Saturday 7 Oct 2017

October 7: Matthew 21:18-22

Key Verse: Matthew 21:22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Devotion:
This time of year in the northern hemisphere is the end of the harvest season when the farmers have gathered in their crops and we see just how much food we have which can be stored for the rest of the year. Well, at least it used to be that… Nowadays we have a global economy and many places in the world have access to crops and food grown almost all year round. What a glorious God we have! Where would we be without Him?

Yes, that's what I said. What a glorious God we have. Don't get me wrong, I look up to the farmers because I know just how hard most of them have to work in order to maintain the food supply for the rest of us. I was living next door to a farmer and I would struggle to get up to go to work in the morning when he was already coming in for his first break of the day! He had been up for several hours already working to get things done before my alarm clock would even go off!

But, without God's blessing, the crops would not be there and the food would not be there either. God has promised us the harvest time will continue year after year until this world comes to an end. That is a long long way off, so we know harvest is going to carry on for that long time. We can continue to know God has allowed more food to be grown all round the world so we can continue to survive as He has promised us. It is not His fault we do not all share as a global community!

We have ups and downs in the economy just like we have ups and downs in the harvest times, but we can rely fully on knowing that what we ask for in prayer, we will receive. But note the first verb in this verse. To believe. We need to trust God to be able to deliver. We need to rely on Him. We need to have faith. He has already promised it so. We just have to have faith that promise will come through; just like we have faith in our annual harvests.

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever known a whole harvest to fail all around the world?

How much do you trust God's Word?