. They prayed for power and God answered them. "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly" (Acts 4:31).
Prayer is God's appointed way of our obtaining His mercy and grace. "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Our faithful High Priest lives to make intercession for us and is ready and able to offer us immediate and compassionate help. His desire is that we would join Him in His intercession and lay hold of the blessings of heaven for the needs of men on earth. We have suffered tremendous losses in the church because of our lack of prayer. "You do not have because you do not ask God. When you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:2b, 3). Neglect of prayer halts God's work in the world, and when we do pray, much of our prayer is focused on our petition rather than on the presence of God. We are consumed with the gift rather than the Giver of all good gifts. We must to learn to wait upon God. We need to get into His presence and be taken up with Him and ask Him to share His heart with us. "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalm 46:10). The work of God is accomplished when we take time to lay hold of Him. An when we come together in united prayer, and where there is real agreement, there is increased power. "For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20). Let us pray as a united body of believers for the National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 5th, asking the Lord of the harvest to send forth His workers into the harvest field, so we can have skillful, faithful, wise, industrious, and godly men and women in every area of industry who will boldly proclaim God's truth, and give boldness to all the saints to stand firm, take the ground, and advance God's kingdom in this world. (To find a NDP event in your area, click HERE).
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EVENING PRAYER
Glean the Word: Hosea 10:12a
Fruit of Repentance: "...and break up your unplowed ground;"
Evening prayer focus: Prayer for deeper consecration to the Lord (click on the image below for our evening prayer)."The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul and live." (Deuteronomy 30:6)
This evening, draw close to the fire and experience the warmth, love and light of Christ as we come boldly before the Throne of Grace and join our hearts together in prayer:
Click on either image below to access the YouTube Evening Prayer Audio
(then click the Play button to listen to the evening prayer)
HARVEST The Kingdom of God - A 40 Day Prayer and Fasting Journey to The Throne of Grace Copyright © 2009, 2016 Traci A. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.
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