Harvest
I am and have constantly been encouraged by the words of Zechariah 4:10 in the Message translation says, "Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings?"
Back in May I was very much aware of the fact that we had been in Northallerton for 6 years and I recognised that we are not now really at a point when we can say anymore that we are beginning.
The work here is good and my heart was filled with gratitude at so much answered prayer and for the good folk who are part of our mission. But there was a Saturday in May when I sobbed my heart out in frustration when I thought of the amount of ploughing and sowing we have done in comparison with the harvest we have so far reaped. Alongside some glorious victories there have been activities and people who have promised much but yielded little and there has been pain in that.
In the early hours of Sunday morning I woke still chewing over what God wanted us to do about all this. I felt him say that we must recognise the season we are in. We have been sowing the seeds of the gospel in this town and in people all this time. That has been good and right but it is time to reap. We must do that by giving people opportunities to respond to the claims of the gospel and that will involve challenging them and upping the stakes. This will take courage.
For the farmer, harvest time happens every year. Whether it yields a good or a poor result the harvest season happens. We have kept sowing because we have been afraid that the results of our reaping might not meet with our high hopes and expectations. Rather than face disappointment we have tried to pretend we are still in the sowing season. We have let our English reserve and fear of being thought pushy overtake the impulse of the Spirit to challenge people to move on in their faith.
That moment was a recognition for me that it is harvest time whether we like it or not. To do nothing is to lose what we have already sown and to try to harvest is to risk facing that there might not be much to reap. Yet we must face that possibiity for the sake of those who have let the seeds of the gospel become planted in their lives.
The line of a Bible verse that came to me, I believe from the Holy Spirit was “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” We must have boldness and trust in God.
I then read Isaiah 44:22-5 and it seemed that God was speaking those words directly to my heart.
Having shared the above with the congregation on Sunday who responded with simple and beautiful prayers I have had an anxious day today, knowing that we planned to have the first session of our next Alpha course tonight and we had only two people plus helpers signed up. By late morning they too had disappeared because of their work circumstances. I thought so much for reaping then and what I said on Sunday.
We decided to go ahead anyway just in case of the remote possibility that somebody by turn up from posters and leafleting. Then whilst I was at the dentist having a tooth filled and feeling very sorry for myself a lady rang with a message to say she was coming with a friend. The friend turned out to be a lady I had worked with in the prison and with whom I had spoken to about faith issues a couple of years ago!
OK so there are only two new people on the course at the moment but to me it's confirmation of God's word to me that we can reap from seeds that have already been sown.
God bless
Carol
I am and have constantly been encouraged by the words of Zechariah 4:10 in the Message translation says, "Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings?"
Back in May I was very much aware of the fact that we had been in Northallerton for 6 years and I recognised that we are not now really at a point when we can say anymore that we are beginning.
The work here is good and my heart was filled with gratitude at so much answered prayer and for the good folk who are part of our mission. But there was a Saturday in May when I sobbed my heart out in frustration when I thought of the amount of ploughing and sowing we have done in comparison with the harvest we have so far reaped. Alongside some glorious victories there have been activities and people who have promised much but yielded little and there has been pain in that.
In the early hours of Sunday morning I woke still chewing over what God wanted us to do about all this. I felt him say that we must recognise the season we are in. We have been sowing the seeds of the gospel in this town and in people all this time. That has been good and right but it is time to reap. We must do that by giving people opportunities to respond to the claims of the gospel and that will involve challenging them and upping the stakes. This will take courage.
For the farmer, harvest time happens every year. Whether it yields a good or a poor result the harvest season happens. We have kept sowing because we have been afraid that the results of our reaping might not meet with our high hopes and expectations. Rather than face disappointment we have tried to pretend we are still in the sowing season. We have let our English reserve and fear of being thought pushy overtake the impulse of the Spirit to challenge people to move on in their faith.
That moment was a recognition for me that it is harvest time whether we like it or not. To do nothing is to lose what we have already sown and to try to harvest is to risk facing that there might not be much to reap. Yet we must face that possibiity for the sake of those who have let the seeds of the gospel become planted in their lives.
The line of a Bible verse that came to me, I believe from the Holy Spirit was “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” We must have boldness and trust in God.
I then read Isaiah 44:22-5 and it seemed that God was speaking those words directly to my heart.
Having shared the above with the congregation on Sunday who responded with simple and beautiful prayers I have had an anxious day today, knowing that we planned to have the first session of our next Alpha course tonight and we had only two people plus helpers signed up. By late morning they too had disappeared because of their work circumstances. I thought so much for reaping then and what I said on Sunday.
We decided to go ahead anyway just in case of the remote possibility that somebody by turn up from posters and leafleting. Then whilst I was at the dentist having a tooth filled and feeling very sorry for myself a lady rang with a message to say she was coming with a friend. The friend turned out to be a lady I had worked with in the prison and with whom I had spoken to about faith issues a couple of years ago!
OK so there are only two new people on the course at the moment but to me it's confirmation of God's word to me that we can reap from seeds that have already been sown.
God bless
Carol
posted by Rehoboth at
3:31 PM
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