How to Harvest

Aug 15

Written By Dwayne Hunt

How to Harvest

The Secret to Reaping Your Financial Harvest

Dwayne N. Hunt

A Pocket Wisdom TM Book

1574 E. Shelby Drive

Memphis, TN 38116

dwaynehunt.org

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Table of Contents

Exordium

1. Sow What

2. The Grim Reaper

3. Spiritual Farmers

4. Finish What You Start

5. Who, What, When, Where and How

6. Show Me the Money

7. Help Wanted

8. What Are They Doing with My Stuff?!

9. So Happy Together

10. Your Harvest is in the Harvest!

11. The Ant, The Ox, The Slug and The Steak

Exordium

I was guilty. I had contributed to the deception. It was not intentional, but it was deception all the same. Not to play the blame game or to seek absolution from my part, I was not the leader or the originator of the deception. I was not a pawn either. I was just passing on what had been passed to me.

I repent. And I write this treatise to point to the whole truth, to remove the veil from the eyes of Believers and to cause souls to be added to the Kingdom.

Sow What?

I was brought up in church. I started out as a ‘church baby,’ grew up as a ‘PK’ (preacher’s kid), developed into a minister, and now I am a pastor. In all my years of being in and around church I have heard a lot of teaching and preaching on the subject of “sowing.”

Sowing is the process of planting seed into the ground with the intent of producing a crop. Jesus used sowing as a metaphor in His teaching on several occasions. When the term is used in church-speak, it most often refers to the act of giving money. The application being that, just as a seed sown into the ground produces a harvest, money ‘sown’ in church will produce a financial harvest. At some point during church gatherings, the attendees are invited to “sow”. Then an offering plate was passed. Well, in my church life I have done a lot of sowing, and I have seen a lot of offering plates!

In the course of my sowing, or giving in the offerings, I have been taught the action of sowing sets in motion the receiving of blessing, or the reaping of my financial harvest. Then I am told that God wants me to be generous in my sowing, because ‘if I sow a little, then I will only reap a little; but if I sow a lot, then I can expect to reap a lot’ (2 Cor. 9:6). In other words, the more I give, the more I’ll get. The appeal to give is always capped off with a reminder to be happy about my sowing, because “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).

Not only have I been preached to about sowing, I have also heard a lot about reaping. Most of that sermonizing has centered around the message that “A person will reap what he sows” (Gal. 6:7 NET). That statement has usually referred to one of two things:

1.) the consequences of doing something bad, or

2.) the results of giving money in an offering, (which sometimes seemed synonymous with the first reference).

Church teaching on reaping explains that when I sow my seed, or give my offering, God, who is faithful, will take my seed and multiply it back to me. I have been guaranteed that my simple action of sowing, will produce a harvest. Further, I have been given scriptural affirmation that God’s multiplication formula for my harvest is ‘thirty, sixty or one hundred-fold’ (Mark 4:8).

Genesis 8:22 is used as an assurance that God’s law of sowing and reaping is immutable. It declares, “As long as the earth remains, there will be seedtime and harvest” (Gen 8:22 paraphrased). From the church teaching I have been led to believe that, after I have sown, all I have to do is ‘stand firm’ on that Word, have faith for my harvest, make the right confessions and get ready to receive my blessings.

I must admit that there have been a lot of times that I have sown and have not reaped anything. And when I do have some return, it does not seem to have been ‘multiplied.’ Most of the time, I am just happy to get back what I gave, and I am ecstatic if even just a little has been ‘added’ to it.

But that is not what I was promised! I was promised a return of 30 to 100 times on my giving. And when I fail to receive the promised ‘multiplied’ return, I must admit that I have contemplated breaking out of the seemingly incomplete cycle of sowing and not reaping. Immediately I am told that the worst thing for me to do is stop giving ‘because the key to my financial harvest is to keep planting money systematically.’ I am admonished that to stop giving is to violate God’s system. (Yet, if I am planting on a regular basis, then it seems to me that I should be reaping on a regular basis.)

If I dare question aloud why there is not reaping proportionate to my giving, I am told that

· maybe something was wrong with my seed, or

· maybe I did not sow my seed into “good ground,” (referring to the right ministry or the right cause), or

· maybe I have not watered my seed that has been planted, or

· maybe I need to get the weed off my seed, or

· maybe I need to cultivate my faith.

I am given so many potential reasons for not seeing results, or not receiving my harvest, or not getting my blessing, that I become confused...

I thought it was an immutable law – this ‘Sowing and Reaping’?

Added to the reason why the harvest is minimal, or even non-existent, I am told that I need more patience to receive the blessing. I have been given admonitions that a farmer does not reap on the same day that he sows. He does not plant in the field on Sunday and harvest the crop on Monday. Therefore, I need to be patient, because it is just not my “due season” (Gal. 6:9) to reap, yet. The preachers and teachers give me spiritual encouragement that even if I do not see any manifestations of my blessing, ‘the seed is growing under the ground’ – God is still working on my behalf.

Then, only to add to the confusion, one minister may rebuke me regarding releasing doubt. Another tells me to make the right confession and say the right words, because ‘you shall have whatever you say’ (Mark 11:23). Someone else gives me instruction to pray because prayer will unlock the harvest. Though differing on certain principles, they all agree on this thing: Whatever I do, above all, keep giving… ah, I mean, keep sowing!

And if nothing happens still, then the problem must be me – I must be deceived. After all, the scripture states it simply: “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). It is the law of God. Therefore, if failure to get a harvest causes me to doubt, then I must be deceived, because God is certainly not going to be mocked. His Word will be performed...

I am urged to just keep sowing my seed, even though it may be with tears, for even then It is working, as the tears are watering my seed. Psalms 126:6 reassures me that my tears will soon turn into rejoicing, because I will return ‘bringing in the sheaves’. I will have a harvest, so I am told. So “sow”, I am told.

Finally, if I have gathered no fruit from the seed that I have sown, there is that exhortation that resounds beyond the church walls, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). So, maybe, I actually got my blessing when I gave! Oh, well. Sow well!

In all that I have been told about sowing, I honestly have no memory of anyone telling me how to reap my harvest. What about you – when was the last time anyone told you how to harvest? The last time - when was the first time?! I have been taught everything about the seed and sowing, but nothing specific regarding reaping or how to harvest my blessing, beyond placing my faith in ‘the God of More than Enough’. I cannot remember anyone in church world, and I mean anyone, telling me how to harvest.

I have researched innumerable Christian books, magazines, sermons, online teachings, etc. on the subjects of prosperity, sowing and reaping, and harvesting; studying them specifically for a revelation on the ‘how’ of harvesting after I have sown.1 Most of what I have examined under the headings of reaping and harvesting is void of real instruction on the reaping and harvesting process itself. I am always pointed backwards to seeding and sowing, instead of forward to the harvest. The ‘Law of Sowing and Reaping’ is always affirmed, to assure me that there will be a harvest. In other words, I am told that the spiritual principle works, but I am never told how to work the spiritual principle. The sermons and teachings and publications lead me to believe, or leave me to believe, that the heart of the work is in the sowing, and the harvest is simply a product and result of the seed. I am assured that the harvest will appear.

