By Pastor Robert Miller
This is the harvest season. Have you looked around you? Fall foliage abounds. The brilliant colors of burgundy, gold, browns and greens signal that autumn’s glory is here. Orange pumpkins, yellow corn stalks and multi-colored gourds are decorating homes and lawns in celebration of the season. All the signs of harvest are clearly visible and easily interpreted. There is no doubt about it. The harvest signs tell us that change is about to come. Planters have reaped the earth’s reward and gathered it into the barns.
How exciting to think that this natural phenomenon known as harvest has a spiritual application too. Jesus tells us in John 4:35, “ Do you not say, It is still four months until harvest time comes? Look! I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields and see how they are already white for harvesting.” (AMP) Jesus is saying look at the signs around you. They indicate that harvest is not coming but is actually here. Those to whom he was speaking were not reading the signs properly and so were not preparing to labor to gather the harvest.They had it in their minds that there was more time until the harvest.
This mind set exists in the church today. Many of us are not recognizing the signs of the times. We need to take Jesus’ advice and look again. He wants the church to realize that the time has come to reap the harvest and not wait any longer. The end of the age draws close and Jesus is coming back. In fact Jesus requested that we pray for laborers to reap the harvest because it is ready, “Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to force out and thrust laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38 AMP.) God needs people who are willing to bring in the harvest. He needs you!
How can you prepare yourself as a laborer in the harvest? Jesus’ greatest quality was that he was willing to go because His Father requested that of Him. We, like Jesus, must recognize the Father’s need of laborers and be willing to go. God’s command was motivated by the peril of people who are living without Christ. Like the harvest that must be reaped in the appropriate time or be lost, so people must be brought to the Lord so that they are not lost. Do you look at people in terms of their eternal destiny?
As his disciples were willing to go, Jesus equipped them for their work. We must recognize that we have been equipped with all we need to reap the harvest. The Lord has given us the power. Without supernatural equipment the disciples would have quit soon after they started. Jesus has given us power over all the work of the enemy to heal, to preach and to set free those who are bound. Our supernatural equipment can meet any need you face while laboring in the harvest.Get rid of the fear of not having any results!
You can’t overcome Satan by reasoning with him. Reinhardt Bonnke says in his book, Evangelism by Fire, “Don’t argue–shine! You can’t conquer darkness by arguing with it. Just switch the light on. The Gospel is power. Power creates light. When you are plugged in the light comes on.” Paul also had this in mind when he said he came with a demonstration of power. Preaching or proclaiming the Gospel creates power. Expect God to confirm His word as you speak it.Have confidence in the fact that God’s word when spoken from the Spirit’s anointing produces the power to answer the needs of the people. We cannot just leave Gospel truth as an idea. It must be demonstrated.
Jesus was moved by compassion that released the power of God into the lives of those who were sick, bound and oppressed. Compassion is the key to successful personal evangelism because through compassion genuine love is experienced. Allow compassion to motivate you so that people can experience God’s love. Boldness in combination with compassion can overcome many obstacles to evangelizing.
Evangelizing is multi-faceted. It is more than just a salvation prayer.We are anointed to make disciples. How can we accomplish this? I believe we can make disciples through our own life’s testimony.Your testimony is more than an isolated incident; it is the pattern that you reveal to others. Do others see Jesus in you or someone or something else? Our testimony is anointed to have an impact on others by revealing the living Lord and how He changed your life. Your testimony carries God’s anointing and can affect many to come to the Lord. We also can make disciples through our words. You see preaching is nothing more than speaking the anointed Word from the Bible. Do you realize as you speak scriptural truths, your words are literally “seen” by others? Your words are anointed to evangelize people. What are people hearing from you? We can also make disciples by manifesting Jesus to others. When we operate in power, walk in love and sacrifice for the sake of others, people see His character in our actions and that is the point.
Signs of the harvest are all around us. Just look and you will see them. Time is drawing to a close and we must reap all of the harvest that we can. God needs you today!
