A MEDITATION ON EASTER

Around Christmas time I shared some thoughts on Christ not being a baby and now as we draw closer to what many call the Easter season I would like to share some thoughts on this topic. First, the word we use to express the great victory of Christ, “Easter” is found once in the KJV of the Bible and has nothing to do with the Gospel; the death, the burial, and (our blessed hope of glory) the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The word, “Easter” is found in Acts and is talking about Peter, “And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” (Acts 12:4) and is translated from the Greek as Passover, again it has nothing to do with the Gospel message. I am not going to go into all of the pagan rituals and religious traditional practices that surround the historical myth of Easter my intent is to lift up the name of Jesus. But, my friend we have “truly” (taking something from the physical realm and projecting it into the spiritual realm) drifted so far from the true meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the great price He paid for my sin and your sin. We have insulted God’s supreme act of giving His only begotten Son and the truth for an emotional swell during the holiday season, to increase church attendance, and to spread ones denominational message under the guise of sharing the Gospel. We do so much in church that displeases God and cover it up by saying we are sharing the Gospel. God please forgive us. God does not need special services that effect our emotions and feelings to share the Gospel message. God needs dedicated and consistent children to follow Him and His basic plan.

A few years ago I heard a statement from a pastor (of a church we once attended) that just shook me to my knees. He said after Jesus was arrested and crucified the light of the world went out. How my spirit quivered within me. How my stomach churned and ached for this fellow’s words were not true, but was in keeping with the emotional Easter tradition. At no point in time has Jesus not been the light of the world. My friend even when Jesus obediently and willfully laid His life down, He was still in control; of all Heaven, earth, hell, and will always be the light of the world. His light will never go out. Death could not hold Him, the grave could not hold Him, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57) Because this is true about Jesus we too can say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Let us not be led by our emotions and plans to practice an Easter season, but be led by the Holy Spirit to know and understand the true message of the Gospel. This my friend is the message that will change your life forever.

At the Passover Supper (before He went out into the garden) Jesus knew the garden experience was there and He knew that the cross, death, the grave, and hell was waiting Him. Yet Jesus went out with a song in His heart, “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:29) How could He do that? He could sing because He had the victory already in His heart. The victory and trust He had in His Father to carry Him through the garden, onto the cross, and into and out of the grave. He knew His Father would never leave Him nor forsake Him. The victory was first won as the Father pressed out the life and will of Jesus at Gethsemane (which means where oil is pressed), “Then saith he unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:38-39) Knowing what was before Him Jesus could still break bread with His disciples, “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.” (Matthew 26:26) Knowing what was ahead for Him Jesus could still give thanks, “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28) He could only do this because it was the most sublime manifestation of faith ever expressed. We think He had faith when He restored sight to the blind, strengthened limbs, and raised the dead. Yes that was wonderful, but we must see the spiritual side of things. We must see the necessity of faith in the realm of the Spirit, not in the flesh (like the Easter myth), but the realm of the Spirit where we have the faith to dare to believe like Jesus. It is Jesus’ victorious life which leads up to His victorious death and that is what presents Him as the Lamb without spot and blemish. When seen on the Mount of Transfiguration, He is a Lamb without spot or blemish, but it is a Lamb that has been slain! We are not saved by His life we are saved by His death. His life is exemplary it is beautiful, but He did not come to display great character and to do miracles, He came to die for us. The way of life is through a region of death and unless we partake of His death we shall never reign with Him. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:” (Romans 6:3-5) The truth of the season is a bitter sweet message of death so that we may live. It is not about new clothing, many church activities, special foods, and musical programs to get people to come to church, but it is about us loving God enough to be willing (like Jesus) to fall into the ground and die, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24) And, to love God’s word enough in simplicity to share it without fanfare and emotional ceremony knowing the Holy Spirit will do His work in lives. Then too we will be able to say we have before the throne (our heart) of God today a victorious risen Lord. Let us keep the love feast of Jesus’ sacrifice. Let us honor Him and His work in us and for those who we are to lead to the cross for His glory. Let not this season be a myth or holiday, but an invitation to life, the life of God. Written by David Stahl

