Precious Fruit of the Earth

 Daphne Delay, Author, 1.cbn.com

I’m not a farmer, nor from a farming family. But I have eaten an unripe banana and tasted premature fruit – both of which are bitter and/or hard. And that’s exactly what James was referring to when he spoke of waiting for the precious fruit of the earth; except the fruit he spoke of was people.

“Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.” James 5:7 (NLT)

The early rain helps the seed to germinate. Mature seeds are often extremely dry and need to take in significant amounts of water. In the same way, humans (before Christ) have dry and hardened hearts that must be softened.

After sprouting, germinated seeds need a consistent supply of water to continue healthy growth. This too, is how people who’ve softened and accepted Jesus as their Savior continue maturing. The latter rain is the presence of the Lord.

“Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you — The former rain, And the latter rain …” Joel 2:23 (NKJV)

So we are encouraged to be patient and simply enjoy the refreshing presence of the Lord, for He is faithful to supply it.

When was the last time you were refreshed in His presence? For some, it may be recent; for others, it may be as long ago as the last time you played in the rain as a child. God is faithful to supply the rain (His presence) at any time. Unlike a natural farmer who has to watch the weather report and pray for sweet rain on his crops, you and I only have to stop and pray.

“And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” Psalm 9:10 (NKJV)

“The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” Psalm 34:10 (NKJV)

God loves for us to seek His presence. Therefore, He is quick to respond. The problem is people don’t always know how to receive. For example, a person may be dry and certainly in need of spiritual rain, yet they remain dry and unrefreshed. Why? It’s not because God doesn’t respond to their plea; it’s because there are requirements for receiving. And the number one requirement is: close your umbrella!

Offenses and unforgiveness are like umbrellas that block the rain. And this is a common misunderstanding among believers. They seek God for healing and refreshing because they’ve been hurt and wounded, not realizing their guarded condition is what hinders the very thing they are seeking. So many people think forgiveness is a feeling, but it’s not. Biblical forgiveness is a choice. Or a better way to explain it is forgiveness is an act of their will. No person (and I mean, NO person) “feels” like forgiving. It’s a defense mechanism of the soul to pop up the umbrella and guard their heart. But when we forgive offenses and trespasses simply because Jesus asked us to, the umbrella comes down and the rain of God heals and mends our brokenness.

Disobedience is another hindrance to God’s presence. How can God give you instruction number two, when you continue to avoid or disobey instruction number one? God’s not holding back – our own rebellion and pride are often the reason for our dryness.

“If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; …” Isaiah 1:19(NKJV)

We could say, “If you’re willing and obedient, you’ll receive the latter rain that produces the good of the land.” But let us remember we must have hearts that are BOTH willing and obedient! It’s one thing for a child to obey his or her parent’s instruction, but did they do it willingly? Or with an attitude?

Remember God is the ultimate farmer, watching over the crop of the earth, sending early and latter rain in hopes of a great harvest of people. But He has also allowed us to farm our own lives.

“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12 (NLT)

You and I are the precious fruit of the earth. I pray we never miss even one drop of His presence.

Start the New Year Prepared

Katy McCown, Author, proverbs31.org

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)

“I’m not doing this again,” I proclaimed, and I meant it with all my heart.

Just a few days before, I spent a dark, rainy weekend packing our lives into boxes and then unloading them into a new place in a new city.

Though the bulk of the work was behind me, I felt exhausted and unsatisfied. I didn’t look forward to new memories and planting roots, because this new place had no more certainty than the last one. I feared another weekend much like the one I’d just experienced was all too close.

So, I announced I wasn’t doing it again. But my husband’s career requires us to relocate often, so although I knew I couldn’t cling to the idea of never moving again, I could purpose to do it differently the next time.

Why do we need this lamp? There are perfectly fine lights on the ceiling. Who needs headboards for the beds? The wall will be support enough. This dresser isn’t necessary. We can stack clothes on the shelf in the closet.

And so it went. One thing at a time, I whittled away at our stuff and created a simpler, much more manageable life of mobility.

In today’s key verse, God talks to His people, the Israelites, as they begin a journey. After years in captivity, they rejoiced at the freedom to return to their homeland. But to get there, they would have to travel a long distance.

