Harvest
In a land as big as India, with the climatic variations they have, you can go from sweltering hot rain forests to the hard and frozen mountains in the north. I've learned this the hard way... I'm leaving the north now and, although it's not freezing here where I am (Punjab), it IS cold and I did not bring a coat! Next time I'll know better. But these changes yield one result: It's always harvest time somewhere in India.
The harvest time is certainly a beautiful time in India. The hundreds of field workers are scattered across thousands and thousands of big and tiny plots of ground cutting corn stalks for fodder and threshing out the rice in vast, flat fields dotted with palm trees. Or you find them in the backbreaking work of picking cotton or bright, red chili peppers. It's all a beautiful sight to behold.
But all of this joyful reaping of a bountiful crop starts in the same way. Days of following the oxen, slogging through muddy slime, bending until they nearly break in half as they clean every blade of grass or weed and every root from the soil. Then, they are finally ready to plant.
Of course the planting is only the beginning. There's the long wait and prayer that the rains will come, the sun will shine and the blight will stay away. If all those things go well, then, the farmers are happy. Not happy that their work is over --no, no. They're happy that they have more work to do -- the work of harvest!
The meeting I've just left in the state of Punjab was a great illustration of all of this to me. I was privileged to be in a meeting with almost 300 pastors as they were challenged, comforted and commissioned. Friday afternoon I took part in an ordination service where 23 men were commissioned to the work of God. I watched as the 82 year old founder of all this stood unsteadily and warned these men that he loved so dearly of the costs of going back. He gave no quarter to them just because they lived in a different age than him or an easier world. He shared with me that his greatest concern for the future of the work was the lack of commitment he saw in the vast majority of preachers in the field today.
Over the last week I watched it all. I preached my part and prayed with countless men. But the one thing I came away with was both hopeful to me and distressing. I was distressed because I can see all around me everywhere I go just how small the pool of workers is for this vast land of harvest. I was hopeful because I saw men respond to the charge of seeking for Pentecostal power and anointing for their ministries. This is, after all, the only hope for India.
It's the only hope for the Muslim man sitting across from me now here in the New Delhi airport. It's the only hope for America. It's the only hope for our world. May God stir our hearts to more intense and focused prayer upon the harvest.
May God bless you for your prayers while ministry is going on in India. Within an hour I'll be traveling back to South India. I'll be meeting with 100 pastors for another training time. I need God's anointing for sure. Also, I need a touch in my body. The cold here in the north has affected me and I've come down with a sore throat and congestion. Sunday services are upon me and then I'll be doing 24 hours of teaching and preaching in a three day period right afterward. I appreciate you asking God to strengthen me.
In a land as big as India, with the climatic variations they have, you can go from sweltering hot rain forests to the hard and frozen mountains in the north. I've learned this the hard way... I'm leaving the north now and, although it's not freezing here where I am (Punjab), it IS cold and I did not bring a coat! Next time I'll know better. But these changes yield one result: It's always harvest time somewhere in India.
The harvest time is certainly a beautiful time in India. The hundreds of field workers are scattered across thousands and thousands of big and tiny plots of ground cutting corn stalks for fodder and threshing out the rice in vast, flat fields dotted with palm trees. Or you find them in the backbreaking work of picking cotton or bright, red chili peppers. It's all a beautiful sight to behold.
But all of this joyful reaping of a bountiful crop starts in the same way. Days of following the oxen, slogging through muddy slime, bending until they nearly break in half as they clean every blade of grass or weed and every root from the soil. Then, they are finally ready to plant.Of course the planting is only the beginning. There's the long wait and prayer that the rains will come, the sun will shine and the blight will stay away. If all those things go well, then, the farmers are happy. Not happy that their work is over --no, no. They're happy that they have more work to do -- the work of harvest!
The meeting I've just left in the state of Punjab was a great illustration of all of this to me. I was privileged to be in a meeting with almost 300 pastors as they were challenged, comforted and commissioned. Friday afternoon I took part in an ordination service where 23 men were commissioned to the work of God. I watched as the 82 year old founder of all this stood unsteadily and warned these men that he loved so dearly of the costs of going back. He gave no quarter to them just because they lived in a different age than him or an easier world. He shared with me that his greatest concern for the future of the work was the lack of commitment he saw in the vast majority of preachers in the field today.
Over the last week I watched it all. I preached my part and prayed with countless men. But the one thing I came away with was both hopeful to me and distressing. I was distressed because I can see all around me everywhere I go just how small the pool of workers is for this vast land of harvest. I was hopeful because I saw men respond to the charge of seeking for Pentecostal power and anointing for their ministries. This is, after all, the only hope for India.
It's the only hope for the Muslim man sitting across from me now here in the New Delhi airport. It's the only hope for America. It's the only hope for our world. May God stir our hearts to more intense and focused prayer upon the harvest.
May God bless you for your prayers while ministry is going on in India. Within an hour I'll be traveling back to South India. I'll be meeting with 100 pastors for another training time. I need God's anointing for sure. Also, I need a touch in my body. The cold here in the north has affected me and I've come down with a sore throat and congestion. Sunday services are upon me and then I'll be doing 24 hours of teaching and preaching in a three day period right afterward. I appreciate you asking God to strengthen me.
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