THE EXPRESSIONS OF GIVING

As I walk with the Lord and the longer I go with Him the more I see a paradoxical (a statement that seems to contradict itself or seems false, but may be true in fact) truth. Nowhere is this paradox seen then in our giving. On one hand there is the selfish, self-centered, and greedy giving where the giver expects to receive “giving to get” and then there is the other hand where the giver gives so that others may receive. You can always tell which type of giver you are dealing with when they quote their favorite Scripture to support their giving and it also often speaks of the spiritual maturity (if you can discern) of the Christian you are talking with. In Luke Jesus’ words can serve as an example of a greedy giver. Here Dr. Luke shares some words that selfish Christians most often use to express their motives and desires, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Luke 6:37-38) Now what Jesus was saying is an eternal truth, but when we use His words to justify our (that is a plural pronoun which includes me) selfish, carnal nature and ways for getting something for giving or not getting something that we deserve (judgment and condemned) then we have missed the truth of the Scriptures. The selfish giver manipulates Jesus’ words (missing the true meaning) to express, “I do not want to be judged (even though I am guilty and I know it), I do not want to be condemned (even though I am guilty and I know it, but I do not want to be held accountable), I always want to be forgiven if I make a mistake (and I know it), and I always give to God so He will give me back more than what I gave.” One of the greatest signs of spiritual maturity in our lives no matter the depth of our education (even our Christian education) or ability to minister the word of God is when we can receive judgment and correction from others and then incorporate their verdict into our lives. I will be honest I do not like it when someone says, “Dave have you considered this, or that, or you know what you said maybe is not be right. And if they really want to get me going all they have to do is mention my character. Did you know God is more concerned about our character than about how long we can speak in tongues, how much money we give to the church, or more than all the things we do for Him in service? Remember the greatest objective of the spiritual leader is not service, but obedience to the Master.

In John we discover another type of giving from the story of the Samarian lady’s encounter with Jesus at the well. Funny, how we are always changed for the better when we truly have an encounter with Jesus. Here we read, “Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:9-14) Here the giving (by Jesus the giver) is not for the benefit of the giver as in Luke 6:38 above, but for the benefit of someone else. This is a more correct model of giving where we give so that others may receive. We give so that others may be able to come closer to God and come to the “living waters” where the waters will be “springing up into everlasting life” for us. Here a more mature Christian would quote verses like these because they are concerned not about themselves, but about others receiving. What a wonderful place in God when we can come to the place where we would rather see our brothers and sisters get blessed ahead of us. This was one of the many problems the Church at Corinth had during communion. Paul told them, “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. 21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.” (1 Corinthians 11:20-22) In other words Paul was saying they did not wait or prefer (allowing someone to go ahead) each other they were concerned about themselves first receiving the blessing. He was saying they were not eating the Lord’s supper they were eating their own supper while other were hungry. What scathing words from Paul. Our motives and intention in giving must always be done not thinking of ourselves and the reward or benefit we shall receive, but on the impact of the person who will be receiving. Giving must never be done blindly or quickly, but with a Godly purpose in mind. When I think of this point I always think of the day in the City of Bosque in the Islamic Republic of the Mauritania. While sitting in the back seat of the U.S. Embassy’s Suburban I caused a young boy to be beaten almost to death by giving him $5 and asking him to share it with his friends; well his friends saw the money and thrashed him soundly and anyone else who recovered the $5. The money was passed hand-to-hand and with the money came the beating. What a riot we had to leave quickly before the folks in the town attacked us. As we were driving away in safety our translator said it will be months, maybe years, before we could return to Bosque. I really messed things up. My heart was in the right place, but my giving was not done with wisdom and when this happens the purpose is lost. Often in giving it is important not to let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.

