Preparing For The Harvest...This is Why

​I am so excited about how this new blog series, Preparing for the Harvest, is starting. The response has been so awesome and I love when the Spirit is moving many people at the same time in the same direction. That is exactly the point you know when something is going to happen for His glory.
 
I forgot about an exchange I had with God a couple years ago until I began reflecting on why God has put this blog series on my heart. God gave me a word during that season that I was like THAT whale…you know, the whale mentioned in the account of Jonah. You can read more of the context of that blog post here ”Hmmm…He Just Called Me A Whale!”, but basically God told me I was a vessel, like that whale, to get people going in the right direction. He was going to use me to encourage others and to give them a place to rest a while and sort out whether or not they were going to follow the plans God has already given them or is about to give them. Some may want to be like Jonah and get all the credit (he does have a whole book of the Bible named after him), but I am completely okay with God using me any way He sees fit. After all, I’ve told Him a number of times to use me for His glory and that I am willing to do anything He calls me to do. If that means He’s given me the task of being His created vessel to transport people to His calling on their lives, then that’s what it will be. 
 
I recently read that unlike the Second Great Awakening, which reached out to the unchurched, the First Great Awakening focused on people who were already church members. Thomas S. Kidd in his book, The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America, said, “Pulling away from ritual, ceremony, sacramentalism and hierarchy, the [First] Great Awakening made Christianity intensely personal to the average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual conviction and redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard of personal morality.” I believe this is happening in the Church today.
 
A local church planter and friend of mine is teaching a sermon series entitled, “Awaken.” In his recent newsletter, he quoted Charles Spurgeon who said, "A slumbering church compels Satan to make it his chief business to rock the cradle, hush all noise, and drive away even a fly lest it light upon the sleeper's face. His great dread is that this church might rouse itself from her dreamy repose.” May we arise! As we speak words of awareness and live in a state of being completely awake, we thwart the efforts of the enemy and bring glory to God the Father.
 
I do not know what part each of you play, but I do know that every believer has a role according to the words found in 1 Corinthians 12. It takes many people to prepare for the Harvest. There are so many roles that need to be performed and if they are not all done, the full bounty of the harvest is compromised. Jesus said in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
 
I pray this blog series truly encourages you to find or expand your role and see how the Spirit is moving in preparation for the Harvest. The greatest place to start is your relationship with the Lord.
 
Looking forward to great things for His glory! The first guest blog will be posted later this week.