Harvest In Our Hands
Hello, everyone! It’s good to be back here on
Heart-chords. I know it’s been a few
weeks since I’ve posted anything, but those silent times are a good thing. It means that God has been speaking and I’ve
been soaking up His lessons to pass along to you all.
As
some of you will remember, on May 17th, I published a post titled Passivity
or Passion and shared with you my burden to see the fire of God revived in
the hearts of those around me. I
explained my grief at finding so few people that I could connect with
spiritually, so few people in whom burned an insatiable desire to be taken
deeper in their relationship with the Lord rather than being complacent and
content with their present level of intimacy with Him.
This weighed on my heart very
heavily, and I felt compelled to pray fervently and shed tears over the
condition I saw around me. I long to see
revival stir and to see God do extraordinary and radical changes in lives. I yearn to see believers stepping out and
making a difference for the Lord in the world around them, to see God’s kingdom
furthered and people set aglow with a passion for Him. And I know it starts in the hearts of those
already believers.
As I testified to in my post Drawing
the Line from April 22nd, God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly how
we want Him to or exactly when we want Him to though. Nearly a month went by since I had first
sensed this lack of zeal. I continued
crying, I continued praying, I continued to experience loneliness and
disconnection. The burden on my heart to
see an awakening in God’s people persisted.
Discontentment and restlessness thrived.
I wanted to do something, to be used by God to inspire others to seek a
deeper relationship with Him, but He wasn’t giving me any further assignments
and my one assignment- blogging- seemed unfruitful in helping to arouse
believers from their lethargy. If He
wasn’t going to call me to do something about the situation, why would the Lord
even reveal to me the condition of many around me? It seemed just depressing if it had no
solution.
But God did have a purpose as
He always does. Sunday, June 9th came
and my pastor preached what he said he felt was perhaps the most important
sermon he’s ever preached before. His
message was titled “A New Identity,” and as I listened from my seat in the rows
of chairs, I heard described the course of my spiritual journey since the close
of January. How could Pastor Dustin describe
so completely and accurately every step of my journey in the exact order
of my growth? I listened as he preached
on the transformation that the Lord desires to do in each of our lives and of the
passion for Him that He wants to ignite in each of our hearts. I knew all too well from experience what he
was talking about. As I listened to Pastor
Dustin connect the keywords “ordinary” and “extraordinary,” I thought of my
notes on my cell phone where several months before I had written those very exact
words. I even finished the phrase for
him in my mind. Was it merely coincidence
that those two related words had come to me too so long before? Could it be that I wasn’t the only one after
all whose heart God had placed that burden and revelation upon?
At the close of the service, when
the team of musicians returned to the stage and began ushering the congregation
into worship again, I began reflecting on my own journey and all that I had
given up for the Lord since the beginning of my absolute surrender to Him and
His will. My heart broke as I recalled
all of my struggles in that time but remembered the constant, unconditional love
and faithfulness of my Heavenly Father throughout it. Feeling the tears coming, I sat down in my
seat and simply leaned forward into the nest of my hands, bending over my
lap. My head cradled in my hands, I
allowed the tears release. I must’ve
been there sobbing for at least forty-five minutes, but in the course of that
time, something began to occur.
Amidst
my brokenness over my own journey, the Lord slowly began shifting my focus and
I gradually became vaguely aware of those around me. I kept my eyes closed, still crying, but I
began to notice voices around me as my church family worshipped and praised the
Lord. And I received another revelation. A smile beamed across my face, and I couldn’t
stop thanking God for what He showed me He was doing. The awakening I had so long been yearning to
see was finally coming.
Since then, our pastor has continued
to preach every Sunday about things that I’ve experienced recently in my
spiritual journey. I can relate to every
message He preaches. He’s preached about
transformation, about going out and taking back the places around us for the
Lord, about being overcomers and seeing not impossibilities but having faith
and trust that all things are possible with God. And I’ve cried every time as I sense in my
spirit a growing unity in the body of our church, a unity that I’ve never known
before. As I sense a breakthrough right
on the horizon and a growing thirst in those around me for the presence of the
Lord. As I feel the embers being fanned
and about to break forth in an all-consuming fire.
Several Sunday mornings ago, I was
in church worshipping when our pastor opened up the front of the sanctuary for
an altar-call. Everyone that desired the
transformation of God in their life was to go forward to signify and declare by
their action that they were ready for its coming. For one moment, I considered going up, but
the Lord spoke to my spirit and strangely held me back. My place was not down front with that group;
I had already experienced that transformation, I had already been there, He
told me in that moment. My place was to
remain in the background, behind-the-scenes, and support what He was
doing. My place was to continue praying
and crying for my church family. So I
did. I opened my eyes at one time and
saw Pastor Dustin standing up on stage, eyes closed too and praying
fervently. I was not the only one God
had called to that assignment.
We often have a tendency to question
why God does the things He does when He does them, but the Lord reminded me
that it is not an accident or a mistake that He embarked me on my new journey
of spiritual growth when He did. He
assured me that the loneliness and disconnection I felt was not just a
misconceived idea but that it was a very real, very understandable, and very
natural product of His plan. I am already
on the road, on the journey, He showed me, that He’s about to bring so many
other believers on. And I can’t wait for
that time. He has called me ahead for a
reason, and I think I’m finally beginning to understand that reason. I’m finally beginning to understand my
purpose in this season. That reason is
to carry the hope of the greater place the Lord is bringing us to, to support
His work with fervent prayers and tears from a heart burdened to see His move,
and to encourage His journeyers along the way.