A third type of giving is where we give not of our resources (money, time, talents), but of our self. This is the greatest of the three types of giving mentioned thus far. God is always after us giving all of ourselves so that we have nothing left to give; where we give beyond our resources, abilities, and this is always seen especially when we give to someone who cannot give back to us. It is easy to give to someone who someday can repay us, but how about someone who can never repay us? How can we do this? When we allow God to empty us. I hear many Christians say (even hear some pray) God come and fill me. There is even a Vineyard Song that says, “come and fill me now,” well that is not the way God operates. God does not just come and fill us because we want Him to oh no, God comes at His sweet time and fills us when we first allow Him to empty us. The condition to be filled by God is first to allow God to empty us of the world and our self. The more we allow God to empty us of these things, the more we can be filled with His nature and Spirit, no more no less. This is a willful process in our lives God is looking for. God will never be able to make us the type of giver He is looking for unless He first can get us to empty ourselves of our greedy selfishness and the love for worldly ways and ideas. God’s expression of giving is then seen in our obedience and dedication not only to God, but to man. We think when we give of our resources or self to man that is the end of the giving, but not so my friend every time we give even a drink of water to a friend or especially our enemies God notices. When I think of giving beyond one’s ability and giving to the end of their self I always think of my dear “Sweet Heart” Karen. When I retired in 2000 we were still living in Germany and to be able to stay in the American military system either Karen or I had to get a Federal job, if not we could not use the U.S. Post Office, we could not shop at the Military Post Exchange, we could not shop for food at the commissary (without paying high German taxes), and worst of all for our household Connie and Joshua could not go to the American High School they were attending for years unless we paid $1,200 per month per child. Well, spending $2,400 a month was totally out of the question. I was working at the High School as a Substitute Teacher (not a Federal job), with a German speaking company called KMP teaching business English and management, traveling in ministry, and pastoring the church, so it was up to Karen to get the Federal job. Now Karen had not worked outside the home for over 20 years, this was not going to be an easy thing for her to do nor would this be an easy thing on our family dynamics. Well, Karen inquired around the base and found out the only Federal job she was qualified for was working at the dining facility (chow hall) on base as a food service worker. What a prestigious job scrubbing floors, cleaned mountains of pots and pan, cleaned the serving line, cut potatoes, scraped food off of trays into big garbage cans, and anything that needed to be done. One day she was a big important officer’s wife and the next day she was the nice kind lady that took your food tray and said, “have a great day.” I could go on and on, but you would not be able to understand what it cost my wife, how she allowed God to empty her and how her sacrifice ensured education for our kids and a way of life we were accustomed. You would never be able to understand what I am saying unless, like Karen, you too endured the whispers, jeers, and snide comments of her one time friends. You will never know what I am talking about unless you too have been emptied by God to the end of yourself so that others can benefit, even enjoy your sacrifice. How could I not love her?

Lastly when God invest things in us especially Spiritual things we are not to spend them on ourselves. God does not give to us dead ended, oh no my friend. When God gives us things He expects us to give a portion of whatever He gave us away. If God gives us $100, He expects, it is His intention in the giving to us that we give some of that $100 away. God NEVER gives to us so that we can spend it all on our selves. If you do this my friend you are a greedy and selfish person. God always gives enough to us so that we can give something away. No matter the amount God gives to us He expects a portion of what He gave us to be given away. The portion that is given away is what God is after in our lives. He gives us $100 and He is looking for our obedience to Him in what to give. God may say give $10 away or He might say give $100 away, the amount does not matter (it was given to us by God), but what does matters is are we going to be obedient to God and give what He asked so He can invest more money? Most Christians who lack spiritual and earthly things is because God cannot trust them to give them away. The condition to receive from God is to be able to give away what God has already given you. Funny how we are willing to give God our lives and heart, but when God asks for our wallet we feign deafness. Charles Haun always said, “once God gets a hold of our wallets He has all of us” how true. “For God so loved the world He gave” this is why giving is at the heart of the Gospel. If God cannot make you a giver then He cannot use you my friend you will disqualify yourself for service. Written by David Stahl

