A prayer devotional...Bible reading week 38, day 1

Today is another in between devotional and we will be onto Zechariah chapter 11 on Wednesday.  Today lets look again at prayer.

What could we pray about today?  Let's pray about God's harvest.  Let's read or listen to these verses.  Hosea 10:12 and 13 says,

"Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap fruitful love; break up your unplowed ground.  It is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.  You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies.  Because you have trusted in your own way and in your large numbers of soldiers,"

We see that we need to make sure that we are seeking after God's harvest and not our own.  When we seek our own harvest, God's ground goes unplowed.  Neighbors don't get greeted.  New kids in school get ignored.  Visitors to church stay visitors for a long time.  If this is happening then we need to repent because we have opted to do things our way inside of God's way.

Isaiah 61:11 says,

"For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations."

What our world needs to see and hear is our acknowledgement and living out of God's righteousness and vocal praise of Him.  This message needs to go around the world because God's harvest includes those of every tribe and nation.  Just as the earth produces growth and the well tended garden brings forth a harvest, so should us Christians who are growing in the Lord and tending our lives with the spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, service, and the study of God's word. 

1 John 1:9 and 10 says,

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say, 'We have not sinned,' we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

If we are to be forgiven and if we are to be cleansed then we need to confess our sins.  We need to be humble and bow rather than be proud and stand to make excuses.  We need to acknowledge before God that we have been plowing up our own ground while His ground is going unplowed.  Have you and I been calling God a liar?  Have you and I been quoting His words but not living them and therefore His word is really not "in" us, a true part of us?

And finally Matthew 9:35 through 38 says,

Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness.  When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.  Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

What is our Lord doing?  He is teaching.  He is preaching.  He is caring for others.  He is seeing the crowds.  He is assessing what is wrong.  He is bringing them the solution, a Shepherd, a Savior.  He states to us that the harvest of souls to hell is large and therefore we should pray to Him for more workers to bring in His harvest of those going to heaven.  Is this a part of your prayers?  Do you look out and see those around you as Jesus seems them?  Is your heart stirred that they would know of the Shepherd that you know?  If not, then confession is in order and repenting because there are some weeds in the garden God has given you to tend.  It has become your garden instead of His garden.  Let us pray.

"Lord, break up the fallow ground of my heart to produce fruit for Your Kingdom.  I confess and ask You to root out of my heart bitterness, unforgiveness, hardness, hurt, pain, anger, unbelief, distrust, every unfruitful battle wound and doubt and replace it with a new heart.  Father, may the seeds of faith and righteousness that You have planted bear fruit in my life for the benefit of others and to Your glory.  I will count as joy this season of testing, trials and tribulation because You have helped me to grow in wisdom, humility and courage.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

Pastor Adam