As the people of God assemble today may their eyes open even wider to the wonders of their God and to His plans in this earth and to His grace that enables His sons and daughters to overcome and reign in life. Rom.5:17, TPT — “Death once held us in its grip, and by the blunder of one man, death reigned as king over humanity. But now, how much more are we held in the grip of grace and continue reigning as kings in life, enjoying our regal freedom through the gift of perfect righteousness in the one and only Jesus, the Messiah!”
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Stages to Development
God will take us through stages to develop in us a hearing ear and an obedient tongue. God is so faithful to His plan that He will not omit any of the stages of development. Sometimes each stage takes a different amount of time in one person as compared to another but He is faithful to take each of us through each stage until He has formed useful vessels. (Jer.18:2-4)
Tough Places in Life
Kathy — Psalm 139:16 (Paraphrased): “When I had not yet existed for even one moment, I was commissioned by God’s purpose. Before I was even wrapped as an embryo in my mother’s womb I was marked and approved by 
God’s eternal wisdom and greatness.” As surely as we were in the womb being transformed to come forth as a living being, reflecting the likeness of our natural fathers, we are in “cocoons” in life being transformed to reflect the likeness and character of our heavenly Father. What I mean by “cocoons” in life is the tough, tight places in life, times when we are caught in a web of circumstances or conditions that have us troubled, barely able to breathe and can’t see a way out. In “cocoon times”, we can either walk in faith and keep doing what we know to do and realize God is going to utilize it for our growth and development, or we can try to run and escape . . . maybe for an entire lifetime. Or we can take a machete to the thing, pitch a fit and tear up jack! (Of course that very rarely fixes real-life situations and usually makes them worse!) The bottom line is we only do damage when we refuse to change as needed.
Straight Down at 100mph!
Melissa — Ah, life! One minute everything is cruising right along, we’re on top of the world creating Facebook pages, writing books and making T-shirts to declare our life message to the world. The next thing you know… 
straight down at 100mph. Stinking roller coasters! They click right along at a nice pace and there is usually a great view to behold, then all of a sudden your stomach is in your throat. There was never a promise that life would be smooth sailing and easy. “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” James 1:2-4 (MSG) The ebbs and flows of a God-centered life are required for God’s original intent to take form.
Gathering Harvest
Isa.17:5 paints a picture of reapers gathering corn and their arms gathering the ears and gleaning ears of grain. The corn, the harvest (souls, Father God’s purposes in the earth) has not stopped growing nor shall it stop growing. That means that there must be reapers and arms to gather it in. The grain grows until the time of harvest and there are reapers who are anticipating and prepared to gather it in. The grain does not harvest itself. There must be reapers, gatherers who are willing to go out into the fields and gather it in lest it be 
wasted. Jesus told His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matt.9:37). There is no question as to whether or not there is a harvest. Jesus is the Lord of the harvest, so can you imagine the vastness of the harvest to be gathered in? It is Father’s good, acceptable and perfect will for His people to “gather a fruitful harvest” Ps.107:37, NASB — “And sow fields and plant vineyards, And gather a fruitful harvest.”
Don’t Confuse Sentiment for Confirmation
Kathy — Sometimes we confuse sentiment for confirmation. When others sense our despair they offer encouragement that we take as confirmation to take action but sentiment is not the same as wisdom. “Ishmaels” are the result of unauthorized action or behavior. Jesus had all authority, yet He only did what He saw the Father doing. Jn.5:19, NASB — “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the 
Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.” Ishmael is NOT what we see the Father doing, Ishmael is what we hope He will condone. The results of an Ishmael carry over on others for generations. Ishmael: “God will hear”- that represents an injustice on the innocent that God will not ignore. Once the fruit of compromise is born it takes on a life of its own. However, the better news is that the existence of an Ishmael does not stop God’s purpose in Isaac. The future can still bring glory to God because our Redeemer lives. (Ps.19:14)
Darkness has an Expiration Date
Melissa — Darkness has an expiration date and its number has been called. The Hosts of Heaven are currently attending to that matter. “For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction.” (Gal.6:8) There it is in rather simple language. This corrupt spirit has been defying, challenging and ridiculing the original intent of God and its time is up. God’s intent is the only thing that carries life and blessing. Anything outside of that is an enemy of God and will surely self destruct …with some help from Angel Armies.
For the Appointed Time
As the people of God assemble today let us agree and pray to see the vision of our Holy Father God for our nation to come to pass by His mighty hand of intervention and by His awakening of His people to His faithfulness and to the verity of His Word and never-failing promises. Hab.2:3, Amp — “For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time It hurries toward the goal [of fulfillment]; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it, Because it will certainly come; it will not delay.”
The Harvest Hasn’t Stopped
There is an average of 800 kernels on an ear of corn. It can vary all the way up to 1200 per ear and there can be 2-4 ears per stalk. That is a lot of corn! There is a harvest that is still growing and maturing. A few months ago as I drove through Central Texas I saw thousands of acres of corn growing and I was amazed at the number of stalks and ears that were showing growth day by day.
I was on the go, driving down a rural highway and praying about what is going on in our communities and our churches 
and how it is all being so affected by the fear, the riots, violence, rules and shutdowns. We have spoken with a number of church leaders and church people and so many of them are pre-occupied with it all that they find it difficult to put any thought or effort into advancing the Kingdom.
The Lord is still on the throne and still at work on the harvest He desires in the earth. His plan is still in tact. He didn’t suddenly see some of the things on the news and say, “Oh, wow, I really didn’t plan well” or “Maybe I better change some of my plans because present circumstances will not willingly yield up the results I had hoped for” or “Maybe it would be best to just wait awhile”. The corn in those huge fields did not stop growing when the first violent, law-breaker rioters began destroying property and lives. It kept growing. No combination of events or national crises will stop the Lord’s harvest from growing.
Reaping a Harvest
Melissa — Have you ever been praying and all of a sudden words fall out of your mouth that stop you in your tracks because they came straight from your spirit? That happened to me recently while praying over our nation. I was praying about the deep-seated darkness being exposed, then I heard myself saying this, “Angels attend to the harvest.” I all of a sudden realized that I have had a particular paradigm about “harvest” and in that moment it was turned upside down. I realized in that moment that “harvest” to me has always referred to either people getting saved or financial blessing. In that moment, I immediately knew it was time for the wicked to receive their harvest. In other words, it is time for the wicked to reap what they have sown, and angels are seeing to that harvesting! “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8 Amplified).
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