THE HARVEST

Recently I have been emailing a wonderful pastor friend from Suceava, Romania who has been going through some very tough corrective surgery on his legs and hips. Over the last 13 years he has opened his Bible school, his home, and heart to me. After the surgeries he has a lot of down time and not being able to put weight on his legs he has plenty of time to put together (writing down what God has done for us and sharing it with people is the very best thing we can do for God) some lessons for the Bible school. God is good at getting us in some positions to where we can do some quality work. Well, he emailed me and asked if I could buy him some VCDs of a certain Bible teacher in the States. A certain church in Colorado use to provide them, but now no more. How could I say no; for years he has opened the Bible school he is responsible for, opened his home, opened his heart to me, and I know of his character and dedication. I asked what happened to the church who use to provide the VCDs and he said a new pastor has come in now and they have not heard from the church in over a year. I thought to myself what was the churches’ (in the past) motive in relationship with the church in Romania? And how could they just break off fellowship without a simple letter, email, or phone call? But then I remembered one of the first things a new pastor must do (if they want to take charge) is consolidate power in the church or he (she in some cases) will have to put out forest fires from the old pastor. And one of the fastest ways of doing this is making a clean sweep of mission’s support and ministry programs. Sad how political churches in America have become, but make no mistake overseas mission programs in churches bring in big bucks for the local church and for the big denominational churches huge dollars so that they can pick and choose who gets and who does not get the money, almost like a reward and punishment scenario. One of the main message projections of churches today in America is “go therefore making disciples of all nations” and to do this my friend it takes a lot of energy, time, and money, especially a lot of money. Now please do not misunderstand me here my friend I too believe in traveling abroad to share this wondrous Gospel message, but over the last 15 years God has worked much zeal out of me and now He can work some wisdom and understanding in me. For ministry to be Godly it must be God focused, but sadly we see money and influence on both ends of the spectrum can often becomes the focal point. From the local church or denomination (not only in the States) they can unite people behind a cause (please be careful in God when people in church gather for an earthly cause), attract people to their church, and collect money to go save the heathens around the world. And sadly (I have seen this from both side) the folks on the other end are friendly and give invitation only because they can get money from folks to push their agenda and plans, make international connections (very important in some circles) to be able to come to the States (or elsewhere), or invite pastors and teachers to come and hold big conferences and seminars. The bigger the conference, seminar, and name invited the bigger the registration fee can be requested. It is no accident the big TV Christian evangelists, pastors, and teachers have their mega conferences and seminars at big resorts in Florida, California, and Texas where they get discounts and kick backs, sadly it has become a business. In all of our years of traveling abroad I have never charged one red cent to come and minister, as a matter of fact we have always either totally funded the BHG conference or seminar or paid a significant portion, but not so with most evangelists, pastors, and teachers that travel abroad. I have a very special pastor friend in Poland that told me (with tears in his eyes) that the Pentecostal Church in Poland wanted to invite a certain famous TV evangelist (my friend was being gracious, but I believe he was talking about Benny Hinn because of similar stories I have heard and after following him in many countries) for three to four days to come and minister. My good friend and a team of others traveled to another country and waited for three days to be able to talk with this TV evangelist’s handlers. After waiting three days on a string to have a quick meeting they were told this TV evangelist charges $250,000 and the host churches will have to provide all transportation, a communication capability, hotel rooms at a really nice hotel, and all logistics. They returned home shocked and contacted their superiors. Two week later my friend called the TV evangelist and told them all they could get was $75,000 and could with great troubles provide the other requirements. He was told they would be in touch. About one week later my friend was called and told the $75,000 was below the work of God in the TV evangelist’s life so he could not come to Poland. What have we done to the Gospel message to make it about money, influence, and power? Whatever happened to the simplistic Gospel message the bible talks about?

My friend the harvest of souls is not to be something to make money, take power and exercise control with. Through the years most churches have gotten this wrong. The harvest of souls Jesus is looking for is about souls, fellowship, and about us being willing to go (to the other side of the world) in obedience to His word. The harvest of souls is about God being glorified and Jesus God’s precious Son receiving all the honor and glory for His work on the cross. Not so that we can save the heathen (we cannot save anyone), but so that God can save souls (ours included) and can work in our lives (becoming more like His precious Son Jesus Christ) and so that Godly fellowship can be established internationally within the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 2:10 we read, “For we are His workmanship” and as we go in obedience to God’s word He is able to work in our lives. The more we go the more God can kill our self-life, selfishness, and self-seeking. I promise God will run us out of our own strength so He (and He alone) can strengthen us with might in the inward man to go and do what He wants done. Now if this is not your perception of going for God please do not feel bad, the disciples got it wrong also. The longer I go in God the more I like the disciples because the more I see myself in them, especially Peter. In John we read, “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 35Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 37And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 38I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.” (John 4:34-38) I cannot begin to tell you how many sermons I have heard on these verses. Now many evangelists, pastors, and teachers often teach that Jesus was talking about fields of produce that was ripe for the picking, but that is not what Jesus was talking about. Remember the harvest is always about souls and God working in our lives, not things. Now Jesus did make a reference to a field that needs harvesting, but the field Jesus was talking about was not of food, but of the people that were walking from the town to hear Him speaking. To understand the Scriptures we must not take verses and chapters out of context. To understand what a chapter is talking about we must read the entire chapter, story, or parable, being explained. In these verses here we are at the end of the story of the lady at the well. Jesus has already shared the well of living water with her and she was about to leave, “And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkfest thou with her? 28The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.” (John 4:27-29) Jesus was still talking with the disciples as the people came out from the town to see Jesus. As they came they were wearing white head coverings (like a scarf) to protect them from the hot sun and as they came 100s if not 1000s of white heads were coming towards them and Jesus said, “behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” Jesus was saying to the disciples; look here comes the harvest I am concerned about, look at the people coming I am concerned about people and their souls. We too must be concerned about what Jesus is concerned about; people and their souls and not the influence and money they can bring us. This was not the only time Jesus used a harvest to convey a Spiritual truth to the disciples. In Matthew we read, “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”(Matthew 9:37-38) Jesus was a master at using the physical realm to express the Spiritual realm. In both portions of Scripture the focus of Jesus’ attention is on the people as the harvest, not things. Jesus tells the disciples (at the end of John 4) that He will send them to the harvest of people that they did not sow other people did the heavy lifting, but they will reap. Other people have gone ahead of them and did the hard work, others have paid the heavy price, but they will get the opportunity to bring in the harvest of souls. Now the Bible is not written chronologically, but I believe in verse 35 Jesus was fore telling the disciples, in a way they could understand, about His death coming in four months as the beginning point of the great harvest.

