God’s Harvesters
Are You One of the Lord’s Harvesters?God has many titles, but one of special interest is ‘Lord of the Harvest:’ “Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38). In this context, a ‘harvester’ is a Christian who pleads to God (as a ‘harvester’) and with love and compassion warns (‘harvests’) those who have fallen away from Christ and risk eternal judgment. As Christian ‘harvesters,’ Matthew’s gospel encourages us to ‘harvest’ people who may have entered the narrow gate but have wandered off the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14).As Christians, our first duty is to seek the Lord in prayer. Waiting on…abiding in the Lord…is a critical part of serving Him. For example, before the disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they were not prepared to witness for Christ, and He therefore instructed them “not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you heard of from Me’ ” (Acts 1:4). Patience…and dutiful waiting…is a hallmark of spiritual maturity. It’s not always easy, but we can do this.We are encouraged to be ‘harvesters’ but also can recognize we can only do what we can do. It is possible to pray for someone’s salvation while keeping them at arm’s length. As Christians, it is acceptable that we pray regularly for the salvation of a loved one, a neighbor, a friend, or a fellow employee and then to let our involvement simply be our prayer. However, when we sincerely pray for the Lord to send assistance to those unsaved people, we can’t help becoming open to being that someone ourselves. When we sincerely supplicate the Lord to send someone to witness to them, we place ourselves at His disposal to become one of His “workers” in that ministry. Are we…are you… prepared to take on that role…as a ‘harvester?’Who among your friends, family, or associates is in need of Christ’s saving touch…to be harvested? Name them in your prayers each day… and at every thought of them. Pray that the Lord will send this person His Spirit who can deliver God’s conviction to their souls. That person may be you. JG