Their travel would look quite different from ours — no plane to catch and no trailer to haul their stuff. So you can imagine the challenge this nation would face when they found themselves standing in front of deep waters or difficult rivers.

Men, women, children, livestock and all their belongings would have to find a way through these physical obstacles.

Though we may not come upon an actual river, we will likely encounter something this year that mimics a rushing current or suffocating smoke. Notice how our key verse says, “When you go through deep waters … When you go through rivers of difficulty … When you walk through the fire of oppression.”

When. Not if.

The nation of Israel was guaranteed to encounter all of these on their journey, and I think we can count on it too. So let’s prepare for it, shall we?

When I realized the uncertainty of my family’s future, I purposed to get rid of all of the extra, unnecessary things that weighed us down. The things we absolutely could live without and would ultimately free us up to follow God wherever He chose to lead us.

Since that day, my family has moved every single year. And that’s okay. Our things are now so simplified we can do it in a matter of hours. Our last move demanded my husband and me, and about two hours of our time. That’s it.

Consequently, I no longer dread future moves, because I know we’re prepared for it.

We all have extra. Sometimes in our physical surroundings. Sometimes in our spiritual ones. To face the troubles sure to surface, we need to get rid of the extra.

When the water is deep, your feet can’t feel the bottom. And your body is tired, but the other side is still so far away. That one thing you don’t need could be the one thing that drags you under.

Of course, no matter how prepared we feel, we’ll never be able to conquer our troubles alone. God didn’t just warn of potential problems ahead, He included promises to stand on in the midst of them.

God will be with us. We will not be overtaken. We will not be utterly consumed.

As we head into a new year, let’s start this one prepared, so when we face the trials of life we will stand. Undaunted by deep waters. Ready for rivers of difficulty. Fearless in the face of the fire.

God Really Loves Us

By: Wally Odum,1.cbn.com

Charlotte Mortimer described her adult education, creative writing class. The teacher asked all the students to write “I love you” in 25 words or less, without using the words, “I love you.”

The class was given 15 minutes to complete the assignment. Charlotte wrote that one woman spent about 10 minutes looking at the ceiling and wiggling in her seat. Then the last five minutes, she wrote frantically. Later she read her composition to the class. It consisted of three loving statements:

“Why, I’ve seen lots worse hairdos than that, honey.”
“These cookies are hardly burned at all.”
“Cuddle up-I’ll get your feet warm.”

It tells us something about her husband. It also tells us something about the practical side of love.

I don’t know if anyone else spends much time wondering why God loves us, but sometimes His love is a mystery to me. I know my inadequacies and shortcomings. I also know that God loves me in spite of them. Moses’ words to Israel in Deuteronomy 7:7-8 comfort me. He explains God’s love for them to the Israelites:

“The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt.”

Our might and importance have nothing to do with God’s affection for us. He just loves us. John 3:16 may be the most memorized verse in the Bible: “God so loved the world…”

A book that touched me was Love Beyond Reason, by John Ortberg. In the book, Ortberg describes a doll, Pandy, that belonged to his sister, Barbie. By the time he knew Pandy he says, “She had lost a lot of hair, one arm was missing, and she’d had the stuffing knocked out of her.” Not impressed with Pandy’s beauty, he felt that she was too damaged to be even given away.

He remembers his family going to Canada from Illinois for vacation. On the return trip they realized that they had left the doll in Canada and had to drive all the way back to Canada to retrieve her. Pandy was that important to his sister.

When Barbie married and had a little girl of her own, Courtney, his sister had Pandy restored and kept her as Courtney’s doll. Ortberg’s reflection on Pandy’s story impacted me deeply. He wrote, “When Pandy was young, Barbie loved her. She celebrated her beauty. When Pandy was old and ragged, Barbie loved her still. Now she did not simply love Pandy because Pandy was beautiful, she loved her with the kind of love that made Pandy beautiful.”

That’s what God’s love has done for us. He doesn’t love us because we are beautiful, His love makes us attractive.

