Hold on, Prepare for the Harvest

  Fall is here monsters, and it is time to bring in the harvest. Even if you have never planted a thing in your life you know that fall is the time of bringing in the crops. It is the season of preparing for winter, putting away our summer fashion and pulling on knits, jackets and drop dead gorgeous boots. Harvest season is an annual event, without fail we know fall is coming, we know that we have to prepare for winter, we know holidays are coming, we know that summer is officially over. 

  Seasons in nature are easy to tell, even in warm climates you experience the change in the air, the shortening of days, and the heaviness of the annual fall fashion issue of Vogue. The changing of the seasons are so universally known that it is no surprise that the Bible constantly refers to them. It likens our struggles, our hopes, our good times and bad to seasons. Periods of time that are passing, that may feel like forever but are in truth are fleeting. In the Between you may feel like you are in a season full of lack, of doubt, of waiting, of struggle, but just like the natural seasons, your spiritual season will not last long.  As you come to understand that God has a plan for you, that it was established before you were ever born you can learn to weather your season. 

  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tell us that there is a time for everything under the sun. everything has its time and place and therefore though it may feel like forever it too will pass, to make way for something else. 
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; "

    In our lives we will have both good times and bad, times of movement and change and times when we feel like nothing is happening at all. When you find yourself in the stagnant  season it is easy to give up, to feel bad about yourself and your life. It is easy to look at others and covet what they have or what they are doing. Don't give into this monster, it is just a season and it will pass. The season you are in is a growing opportunity, it is a time to prune away what no longer serves you, feed your spirit, water your faith and praise the Lord. Yup in the midst of what you may feel is a bad season, a season of drought, famine, hopelessness, don't forget to praise God. Psalms 1:3 "He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." reminds us that we are to stand, that our season of yielding fruit is coming. That no matter how harsh the weather may be, no matter what comes against us if we stand and praise him through it, when it passes we will be stronger for it. 

     God has planted a seed in you, you are a seed, you have planted your seeds of faith, you have only to outlast the current season to reap your harvest. A farmer knows that he has to wait for his seeds to sprout, to ripen, before he can harvest, he doesnt plant corn on Monday and reap it on Tuesday. He knows that it may be a dry season, that insects may attack his crop, that bad weather, floods, tornadoes, hail and a host of other things may happen. But a good farmer sows the seed anyway, in earth that he has prepared. He waits and he watches, he irrigates, he weeds, he safegaurds against pests, but mostly he waits, he has patience and faith that his crop will come in. He prepares himself for a harvest. 

     Monster, you are a farmer. You have sown with  faith, you have prayed for what you need/want, you have prepared the ground of your heart, you have watered it with the Word you have safeguarded it from the enemy you are weathering your season. You are preparing yourself for the harvest. So when harvesting season comes be prepared, in the meantime praise him for the season your in. 

Happy harvesting monster. 

Too Good to be True? No It's Better!

How is your life going monster? Is it good, is it better then you expected, Is it all you asked for? Is it phenomenally awesome and blessed?  Take a look. Remember that before you answer the question, you will have what you say you have. Take your time.

In our journey together we have discussed lots of things, your thought life, your prayer life, your social life, etc. I know you have been praying for some things and my prayers have gone up with yours. What have you been believing God for?  Are you waiting on the Lord, expecting Him to do what He has promised? Are you doing the work, preparing yourself for your blessings, working on your prayer life, reading the Word, doing the best you can do in your life as it is now? If you have monster I am sure you are starting to see the blessings flow into your life. You are experiencing breakthroughs. Things are moving faster and new life has been breathed into old bones.

In the midst of this movement you may start to have doubts, after all you have spent so much time praying for something, a job, a promotion, a change,  a child, a house, a relationship,  whatever. If you have been praying for it, expecting it, praising God for it, then monster, when it arrives don't let doubt creep in with it. God is a God of suddenly. Read your Bible. Whenever he moves it is Suddenly. In life when good things happen to us, when they are blessings from God they seem to good to be true. We are taught to be suspicious of things that come into our lives suddenly, of people who enter our lives with no drama, of jobs that open up with no warning, of opportunities that didn't exist yesterday. Suddenly they are there, they are for you, and they bring such joy and happiness. They are more than what you asked for, it might not be what you wanted, but it is everything you need, it is above and beyond anything you could have imagined for yourself. This is the nature of Blessings. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly  above all that we ask or think, Jeremiah 29:11 lets us know that God has a plan for us, to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future.

Knowing this how can you listen to the nay sayers who look at your blessings and tell you it is too good to be true. That there must be a catch, that you are fooling yourself. Don't listen to them monster. How big is your God? Is there any limit to what He can do in your life? He knew you before the foundations of the world were made, throughout His Word are constant reminders that if we keep His commandments He will bless you, Numbers 23:19 remind us that God is not a man that he should lie, or that He should change His mind. Take a look at the blessings flowing into your life, all good things come from God. Look at the people/person that God may have sent into your life, look at what they do, listen to how they speak. We know men by their fruit, anyone sent from God will have Godly fruit. They will add to your life, not detract. Same thing with material blessings, they will not bring you pain, grief, stress, etc.

Relax, monster, you have asked, you have believed, you have expected. Enjoy the blessings in your life, share your blessings and testimony with others and for all those that believe that it is too good to be true, pray for them so that one day they will know that if it is that good then it is from God.

What about your friends?

