Pumpkin Parable Devotion and Song Selection

For Halloween, I thought it would be interesting to look at the traditional festive Pumpkin and some Scripture references that illustrate how our loving FATHER, the GARDENER and our CREATOR, can transform and fill our hearts with the light and joy of Christ! So, get out your Bibles and read the scripture that goes with each one! I have included a song that I felt kind of went along with our theme today. May it bring you great joy and a song in your heart and on your lips! The ORANGE is just for fun and cheaper than pumpkins. You can draw a jack-o-lantern face on it or enjoy its sweet flavor and festive color! The “Pumpkin-Carving Prayer” bookmark is to share, prayer, or use for a book you are reading. Enjoy and know that YOU are loved. –Christine

• 1. Jesus said, “I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener.” John 15:1 “’My hand made all things. All things are here because I made them, says the Lord.” Isaiah 66:2

The pumpkin grows on a vine and God created vegetation, so He is the gardener! Did you know that the pumpkin is a type of winter squash that is a fruit, but it has the nutritional profile of a vegetable?

• 2. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted good seed in his field.” Matthew 13:24 The seed is God’s teaching. Luke 8:11

God wants all people to know “the seed” of His teachings about how to enter the kingdom of heaven. John 3:16 For God so loved the world (YOU) that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus Christ) that whosover believes in Him (Jesus Christ) will not perish but have eternal (everlasting) life. John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me.”

• 3. God is being patient with us. He does not want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to change their heart and life. 2 Peter 3:9

Most pumpkins take about 100 days from seed to harvest. God is patient and we have an opportunity to know God through Jesus Christ, grow our relationship with Him, and mature through this time of “waiting.”

• 4. Open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvest. John 4:35

Perhaps God wants to use us to be harvesters for Him, right where we live!

• 5. Create in me a pure heart, God. Psalm 51:10

Like the pumpkins that are cleaned out, our hearts become “cleaned out” from the punishment of sin and purified when we invite Jesus into our lives as Savior and Lord. He has taken our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12 If anyone belongs to Christ, then he is made new. The old things have gone; everything is made new! 2 Corinthians 5:17

• 6. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 A happy heart makes the face cheerful. Proverbs 15:13 God once said, ‘Let the light shine out of the darkness.’ And this is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts. 2 Corinthians 4:6 In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do. Live so that they will praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

As Christ-followers, we have the light of Christ in us, radiating God’s love and joy to this lost and dark world.

Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul

Andy Harsant

O what a wonderful, wonderful day – day I will never forget;

After I’d wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Saviour I met.

O what a tender, compassionate friend – He met the need of my heart;

Shadows dispelling, With joy I am telling, He made all the darkness depart.

• Heaven came down and glory filled my soul,
• When at the cross the Saviour made me whole;
• My sins were washed away –
• And my night was turned to day –
• Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!

Born of the Spirit with life from above into God’s fam’ly divine,

Justified fully thru Calvary’s love, O what a standing is mine!

And the transaction so quickly was made when as a sinner I came,

Took of the offer of grace He did proffer –

He saved me, O praise His dear name!

• Heaven came…