I have searched for knowledge and instruction, but no one has ever given me definitive directions on how to harvest. Honestly, all I have been able to glean is an equivocal understanding that it is not a matter of work but a matter of faith, so keep planting because ‘God gives the increase’ (1 Cor. 3:6).

In being told that God wants me to have increase, nobody is telling me how to get it. It is like I am left to believe that my blessings will just ‘show up in the mailbox’.

Well, the Holy Bible gives me directions which I have heard, read, and even quoted, but have missed the clarity of: “You shall reap what you sow” (Gal. 6:7 paraphrased). We interpret that to mean ‘what you put out comes back to you, or what goes around comes around,’ with the implied assumption that it automatically happens. Try reading it differently: ‘You shall reap what you sow.’ Or read it like this: ‘You shall do the reaping of what you have sown.’ Reaping is a corresponding action to sowing. It is an action that is preplanned, intentional, deliberate, and methodical. If you do the initial action of sowing, then you must do the successive action of reaping.

The only way I am going to get my harvest is if I go out and reap it!

To a farmer and a gardener, it is a ‘no-brainer.’ But to Christians, it is a ‘brain teaser.’ Most Christians do not have a clue as to how to harvest. We think that our harvest just miraculously shows up. The whole idea of going to reap it ourselves is totally foreign to our spiritual doctrine.

Well, haven’t you grown weary with sowing ‘seed' and not getting a harvest? I know that the Bible tells us to “not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9 NIV). Please do not tell me that it is not the proper time! It is past the proper time! You see, the Bible also says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov. 13:12). Some of us are sick and tired of waiting on our harvest. We have been waiting so long on our harvest that our attitude is ‘so what?!’ We have been giving so much for so long that when it is time to give again, all we can say is ‘sow what?’

1 There are some wonderful books and resources on Christian financial management and some awesome teachings regarding Christian stewardship. They do present ‘how to’ systematically, thoroughly, and most often with clarity. However, our present search is not for answers on budgeting, management, business, or Christian entrepreneurship. We were in search of the answer of how to harvest or reap what we have sown financially.

The Grim Reaper

Jesus was a master teacher and one of His most common teaching methods was ‘the object lesson’, which consisted of observing natural objects and processes to help people understand spiritual principles and truths. Paul the Apostle implied that if we can understand a natural principle, then we should have no trouble making the spiritual application (1 Cor. 15:46). But somehow, we have missed the biblical truths of sowing and reaping. That is a sad fact considering the Bible says so much on the subject, and preachers spend so much time dangling the concept in front of us.

The Bible is a book about farmers, fishermen, and ranchers. Many of the stories and illustrations have to do with agricultural life, cultivating the soil and producing crops. In this agrarian Book we see the law of sowing and reaping espoused from Genesis all the way through to Revelations. Everything starts in a garden, with God, Himself as the Sower. After the flood, He is the One who declares the permanence of the law of “seedtime and harvest” (Gen. 8:22). And He does not stop talking about sowing and reaping until He gets to the end of the Book, when He makes the apocalyptic call for the final harvest (Rev. 14:15-16).

With so much having been said about it, we should not have such a hard time understanding how to harvest! As a matter of fact, Jesus tells us that if we want to understand what the Kingdom of God is like, then we should understand the process of sowing and reaping:

“Jesus also said, ‘The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.’” (Mark 4:26‑29 NLT)

The first thing that I want you to notice is that the mystery is in the growing, not in the sowing. The verse says that the farmer does not understand how the seed sprouts and grows. And for our purposes, it is especially important to notice that there is no mystery in the reaping of the harvest: “as soon as the grain is ready the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle.”

In Jesus’ analogy, as in life, the man does the sowing of the seed. It is an intentional, preplanned work. We seem to understand the activity of sowing, relative to the Kingdom of God. We know that our sowing – whether it be the sowing of our time, our talent, or our treasure – is a conscious, calculated decision of what to sow, when to sow and where to sow, which prompted the actual measured action of sowing on our part.

However, when it comes to reaping the harvest, Christians have come up short. In the season when there should be gathering and reaping, Christians turn passive and inactive. We have somehow concluded that when it comes to our spiritual harvest, ‘because I have sown, now God is obligated to give me my blessing. And because I have given generously, He is going to give me a good harvest.’ We sincerely believe God for our increase, but our faith ‘does not produce any works’ (James 2:26). Since our faith has no works attached to it, we do not have a harvest to show for all our sowing.

No self-respecting farmer would employ himself in a season of sowing – going out to till the soil and plant the seed, then at harvest time, do what ‘Believers’ do in the spiritual realm: believe that the grain will harvest itself and simply show up in the barns. Yet, Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God is like the entire process of sowing and reaping. If the farmer knows what to do in both seasons, then we are supposed to know the same in the spiritual realm.

Nonetheless, we will do the first work, purposely planting our spiritual seed, sowing into the field – the Kingdom of God. But when it is time for us to gather our harvest, we just sit. We sit and wait for our blessing. And we wait in faith, believing to receive our blessing. And we wait on God, praying that He will give us our blessings. And we wait on God, proclaiming our confession. And we wait on God... And we wait... While we are waiting, we may even add some “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage” (Ps. 27:14) scriptures to make our inactivity appear ‘holy.’

When you sow, God works the miracle of growing the seed. He mysteriously makes a full-grown stalk of corn out of that little seed, with multiple seeds for many more stalks. That is the miracle part. Sadly, we think that everything after our sowing is supposed to be miraculous. We think that if we only sow, God takes care of the rest, both the growing and the harvesting.

Well, just as sowing is a deliberate, active work, reaping is also a deliberate, active work.

Please examine the scripture again, noticing the emphasis:

“Jesus also said, ‘The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.’”

Yes, God causes the earth to yield the crop, but “as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle.” It is the farmer who puts in the sickle, not God. The farmer: the same person who did the sowing. This is the natural law that is to be applied to Kingdom Principles. You have to ‘use your sickle’ when it is time for harvest. Christians have been sowing, and sowing and sowing, but never ‘putting in their sickle to harvest’.

May I ask you a question? Do you honestly feel that you have gotten back everything the preachers have promised that you would receive from your sowing? Have you seen, if not the hundredfold, at least the thirty-fold blessing? Has
it been given back to you, “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over?” (Luke 6:38). Do you have “more than enough”? I did not think so. Sadly, that is true for most Christians.

One song in Psalms declares that “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Ps. 126:5). Most Christians are still waiting on the joy and the reaping. At this point, they are only grim. It is not because God has not done His part. It is because we have missed the most crucial part of receiving the blessing, which is reaping the harvest! In truth, we have not experienced the joy of reaping because we have not known how to harvest.

Spiritual Farmers

Isn’t there a song entitled “Thank God I’m a City Boy”? Well, if there is not, there should be. Some of us love the concrete jungle. And for us, it is okay to not have a green thumb. For my father it was a different story. While all I have ever known is living in the big city, I do not think his heart ever left the country – specifically the rural county of Hardeman in Tennessee.

