HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Zachariah 10:1 – - Ask the Lord for rain In the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.
Colossians 3:17- And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT) - Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
We are blessed. We are blessed as Christians because of all that God has done for us.
We are blessed as Americans because we live with unprecedented abundance.
We are blessed because we have a God who loves us and who listens to and answers our prayers.
We live in a world that conditions us to be unhappy and unsatisfied.
We have a Savior and a Heavenly Father who has promised to supply all of our need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.
The truth is that we have so much abundance and blessing that we have become a people that take things for granted.
“To Take for Granted” is an expression that means to value something or someone too lightly, or to fail to appreciate something that should be valued.
~ Someone said - Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back, It colors everything dull and bland. It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless. You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”
There is a saying that tells us – “When the precious becomes common, it is soon to be lost”.
So much of what we once held precious has become so common that it has lost its value to us and instead of being thankful, we just expect it and stop appreciating what we have and have been given.
God’s will for us as His Children is that we are grateful and thankful for what He has done and for what others do for us and for all that we have.
What are things in your life that you consider precious? What are some things in your life that you are thankful for that would be easy for you to take for granted?
We have so much to be thankful for.
I don’t want to be the kind of person that takes things for granted.
The prophet Zachariah tells us that we need to ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain.
This seems quite odd when you think about it. Ask God for rain at the time that it is supposed to be raining.
The time of the latter rain is a normal repeating event that happens each time that this season comes around. The latter rain happens right before harvest time.
The prophet tells the people to give special attention to a thing that normally would receive no special attention.
Why? You see the farmer must plant the crop and tend to the crop and keep out the weeds and the pests. But only God can bring the rain. That is out of their control. They are trusting in the faithfulness and dependability of God to do what they can’t do for themselves.
The blessings of God are seasonal. They are poured out and then we get to enjoy them in all the other seasons because we have had a harvest because He sent the rain.
We love the excitement of the rain and the harvest but we can easily get discontented in the other seasons even though we are living in abundance because we have grown addicted to the new or the excitement of the rain.
Gratitude is the antidote to growing bored with the blessings of God.
God has promised that is we are obedient to His Word and to His ways that He will pour out so much blessing that we won’t have room to contain it.
Malachi 3:10 - Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
The NIV doesn’t say windows it says – “Floodgates”. God says that when we are obedient to His Word and Ways that we will go from not enough to Way more than enough.
We will now have the good problem of figuring out what to do with all of the blessings that He has given us.
The thing is if we are not careful, we will become so used to the more than enough that we don’t appreciate what we have.
The Prophet Zachariah is reminding us to never take anything for granted.
We are to pray about everything. Even the repeated reoccurring events in life.
Prayer is not just about the asking it is about the relationship we have with God. It is not taking Him or what He does for granted. It is taking the time to say thank you.
Do you view prayer as primarily asking or thanking God for things?
Prayer keeps us attuned, grateful for what we have, and it keeps us vigilant.
It is in the well-worn paths that the hunter lays a snare. It is in the commonly used trails where we become inattentive and unwatchful, making us vulnerable to attacks.
Prayer keeps us from being easily distracted or preoccupied.
Remember when you were first married, and your spouse had your full attention? Or you prayed for a car and house and now you have those things, and they seem like no big deal. Satan likes to trap us when we stop paying attention in areas of our life that have become familiar.
Prayer guards our heart from ungratefulness and selfishness.
It also helps us to stay in the peace of God. Have you ever noticed how sometimes we get anxious wondering if God will do for us again what He did in the past?”
Gratefulness drives the fear out of our lives. Satan always wants to steal our peace. That only happens when we stop thanking God for who He is.
Philippians 4:6-7 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
In our times of prayer, we are to thank God for who He is, for what He has done and for what He is going to do in response to prayer.
This Thanksgiving season is a great time to look at our lives and realize just how really good God has been to us. To recognize that we are living in abundance.
If you are going through a difficult season. It will be helpful to look back at all that God has already brought you through. My friend. He will do it again.
May the peace of God be yours in abundance. May your heart rest in the assurance that you matter to God and that He loves you.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your precious family.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by katerinavulcova from Pixabay
HCC Monthly Harvest Seed
Psalm 118:28-29 (NLT) - You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
I love Thanksgiving time. I love the food but even more I love the time with family.
I love the fact that people stop and take inventory of the goodness of God in their lives.
At this time of the year when we are especially reminded to stop and think about what we are thankful, grateful, and appreciative for, it would be good for us to consider whether we have been thankful, grateful, and appreciative all year round!
Even if we’ve been through hard times, those times could have been even harder, and we can think of much to be thankful, grateful, and appreciative for right now, while we’re still going through our difficult time or struggle.
