James 3:18 "And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace."
This is the harvest season in many parts of the world.  Corn is being harvested because the soil was prepared, corn seeds were planted, and the field was tended waiting for the rain and sunshine.  What is being planted in your life?  If anger and mistrust are planted, love cannot grow.  When actions of peacefulness and compassion are sown, good fruits of peace and love grow.  Kind words plant gentleness in the hearts of the hearer. Patience and care can even change the hardest heart and make room for wonderful fruits of the Spirit. 
Remember, we reap what we sow, work hard at allowing love to grow.

From the "Pray!" magazine:
The Bible tells us to thank God for everything.  Everything?  Even when something bad happens to us?  Why should we do that?  Not giving thanks to God will turn our hearts away from Him and make us confused and foolish in the way we think (Romans 1:21-23).  When we are thankful, it guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:6-7).  Thankfulness is a powerful weapon against the enemy.  Think about this: if Satan tries to trick us or bother us, but we thank God anyway, Satan will realize that he is making us thank God--and he can't handle that!  He will get tired of trying to distract us with his schemes!  If you want to head a story about how the enemy was defeated by praise and thanks alone, check out 2 Chronicles 20:21-24.

Our children are faced with major decisions as they pursue their life's goals.  Our loving God has designed a special blueprint for them.  One of the most important ways for parents to show their love for their children is to pray for them as they seek understanding and direction.  Begin praying today that they may be empowered with spiritual wisdom to assist them. 
Psalm 32:8 "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you."
Jeremiah 29:11-14 "For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." 

A Mother's Garden of Prayer
by Eleanor Allen Schroll & J.H. Fillmore

There's a garden where Jesus is waiting,
there's a place that is wondrously fair;
For it glows with the light of His presence,
'Tis the beautiful garden of prayer.

There's a garden where Jesus is waiting,
And I go with my burden and care,
Just to learn from His lips words of comfort,
In the beautiful garden of prayer.

There's a garden where Jesus is waiting,
And He bids you to come meet Him there,
Just to walk and to talk with my Saviour,
In the beautiful garden of prayer.

You are invited to join our congregation on this year's "Road to Coronation."  This road begins February 25, Ash Wednesday, 7 pm, and will continue each Wednesday night.  Beginning March 4, We will break bread together between 6-6:15, and then move into a worship setting that will lead us through the Gospel story-lines.  Our guide will be to follow Jesus on His "Road to Coronation" learning about the Bible's "big story," and how it fits into our life.  
It is my prayer that you will make these visits, on Wednesday night, a priority.  

St. Augustine---"Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder which you do not require is needed by others.  The extras of the rich are the necessities of the poor.  Those who retain what is superfluous possess the goods of others."

A Steward's Prayer
Father of all mankind, throughout this day help me to remember that a very real portion of your Kingdom has been placed in my keeping.  Therefore teach me to love you:
With all my heart...
With all my soul...
With all my strength...
With all my mind... that I may think your thoughts from moment to moment, making beautiful and significant each expenditure, always placing you first, that your Kingdom may come thrugh my sharing, my caring, my daring... for your name's sake.  Amen.    M. Applegarth

Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.  Exodus 32:32
Prayer is not designed to change God; it is designed to change us.  Prayer is not calling God in to bless our activities.  Rather, prayer takes us into God's presence, shows us His will, and prepares us to obey Him.
Moses climbed Mount Sinai and spent forty days communing with God.  God showed him the wickedness of the Israelites.  Moses had not known their desperate condition; nor had he realized the imminence of God's judgment upon them until God revealed it to him.  As God made Moses aware of all that was at stake, Moses felt the same compassion for the people that God felt.  Moses became willing to sacrifice his own life for his obstinate people.  In a compelling and selfless prayer of intercession, Moses offered to have his own name blotted out of the book of life it God would spare the people.  In Moses' time with Him, God had formed a mighty intercessor for His people. 
god will use your prayer times to soften your heart and change your focus.  As you pray for others, the Holy Spirit will work in your heart so that you have the same compassion for them that God does (Rom. 8:26-27).  If you do not love people as you should, pray for them.  If you are not as active in God's service as you know He wants you to be, begin praying.  You cannot be intimately exposed to God's heart and remain complacent.  The time spent with God will change you and make you more like Christ.

Jesus reveals and is a preacher.  through words, Jesus explodes into the world, invades our settled reality with unsettling revelation.  God is taking back the world through preaching and the discipleship it evokes.  Jesus preaches and calls servants to work in the fields of life.  Are you ready to go into the community and serve?  Jesus comes today, right now and says, "Follow me."  Are you ready to see wonderful things?  Thank you Lord Jesus, for the countless blessings and benefits you give.  may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day, praising The Holy Trinity.  Psalm 139:1-6

Isaiah's message is perfect for this Christmas season.  "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isaiah 61:10
May the baby born in Bethlehem fill your Christmas season with joy, peace, and love.  Jesus has come, Jesus comes today, and Jesus will come again one day.  Jesus is our Lord.