The 3 Phases of the Harvest

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” -Hebrews 12:11

When we say to God, “I’m ready,” what we’re really saying is, “I’m worth more than this.”

Asking God to change our lives often begins with an affirmation. This becomes the first seed we sow into the soil of our hearts, inviting Him in to unfold an amazing journey between “right now,” and the eventual harvest. In true God fashion, He will allow us to bring in the last fruit from the FIRST seed we plant—the sprout of our own self-worth that grows into a spiritual tree of righteousness and peace. Knowing our worth translates into knowing our true identity in Christ. How does the God of unsurpassed wisdom and power explain this to us? Well, that is called life…

This phase is a painful, but necessary one. It is the sowing of many lessons, and the deepening of our relationship with God. Why? Because He is the master harvester, and teacher—the source from which all of the instructions come from. During the sowing, God will ask many things of us that will test and fine-tune every aspect of our being: patience, resilience, temptation, faith, stamina, forgiveness, trust, and more. Imagine for a moment that each area of ourselves is a different seed, which requires a unique set of instructions to grow properly…

? God may ask you to hold a seed in your hand for 8 hours before putting it into the dirt. “This is so pointless,” you say to God, but you do it anyway. When you find yourself in the expected disagreement between your mind, and His instructions, the lesson begins. But with each minute that passes, as you hold the seed in your hand in faith, you begin to notice how warm you’re feeling from the sun. On hour # 8, you dig the shovel into the ground with ease, pop the seed in, and remember that you had been freezing in the morning when God handed you the seed. That means the ground would have also been frozen… but now that the sun has been shining all day, you realize that God just saved you from toiling into frozen earth by asking you to wait. Success!

? God may ask you to stay up all night with one of your seeds, speaking life into it. He may ask you to sing praises, read your favorite stories from the Bible to it, and tell it all about Jesus. “What kind of ridiculous request is this? I’m tired, I don’t want to stay up and do this,” you say to God, but you do it anyway. In the morning, half-way between sleeping and being irritated with God, a child comes out from hiding behind some bushes and says to you, “I have been up all night listening to you talk about Jesus. I never knew Him until today.. I’m gonna tell everyone!” Your understanding takes shape, and you realize that you just became the teacher for the first time, and passed God’s word down into a whole new generation. Success!

? After working hard on a large section of crop, God asks you to flood the entire thing. “After all this work? So you’re saying this was all for nothing?” Your anger consumes you, but you do it anyway. As you watch the sprouts become over saturated, the water run off flows into a nearby lake. The force of the excess breaks a barrier free and water goes rushing down a hillside, creating a beautiful waterfall. You go check it out, and as you look over the edge, you see an entire village of people running toward the water with basins to fill as they are rejoicing. In a season of drought and death, the villagers had no idea there was an abundant supply of water just above them, but because you listened to God, you brought hope to a thirsty village. Your sacrifice was so small compared to the goodness that it produced. In complete humility, you fall to your knees and tears flow from your eyes. You give all the glory to God for teaching you these lessons. Success!

God is always molding us, but there is an initial starting point. So, is there an end? The sowing lasts as long as it takes us to fully realize the transformation between WANTING to know our worth in Christ, and beginning to LIVE it. A spiritual harvest is neither work nor rest, it’s more like vacation-mode. After much preparation, we wake up one morning to embark on that big vacation we’ve been dreaming of, and how do we feel? Ready to get into it! Prepared, excited, peaceful, and happy; there’s no fear or anxiety at all. Welcome to the harvest, friends! A relaxing time to sit back and allow God to do the reaping by rolling in truckloads of His blessings, one after the other. Just as each seed of growth came with an important lesson, it produced a different and perfect fruit, all combined together to make the ingredients for our best life ever!  

The greatest part is that the harvest never really ends. Once we accept God and Jesus into our lives to show us our worth, and mold us with his words, we will never walk through barren fields again. We will never toil in the pain of this cold earth. We each become a new being in Christ—living a brand new life. We finally know who we are! When we hear God’s mighty voice say, “Bring in the harvest,” the abundance begins and never ends. That, beloved, is what ever-lasting life truly means.

His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ -Matthew 25:23

Written by: Michelle TK