Sometimes it is hard for us to receive undeserved love, so we try to earn it. Richard Bellinger, a young boy in South Carolina, was the son of a Baptist minister. One Saturday night, Richard decided to shine his father’s shoes. The following night his father put a silver dollar on the bureau of his son’s room with a note commending his son for what he had done, and telling him that the dollar was his reward. The next morning, when the father put on his shoes, he felt something hard and metallic in one of them. When he took the shoe off and reached inside, he found the silver dollar he had given to his son the night before. Along with the dollar was a note that simply read, “I did it for love!”

What God has done for us, He did for love. Instead of trying to understand it, or deserve it, or pay for it, He just wants us to receive it and say, “Thank you.” When we do that, His love begins to change us. And does His love ever have the power to change us!

Gwen and I pastored outside Baltimore, Maryland early in our ministry. I was drawn to a story I read about a college in that area. One of the local college professors gave an assignment to his class. He asked them to go into the economically impoverished communities to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote something like, “He hasn’t got a chance.”

Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He decided to use his class to follow up on the previous survey in order to see what had happened to those boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen.

The professor was astounded at the results and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, the 176 men still lived in the area and his class interviewed each of them. They were asked the question, “How do you account for your success?” In each case the reply came with feeling, “There was a teacher.”

Investigating, the professor learned that the teacher was still alive. He personally went to speak with her. He asked her what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher looked at him, broke into a smile, and said, “It’s really very simple, I loved those boys.”

God loves us. When we are about to step into heaven because we have believed in Him, if someone asks us why we made it, we can confidently say, “He just loved us.”

The kind of love God has for us cost Him dearly. John MacArthur told of an incident that occurred during Oliver Cromwell’s reign as Lord Protector of England. A young soldier was scheduled to be executed. The girl to whom he was engaged pleaded with Cromwell to spare the life of her beloved, but Cromwell was resistant to her request. The young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded.

However, when the sexton repeatedly pulled the rope to signal the execution the bell made no sound. The soldier’s fiancé had climbed into the belfry and wrapped herself around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell. Her body was smashed and bruised, but she did not let go until the clapper stopped swinging. She managed to climb down, bruised and bleeding, to meet those gathered to witness the execution. When she explained what she had done, Cromwell commuted the sentence.

A poet beautifully recorded the story as follows:

“At his feet she told her story, showed her hands all bruised and torn, And her sweet young face still haggard with the anguish it had worn, Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light. ‘Go, your lover lives,’ said Cromwell; ‘Curfew will not ring tonight.’ ”

God loves us. His body still bears the scars from His suffering so we would not die. He wants us to believe that and allow His love to change us. When I know God loves me that much I can never give up on myself.

5 Reasons Why God Will Never Abandon You

• Rebecca Barlow , crosswalk.com, Author

“I’m leaving you.” “Your illness is terminal.” “Our company is downsizing. Today is your last day.” “I’m sorry. Your son was killed in action.”

Bad news can turn our world upside down and push us into irrational conclusions, like “God has abandoned us,” or “He doesn’t care.” Human nature reaches for a reason, any reason—and for someone to blame. In our confusion, we often target God.

But that’s not the nature or character of God. If you are God’s child, here are five reasons why God will never abandon you:

1. God desires your fellowship.

We were created for fellowship. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9, NIV). Before sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were more than just caretakers of God’s creation. They were part of that creation and enjoyed sweet communion with God in the garden. God didn’t change in His desires; man did. He still wants our fellowship (Revelations 3:20). Furthermore, you were created for His glory: “Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them” (Isaiah 43:7, NLT). He even takes delight in you! (Zephaniah 3:17).

2. God has promised never to leave you alone.

Many of you remember the old hymn, “Never Alone.” As a young mother trapped in a thunderous storm that literally shook her old car going home—her baby in the back seat of the old Chevy—my mom told me how she found comfort in the words of that song. Filled with fear, she remembered the conference she and my dad had just left where the hymn writer B.B. McKinney had led the entire assembly in that song. From the car windows, she saw the “lightning flashing,” and she “heard the thunder roll.” But the truth of God’s promise in that song—that He would never leave her alone, filled her with peace and assurance that day that God would not abandon her. That truth gave her comfort even as she approached death a few years ago.

And the Bible is filled with that same faithful promise to us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you(Joshua 1:5, NIV). For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5, NLT).