The Bible commands us be thankful” and “in everything, give thanks.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(AMP) - In every situation [no matter what the circumstances] be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
Even if things seem to be going wrong all around us, we can still stop to count our blessings! We may be in need at the present moment, but the fact is, we each have many reasons to be thankful!
All three words — “thankfulness,” “gratitude,” and “appreciation” — are the expressions of a person who is thankful he has experienced some good event or blessing.
They depict someone who is grateful toward the person or people who treated him kindly and is appreciative of what has happened. These words also communicate the recognition of his thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation of his many blessings.
Thankfulness and Gratitude are not an attitude they are a condition of the heart.
The Bible tells us that Goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.
I love that song… I will Sing of the Goodness of God. If we are going to sing someone’s praises it should be God’s. He has been so good to us.
Goodness of God
I love you, Lord
For your mercy never fails me
All my days, I've been held in your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
All my life you have been faithful
All my life you have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God
I love your voice
You have led me through the fire
In the darkest night
You are close like no other
I've known you 79 as a Father
I've known you as a Friend
I have lived in the goodness of God
Your goodness is running after
It's running after me
Your goodness is running after
It's running after me
With my life laid down
I'm surrendered now
I give you everything
'Cause our goodness is running after
It's running after me
I think there is a profound reason why this song has resonated within the body of Christ. God has been faithful, kind and good to us. Truth be told- better than we deserve.
I love the line – All my life you have been faithful, All my life you have been so, so Good. – David Said – “I was young and now I am old yet I have NEVER seen the righteous forsaken or their seed begging for bread.” Now that I am in my 50’s I can say the same thing.
Psalm 34:3-9 - Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you, His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. (NLT) for those who fear him will have all they need.
Those who know the Lord have tasted and seen that He is good.
I love how David lists the ways that the goodness of God has impacted his life. He says this is how God will bless all of those who have trusted Him.
I was looking at these verses and I was struck with how intertwined thankfulness is with trust.
Have you ever noticed that the people you are thankful for the most are the people that you trust the most? – This goes deep to the heart and often results in us praising those we trust.
Your wife, husband, children a true friend and of course our God.
Every blessing that we have comes from God.
He gave them to us.
The only way people or God know that we are grateful is if we tell them.
It is one thing to be thankful internally, it is a completely better thing to give thanks and tell someone.
To give thanks means that you don’t keep that gratitude to yourself.
Thanksgiving involves expression and intention.
Grateful people linger over life’s blessings.
The English word thank shares the same root as think.
Thankfulness is intimately connected to thoughtfulness.
We can’t be grateful without being mindful of the many benefits we enjoy in life and conscious of the rich blessings we have been given. Grateful people take time to rejoice, which literally means to experience repeated joy through the remembrance of the grace and goodness one has received.
We are blessed. It is important to count our blessings. The truth is that we have so many blessings that the prophet Ezekiel called them Showers of Blessing.
Ezekiel 34:26 -I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.
(AMP) I will make them and the places around My hill (Jerusalem, Zion) a blessing. And I will make showers come down in their season; there will be [abundant] showers of blessing (divine favor).
When God blesses, it is not just a trickle. Not a light drizzle but showers. There are many types of blessings He gives us.
This list is not in order, but if it were this would be the top. Salvation, deliverance, heaven forever, Jesus as our King, the abiding Holy Spirit, and the Father, the Source of all blessings. Every comfort, help and wisdom of the Spirit of God. All we can call these are "spiritual riches” for which we should never stop giving God glory.
The ability to walk, breathe, talk, lift, and a thousand other normal motions and actions is fantastic. We could be impaired in hundreds of different ways but God has given us strength, life, and vitality.
Don’t lose sight of all that you have and are for what you want and are not.
God has given me my wife for 34 years. I have three amazing children. I have grandchildren. I come from a great family.
Cars, clothes, food, furniture, beds, and literally hundreds of labor-saving devices (like the computer I am typing this on). I marvel at times at how much “stuff” we have accumulated and we have so many material blessings sometimes we get annoyed at how much we have. Millions of people worldwide have not a drop of clean water or a comfortable piece of clothing.
God has blessed us with many church family and friends.
Philippians 1:3-5 - I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
Think about the people that God has brought into your life to be a blessing. Stop thinking about the ones that get under your skin and thank God for the ones that are a blessing to your life.
We should take a moment to think through the blessings in our life. Take inventory on what God has blessed you with and go into your life with a new perspective. Let’s give thanks.
God is doing a work in His people. It seems like the default setting in our culture is to find something to complain about. What sets the people of God apart from everyone else is that we are truly grateful for all that God has done and for the people that He has placed in our lives.
We find reasons to be grateful, thankful and appreciative.
I thank God for you. May you find yourself rejoicing in all that God has and all that He has done for you. May we all find ourselves living in contentment, peace and joy.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Harvest.
Remember that YOU are loved and appreciated.
Pastor Marvin & Dawn
Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay