Our meeting today had a harvest/creation theme. It was a joy to welcome back our friend, Phil Cook from Lancing Tabernacle Community Church.

“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

Genesis 8 v 22 (NIV)

Phil remarked that some churches are not in the habit of commemorating harvest, which is a shame! Phil felt it was important to share the abundance of what we have with others especially those who have very little and he reminded us that it is Biblical!

We were encouraged to be enthusiastic in the harvest of the five ‘P’s because we should all be involved!

1. Ploughing: Harvest involves ploughing with thorough and necessary preparation for sowing in order to see good results.
2. Planting: We need to sow but also to know and believe that the seed will produce a great and mighty harvest.
3. Patience: Crops do not come up over night! Phil told us about the farmer who had to get down on his knees and put his head to the ground to see the green shoots. It is so easy for anxiety to take over while we are waiting for something to happen.
4. Power: Remember, nothing is impossible with God.   God multiplies. We were reminded of the stories of the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 and how much was left over after everyone had been filled.
5. Prayer: We need to be faithful in prayer and a good place to start is by saying the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, the Lord’s Prayer. It is a pattern for all true prayer.

This harvest time, let’s celebrate with great joy all that the God of creation, our Heavenly Father has provided for each one of us.

We sang, We plough the feeds and scatter and You shall go our with joy before Sue closed our meeting with the blessing from The Message version:

“God bless you and keep you, God smile on you and gift you, God look you full in the face and make you prosper” – Numbers 6 v 24-26