Your Time of Harvest Has Arrived!

Sometimes it feels as if a mass exodus is happening all around us. People we once loved and trusted all of a sudden turn there backs on us, co-laborers in the ministry leave without warning & suddenly our world shifts. Why does this happen? 

Jesus explained it this way... 

He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.

“The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’ “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’ “The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’ “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30 MSG)

This is what I call the math of God. When God subtracts from your life he then doesn't just add, he multiplies things in your life. 

Put it this way, without those people you wouldn't be where you are today. Had God removed them from the start you might have died in the process as the wheat would die if the weed is pulled too soon. Yes it hurts to have the weeds of your life pulled out, but that grooming that God does is the signal that harvest time has arrived!

So next time you feel betrayed, abandoned or used by those that leave you, wait because that just means your time of Harvest has arrived!!! 

~Heidi Lugo~

3 Things the Righteousness of God Does

Three things the rightousness judge does: 

God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. (Psalm 7:11-13 NIV)

 

1. Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. 

Psalm 7: 14

2. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. 

Psalm 7:15

3.  The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. 

Psalm 7:15

So rejoice when others plot against you because the righteousness of God will go before you!!! 

Have you Plateaued?

I was stuck at a specific weight for two weeks. I was so frustrated but I stuck to the plan and kept going. Everyone told me not to weigh myself for a week and when I finally did I had broken through the plateau and lost 3 pounds.

I think that happens to us in life. We come to Christ and our lives begin to change then all of a sudden things just plateau. So we have a choice to make... Either we give up and go back or we keep moving forward no matter what the "scale" may say.

I learned this about the body;

When you are about to reach your ideal weight it becomes harder to lose the last of it. That's when you need to eat less calories and do more exercise. 

So if you are at a plateau in life right now, get to work. Push a little harder. Shedding that weight (your past, different struggles, addictions) may seem impossible but your break through is coming!!! 

Loving with a guarded heart!

"There are no shortcuts to authentic friendship. Relationships are messy and unpredictable. We can't fake love just to get someone to come to church. That's manipulation and hypocrisy, and sooner or later it will backfire." Judah smith 

I've been struggling with the reality if this statement, "There are no shortcuts to authentic friendship. Relationships are messy and unpredictable."

The struggle begins when you love people and then get hurt by them. People hide things, they lie to your face, you open up in a time of vulnerably and then they divulge that with malice in there hearts. And there begins the conflict between being open and genuine and guarding your heart. 

My prayer today was quite honestly, "Lord what do I do with this desire to truly love but the reality if being hurt?" And God brought these two verses to my mind. 

1. Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. (Ephesians 4:2 AMP)

2. Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves. [Gen. 3:1.] (Matthew 10:16 AMP)

Why these seemingly two opposite scriptures? 

Ah yes the word "Boundaries" came to mind!!! Boundaries are necessary in order to have healthy loving relationships that don't violate the principles of God! 

My prayer today is: God help me love like you love, always being genuine in all my relationships. That the hurt and betrayals I've experience don't make me callus. God help me to protect my own heart by standing on you word and not allowing others to cross my boundaries.

Make Jesus famous

After posting in Facebook last night I wanted to expand on my thoughts...

Only one time in scripture does Jesus tell anyone to go and tell what he has done (Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: (Matthew 11:4 NKJV) but over and over you see that Jesus told other not to tell anyone what he had done. 

( Matthew 12:16 and Mark 3:12 after healing many people.

Matthew 16:20, Mark 8:30, and Luke 9:21 after Peter’s proclamation that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah)

Mark 7:36 after healing a mute and deaf man.

Mark 9:9 after the transfiguration.

Luke 8:56 after raising a girl from the dead. & more) 

(From The Berean Call)

People made Jesus famous, through the sharing of what he had done, who he was and that drew people to him...

Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. (Matthew 4:24 NKJV)

He didn't make himself famous, people did! We have to continue it by doing just that "telling others about his love". 

But more than that, showing them his love. 

We need to tell the world everyday about the crazy love, mercy and grace of God! It's radical but it's what the world needs. We have the remedy so let's share it!!! 

The House Built on a Snakes Den

The House Built on a Snakes Den

"Shortly after buying their dream home, Sessions and his wife discovered it was infested with thousands of garter snakes. Their growing family lived as if in a horror movie for three months. They abandoned the property, but the home briefly went back on the market more than a year later, and they fear it could attract another unsuspecting buyer.

The five-bedroom house is on nearly two pastoral acres in rural Idaho, about 125 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park. Priced at less than $180,000, it seemed like a steal to the young couple.

But they soon learned they would be sharing the home with reptiles at least two feet long that had crawled into seemingly every crevice. At times, there were so many in the yard that the grass seemed to move.

If he rapped a stick against the roof overhang, he could hear dozens scatter, their scales sliding against the aluminum. Dozens of snakes popped out after he removed panels of siding. When he made his way through the crawl space to investigate further, he found snakes everywhere.

That's when he realized his family probably was living atop a garter snake den where the nonpoisonous reptiles gather in fall and winter." Seattletimes.com

~Just as specific as God was in the Old Testament with the instructions on how to build his temple he was with how the modern, New Covenant church was to be built. Built upon Jesus as the cornerstone, on solid rock with the design of a master builder aka an apostle and the construction crew being prophets, pastors, evangelist and teachers.~

"built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord." (Ephesians 2:20, 21 NIV)

~Just like the house infested with snakes, any church that builds upon anything other than the perfect design of God will eventually fall.~ 

As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:47-49 NIV)

Reflection: 

If you aim to build then build right! Do not take short cuts and follow the blue print! Because if you take a short cut you might just find one day that your house is infested with snakes! 

Hear the voice of The Lord today...

You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel. You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes!...

(Matthew 23:24, 33 CEVUK00)

P. Heidi Lugo

Leeches & You!

Seven facts about the behaviors of leeches and how it affects you...

1.Most leech species do not feed on human blood, but instead prey on small invertebrates, which they eat whole. 

2. To feed on their hosts, leeches use their anterior suckers to connect to hosts for feeding, and also release an anesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them. 

3. Once attached, leeches use a combination of mucus and suction to stay attached and secrete an anticoagulant enzyme, hirudin, into the hosts' blood streams. 

4. Though certain species of leeches feed on blood, not all species can bite; 90% of them feed solely on decomposing bodies and open wounds of amphibians, reptiles, waterfowl, fish, and mammals (including humans).

5. A leech attaches itself when it bites, and it will stay attached until it becomes full, at which point it falls off to digest. 

6. Due to the hirudin that leeches secrete, bites may bleed more than a normal wound after the leech is removed. The effect of the anticoagulant will wear off several hours after the leech is removed and the wound is cleaned. 

7. The bite of a leech is painless because they inject anesthetic so they go unnoticed when they attach.

Facts found in Wikipedia 

Application...

Beware of the spiritual leeches that surround you! 

1.They attach themselves to the weeker/baby Christians.

2. They are so sneaky that you don't feel when they attach themselves to you.

3. They will poison your spirit!

4. They will prey on any weeknesss to feed there own egos/agendas/deficiencies

5. After they are done with you they'll toss you like yesterday's news and find someone else to prey on. 

6. You will be left wounded and hurt.

The Spirit of God is warning some of you so beware!!! 

A leech has two daughters, and both are named “Give me!”... (Proverbs 30:15 GNTD)