Let's pray
Lord and loving Heavenly Father, provider for and protector of all you have made, we give you thanks today that you have not left us alone in your world to cope with the consequences and the chaos we have created but have sent your son to redeem what's been lost.
As we contemplate again the completion of another harvest, which in spite of the damage so much of our efforts to maximise profit free of conscience has made, we thank you that the land has once again yielded its fruit and we seem to have enough to eat throughout yet another winter.
Grant us gratitude of heart for your goodness, we pray, motivating us and all our people to walk more closely with You, in Your way.
For Jesus sake.
Amen.
Prayer fuel for Harvest
We are privileged today to hear from Richard a Southern Baptist Mission Board pastor as he chatted with Simon last week at a café in a much warmer place.
(We are working on developing ways to record better sound in places like this so that we can broaden the base of the ministry we can enjoy here ... it's a work in progress).
Let's make Richard and his wife Linda the subject of our prayers for God's work in His physical and spiritual 'field' this week. Richard and Linda would value prayer as they contemplate forthcoming changes and developments in their lives and ministry and for the Lord to continue to watch over their health.
Here is today's Bible reading:
Jeremiah 6:16-30 NIV
[16] This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ [17] I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ [18] Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them. [19] Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. [20] What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.” [21] Therefore this is what the Lord says: “I will put obstacles before this people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish.” [22] This is what the Lord says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. [23] They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Zion.” [24] We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor. [25] Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side. [26] Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. [27] “I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore, that you may observe and test their ways. [28] They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander. They are bronze and iron; they all act corruptly. [29] The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out. [30] They are called rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them.”
https://jeremiah.bible/jeremiah-6-16
The sermon today is here.
Here's a very well-known Harvest hymn:
Let's conclude in prayer:
Father we thank you for the patience you demonstrate in dealing with us as we sometimes find ourselves hardening our hearts and turning away from your way.
Where we have done so in the way we have treated your fields we ask you to show us your grace and turn us back to walk again in your ways.
Where we have done so in the way we have turned away from your ways in raising and caring for the animals you have created for us to steward, we ask you to once more show us mercy and grace and turn us again to worship you in the way we work as your image set over your creation.
And where we have mistreated one another ... not least in sharing the fruitfulness of your world with people who need more than they have, please turn our hearts again to fresh alignment with yours.
We ask all of this at this harvest time for your glory, as we pray in Jesus' Name.
Amen.
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