Recently I was seeking the Lord in prayer and asking, “Why is it that I see so many traveling to foreign places to assist others when their own homes and communities have such needs?” This is what I heard in return;
“The reason that many travel to other places to serve is simply due to not wanting to face the real issues in their own home. Facing the needs in our own home often requires more than one to two weeks of service and it often has a price that many do not want to pay. So instead, many people often do things in foreign places to often avoid the real issues that they have in their own home.”
In other words what the Lord was teaching is about our human nature and how easy it can be to lose our balance when we neglect or overlook our own responsibilities at home. For when we neglect this principle of balance within our homes then this can open the door for Satan to weaken and oppress the body. We can easily see this over the last forty years here in America as I can witness this same lesson within my own life as well. Think about it! How long can a soldier in foreign missions stay focused when their own home is struggling to survive? How long can we expect foreign aid to continue when we can’t balance the input with the output?
This teaching explains to me why so many communities, missions and relationships become oppressed. Simply due to neglecting the basic principles of gardening and the importance of maintaining the roots of our foundation. By seeking to live a balanced life through the love of Jesus Christ we learn to plant ourselves upon the Rock of our foundation while staying in tune with the needs of the garden. It is also wise to understand that God calls some to plant while he calls others to assist with the harvest.
For God plants each one of us in different places and in different positions in order to serve His purpose and not our own. Unfortunately many fail to understand this so they allow their seeds to be blown in the wind rather than learning how to plant and work within garden. Think about it! Our home can be related to a garden just as our individual lives. What we give and receive plays a major roll within the productivity of the garden. The home garden is supposed to help serve the community as the community garden helps to serve the city to the state. For when we begin to take care of our own home garden then this leads to a productive harvest that can help feed foreign missions and help maintain the strength within our homes for future generations.
There is a great need within our own communities and our country for men and women that are willing to commit to the work that is needed in every community across America. This need is to simply do what God has called each of us to do and that is, to work within the gardens we have been given and to leave something behind for someone else. Without these men and women that are willing to grab hold of the plow and apply the Instruction of God to their local gardens we might as well prepare for an unproductive harvest and for the locust to continue to devour the crop. Many of you reading this may be thinking it is too late but I strongly disagree! For nothing is over until God say’s it is over!!!
How bad would it be to go home and hear one of these questions, “Why did you quit? Why did you not get up off the pughs to help your neighbors? Do you honestly think you were doing your job when you neglected your own home to take care of someone else’s? Why did you not stand up and vote for Godly leadership rather than give in to the popularity contest? Did the numbers that came against you give you fear? Did you honestly think your voice or vote would not matter? Have you forgotten the very One who gives you Victory? Why did you simply fail to be a doer instead of just a hearer? There were blessings right at your feet but you simply lost your perspective. All you had to do was get up off the porch and put your hand to the plow to receive the blessings of God! But instead you allowed your fears, weak faith and laziness to infect the garden. This infection has not only affected you but other plants as well.
It is my sincere prayer for a spiritual Awakening here in America. I pray that Americans will recognize the season at hand and the need for true repentance on a national level. Lord help us clean up our own homes and communities so we can continue to spread your love and feed the hungry. Please give us strength and the wisdom to make the right decisions within our own home in order to refresh the garden and continue to supply the needs in foreign missions. Lord I know that nothing is over until You say that it is over, so please Lord forgive us on a national level of the innocent blood that has been shed from the Native Americans to the African Americans and for simply losing our balance with you…I love you Father and I thank you for the pits that you have picked me up from and I thank you for giving me a new life with purpose and with direction and may others find the same…For all glory is yours…amen
“A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’’
James A. Harrison
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