To work behind-the-scenes.
I share this not in a spirit of
pride but in a spirit of rejoicing; it is with thankfulness for your prayers,
my faithful readers, that I share this with you so that you may see a product
of your prayers for me as I sought to find my purpose in this season. I don’t know why God chose me for this task-
I haven’t done anything to deserve it- but I have found my assignment for the
here and now. But I’m not the only one
He’s given this task to. There are
others, like my pastor, to whom God has given this assignment of supporting
with prayer and intercession the revival He is awakening in His people. In fact, in church just last Sunday, the Lord
revealed to me that this awakening He is stirring in His people isn’t just in our
little church of Cornerstone Fellowship in Dacula, Georgia, but that He has
called so many other individuals all across the nation to this task of being
prayers, and that a fire for His presence is being slowly and quietly stirred
beneath the surface in churches across America and even in churches across the
globe, I dare say even.
I
admit, I hesitated greatly to write this post though. There are so many aspects about it that I
feared would be misinterpreted. I was
afraid that some might think I was trying to give a prophetic word, when in
reality, my only intention is to share my thoughts and what I believe in my
heart God is doing, not to predict the future.
But I couldn’t keep this to myself any longer. These are exciting times for the body of
Christ, and I am encouraged by the passion for the Lord that I feel building up
in those around me. The unity in the
Body of Christ has, is, and will unfortunately be challenged by discord, but as
my father wisely pointed out, it only means we’re getting close to the Enemy’s
camp if he’s trying to break up the army.
The past few weeks have been so incredible as I have watched things take
place that I never thought I would see occur.
This
expectancy is not something I can describe though. Either you know what I’m talking about or you
don’t. I know somewhere deep down in my
core that an awakening is stirring and breaking forth in the Body of Christ
across America, in believer’s everywhere.
I’m not exactly sure what it all looks like, but I know it’s
coming. And I can tell I’m not the only
one sensing this in my spirit.
The
other day, the Lord reminded me of an event many months ago. It was late one Saturday night, March 9th,
and I couldn’t fall asleep. I was lying
in bed, just thinking to pass the time, reflecting with amazement on all that
the Lord was doing in my life, when suddenly a strange expectancy came over me. I described it to my friend this way: “A
knowing just kind of swept over me. A
knowing that something big’s on its way.
I didn’t know what though.” Could
this awakening be the something “big” that I had sensed then was already on its
way?
I
was praying in church several Sundays ago when God suddenly brought to my mind
the image of a picture I had found online many months before. This was the picture at the beginning of this
post. The caption He gave me for it was
simply this: “The harvest is in our hands.”
And in that moment, He gave me the message of this post to write. I was reminded also of a verse I shared with
you all in my post from May titled Through God’s Eyes: “Do you not say,
‘Four months more and then the harvest’?
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now
he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be
glad together. (Jn 4:35&36) We have been looking on the horizon for so
long, we have been counting down the months until the grain is ready for
harvest, but I truly think that the Lord is saying to us, “Open your eyes and
look at the fields!” The fields are
already ripe for harvest. “Then he said
to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to
send out workers into his harvest field.’” (Mt 9:37&38) I believe that God is calling forth workers
into the field to reap His harvest and that the training of his laborers begins
with this revival of awakening and passion for Him. God is calling, training, and equipping His
harvest reapers. God is raising up prayers,
He’s raising up leaders, and He’s raising up servants to work
behind-the-scenes. The rain has already
come. We already have everything we need
to stir the fire of God in our families, in our churches, in our communities,
in our states, in our country, in our world.
God is awakening His people and telling us that the harvest is already
in our hands. “Even now the reaper draws
his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life.” (Jn 4:36) Brothers and sisters in Christ, the harvest
is in our hands and the training is breaking forth. Even as I’m writing this, I am reminded of a
statement I made in my post A New Season, a post I shared a full four
months ago: “I sense something big about to break on the horizon as God awakens
His people in this time and brings them into a new season in their
relationships with Him. A new season is
breaking forth, and God is awakening His people.” This statement is coming to fruition in the
here and now in which we live and move and breathe today. Join me in this exciting time as we look
forward with eager anticipation to what God is doing!
“Let
us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a
harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Photo courtesy: www.123rf.com
~We’ve all heard of the phrase “pulling on her/ his heartstrings,”
but heart-chords? I was struggling to
decide what to name my blog. I wanted it
to be a name that was both creative and meaningful. As I pondered, my gaze fell upon my acoustic
guitar where it stands in my bedroom, and the Lord reminded me that our hearts-
our lives- are instruments. They are
constantly in song, but what melody our heart plays is each of our own
decisions. They can play a melody for
praise or for entertainment. A musician
selects his songs according to his audience.
So do we. Whether our audience is
the world or the Lord, our song will be different. This blog is designed to first, increase my
awareness in finding God and His guidance in my every day and second, to share
the music lessons He teaches me in tuning my heart to learn the chords of
praise He longs to play on my heart-instrument.
Music is a powerful tool. Use it
for His glory. “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of
praise to our God. Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:3