My dad mastered being formal and sophisticated. But he never lost his roots in the soil of Grand Junction, a town of 300 people. I know because even though he raised three children in the city, he also raised chickens and rabbits. I know because even though we lived in the city, we ate farm fresh vegetables grown in his garden in the back yard.

I remember seeing my dad wielding the hoe, weeding, and clearing the ground. Then he would till the soil, turning it and breaking it up. This was followed by the digging of furrows as he plotted out where he would plant the various vegetables. Then, taking the seeds from their packaging, he would meticulously plant them in the rows he had created.

Since he had a working knowledge of both the ground, coupled with a working knowledge of the Bible, I decided to explore the subject of harvesting with him. (My dad was an amazing Bible teacher, and I was fortunate to be able to have this conversation with him before he went home to be with the Lord.)

“Pops, the Bible says a lot about sowing and reaping, from Genesis to Revelations. You understand the process, both, from the scriptures and in real life. I’ve heard you speak from the pulpit about sowing seed when it is time for the offering, and I’ve seen you literally sowing seed in your garden.” I asked, “Do the same principles apply to both?”

“Definitely,” he answered. “It’s an earthly reality that’s also a natural principle and a spiritual law. The same way that you plant seed in the natural and reap a harvest, that principle of sowing and reaping also applies to our deeds2, our righteousness3, our time, our money, and so on.”

“Yes Sir. We reap what we sow. What we put out comes back – automatically and multiplied,” I added.

“Son,” my dad stopped me, “that’s true, but it’s not the whole story. What we put out does come back, but how we receive it varies.”

“What do you mean, ‘it varies’?” I asked.

“Our deeds, that we sow into the atmosphere, they come back multiplied. Hosea 8:7 says it like this: “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” Our actions, both good and bad deeds, eventually come back to us, compounded. There’s usually nothing that we have to do. Life has a way of balancing the scales.”

“That’s what I said,” I interrupted. “We reap what we sow.”

“True, but when you say it like that, there’s a certain implication that you don’t have to do anything to reap. We try to take the principle of how life gives us returns on certain intangible things and make that a universal application, and it is not.”

“When I sow seed in my garden,” he continued, “yes, it grows, and it comes up multiplied. But, if I don’t go out into the garden and get the vegetables, they won’t just show up on the back porch. I have to do something if I want a return on my seed sown.”

“Pops, what about when I sow my seed in church, you know, my offering? Isn’t that a spiritual act and isn’t God responsible for that harvest? If I have sown my seed in the spiritual realm, planting it in faith, aren’t I supposed wait in faith for my blessing? Isn’t that statement about reaping what I sow, also a promise?”

“Son, your harvest may be guaranteed, but it doesn’t just come to you. It may grow automatically but you don’t just automatically get it. It doesn’t simply present itself. You have to get up and go out into the garden, or into the field, and physically reap your harvest. The only way you are going to enjoy the harvest of what you’ve sown is if you go get it.” He finished, “if you don’t take the initiative and harvest it, it will rot, or the birds or bugs or rodents will eat it. But one thing is sure, it won’t reap itself.”

I definitely understood what my father was saying, but I had to get more out of him. “But Pops, when I sow spiritually, and am prayerful, and have faith, certainly God is going to keep His word and multiply my blessing back to me. I may have to wait a little while, but my harvest is guaranteed,” I stated with a knowing provocativeness. “If I can understand spiritual things, then certainly I can apply them to natural things.”

My dad had a way of shaking his head and pursing his lips, accompanied by a hum in his throat, that conveyed both a disagreement and disappointment.

“Son, 1 Corinthians 15:46 says, ‘the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.’ In other words, if you can understand the natural, then you can understand spiritual things. In the natural, when the seed you’ve sown ripens, it doesn’t come to you. You must go to it. You have to pick it, reap it, harvest it, however you refer to it. You go to it; it doesn’t come to you. Now apply that natural principle to spiritual things.”

“But what about my faith?” I insisted.

“What about your feet?” my father countered, his tone saying everything. “You know that faith without works is dead.”

“Thanks Pops. You gave me what I need to make my point.”

___________________

I pray that what you already know in the natural is coming alive in your spirit – that just as sowing is a deliberate, intentional, planned work, reaping is also a deliberate, premeditated work. It would be a wasted effort for a farmer to spend a season sowing, then when it is time to harvest, he does not go to get the blessing. There would be a lot of ways we would describe that farmer, and ‘smart’ is not one of them.

As a Christian, you have been taught the principles of sowing. How to sow has been explained to you. You are learned in what to sow – your money, your time, and your talent. You are given the opportunity of when to sow – at least once a week when the offering bucket is passed. But you probably do not have a clue as to what to do after you sow. So, you sit and expect your blessing to fall off the vine, into the bushel and present itself to you. Some spiritual farmers we are!

May I ask you a question? When was the last time you went out to reap your own harvest after you season of sowing in church? While you are thinking about that, let me throw another question your way? Where is your blessing?

After all, you have been sowing your seed, you have been giving your offerings, you have been supporting the ministry. You have done it liberally, and cheerfully to boot. Can you honestly say you feel like what you have sown has been multiplied back to you? Do you have “sufficiency in all things”, with extra left over to help others, like 2 Corinthians 9:8 says you are supposed to have? If you do not, then I must ask you the question again: When was the last time you went out to get your blessing? Ah, you thought God was supposed to bring it to you, didn’t you?

This is the day you learn how to go get your blessing. Today is the day you learn How to Harvest!

2 Job 4:8

2 Hos 10:12

Finish What You Start

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

- John 4:34‑38

Our learning of How to Harvest begins at the very end. Our first instruction: “Finish the work!” We must learn to finish what we have started. It is the life lesson for all disciples, or people of discipline.

In life, we will always be challenged to take short cuts, alternate routes, or even to stop at places of comfort. Remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane? His challenge was to submit to finishing what the Father had started – to “drink the cup” (Matt 26:42). Because Jesus the man submitted to the whole difficult process, He was able to make the declaration on the cross “It is finished” (John 19:30). Because He finished the work, He was given a name of authority which is above every name and He was seated at the right hand, or position of favor of His Father (Phil 2:8-11; Eph 1:20).

The key to receiving the blessing is to be a good finisher. The Apostle Paul, another good finisher, gives us this advice: “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:9). Getting weary or tired, or just feeling unsuccessful in your efforts will cause you to want to quit. Not see results will. You can also become disheartened when you do not understand the process. Paul’s encouragement to us to be good finishers is two-fold: First, “do not grow weary.” Second, you must understand the process.

Paul offers the aforementioned exhortation right in the middle of his famous discourse on sowing and reaping. It follows his proverbial statement, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7). So, you can see that his encouragement to be a ‘good finisher’ is relative to reaping. The end of the process is that “you shall reap” - that is, if you do not lose heart, or get discouraged.

Sowing and not receiving the promised ‘thirty, sixty and hundred-fold’ blessing has caused many, if not most Christians, to become discouraged and to lose heart with the promise and the process. The promise is not lacking. Christians are just ignorant of ‘the process.’

