Harvest Time Ministries

Pearls of Great Price

Linda — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:15:30 +0000

Matthew 13:45-46 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls. who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.
There are many differnt kinds of pearls- freshwater pearls, cultured pearls, Tatitan pearls, black pearls, and the list goes on and on.
Just as there are different kinds of pearls- God is His wisdom made us all different. We have different looks, different personalities, shapes and sizes, and different callings on our lives. No two people are the same. But in the eyes of God we are all valuable. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
God never looks at us as one being more valuable than the other. We are all unique in our own way. There is only one YOU!!
We were all bought with a price. The precious Blood of Jesus. We are all pearls of great price.
All of us have life stories, some are not so pretty. Everyone of us at one time was in an ocean of despair. Lots of hurts, disappointments and scars from the past. Thats why Jesus (the merchant man) came. He left everything He had in heaven and came to this earth to purchase us back. He seen great value and worth in us.
One pearl by itself is valuable, but think about a strand of pearls—-priceless. Thats the way the Body of Christ is. By ourselves we have the ability to stand firm and be a conqueror, but how much stronger are we when we are strand together with each other.
Ecc. 4:12 And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two with withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
I like to think of the clasp as being the Holy Spirit. He hooks us together. He brings people together for His will and purposes to be fulfilled.
I love this scripture in Malachi 3:16-17, They they that feared (reverenced) the Lord spoke often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrances was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of host, in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
We are one of God’s treasures.
God sees us valuable and precious, but how do we see ourselves? Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Do you see yourself defeated in life? Do you let the opinions of others about you influence the way you feel about yourself? Maybe you are always trying to be accepted so you do things to get approval of man, while displeasing God.
Make the choice today to see yourself the way God sees you. You have already been approved by God. You have been accepted in the Beloved.
“YOU ARE A PEARL OF GREAT PRICE”

Overcoming in Life

Linda — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:11:55 +0000

All of us from time to time experience things that can be very painful. We can use these times to either get bitter or better.
As a child of God we are equipped with everything to make us an overcomer, God told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.” My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness”. When we are at our weakest, God’s power is at the greatest.
I’d like to share with you in this article how to overcome rejection, because rejection hurts.
Have you ever wanted to be a part of somethng or have a part in someones life, only to be overlooked or totally be ignored. Could be that you have been rejected because of what you believe.
Rejection can wound the soul of man. The soul being the mind, will and emotions. Left unattended it can destroy you. Rejection can literally consume your thinking, if you allow it to.
Life can be stressful. We can say we understand someone’s hurt, but there is no way to understand unless you have walked in those shoes.
One of the rudest awakenings one can have is, ” not everyone loves you”
Imagine that.
Rejection stems from jealousy, envy, selfishness,pride and a lack of self confidence.
These areas in a persons life keeps them from accepting who they are and so they find it difficult to accept others for who they are. So the way to deal with these issues is to simply pull away.
You know the old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind”
So what do you do if this happens to you? The decision you make will cause you to either be a victor or a victim.
Our example is the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 53: 3 He was despised and rejected and forsaken of man.
Some of the very people who walked with the Lord, turned their backs and forsook HIM. Yet He still went to the cross, suffering the pain of being rejected. But because of His love He looked beyond the cross and saw our need.
This happens in life all the time. People who once played an important role in your life will walk away and out of your life, not caring how they are hurting you.
So do you sit down and give up? By no means. You can’t lose unless you quit. Be determined to be an overcomer. When all is said and done we will each stand before God and give an answer to what we did with Jesus. There will be no excuses and no winners in the blame game.
When you have a revelation of “Christ in you.”strength will come to face each day. Get an understanding that God loves you just as much as he love anyone else and what He does for one He will do for you. Remember who your enemy is. Satan wants to steal your joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Neh. 8:10
God made all of us unique and we should learn to adapt to one another.
If you want to win over the spirit of rejection you must first ask God to show you if you are doing something that could cause others to reject you.
1. If so, ask for forgiveness from God and then from others if necessary. (Do your part, so you can be free inside)
2. Know that you have been accepted in the Beloved. He accepted us long before we accepted HIM. He accepts us just as we are. Ephesians 1:6
3. Don’t let anyone stop you from fulfilling the plan of God for your life. Jerm 29:11
3. Comfort someone in their pain. We have been given that ministry. II Corinthians 1:4.

You will either deal with rejection or you will become a carrier of it. Its a spirit that will dog your trail. Hurting people hurt people.

Jesus bore the hurts of all mankind on the cross and what He bore we don’t have to bear. Its by faith that we release those that have rejected us and make the choice to walk free in Jesus’ Name.