Upon His return to heaven, Jesus vowed the same thing to His grieving disciples, “No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you” (John 14:18, NLT). Not only would He return one day, but in the meantime He promised a special gift, His presence through the Holy Spirit, to His followers: That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft,” John 14:25-27 (MSG). His Spirit is always with us!

3. God’s track record is impeccable.

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? (Numbers 23:19, NLT).

As a young believer, I spouted God’s promises freely, taking them at face value—until I hit a few ugly snags: A promised job fell through; a miscarriage, a marriage crisis—and some things too painful to mention. What happened to God’s faithful promise? Though I fought the urge, a “why” would try to slip into my thoughts. As a minister’s wife, I was careful to quickly stuff it back in its hiding place. Foolish decision.

Years of drawing closer to God and testing His promises have taught me the sheer gentleness and grace of God toward His children. I’ve never felt His “fussing” at my confusion. And each time I’ve decided to trust Him a little more, even though I didn’t understand His ways, my faith legs have grown stronger.

Now over five decades since I first gave my heart to God, I can trace activity in my life and see clearly that His track record of faithfulness is indisputable. I still fail and want to question, but He never seems to get tired of teaching me more about Himself. Part of that track record is indeed the fact that His promises have not failed in my own life—including His constant presence with me. So much so, that my life message has become, “God is faithful!”

4. God loves you and won’t forget about you.

He really, really loves you. He loved you before you were even born. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes (Ephesians 1:4, NLT). Why else would He pursue us in our worst shape, and accept us just as we are—loving us so much that He would send His Son to die for us? We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him,(Romans 5:8, MSG).

When others question God’s love, His care for them, or want proof of His love, I am at a loss to suggest anything more. All I can do is point to the cross where Jesus, His own Son, died willingly for the whole world (John 3:16). Would someone who loves like that, then turn around and abandon the very ones He died for? Even as His children when we mess up, He is ready to forgive and love us back to Him (1 John 1:9). He does not forget about His children (Isaiah 49:15, NIV).

As the song written by Pat Barrett and Tony Brown says, God is a “good, good Father.” When you become His child, you are His child forever. No one can “snatch” you out of His hand (John 10:29).

5. God is not finished with you yet.

At a small group conference my husband and I attended one year, the leader verbally recognized an angry attendee’s words by eventually “putting her back in the oven.” He didn’t try to “fix” her or her problems. Sometimes what we interpret as God’s “abandonment” may simply be God’s placing us “back in the oven,” where we may feel the heat of testing for a while. But God’s purposes, ways, and thoughts are not ours (Isaiah 55:8). He knows exactly what He’s doing, and while we may not understand, He clearly states one of His intentions in those unexplainable situations: These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return (1 Peter 1:7). And like a potter, He plans to keep shaping you to make you more like Him.

God’s character doesn’t change. And He’s not finished with any of us (Philippians 1:6). He wants to bring good out of everything that happens to us (Romans 8:28).

We live in a fallen world. We can read the newspaper, listen to the news, and even experience life trauma ourselves, and at times feel like God has gone AWOL. But world hunger, violence, and destruction were not included in God’s original design. One day He will restore everything to a new heaven and new earth, we will be whole, and all our unanswered questions will either be answered or unnecessary. But until then, one truth we can cling to without a doubt: His plans—and His character—don’t include abandonment. God will never forsake those He loves!

Led by the Desires of Our Hearts?

Craig von Buseck, D.Min., Author, 1.cbn.com

The psalmist wrote, May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose (Psalm 20:4).

The Lord gives us some wonderful promises in His Word concerning the desire of our hearts. One of the most striking is found in Psalm 37:

Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. (Verses 3-5).

Just like an earthly father who delights in providing his children with the things that they write on their Christmas list, our heavenly Father delights in giving us the things we desire — but not all of them.

There are times when we desire something that seems good to us, but from God’s point of view it would not result in our ultimate good.

Our Father in heaven truly knows what is best for our lives. There are times when we want certain things that He knows would be a hindrance to us. My dad often tells the story of an interview he once watched with a world-class pianist. The reporter remarked that he would love to be able to play the piano as well as this man did. With a slight smirk, the musician replied, “No you wouldn’t.”