After our season of sowing, we must get through our summer season, (which represents our difficult time). It is in the dry, hot season that we must persevere and keep cultivating. If we plant in the season of sowing, and endure in the sweltering season, then comes the season to harvest.

Harvest time is the most important time. It is not just the time of reaping, it is the time of rejoicing. In the words of the song, “We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves!” Finishing is rewarding and rewarded. Our end is also the place of a new beginnings…

Harvest season is the most important time because it is the season that is the source for all other seasons. It is the rewards from the harvest that carry you through the long, cold winter season. It is the choice portion from the reaping in the harvest season that is set aside to be sown in the next planting season. It is the fruits of a previous harvest that should sustain you in the dry season, while you await the future yield.

But the reason we have not rejoiced in our harvest, the reason we are befuddled when our blessing does not come, the reason we do not have sufficiency to sustain us during the difficult dry seasons is we have not learned how to “finish the work.”

If you want the whole of your blessing, you must do the whole of the work. You started with your seed sown. When you did not get the promised blessing, you decided to sow some more. When that blessing failed to materialize, you were persuaded to prove God, so you sowed again, this time with the tithe. Somewhere along the way you heard that you could have what you say, so you began to watch your words and proclaim your harvest. You even develop a confession that you say everyday: “My harvest comes to me now!” (Remember that to confess means “to agree with God.” If you are not saying what God is saying, it is not a true confession.) You pray that your faith would increase, but until your faith produces the finishing work, your increase will only decrease. You can sow until Jesus comes back, but you will never really experience the harvest until you learn to finish the work.

Jesus said that His ‘food’ was to finish His Father’s work. In other words, finishing what He started provided a nourishment and sustenance to Him. Many are doubly hungry because they have not been nourished from the fruits of the harvest, nor do they have a sense of spiritual satisfaction from finishing the work.

Get your harvest implements and come with me. Let’s finish what we started...

Who, What, When, Where, and How

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

- John 4:34‑38

Jesus tells us to look at the field and recognize that the harvest is ready. Joel, the Old Testament prophet, says “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe” (Joel 3:13 NLT). Joel gives a call to action following the recognition that the harvest has ripened – “swing the sickle”. Just in case you miss the obvious, Jesus and Joel are talking to us. The who that does the harvesting is not God, it is you and me!

God’s responsibility is in the miracle of growth. After He causes it to grow, we have the obligation of doing the precise work of putting in the sickle, threshing the produce and reaping the harvest. That is the how of the matter.

The when of the harvest is simple. It is now! Micah, when he addresses the threshing, tells us to “arise,” which means “get up now” (Micah 4:13). Jesus, Himself, proclaimed the timing, saying “Look! The fields are already ripe for harvest!”

Jesus also declared the extent of the harvest: ‘The harvest truly is great and plentiful’ (Luke 10:2a NKJV & ESV). However, there is a problem, He explained: “the laborers are few.” God has done the miracle of causing the seed to grow. The dilemma is that there are very few who are going out to reap the harvest.

Jesus is grieved by our failure to gather the harvest. There is plenty to be harvested, and the harvest is ready now, but He does not have enough Believers willing to finish His work and go into the fields to swing the sickle and reap. We refuse to go get it! So, He instructs us to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2b).

Can you see that we are not where the harvest is? The harvest is not in the church! The harvest is in the field. The church is the banquet table, and we all want a good seat at the table. Jesus is constantly challenging us to get up from our feasting, leave the banquet hall and go into the field and participate in the harvest (Matt. 22 & Luke 14).

You want your harvest, don’t you?! Well, it is on the other side of the beautiful stained-glass windows.

The imperative that Jesus gave in the aforementioned verse is within the context of Him sending out seventy of His disciples (Luke 10:1). They are directed to go out in pairs, as advance teams, to the cities where Jesus would eventually go. It is in their preparation to go that Jesus explains to them that they are being sent out as laborers into the fields to harvest.

Upon their return from the fields, they were ecstatic with joy and enthusiasm. Their experiences in the harvest fields were incomparable to anything that had ever happened in their lives. Listen to their declaration in Luke 10:17: “Lord even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

Now notice Jesus’ reply to their excitement in the next verse: “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents, and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (v. 18)

It is very noteworthy that Jesus’ declaration of authority in the lives of His disciples is directly related to them (us) going out into the fields and becoming harvesters.

Most of my church life I have heard the reading of Mark 16:17-18: “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” This passage was always used to explain why Pentecostal churches believed in demonstrative signs, such as tongues, healings, and miracles.

I have witnessed a lot of ‘tongue-talking,’ but just like the limited harvest from our giving, I have not experienced a commensurate number of miracles. I am convinced that the reason the Church is not walking in the fullness of power and authority is because we have not kept this scripture in its full context.

What precedes those coveted ‘signs’ in verse 17 is the command given in verse 15 to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” When we “Go” the signs will “Follow”! Conversely, if you do not go, we cannot expect signs.

You know what a sign is. It gives you direction. It helps you get to your destination. It is to prevent you from getting lost. Signs are for people needing direction and for lost folk. Christians are sitting in the church, the place of destination, looking for signs. The signs are not for Christians, they are for the lost people needing to find their way to Christ!

If you look at the New Testament Church in the Book of Acts, you will find that the disciples did not work many miracles in the church. They ministered to the Lord at church (Acts 13:2). They held the prayer meetings at church, praying, ‘Lord, give us strength. Lord, give us power. Lord, give us boldness. Help us to go out and to confirm your Word with signs and wonders’ (Acts 4). They celebrated what they had in common in the church, and most especially, they were equipped for life and ministry in the church. But the miracles and the signs and the wonders were mostly done on the street, aka, the field.

Believers sit around the sanctuary, refusing to go, then we want to fault God, saying, “Where are the signs?” We want to point our finger at the preacher and say, “God is not moving.” We want to blame the prayer-warriors and say, “Nothing is happening.” But if we do not go, signs will not follow. So, what are we supposed to do after we sow, and sow, and sow? After we sow into the kingdom, we are supposed to “go” into the field and harvest.

Jesus is clear in declaring that “The field is the world” (Matt 13:38). In sending us into the field to harvest, He does not send us ill-equipped. He endows Believers with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the reason He gives us the Holy Spirit is so that we will be equipped and empowered to do this field work, and so we will not be alone while working. (See John chapters 14 & 16.)

So, to review, the ‘who’ of the harvest is you and me – not God! The ‘when’ of the harvest is clearly right now! The ‘where’ of the harvest is the field – the world. The ‘how’ is through going out to labor – to reap through threshing. And when we go into the field to reap the harvest, the ‘what’ of the harvest is souls...

Souls?! But why? I thought we sowed money, and since we reaped what we sowed, shouldn’t we be reaping money? What is this about souls?

Show Me the Money

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

- John 4:34‑38

When I promised you that I would teach you how to harvest your blessing, you were thinking about money, weren’t you? When we talked about sowing, you were thinking about money. You were thinking about all the times you had sown in offerings, and now you are ready to reap the harvest of those financial seeds. Now you are disappointed, aren’t you? Well, don’t be. I am talking about money. After all, the scripture specifically declares; “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). The ‘what’ you sow is the ‘what’ you shall reap. So, if you have been sowing money, then you will get the revelation on how to reap money.

