November is upon us and the season of harvest is well under way. I love this time of year because all around you can see the evidence of faith in action. Drive through the countryside and you’ll see farmers on machinery reaping a bountiful harvest from the seeds they’d sown in faith last spring. Whether its corn, soybeans, wheat or any other crop it all started with a little seed. Through the care of the farmer the seeds grew, produced plants, and yielded their harvest. From the time they were placed in the fertile soil they began to receive the former rains that caused the initial growth, then the latter rains brought the crops to maturity. The harvest is still a crop until it’s gathered together and brought to the storehouse. It takes a lot of hard work to gather up what was produced and bring it together for winter storage or for sale on the market. Bulk storage facilities are found in many forms, barns, silos, open- air bins and cribs. Every crop requires different treatment to assure its preservation.
We are no different. The Bible refers to us as the harvest. Jesus said, “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” He then implored us to “pray that the LORD of the harvest would send workers into the field. (Matthew9:37-38)” This is a two-fold type of ministry. First there are those that go out into their world and preach the Gospel making disciples of all nations. Second there are those that God gave to man to preach and teach His word to those that are gathered together in the bonds of Christ’s love. We all need to find the place God wants us to gather at and make it our place of corporate worship of Him. Forget that humans stand in offices of leadership and sometimes fall short of the calling. Forget that the buildings may be occupied with the unredeemed as well as the redeemed and there may be human differences. These things will cause us to take our eyes off of God and steer or focus to mans imperfections. We are ordered to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together in Hebrews 10:25 because, as the book of Acts depicts repeatedly, there is strength in numbers, and the power of the Holy Spirit is released when a body of believers is gathered together in worship. The Psalmist wrote that God inhabits the praises of his people. That means that when we get together to worship Him we open the gates of heaven with or worship and He personally joins us and meets us with whatever we need. The bottom line is we need to find the place we can openly express our adoration of Him, and our praise of Him.
Our hearts need to be fertile soil for the seed of His word, and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to personally rain down on us to cultivate the type of spiritual growth God intends us to receive in His house. As we approach the national holiday called Thanksgiving I encourage you to stop, look around, listen to your heart, count every blessing as from the Father. His word says that every good gift and every perfect gift is from God. Stay under the spout the blessings come out.
Chaplain Kevin
