#HarvestProblems

Catchy title right! I was looking for sermons to watch on YouTube and came across a sermon from Steven Furtick at Elevation Church with the above title. At first I didn't know where he was going with his message but about 15 minutes in it grabbed my attention enough to need to watch it again and this time take notes. His sermon was on the harvest. Now for me growing up in church and hearing about the harvest it was always talked about as a blessing. It was a good thing, you could take a break as your blessing or breakthrough had arrived. He spent some time talking with a couple of farmers in his congregation and they clarified what a harvest is in terms of farming.

Wikipedia describes Harvest as “the time of year (autumn) when most harvesting is done.” They then describe Harvesting as “the act or process of gathering mature crops from the fields”. Now when your look at both definitions one is a time of year and the other is the process. When we think of harvesting, we may think the growing is done, the hard part is done and we can take a break. The one woman that Steven spoke to in his congregation said to him (at this point because he looked at Harvesting as a break...you can sleep in), “The corn isn't going to pick itself”. The corn isn't going to pick itself...a perfect way to describe harvest(ing). As Christians in church when we hear “the harvest is coming” or “the harvest is here” we get excited thinking that all the hard times and hard work is over.

The harvest is the hardest part and you cannot reap your blessings/breakthrough with your feet up. There is no time to relax and receive your blessings/breakthrough during the harvest. The harvest is God's way of bringing you through your breakthrough for you to receive your blessing. The harvest is meant to be the hardest part of your journey, the part that defines you as a person, as a christian. This is the time that God provides you with your calling, the time where he will open doors for you to walk through if you want to see it.

John chapter 4 is the example that was used in the sermon I watched and it is the perfect example of the harvest! I'm not going to quote the whole chapter or else this would be the longest blog ever...lol. Jesus was on a journey and he had to go through Samaria. Jews and Samaritans...do not get along! So Jesus was thirsty and met the Samaritan woman at the well. Through conversation between the two of them Jesus told her things about herself that she knew but didn't tell anyone. Now I'm going to skip a number of verses and when you get to verses 31-33 you see the disciples wanting Jesus to take a break and get something to eat. The disciples are 'meal minded'...looking for the next meal, thinking of when the next crisis would be happening. In those same verses Jesus is thinking about the mission. He was thinking about the harvest. When Jesus speaks of the harvest in verses 34-35 he is speaking about harvesting souls. The Samaritans came out to see if the man speaking to the woman was indeed the Christ (v.30). The Samaritans were the harvest. This was the challenge that Jesus was speaking about. The woman at the well was Jesus's bucket to get the water into Samaria.

Think about the situations in your life, think about your singleness, think about the breakthrough you are waiting on. When the harvest arrives for you, you can be a bucket for someone else. Your journey can encourage others. For me in my time of singleness right now I'm at the beginning of the harvest. There are days where it's hard to continue. You wonder what it's all about and why your breakthrough hasn't happened. What is wrong with me, why hasn't God blessed me with all my hopes and dreams? We wait for everything in our lives to be right, to feel blessed and have joy. The harder it gets, the more discouraged you feel, the greater our confidence that the harvest has arrived. I encourage you to keep going, keep working, keep discovering. When the harvest has arrived and we've sown and reaped all there was to get from it, we can rejoice in knowing that we are better because of it.

#harvestproblems #gracetobeloved #theharvestishere