Whenever I share this message in a church environment, most people try to act spiritual, pretending that money is not that important to them; while deep down inside they are crying out for me to give them the revelation that will release their personal harvest of money. Well, reading this book, you do not have to worry about who is watching or judging your reaction. You do not need to put on your church behavior. It is okay for you to say, “Show me the money.” Shout it out: “Show me the money!” I assure you now that this is not a re-serving of the confession, “Money is coming to me now.” I am going to tell you where the money is! So, say it again! “Show me the money!”

You are not being unspiritual. The Bible, in one of its wisdom books, says, “money answers everything” (Eccl. 10:19). I’ll bet (excuse the expression) that you have some questions that money can answer? The Psalms declare that “the LORD...has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant” (35:27). After all, it is “the LORD... who gives you power to get wealth” (Deut. 8:18). Notice, He wants you to prosper, but He does not give you the wealth. He gives you the power to get the wealth.

There is a plethora of Christian books and tapes on the subject of prosperity. (And there are a lot of preachers getting wealthy preaching on the subject.) With so many resources and espousers of the prosperity message, why are so many Christians still having financial struggles? Why don’t Christians fair better economically? Why is the ratio of Christian bankruptcies equal to non-Christian bankruptcies? Why hasn’t prosperity “come to me now”? Why hasn’t there been ‘trickle down’ from the blessings that the wealthy preachers testify of, to the people who listen to their messages, buy their books and resources, and put money in their offerings? In other words, if it is happening for the preacher, why isn’t it happening for the pew sitter?

Hold on, hold on, generally most of them have not been wrong in their messages. Do not allow you thinking to sink to that place of,” all the preacher wants is your money.” Their messages on sowing have been Biblically accurate. So, do not criticize their prosperity and good success, because it is based on another Biblical principle of sowing and reaping found in 1 Corinthians 9:11: “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?”

For the lay member, there has been a critical piece of the message missing. Of course, you are probably personally aware of that fact based on your own results – or lack thereof. The sermon stirred your faith, but it did not produce all of the desired results. Your confessions gave you hope, but the money never came. You gave in the offering as spiritually as you knew how, but your harvest never seemed to manifest. (Too bad there was not a money back guarantee on the offering.) If you had received the full revelation in one of those sermons, you would be further along financially. If you had discovered the answer in those other books or resources, you probably would not have been drawn to read this book.

Everything that the Bible says to you about your harvest is true. But we have not been open to all the truth of the Bible. Our problem has been that we have been waiting for God to give us the harvest, instead of recognizing that He has given us the power to go get the harvest. Do you really want your harvest? Do you really want the prosperity that the Bible promises you? Then, are you willing to use your God-given power to go get it? I repeat, as I must, that you are going to have to go out into the field to get your harvest.

Because sowers have not been actively going out into the field, it has not been working for the pew-sitter. That is why money has not been coming to the church goer. Sowers, come with me into the field and I will “show you the money!”

Getting Paid

We have already established that sowing is an active, deliberate work, and that reaping is also an active, deliberate work. Jesus directs us to go into the fields and be laborers in the work of harvesting. Okay, (you’re thinking) so I am obeying Jesus, and I understand that I am reaping souls – people are being saved. That is wonderful, and I am not trying to be selfish, self-serving, or unspiritual, but while I am reaping souls, “What about the money I have sown?”

When I planted, yes, it was a spiritual work, and I know that there is a spiritual aspect to my harvest. But do not I reap the thing that I sow? If I sowed money, aren’t I supposed to reap money? Show me the money!

Good news: Jesus shows you the money. He says that when you go into the fields to harvest, “He who reaps receives wages.” That’s right. When you are obedient to His command to put your sickle into the ripened produce, you get paid. Yes, you get paid!

When Jesus sent His disciples out as laborers into the harvest, He reassured them in their efforts. He affirmed to them that "The laborer is worthy of his wages” (Luke 10:7). I especially like the way the NIV Bible puts it: “For the worker deserves his wages.”

First, you have sown financially into the Kingdom. Now God has hired you as a laborer in His harvest. When you work, you deserve to get paid. And you are worthy of everything you get!

That is not some metaphor for a spiritual blessing. Do not limit it to just a spiritual blessing and miss out on the double benefits. It means what it says. It is a blessing in the tangible realm; you really get paid. Read John 4:36 again: “And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life.” Do you see that there are two blessings? The spiritual blessing is ‘fruit for eternal life.’ Then there is the “receiving of wages.” So, as an obedient laborer in His harvest, you are setting yourself up for a blessing in eternity -- and you get paid!

Jesus tells a parable in Luke chapter 19 about a nobleman who entrusts his kingdom to his servants as he departs to a distant country. The specific instructions from the nobleman to his servants was to “Engage in business until I come” (v. 13 ESV). The interpretation of the parable is Jesus expects us to handle Kingdom business until He returns – and that is more than just going to church! One business that we are to be engaged in, that Jesus has actually hired us for, is gathering the ready harvest in the field. And since He hired us, He’s going to pay us. And nobody can pay you like Jesus!

But hold on. We have only talked about wages for your work. We have not even addressed the harvest of what you have sown yet!

Help Wanted

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

- John 4:34‑38

On our journey to discover the answer to How to Harvest, it seems we are only raising more questions. Hard questions:

$ Isn’t the promise that you reap what you sow?! If that is true, then why do we sow money and reap souls?

$ If you sow financially into the Kingdom, and go out into the world to reap, what happens to your financial harvest, and who is reaping it?

$ Don’t you also reap where you sow? If you sow in one place, why do you reap in another place? If I sow tomatoes in my garden and go reap corn out of my neighbor’s garden, what about the tomatoes in my garden?

$ What happened to my money – ah, I mean my seed?!

As promised, here comes the revelation that will bring change to your finances, your life, and your spiritual perspective... if you will apply it.

Jesus initiates answering the conundrum by saying, “For in this the saying is true.” He did not make that statement because He was inclined to tell an untruth, but because He was revealing a new truth. Jesus was using the Hebrew literary technique of repetition to emphasize the importance of what He was about to say. The King James Versions translated His affirmation as “Verily, verily”. The English Standard Version says, “Truly, truly”. Whenever Jesus used this “authoritative affirmative” He was saying, “You may not have heard this before, but you can trust what I am about to say to you. It is true. You can bank on it!”

“One sows and another reaps”

This returns us to the practice of ‘hiring a laborer’ to do a particular job. Since you always reap more than you have sown, you need more help reaping than you do sowing. In that case the farmer hires laborers to help collect the yield of the field. This practice of hiring field hands is discussed all throughout Jesus’ teaching. In presenting it, Jesus is teaching us that there is a Kingdom Principle that we may know in the natural but may have overlooked in the spiritual. It is a Principle that will ensure our harvest once the spiritual revelation is understood and applied.