     Hey Monster, how has the fight against hate been going. I have been doing my part, and I will admit that is an uphill battle! It is so much easier to see and comment on the negative then it is to see and appreciate the positive.  We are going to switch it up a bit and talk about the people you have been keeping company with. The people that speak into your life, whether for your good or your ill. Take a good look at the people in your life, are they celebrating your life or are they some of your biggest haters?

    You may have noticed that along your journey you may have lost a few traveling companions. People you used to hear from on a regular basis drop out of sight. You find that the people that were drawn to you when you were at your lowest, or worst begin to disappear. You may even encounter that people you have know nearly your whole life, or at least for a large chunk of it, start to look at you strange. They are noticing the changes you are making in your life, they are seeing what God is doing and they really could care less. They look at your past, and want to keep you there. They laugh at the "new" you and try to discourage any positive growth. They want you to stay the way you were, you know the way they remember you. Here is what it looks like monster.

    You were always the girl with tons of drama, you partied, you drank, you were up for last minute trips anywhere. You had lots of guys, lots of heartbreak, lots of bad breaks. You could sit for hours talking about all your drama, and they could shake their heads and commiserate with you, while secretly enjoying your pain. Why? Because they could tell themselves, "at least I am not her".  The thing about getting over your past and moving forward is that sometimes people need to be left in the past as well. They will never see you as anything other then what you used to be. No matter how much you have changed, what you have learned or how far you have traveled you will always be the "old you" to them. 

Be careful of this monster. You will be tempted to live up to their low expectations. They will encourage you to revel in the bad behaviors of the Before, and they will rejoice in your backsliding. Or maybe you have made some new friends, maybe they remind you of the way you used to be. You think that you could be a good influence on them, after all you have come so far, you know so much. The danger of this is that you are new at this new life thing. They are more likely to draw you into their mess then you are to draw them out. 1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil companions corrupt good morals. 
Proverbs 24 is full of warnings about becoming friends with people who are evil, who speak deceitfully, who plot against others, who lie in wait for trouble, who are foolish. In other words it is like my grandma used to say birds of a feather flock together. Take a good hard look at the people in your life, is it time to let some of them go? You never stop loving them, praying for them , treating them with respect, but you should be careful about the time you spend with them, what secrets of the heart you entrust to them, and what influence you allow them to have in your life. 

Words are powerful and you have been working hard at controlling the words you use, the thoughts you harbor in your heart and what you speak into your life. Doesn't it make sense to limit the words and thoughts that others speak into your life, especially when they are not for your highest good? 
You have been doing such a good job cleaning out your life, getting rid of the junk, and filling your heart with the gifts of the spirit, now it is time to clean up your friendship roster. I wish you well in this monster and I pray that once they are gone God will send you the right people to share your life with.  In fact I know he will. He has already started filling my life with people who genuinely care for me, who celebrate with me, who speak truth and love into my life.  God is a God of relationship. He wants to have a relationship with you, and He wants you to have great relationships with others. 
Today, monster, I pray that for you. 

Hating.... A Global Epidemic

    Hey there monsters. I hope you have been celebrating. Celebrating yourself, and celebrating with others. I know it may seem difficult at first, but the more you share love and joy with others, the more you will experience love and joy in your own life. It is important, love. It is probably the greatest power in the universe, in fact the Word says that it is. (1Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.) 

   The world would have you believe that love is weak. that it is conditional, flaky, transient, untrustworthy, and something that can be earned and revoked. The world is not so good at loving, in fact it seems that the world's favorite pastime is hating. They don't call it hating, that would be too obvious. It is disguised as commentary, humor, blogging, criticizing, joking, laughing, tabloids and entertainment. We wait for people to mess up, to break up, to wear the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, etc. just so we can "discuss" them.  The word "haters" has entered our vocabulary seamlessly and has made itself at home in our daily lives. Go ahead and admit it monster, you have hated on somebody. Maybe you knew them personally, maybe you just watch them on t.v. but somewhere, sometime you have hated! Go ahead and admit it. I know you have, I have too. It doesn't seem so bad when its strangers, or people you really don't like, in fact you can fix it up and say your only talking about their behavior and not them. Fix it up anyway you want. Hating is hating. 

   Just so you know, everything you put out into the world will come back to you! Don't be surprised if someone is hating on you right now.  If you have been hated on you have probably posted some type of rebuttal on Facebook or Twitter, encouraging them to continue hating, to say what they want, it sounds good. It sounds like the right thing to do. We are supposed to accept that people hate us, it has become a badge of honor. It feeds our ego, it lets us know that in a world where people post their every thought and movement, someone, somewhere is envious of you. Shame monster, shame.  Take a look at what you say about people, about situations, about everything. What you say, becomes what you believe, what you believe you think on, what you think on takes up residence in your heart, and what is in your heart comes out of your mouth. "As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." proverbs 27:19 It is a  vicious cycle.  It is time to break it. 

   You cannot claim to love God, to love your neighbor and be a "hater". It is time to get control of your mouth. I said it! Put a muzzle on it! That's catchy maybe i will put it to music, make up a dance and win a VMA. Just kidding but I still mean it. It is time to think before you speak. Ephesians 4:29 tells us to not let corrupting talk come out of our mouths, Proverbs is full of wisdom about not speaking foolishly about others, the New Testament is overflowing with verses that teach us how to love and talk and treat each other. It is time to put all that teaching into practice. 

It starts with you, go from being a hater, to a lover. Speak kindness or remain silent. Don't join in the global epidemic of hate, be the cure.