The reporter was shocked. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“To be as good as me you would have had to have begun studying piano not long after you learned to walk. When your friends were out playing games, you would be inside playing your scales. You would have to play for eight hours every day, and then perform nearly every night. You would have to travel around the world, moving from one hotel to another. You would be constantly lonely, not being able to maintain long-term relationships. No, you wouldn’t want to be as good as I am.”

There is such a thing as a divine rejection. There are times when we cry out to God, Lord, this is the desire of my heart! Please give it to me,” but the Father knows that the thing that we want so badly is actually bait on a sharp hook. If we were to swallow that bait, it would take us to places we did not want to go. In His great love for us, God may withhold certain things to protect us.

In other cases, there are things we desire that may not be at all harmful, but the Lord will keep them from us because He has something even better in mind for us. How many of us have prayed to be in a certain job, or marry a certain person, or receive a certain material blessing, only to realize later that that job, or person, or thing was not all that we thought it was! Many times, when the Lord has withheld something from me, I have later come to realize that it was for my protection and my long-term good. It is always best to pray that God’s will would be done!

Death of the Vision

It is also important to realize that sometimes the Lord will plant His desires in our heart and then cause those desires to grow so that we will seek Him. And at some point in the process, He may require that we surrender those dreams back to Him. This is called “dying to the vision,” and it is a test that the Lord will often put His children through to determine their love for Him.

God may promise something to us and place a desire for it in our heart, and then require the very thing from us that He had promised. With Abraham, God promised him an heir in his old age. The birth of this baby brought so much joy to Abraham and Sarah that they named him Isaac, which actually means laughter. But when Isaac was a teenager, the Lord tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. In obedience Abraham built an altar, placed the wood in position, bound the hands of his son, and laid him on it. Just as he raised the knife to slay his son, the angel of the Lord stopped him. God provided a ram, caught in the thicket, for Abraham to sacrifice to the Lord instead of his son (see Genesis 22).

If we will die to the vision that is in our heart, and allow the Lord to have everything in our lives, He will not only give us that thing that He promised, but it will be better than we could have ever imagined in our own minds.

The great holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom often spoke these words of wisdom, “Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.”

God will give us the desires of our heart, but the first desire of our heart should be to serve Christ Himself. When we have Christ as our chief desire, all of the other desires of our heart will be submitted to His lordship, and we can willingly pray, ‘Not my will, but Thine be done.’ When that happens, God will give us our hearts’ desire, which will also be His desire for us!

What is in Your Hand?

Often God will use different circumstances to lead you in life. Sometimes He won’t reveal certain things to you until you need to know them — for many different reasons. At other times, the Lord will conceal His direction because He knows that if He revealed it to you, and you knew what was to come, you wouldn’t go down that path — but that is exactly the direction that He intends for your life.

When things don’t seem to be working out, or you’re having a hard time, it is not always because you’re out of the will of God. It may be that you are directly in the will of God, and He is controlling the circumstances of your life to bring about His purpose for you. In these times you must remain prayerful, and consider the combination of ways that He is guiding you through your personal relationship with Him, and through the other seven keys to hearing God’s voice.

There are thousands of Christians who are wasting their lives, waiting for God to make clear to them their calling. God has given them the Scripture, which reveals God’s general will for all believers. In that alone, they can see that the Lord does not want them to bury their talents but to use them to His glory. When Moses was questioning God in front of the burning bush, he said, “Suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice?” (Exodus 4:1). The Lord replied to him, “What is that in your hand?” (verse 2). Of course, we know that what was in Moses’ hand was the rod that the Lord used as an instrument to demonstrate His power.

The Lord is asking you today, “What is that in your hand?” You may have read in the Bible that the Lord has a unique calling for your life. You may have heard some specific direction from the Lord concerning that calling, but you still are waiting for it to happen in your life. I ask you today, “What is that in your hand?” Do what is in your hand to do. Move forward in faith in the things that you have heard from the Lord, and God will meet you where you are. Like Peter in the boat on that stormy night, you may have heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Come out on the water.” You have to make a decision to lift your foot over the edge of that boat and step out, trusting that you have heard His voice, and keeping your eyes on Him in the midst of the storm.

God will provide you with the grace and strength that you need to get it done, but you must take that first step in obeying His will for your life.