Real men of God do not need to tell hip funny stories, beg, twist arms, or manipulate people oh no, real men of God count on the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts and minds of people to accomplish what God wants. Real men of God have a correct perspective to God’s order and function. Money is not tied to the wondrous Gospel message as a means to do things, but it is tied to our giving that gives opportunity to others so that others may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and God is glorified. Giving is the heart of the Gospel, “for God so loved the world that He gave.” My friend you cannot be the kind of Christian God wants you to become unless He can teach you how to give by the Spirit. If we get off track here (like the disciples did with the harvest) all we do in God is missed greatly. I am amazed at how preachers and pastors beat their people over the head with the 10% tithes. They say things like, “you better give 10% of your money or God will not bless you, camel cookies! The legalistic and religious man wants to give 10%, but if we truly give by the Spirit God may require of us to give 70%, 90%, maybe 100% of our resources. Does God only want 10% of our heart? Please make no mistake my friend God wants 100% of our heart, our lives, and our availability. Now at times God may require none of your money, but He may require all of your time, require a change of attitude, or a change of heart condition to bring us to the place where He needs to bring us so that we can help bring in the harvest. We often think bigger is better in God, well bigger in God is not better that is the way man thinks. God is not so concerned about the big things in our lives, but He is concerned about the little insignificant things, the things we think have no bearing, the little things we think are not so important, but to God they are critical. I have found the bigger something gets in God the harder it is to maintain unity of purpose. While pastoring in Germany the less administration, less committee meetings, less programs, and less church by-laws we had the more God could meet our need, but the bigger things got and the more the people got into the picture the more troubles and difficulties we had doing things for God. Again, more in God is not better. The Spiritual projection is less not more; less of our opinions, less of our words, and less of our self the more God can move in our lives. Oh I hope we can see this.

We must be careful not to run with verses, examples, and stories in the Bible and make everything a “ministry.” Yes Jesus did say go to the prisons (Matthew 25:35-45) and visit friends and people, but He did not say go start a prison ministry. Jesus did say go feed and clothe the poor, but He did not say go start a feeding and clothing ministry. These are things we must do every day of our lives not because it is a ministry, but because Jesus told us to do it. We must be led by the Holy Spirit to do the things we are told to do, if not we will get off track as the disciples did in John 4 and miss out on what God is really doing. That is the real loss we experience when we do something other than what God expects. We and God miss out on that which is right (we miss the mark maybe not sin) and God’s expectation is lost. To me I can see this in a disobedient or approval number line. On God’s number line there is a point of our obedience or God’s expectation in a given situation or area and then there is the point we find our self. The difference is either our disobedience (moving to the left, falling short of God’s expectation point) or approval (moving to the right, meeting or surpassing God’s expectation point) at any rate the point is God expects certain things in our lives and we must meet or surpass them to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. To help prevent us from falling short we must learn to wait on the Lord (as simple as that may seem) and allow Him to arrange circumstances and situations that will accomplish His purposes and plan for our situation and circumstances, if we get ahead or do something different then what God wants we have complicated things for God and for man. In Isaiah we read, “And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.” (Isaiah 30:18) The image of to “wait” here is a servant standing perfectly still with a towel draped over their arm waiting to serve their master. Here waiting is mutual by God and us. Can you see the disciples waiting on the Lord or running off to reap the harvest? The harvest is ripe and the Lord is looking for laborers, but He is not looking for just any laborer He is looking for the laborer who has learned how to wait and who has learned how to do things His way. Written by David Stahl