A Place called REST

Linda — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:05:20 +0000

Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, “Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burdens are light. The Amplified Bible says, “ I will ease, relieve and refresh your soul”
The Webster Dictionary defines rest as , a period of inactivity, relief from anything distressing or tiring, to be at ease or at peace. American Dictionary of the English Language says rest is to cease from action or motion of any kind. To cease from labor, work, or performance. To be quite or still; to be undisturbed.

In this article I want to be honest and open because I believe so many diseases come from people being dis-eased. God’s children are walking time bombs because of the pressures that others have put on them or things they put on themselves. We see a need and we try to fulfill it. God is not moved by needs, if He was there would be no starving children and no homeless people. He moves on faith.

Broken relationships will destroy you if you allow them to. As hard on the flesh that it is, there are situations you can’t fix, so you have to let go and let God take care of it. God has called all of us to a ministry of reconciliation, but there are people who don’t want to be a part of this ministry. It takes both parties to reconcile. Do your part, then trust God to do what only He can do. Cease from your labor. I heard a minister say once and its worth repeating. “Never expect anything out of others and you will never be disappointed. “ Only put your faith in God.

Over the last few months I have asked myself, “Why am I doing what I am doing” You could call it a self examination. A check up on the motives of my heart. Is this the will of God, or is my will? Are the things I am doing for the Lord a burden or a blessing to my life. Do I feel so much pressure to do something for God that I put myself under a burden of weights. Jesus said in John 10:10, Amplified Bible, “ I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, til it overflows.)
The question we should all ask ourselves, “Am I enjoying my life?” Jesus gave His life, so that we could enjoy our life.

I have heard people say,” God showed me that we should be doing this or that”. My answer is: if God showed you and He didn’t show me, then He must be talking to you.

Pressures come from well intended people. But sometimes we take on more responsibilities than we should and then we are running on overload. We can so easily become like Martha, and we are not doing the main thing like Mary chose. That was to sit at the feet of the Lord. A time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord. A time to be eased, relieved and be refreshed in our souls.
Life in general can put pressures on us. Test and trials come to steal your joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Nehemiah 8:10. No joy, no strength. Ministers of the gospel are so weighted down from carrying the cares of the church or just doing ministry that it affects their physical well being. Lots of sick ministers preaching healing and they can’t even fight off a cold. Sad to say we can get caught up doing things that God never said to do and we open the door for the enemy to attack our bodies.

I know from first hand experience that when God calls you to do a particular thing, His anointing is on it. He gives you the grace to walk in it. Because its His ability in you to do what you can’t do for yourself. You flow with it and it is no struggle. You recognize without HIM you could not be doing what you are doing. You are not trying to make it happen, its just happening. You stand in awe of HIM. It is a humbling experience to know the Creator of heaven and earth choose you to do something for Him.
I am not saying there will not be opportunities to confront us, but when God calls us to do a certain thing, He will equip us with whatever we need to finish the task. When God’s hand is on something, no devil in hell can stop it. Remember its all about HIM, not us.
Hebrews 4:9 There remains a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own work, as God did from His. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same examples of unbelief.

When we are not resting in God we are in unbelief. Faith is a rest to the people of God.
Hebrew 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
There is a difference between weights and sins. If it wasn’t, it would have all been grouped together.
Weights are pressures and burdens, something heavy on us. Sin is to know to do good and not do it. Missing of the mark. Jesus never told us to be weighed down and to carry our own burdens. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and sheep are not made to carry heavy loads.
There are things we do that are not bad but we add them to ourselves and they steal our time, our joy and it feels like a heavy burden on our backs. One of those things that we ask ourselves, “how am I going to get all this done? “ Sad thing about this is that God never told us to do certain things, so we end up struggling to get it done.

Life is too short and we only have one life on this earth before we step into eternity. What good are we to anyone if we are broken down and worn out?

I believe the Lord wants us to find our place so we can walk in HIS grace. Take a look at all the things you are trying to accomplish and ask the Lord to show you what His plan is. Too many times we get caught up making the plans and ask HIM to bless it. If its HIS plan, it will be blessed.

Spending time praying in the Spirit will bring to pass God’s perfect will. The enemy will steal that from us so that we continue to be busying ourselves with good deeds of the flesh (works) and we end up in God’s permissive will and miss His perfect will. Romans 12:2
Jesus was sent here to fulfill a mission. He knew the importance of spending time with His Father. He said, “I only do what the Father says to do and I only say what the Father says to say.” John 8:28-38
He received His instructions for each day in a place called REST.