You will reap what you sow. You will reap more than you sow. The reaping is done where you sow. Jesus simply declared that others are hired to do the reaping of the ‘what’ you sowed, where you sowed it. You, in turn, are hired to reap what Jesus has sown, where Jesus has sown it!

Allow me to restate it: Jesus has sown His seed, and you are hired to reap His harvest for Him. Your seed was sown and rest assured, what you sowed will come up and it will be harvested! The catch is that someone else is hired to reap for you.

“The sower went out to sow his seed...” begins the familiar parable of Jesus, recorded in three of the Gospels.4 This “Parable of the Sower,” as it is referred to, is another teaching on Kingdom Principles. Jesus says this is one of the most important parables in that if you could not understand this parable, you would not be able to understand any of the parables (Mark 4:13). “The seed is the word” He explained. Then, He goes on to say, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man” (Matt. 13:37). It explains the ministry of Jesus and the preaching of the Gospel.

I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored

The Word has been sown in the field of the world. Jesus tells us, “look at the fields, they are ripe for harvesting.” Then He commissions us or hires us to reap the fruit of His seed that was sown. Jesus affirms that where the Word has been accepted is where there will be fruitfulness of ‘thirty, sixty and a hundredfold’. (We have always applied that principle of return on our seed instead of His.)

When we reap His harvest, we not only get paid, but we also bring to pass the saying, “One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored.” What did Jesus sow for and what have you been hired to reap? Souls!

“I am excited about souls being saved, but what about what I have sown? What about my money – my seed? Who is reaping it? Why am I not reaping my money – I sowed it?!”

Because “one sows and another reaps” and you have been hired and sent to reap that which you have not worked for.

“Well, I get the part about it being my job to reap where Jesus sowed. I even understand that He pays me for doing it. But who is reaping my blessing?”

Before I answer that, let me ask you a question: Where did you sow?

“In church, where else?”

No. You can make donations, charitable contributions or simply give to the church, but you do not sow into the church or a Christian ministry. You sow into the Kingdom of God. The church or a Christian ministry is the vehicle for that. By sowing into the Kingdom of God, your money becomes a living seed.

“Okay, so who is reaping in that Kingdom ‘field’ where I have sown?”

I thought you would never ask...

4 The Parable of the Sower is recorded in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.

What Are They Doing with My Stuff?!

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

- John 4:34‑38

Have we addressed most of the difficult questions? Do you understand that there is an actual reaping of the ‘what’ that has been sown – however someone else is hired to do your reaping? You are hired to reap where Jesus has sown, and He has hired someone else to reap where you have sown. Yes, the Bible says He does the hiring all around.

Who did He hire to reap your stuff, you keep asking? Who is harvesting your blessing? Who has your money?

The sinner.

“The sinner?”

Yes, I said the sinner.

“For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God.” (Eccl 2:26)

God has given the sinner the job of gathering and collecting, or reaping your stuff.

“That sounds crazy! Why would God hire sinners to reap my stuff?”

Something seems wrong with that picture. You can understand that He wants you to go out into the world to reap the harvest. After all, the seed that Jesus sowed for the world was His very life. But, if you have been sowing financially into the Kingdom, what business does the sinner have reaping what you have sown? Why is he harvesting your stuff?

Because that is the sinners J-O-B. While you are working for God, in the field, the sinner is working for you. What you have sown, God gives the sinner “The work of gathering and collecting.” Remember at the beginning of this book when we declared that reaping is an active, deliberate work. God, Himself, has assigned the work of harvesting our stuff to the sinner.

“Why?”

So that he, the sinner, can give it to you, “the one who is good before God”. That is what the Scripture says. And you are the one “who is good before God”, right?

“Well, why would the sinner just give it to me? Is it because I am good before God?”

Nope. The sinner gives it to you as a result of your going out into the field to harvest. Surely you remember what you are supposed to be harvesting. SINNERS! When you harvest the sinners, you are harvesting the people who have been harvesting your stuff!!!

You do your job. God will do His job. The sinners will do their job. You’ll get your harvest! Let me say it another way: God is doing His job. The sinner is definitely doing his job – gathering, collecting and reaping money and material things. Are you doing yours? Are you reaping sinners?

I am not making this up. This is a principle set forth all throughout the Bible. Why we have missed it, I do not know. The rich man, Job, affirms the principle:

“Though [the sinner] heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay; he may pile it up, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver” (Job 27:16‑17).

God has hired others to gatherer, collect and reap material stuff, because His plan (and desire) is for you to spend more time pursuing Him and His harvest. He wants you more consumed with walking in your purpose, worshiping Him and seeing souls saved. He wants you less consumed with going after material stuff. Jesus tells us, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all [of the other stuff] shall be added to you” (Matt 6:33).

You do not have to worry about your stuff. He’s employed somebody to take care of it. They are gathering it. They are collecting it. There’s so much of it that they are having to pile it up. You can have it. Things are positioned for them to give it to you. But they are only going to give it to you when you “go” – not to get the stuff, but go out to get the souls! The souls with your stuff! When you are concerned about souls, you will not have to be so concerned about your stuff!

You do not have to be envious of sinner’s prosperity. You do not have to be jealous of what they have. Be excited about it, after all, they are working on your behalf. All the stuff they have been collecting and have piled up is being stored up just for you.

The wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. (Prov. 13:22)

Yes, it is stored up – in the store; and the store is in the world, being managed by the sinners. If we Christians want it, then we must go to the store, but, I repeat, not for the stuff – for the sinner.

We have been jealous of the wicked because they seem to have more of the world’s goods than the Christian. We have been envious that it has seemed easier for them to succeed in their worldly system than it has been for Believers in God’s spiritual system. At times many have questioned the value of pursuing righteousness, not seeing the promised prosperity. Let’s be honest, too many Christians have even expressed doubt about working God’s financial system of tithes and offerings, because we have not felt that our seed was being multiplied back to us, or that we were truly under an open heaven. Well, if sowing and reaping have not been working for you, then ask yourself these three questions:

1. Have you been actively engaged in the work of the harvest?

2. Have you been in your harvest field or in God’s?

3. Are you more concerned about stuff or about souls?

So Happy Together

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

- John 4:34‑38

Does it seem that sinners have more stuff than Christians? Well, I showed you in the last chapter that it is the sinner’s job to pursue stuff. Do you wonder why you can do the same thing they do, but not have the same success in acquisition? That is because God will not let you succeed outside of your calling and purpose in Him. His plan for you is to pursue Him, to pursue His Kingdom, to pursue your calling, and to pursue souls. Our failure is that we want both, to be in Him and to work the world’s system for acquiring stuff. Our complete success is in Him and in His system. Your stuff will come to you when you pursue His purpose.

The irony is that Christians are looking for what the sinners have, and the sinners are looking for what the saints have. Sinners have found out that ‘stuff’ does not satisfy. Christians are saved and sanctified, but not satisfied – because saints want some stuff. And it is okay to want stuff. It is actually a God-given desire. He has promised stuff to His people: prosperity (Ps. 35:27), wealth (Ps. 112:3), riches (2 Cor. 8:9), abundance (2 Cor. 8 & 9), profit (Isaiah 48:17) plus “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). He wants us to have both spiritual and material prosperity. However, all of this will only come to us out of purpose, priority, discipline, and obedience.

