From the Archives……….
Also for you, Judah, a harvest is appointed. Hos. 6:11
God works in seasons. It’s a simple truth. All through the Bible you will read about seasons and how there is a time for this and a time for that. One of my favorite seasons is the season we are in now, Harvest Season. Every Christian that believes what the Bible says about sowing and reaping knows that harvest time is appointed unto us. I often hear people say they can’t wait for harvest season. I always felt that way too. I would go through such long seasons of sowing and sowing and sowing, I would begin to wonder when the harvest would come. But, it always came.
The Bible talks about two seasons, seedtime and harvest; you will find it in Genesis 8:22. Seedtime of course, is when you are sowing your seed, scattering your seed, getting it in good ground. The other season, the one we are in now, is harvest season. Harvest season is work. It’s not the time to sit around and eat the abundance that has come into your life…no that comes after harvest. And here is where I think some of us have missed it. When we are in harvest time, we think we are supposed to sit and wait for it to come into our lap. If you choose to do that, let me tell you what will happen. Your crop, that abundant harvest the Lord of the Harvest has prepared for you, will rot. It will die on the vine and be of no good to you or anyone else. Again, I say, harvest is work.
It is not time to stop and sit down. Come on, get out there and bring in the harvest. You have spent time sowing seed, scattering seed, working and confessing the Word and believing what God says above everything else, don’t stop now. This is the final push – go out and bring it in.
I believe that the harvest is ripe, for many of us. Ripe and ready to be picked. So, what do you do? If this message is jumping in your spirit, ask God how you bring your particular harvest in. He will show you, but I can promise you, it will be work. As I interviewed Juanita Bynum a few months ago, she said that God had her in a season of work, where she couldn’t do anything except work to bring in her harvest. Now, of course, she still prays and seeks God, but she was in a time of hard work. At first I didn’t understand that. I thought, ‘wow, I would hate to be that busy.’ Just a few short months later, as I sat in a women’s conference, I was given a prophecy by a woman of God. One thing she said was, ‘it’s not the time for you to slow down, but go with everything that is inside of you.’
When I received that word, I had a choice. I could have thought, ‘hey, I have worked hard for years, I am going to rest awhile, I am tired.’ Or I could respond, ‘okay, God, I am tired, I have worked hard a long time, but Your grace is more than enough for me, so if You are telling me to go at it with all I have within me, I must have more within me than I thought, so I am going full speed ahead in Your strength.’ The latter is the one I chose. I have never been so busy, some hours it seems I work from daylight until dark, but that’s okay ~ its harvest time and I refuse to let my crop die on the vine. I am a sower, a farmer, if you will; I am going to be out from daylight until dark if necessary to bring in my harvest. This is not a 9 – 5 job for me, this is my life. My life is to please God and to walk in His ways. His ways are seedtime and harvest. If I do what I am supposed to be doing in the right season, I can have what Isaiah 62:9 says, but those who harvest it will eat of it and praise the Lord. At the end of this season I intend to be eating well and praising the Lord!
Jesus said, the harvest is ready but the workers are few. Have you sown and are waiting on a harvest? It’s ready – get out there and bring it in. Proverbs 10:5 says that a person who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful. That’s very sad to me but what is even more sad is that the person who sleeps during harvest will have to go through an entire season of sowing again before he has a chance to bring his next harvest in, and the harvest that is waiting for him now, will die.
Harvest time is not the time to stop – it’s the time to make that final effort. Everything you have done and sown, believing, is ready and ripe – go out and bring it in. It’s a promise, a harvest is appointed for YOU. It’s ripe and ready, listen; can’t you hear the sound of wheat blowing in the wind? It’s the sound of your harvest, it’s waiting on you, bring it in, eat of it and praise the Lord!