I encourage every reader to take time to visit this place. There you will find peace and joy. And you will find answers waiting in His presence. Your flesh will not want to be still—but make a decision that this is most important thing you could be doing.

And to help you get things finished, HE will give you back the time spent with HIM.

Revival of Love Part 3

Linda — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:56:28 +0000

What is the God kind of Love:

I Corinthians clearly shows us the way love acts.
Reading from the Amplified Bible. “Though I can speak in the tongues of men and even of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such )as is inspired by God’s love for and in us, I am only a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal.And if I have all prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose) and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have (sufficent faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
Even if I dole out all that I have (to the poor in providing food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.
Love endures long and is patient and kind, love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughty.
It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride) it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act act unbecomingly) Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or on its own way, for it is not self-seeking and is not touchy or fretful or resenting, it takes no account of an evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong).
It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail)
Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, it is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hope are fadeless under all circumstances, and endures everything without weakening.
Love never fails, never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.

If we really desire to see the power of God show up as it did in the Book of Acts, each of us need to judge ourselves in light of these scriptures. Revival starts in each of us individually. So many times the members of the Body of Christ will pray for a change in other people. But in reality it begins when we make the decision to look within ourselves and ask God to change us. Many years ago I heard a minister say that God told her, ”We judge others with a magnifing glass and we look at our selves through rose colored glasses”. No truer statement could have been made.
When the Body of Christ gets a revelation of just how much God loves us, then we will stop fighting one another and turn our weapons on the enemy of our faith.
As we unite together, we become stronger. One will put a thousand to flight and two ten thousand. What an army we could become for the Kingdom of God.
When satan attacks, we would all rise up against him. Instead of killing our wounded with words and actions, we would be ready to go the extra mile to help where help is needed. We would all become a Rapid Response Team.
We would take it to heart, when one member suffers, we all suffer. When one member rejoices, we all rejoice.
I pray that as you read all these articles on a Revival of Love, that your heart will be stirred to take action in your own life and do your part to bring about healing, wholeness and restoration to the world you touch. In Jesus’ Name.

Choices

Linda — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:45:52 +0000

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses: therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.
We can see from this scripture that the choices we make not only affect our lives, but affect our children. When bringing up children it is so important to show the character of God and set good examples before them. They will follow in our footsteps, because they are imitators.
Throughout life we all are faced with decisions that will lead the course of our lives. Could be as to what career we want to pursue, the friends we choose, what college to attend, even the church we want to be involved in. Then there are the everyday choices such as how we treat people, to say something negative about someone or to keep silent. Choosing to forgive when someone has treated you badly. Reaching out to someone at the risk of being rejected. Sometimes self wants to be selfish, when the Word says to prefer others over ourselves. Choices will always be there for us to make.

God did not make mankind a robot. He gave Adam a free will. Even though Eve partook of the tree of good and evil, Adam was faced with a choice. As we know he made the wrong choice. A choice that affected generation after generation.
Is it any different today? People are still making wrong choices that has a tickled down affect. They live their lives never taking into account how their choices are affecting others. When we choose to do things our way and not the Lord’s way it can have an effect of everyone in our “circle or our world”.
God gave us a conscience, which is the voice of the spirit. When a person continues to go against their conscience they become dull of hearing. They will accept right for wrong and wrong for right and after a period of time the choices they make will go entirely against the Word of God and they will not recongize their blindness. Thats the importance of keeping ourselves in a position where our hearts are tender toward the things of God.

Matthew 6:33 Amplified Bible,”Seek first the kingdom of God (God’s way of doing and being right) and all these things shall be added to you.” We are to put God’s way first, His wisdom (His Word) takes priority. That means even when our minds gives us all kind of excuses, we choose to do the right thing just because its the right thing to do.
My decision (choices) should be to please the Father God. People are always watching us especially if we say we are a Christian. They watch to see how we will handle situations. Sad to say many people want to see us fall. But I found a scripture in Micah 7:8 that says, “when I fall, I shall arise“– thats my choice. I can let what others say or do determine my destiny or I can arise and go forth in the Name of the Lord of Host. When I choose to go with God, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper and every tongue that rises against me in judgement shall be condemned“. Is. 54:17 I have to choose to believe God is my justifier.
Satan wants us to give up and give in and go with the flow. Sometimes that would be much easier than taking a stand. But then it comes back to whose side am I on? Whose servant am I?

The choices we make can have a lasting effect on those around us. Everyone at one time in their lives have made wrong choices. But praise God we don’t have to continue on that path. Its our choice. Choose LIFE !!