The Harvest

The Harvest

Waiting for a harvest, talking about a harvest and thinking about a harvest are not ways to bring in a harvest!

Jesus viewed the people of his day as a crop of sorts, ready for spiritual harvest. In fact, the abundance and readiness of the crop for harvest was not in question. Finding people to get it done was (and is)!

The people following Jesus in Mathew 9:36 were, as many are today, distressed and downtrodden. The scripture records that recognizing this, Jesus felt compassion for them. His initial response was to turn to his followers and say: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." The  people were literally ripe for spiritual harvest but there were very few people who knew what to do about it. Jesus went on to say, "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” But who are those workers?
"Waiting for a harvest, talking about a harvest and thinking about a harvest are not ways to bring in a harvest!"
The presence of distressed and downtrodden people signals that a harvest is ready. There is no shortage of distressed and downtrodden people in our world. To be more precise, at this moment in history, there is no shortage of people who are feeling that way who otherwise may not be! Fear and uncertainty are gripping the whole world and people are unsettled, introspective, seeking answers.

In John 4:35-38 Jesus told his team: “You think the harvest is still a ways off, but I’m telling you to lift your eyes up and look at the fields, they are ready now! The fields are white to harvest! There is an abundance of crops to be brought in right now!"

We church folk like to talk about revival and “outpouring of the Spirit.” We like to call out to the Lord to do something extraordinary in our world. But have we considered that the extraordinary may be waiting on us?

Jesus is telling us, his church, to lift our eyes and recognize that the harvest is sitting right there in front of us, ready. One thing for sure, as long as our eyes are fixed on ourselves -- our needs, our fears, our future -- we are not looking to the fields; we are not available as laborers to the Lord for His harvest. When we begin to look at the plight of humanity around us through Jesus' eyes, however, compassion moves us to ask for the laborers. We, ourselves, become ready laborers.
"We like to call out to the Lord to do something extraordinary in our world. But have we considered that the extraordinary may be waiting on us?"
Crops have a window of time that they must either be harvested or lost. We are living in a moment of harvest. People are open to answers for a time while the instability of their world is evident to them.

Asking creates the expectancy of receiving (Matt 7:7). If you are asking, you are marking yourself as available. If you dare to see the need, if you are moved with compassion, you are a harvester. Asking is acknowledgement of the need and willingness to be sent.

We have talked for decades about a great harvest of souls. While the church awaits a harvest, God is saying, “go get it!” Praying that the Lord will send laborers into the field is about the awakening of the church, not the readiness of the crop!

This morning I prayed that the Lord would “place me” where He wants me. It was really a surrender to His care. When I am concerned about my life and provision, my eyes are not lifted to the fields, I am not filled with God's compassion, I am unavailable for the harvest.
"Praying that the Lord will send laborers into the field is about the awakening of the church, not the readiness of the crop!"
Ironically, my existence and purpose -- the church's existence and purpose -- for being present in this hour is for the harvest. That is truly why we are all here. Everything else is simply a means to that end.

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