The Bible makes some awesome promises about Believers having stuff. But the Bible also makes some awesome promises to the sinners about having salvation! If we could just get this revelation of How to Harvest, more sinners would experience the gift of God’s grace, there would be the Biblical transfer of wealth to the saint, and both would “rejoice together.”

Instead, we are experiencing an onslaught of prosperity messages that only raises the level of frustration in the Body of Christ. Believers are being taught to sow, how to sow and how much to sow. We are given plenty of opportunities to sow. We are having hands laid on us so for our divine wealth transference. Then we are boldly declaring that our blessings “cometh.” Well, in order for that to happen, we must get up out of our comfortable pews and “goeth.” Until we learn to operate in the fullness of God’s plan and His system, we will continue to have our hopes raised, only to see them dashed.

Pastors, preachers, and ministers give the promise of return when offerings are gathered and collect. Preachers stir people to give with the assurance of multiplication. But ministers do the greatest disservice when they leave people to believe in ‘mailbox miracles,’ and “name it and claim it.” They teach by implication that the blessing is simply a miracle that just reaps itself – that the harvest just shows up on the back porch.

So, we wait. Then we wait some more. We wait in faith for our thirty, sixty or one hundredfold. We pray. We fast. We make positive affirmation. And we wait...

And contrary to scripture, we get weary with the process. We grow sick and tired because our hope in what we are taught seems deferred (Prov. 13:12).

In the meantime, churches recycle members. These recycled members are going from church to church looking for their stuff too!

Well, your stuff is out there. Stop looking for it in church! Take another look at the fields. Its ripe for the picking. Go get the stuff – God’s stuff: souls! When you reap the souls who have been reaping the stuff, you will both enjoy the promises of God and rejoice together.

And those sinners that you reap are going to put a value on “true riches” (Luke 16:11). It will mean nothing for them to impart their riches to you – whether it be material, or influence, or connections, etc. It will mean nothing for them to share things of value with you because you shared that which is most valuable with them. They are going to freely bless you because you blessed them with “true riches”.

Does that sound improbable? It has more biblical support than the notion of your harvest just showing up or simply coming to you. As a matter of fact, this great exchange of treasure is the way God planned it. When people come out of the world, they are not supposed to come out empty handed! They are supposed to come out with “great possessions.” That is what He promised Abraham in Genesis 15:14: “The nation whom they serve I will judge, afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”

One reason people come into the church so worn out, broken down, busted up and poor, is that we did not go out to get them when they had the spoils. They get beaten up by sin, worn out by the devil, and emptied out while chasing something to satisfy their appetite. Then they find their own way to the church. But when they arrive, they have nothing left. When they get saved, all they have is a testimony.

What if you ministered the Gospel of Grace to the day-trader who made $4,000 a-day in the stock market, and God truly changed their life? What value would they put on salvation’s transformation – and on the person who ministered ‘true life’ to them? Why do we only minister to the poor and downtrodden? What about corporate executives, financiers, scientists, drug kingpins, politicians, athletes, and movie actors? God is equally concerned about the souls of those who have creativity, imagination, entrepreneurial acuity, business savvy, money management skills, valuable talents, incomparable abilities, and spoils.

Do you remember what we shared about Jesus’ commission for us to “go” and that the “signs will follow”? The outcome of Jesus going into the fields and ministering the gospel of the kingdom was miracles, healings and casting out demons. This resulted in many of the people who received ministry becoming loyal financial supporters of Jesus. When they had demons cast out, or suddenly stood up when they had never walked a day in their life, do you think they hesitated to share anything that they had? The scripture says they “provided for Him from their substance” (Luke 8:2‑3). How did you think Jesus supported Himself and at least twelve other traveling ministers, for three and a-half years? Why do you think Jesus and His men had a need for a treasurer in His organization?

There’s another account in the scripture that affirms that when we minister in the field as we should, it causes for the release of material blessings. Naaman, a sworn enemy to the people of God, received healing of the dreaded disease leprosy by the hand of Israel’s prophet, Elisha. The after-effect was not only a declaration that Jehovah was the one true God, Naaman also offered gifts of money and clothes to Elijah (2 Kings 5:1-15).

Naaman was not converted, but the experience of being ministered to provoked a positive response and a desire to release some of the stuff he had collected and laid up, or harvested. Everyone will not be persuaded to surrender their souls, but you’ll be surprised how many will “open their treasures” (Matt. 2:11). It may be a referral for a new job. It may be a stock tip. It may be an introduction to a financier, or ‘a mover and a shaker.’ It could be an idea. It could be information on a real estate sale. It could be a simple financial release, or material transfer. Who knows what awesome thing will happen when we obey God and go out into His field to reap His harvest!

I recently heard the testimony of a pastor who shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with a wealthy Islamic Middle Eastern dignitary. The rich man was so moved by the gospel that he gave the minister a Rolls Royce! Yes, he gave the pastor a Rolls Royce! He received something spiritual. He recognized how invaluable the gospel was, so he responded in turn with something of great value. In expressing his gratitude and transferring the title of the Rolls Royce, he was fulfilling the scriptures about the transfer of wealth. But that fulfilment only happened after the pastor went into the harvest field.

What blessing or reward have you missed by not going out into the ripened fields?

Your Harvest is in the Harvest!

Presently, there are many anointed voices declaring the great end-time harvest that is coming. Some of these proclamations refer to the harvest as an influx of souls into the kingdom. Others are proclaiming the harvest as the end-time divine transfer of wealth from the sinners to the saints. I believe in the prophetic accuracy of both declarations. More specifically, they are the exact same harvest.

The financial harvest is in the harvest of souls! In other words, our harvest is in the harvest. To be precise, our harvest is in His harvest. His harvest is the sinners, and our harvest is in the hands of the sinner... so we need to go harvest the sinner. We do not need to go get our stuff from the sinner; we need to go get the sinner! And when we go get God’s harvest, we will get our harvest, too.

This end-time harvest will not just come, it will not just happen. Jesus admonishes us to go and “compel them” to come. The prophet Micah tells us to “arise and thresh” (Micah 4:13). The apocalyptic apostle says, “thrust in your sickle” (Rev 14:15). Prophet Joel adds his voice with “swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe” (Joel 3:12). Whichever way you say it, the only way we are going to experience this harvest is if we are found in the field.

We have accepted the invitation to eat at the Lord’s dinner table but rejected His invitation to work in His field. We need to remember that what we experience at the table is the fruit of the harvest.

“...and blessed shall you be in the field” (Deut 28:3)

That is where your blessing is – in the field. Go to the field and get your blessing.

Think about it – more of our ordinary life is actually spent in the field than in the environs of the church. Our opportunities to reap His harvest are vast and numerous. Yet, we seem to use our time in pursuit of our stuff. God strategically placed your stuff in the hands of the sinners. And the sinner is doing the job that God has assigned to him, of gathering and collecting, and piling up. Now, we just need to do the job that God has assigned to us, of reaping the harvest. That is the only way we are going to get our stuff!

