Harvest- to reap or gather in the results a previous work or action or to remove for use.
(Oxford Dictionary)
The word harvest readily suggests the fall season and the time of gathering the produce of the land and celebrating the blessings of the season. I think of pumpkins, corn and other vegetables that are symbolic of the harvest season. Harvest surely means those things but so much more. Harvest is used to refer to the spiritual gathering of people in the name of Jesus. He said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” That plentiful harvest he was referring to was all the people who are waiting to hear a word from God. We are the workers of that harvest. How do we harvest? Let us look at a few possibilities.
It is possible that the best way to prepare to harvest others is to sow proper seeds in our own lives. In the Lenten season we are called to take a careful look at who we are and where we are going. Are we ready to face God the way we are right now? If not, what needs to be changed? What less than savory elements do we have to remove from our lives? These sorts of question are the ones that lead to a profoundly good harvest. I hope you will take them to heart.
To be a worker in the harvest we must offer ourselves freely to the work. Each day we look for opportunities to tell the story of Jesus. His story changes lives. We spread the joy and peace that comes with being a follower of Jesus the Messiah. People are looking for peace and tranquility in all sorts of directions today. They seek it in leaders that they follow and in fanciful religious theories. The story of Jesus is true and simple. It needs to be told, and we are the ones to tell it. You can be the voice of Jesus.
We must remember that the harvest is plentiful because all people seek a pathway to God. The world hungers to find the path. The Jesus path is simple because it is paved by love. Love presents enormous possibilities. The message of Jesus is above all else is a message of love and grace- love enough to die on the cross and grace enough to offer the love to all. The possibilities are infinite, because the love is infinite The harvest is endless when the love is endless.
Harvest is a powerful word because it is the act that brings both physical and spiritual life to the world. We must continue to observe the harvest, and God will continue to send the opportunities necessary.
His love, his grace will always be available to everyone.
Before the fruits of prosperity can come, the storms of life need to first bring the required rains of testing, which mixes with the seeds of wisdom to produce a mature harvest.
~~~Lincoln Patz
What are you planting today to harvest tomorrow?
~~~Lailah Gifty Akita
Raindrops and teardrops have two things in common. Both fall freely, and yield abundance. The former leads to abundant harvest and the latter, abundant mercy.
~~~Martin Uzochukwu Ugwu
We reap the fruit of the seeds we sow. Every good deed, every bad deed—they are the means of planting seeds that will reward us one day with a merited harvest from life’s garden.
~~~Richelle E. Goodrich
AS I watch’d the ploughman ploughing,
Or the sower sowing in the fields, or the harvester harvesting,
I saw there too, O life and death, your analogies;
Life, life is the tillage, and Death is the harvest according
~~~Walt Whitman
Sowing seeds in all areas of your life is an ongoing never-ending process sow seeds every day and sow twice as much seeds during your seasons of harvest
~~~James D Wilson
Harvest is real, but be wise to sow what you will love to reap in the new year, because your day of harvest is fast approaching.
~~~Bamigboye Olurotimi
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.
~~~Robert Louis Stevenson
What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.
~~~Meister Eckhart
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
~~~William Blake
Many are needed to plant and water what has been planted now that the faith has spread so far and there are so many people… No matter who plants or waters, God gives no harvest unless what is planted is the faith of Peter and unless he agrees to his teachings.
~~~Thomas Becket
Racism and injustice and violence sweep our world, bringing a tragic harvest of heartache and death.
~~~Billy Graham
While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.
~~~Genesis 8:22
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
~~~Matthew 9:37
Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
~~~2 Corinthians 9:10
Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.
~~~Leviticus 26:5
Indeed, the Lord will give what is good,
And our land will yield its produce.
~~~Psalm 85:12
And sow fields and plant vineyards,
And gather a fruitful harvest.
~~~Psalm 107:37
‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.
~~~Leviticus 19:9
The sluggard does not plow after the autumn,
So he begs during the harvest and has nothing.
~~~Proverbs 20:4
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
~~~Matthew 9:37-38
Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,
So honor is not fitting for a fool.
~~~Proverbs 26:1
LORD, Teach me to plant the good seeds in my life. These are the seeds that will produce a harvest that would be productive and godly. Strengthen and guide me to cultivate the spiritual seeds that you have gifted to me. Help me to remove the obstacles that interfere with my goal of living a godly life. Give me the gift of discernment so that I might have an abundant harvest.
Amen
A Pastor's Thoughts 