Field of Dreams

“If you build it, they will come.” That is the memorable line from the popular movie. I have heard it used by ministers when building new edifices. The attitude is that “they” will just come. All we have to do is build the building. Hello! In the movie the “they” that will come refers to ghost. Not the Holy Ghost. Ghost of dead baseball players. We have been more theologically impressed by a line in a move than by a mandate from our Lord.

We have been living in a field of dreams. It is time to wake up and go into the Lord’s field of souls. “They” will not just come. You must go, with your sickle, and reap them.

People matter most to God. I am sure you agree with me. Since people matter most to Him, then they should matter most to us as well. Do you still agree? Then do your actions agree? I am afraid that most of us, if judged by our deeds, express more concern for our stuff than God’s stuff – souls.

I am saddened to think that some have read this book in anticipation of learning how to get their stuff, only to have their interest wane when they learned that the key is to go out and win souls. We have handed Satan the victory. We allow him to keep secure the souls he has bound by sin, while we remain in lack and want. Christians must get a revelation on this issue.

It is my prayer that, as a result of reading this book, you are encouraged to go get God’s stuff. That is how you will get your own stuff. I want you to pull out your spiritual sickle and begin swinging it to reap His harvest, with a renewed assurance that you are about to receive a return on all that you have sown.

“Here Comes the Harvester”

A friend of mine wrote a song of that title. He confesses to being a marginal Christian, but he has a better grasp on the principle of harvesting than most serious Christians do. We probably would have written Here Comes the Harvest.

By now it should be deep in your awareness that the harvest does not just come. You are commissioned to be a harvester. Sinners, upon seeing you coming, should proclaim “here comes the harvester.”

All to often we feel like we got to church to satisfy a spiritual obligation. And when we are there, we expect to be ministered to, sung to, and preached to. We can treat church like Uber eats, that delivers everything to us, including our blessings. The only time the average Christian is diligent in reaching out is on special days. Something like a Friend’s Day must be put on the church calendar, announced weeks in advance, made into a contest – with a prize, for us to be persuaded to do what Jesus commanded.

It is time for us to wake up. It is time for us to decide: are we going to really be the Church, or are we going to just do the things that we call church?

This is the day of good news! Your harvest is out there. Even now you should be seeing sinners differently. They are the key to divine release in your life. You are the key to divine release in their lives.

And your stuff? All the stuff will be transferred to you, and to the kingdom. It will be transferred for godly use, and godly work, but only according to God’s principles.

Your harvest is in the harvest. Go!

The Ant, The Slug, The Ox and The Steak

I recall the line of a hymn I used to hear growing up, “Sinner, please don’t let this harvest pass.” I remember this being sung as an appeal to sinners to give their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a passionate call to urge the unharvested soul to seize the moment because ‘today is the day of salvation’. The urging was right. But a song specifically to sinners was disingenuous. Consider the sinners’ song back to us, recorded in Jeremiah 8:20:

"The harvest is past,

The summer is ended,

And we are not yet saved."

We are calling the sinners to do the right thing in the harvest season – to repent. The sinner’s reply to us is, “we are not saved because you Christians did not come harvest us.” God sides with the sinner in this exchange. He sent Jesus Christ to harvest us; now we have been sent as ‘Christ-like-ones’ to harvest unbelievers. And in sending us, we are reminded that the harvest is ripe and plentiful.

To prepare us for this Kingdom assignment, the writer of Proverbs first sends us to school. We are directed to learn a lesson from one of nature’s teachers: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, [she] gathers her food in the harvest” (6:6 & 8b). There is a wisdom to be gained from observing the ways of the ant. It is a simple wisdom. During the time of harvest, she gathers! The ant does not wait for the harvest to come to her; she goes and actively gathers it.

By contrast, an unwillingness to work for one’s harvest places one in the category of “sluggard.” Sluggards are more than lazy; they are slow-moving. In contrast to the ant, the sluggard is so slow that they miss their season. To the slug, work is inconvenient. They prefer ease – and that ease leads to poverty.

Even after reading this book, some will still choose the way of the slug. They picked up this book, looking for the missing magic formula for receiving their blessing, but found this teaching to be inconvenient. They would rather embrace the belief that “money cometh” without their required action of ‘going!’ That is the path of ease that leads to poverty.

In these pages is the call to work. To them, it is more desirable to wait than to work for the harvest. They prefer the blessing theology that teaches ‘faith produces the harvest.’ So, they will continue to sit in the house waiting on the blessings to hop off the vine, jump into the bushel basket and present itself at their door or in the mailbox. They will be forever waiting! They will continue to testify that they are children of the King, yet live in lack, scarcity, debt and want. They will continue to sow in offering after offering, but never reap any real blessing. All because they choose the way of the sluggard rather than the wisdom of the ant.

Before school is dismissed and we go to gather the plentiful harvest, the writer of the Proverbs sends us into another classroom:

“Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty,

but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.” (Prov. 14:4)

We must add the strength of the ox to the wisdom we gained from the ant. Oxen are extremely effective for the works of sowing and reaping, being stronger than both horses and mules. It was their strength that helped produce the harvest in abundance!

I am told that working is inherent to an ox. Can you imagine all those muscles, and not putting them to use? Look around any church on a Sunday morning and notice all the inherent (born again, Spirit-filled) “muscle” lined up at the trough (in church), but not using their strength in the field (the world).

We have spiritual oxen who will not use their strength on God’s harvest. Oxen that will not work are not needed. When they are not serving their inherent purpose, they are purposeless. If they refuse to use their strength for the field, they are unprofitable alive. Their only value is in the slaughterhouse. They end up as steak on somebody’s dinner plate.

The next part of our lesson in this classroom is that “a clean stall equals an empty storehouse.” Put another way, “harvesting is dirty work.” Seed is sown into the soil, or stated simply, the dirt. So that is where we must return to reap the harvest. But this dirty work leads to “much increase.” We cannot steal away to our safe, sterile, clean Christian environment, to avoid being soiled. In this case, cleanliness does not equal godliness; it equals poverty. Dealing with sinners will be dirty, dusty, gritty, grimy, muddy work. If you focus on the mess, you’ll miss reaping the harvest, the increase, the profit, the abundance, the blessing.

Our lesson, our challenge: we must commit to being like the ant and the ox, before we end up like a slug or a steak.

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Now it is time for us to leave our lodges of learning and go into the fields to reap the rewards. It is time for us to push away from the spiritual dinner table and go pick in the pastures of plenty. It is time for us to come outside of our comfortable cathedrals and gather in the abundant harvest that stands ready and ripened, waiting for us.

It is work. That is why Jesus called us laborers. But the rewards are great! The rewards are in the harvest.

Timing is critical. You cannot neglect this season of the harvest. You cannot wait any longer. If you do, the produce will rot on the vine, or the (demonic) rodents and bugs will devour it. Another harvest will go un-gathered. Both the saint and the sinner will remain in various states of poverty, want, lack and debt. Worst yet, the heart of God will be grieved.

So, go. Go, now! Gather in His harvest and reap your reward!

Dwayne Hunt