But when He saw the multitudes,
He was moved with compassion for them,
because they were weary and scattered,
like sheep having no shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples,
"The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
"Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers into His harvest."  (Matthew 9:36-38)

We've been hearing about the harvest for years.  Whole conferences have focused on it.  Prophets have proclaimed it.  Many of us have fasted and prayed for it.

Are you one of the people the Lord of the harvest can send?  

People who preach about the harvest run into several reactions:


"Don't talk to me about getting into the harvest.  I don't have time.  I have work to do."

Almost every Christian I know right now is overworked.  Who among us has time to add something to our plate?

And many of us have taken pains to seek God for personal direction.  We've done everything we know to do to clear our calendars of extraneous commitments.  Based on Jesus' words in John 15, JoAnn and I often pray for the Father to prune us, so we can slow down.

JoAnn and I are not unusual.  We meet many who sincerely want to divest themselves of personal agendas, to do nothing but God's will.

Jesus said that if we come to Him, He will give us rest.  When we are overworked, it is a sign that we are carrying the heavy burden of our own works, not the gentle burden of His.

In John 4, Jesus met the woman at the well.  He wasn't trying to minister; He was trying to rest.  He sat by a well and sent the disciples into town to buy lunch.  While there, He asked a woman for a drink of water.  One thing led to another; He spoke a word of knowledge into her life.  Soon, the whole village was there, seeking ministry.  

The disciples came back with lunch, and Jesus said, "I have meat to eat that you know not of."  What revived Him was not a rest and a meal, but getting into a revival.  The Samaritan revival would go on for another two days…

Many of us are tired and overworked because we are busy with our works, not His.


"I'd like to get involved, but I don't have the personality or the gift-mix to be useful in the harvest."

I've wrestled with this issue as long as I've been a Christian.  I'm not outgoing.  Often I'm socially awkward.  I see others who are very gifted at evangelism, and I envy them.  But I don't have their gifts. 

Is it realistic to expect God to use me?

Over the years, I've found that it is.  I've learned that I can break through my own personality and minister from His resources.  The theology is simple:  Christ in you, the hope of glory.

You and I may not have what we think is the right personality for the harvest, but we definitely have the gift mix if Jesus lives in us.  Jesus has it all.

Often I've committed myself to a few months of going out on the streets once a week.  I was shy and awkward the first week and just as bad on the second.

But by the third week, something always moved in my heart and the job suddenly became easier.  God's love welled up inside me.  I began to see people through His eyes.  If He didn't touch them now, would anyone else care enough about them to share Christ with them?

At that point, shyness vanished.  Christ in me began to rule, not my limited personality.

A side-effect of engaging in the harvest was that I would become more outgoing.  It spilled over into all my relationships.  I always ended up with more joy, and I enjoyed being around people more.  (People who know me well know this is a good thing.)

But if I get away from it for a few months, I withdraw into my shell again.  Then I have to make the effort all over again to get back into the flow.


"I just can't picture myself going out on the streets and talking to strangers about Jesus."

Or worse yet, we can picture it; and it looks like disaster.  We picture ourselves making fools of ourselves, facing ridicule and rejection.

And if that's what you picture, I don't recommend that you start there.  Start with the easiest people you can connect with, and devote a block of time each week to ministering to them.

I learned this when I was a pastor in Adrian, MI.  Our church had a good anointing, but we weren't doing much to reach outside our own walls.  I prayed, and sensed that God was challenging us:

Get seven volunteers who will go two-by-two, committing a block of time every week to minister to people outside the church.  Do it for seven weeks.

I gave them time to pray about it, and seven volunteers stepped up - four teams.  Each team chose its own day of the week to go out.  Six of us were willing to go to people who had been in the church and had fallen away.  But one man insisted on going door to door, following Jesus' commandments in Luke 9.  I ended up on his team.

Out we went, with each team doing what was in our hearts to do.  I started by telling Ray, my teammate, "I don't know how to do this…you do all the talking."  He did at first.

Week by week, my confidence grew.  God began to direct us to specific neighborhoods.  I soon found it easy to speak up.  I began to look forward to Thursday nights.

At the end of seven weeks, the teams all met to compare notes.  Without exception, they said they were now ready to talk to strangers on the streets.  What had happened?  They had begun with a very conservative commitment and had faithfully carried it out.  Now their comfort zone had grown, and they were ready to do something bolder.

I've seen it again and again:  let people be faithful to do something conservative for a while, and they will become bolder without realizing it.  But the conservative season is well spent, for it is a time when the Holy Spirit gives on-the-job training.  By the time we feel ready for a more assertive commitment, the Holy Spirit has prepared us to carry it off with wisdom and grace.

He's a great teacher.


"I've been hearing about the harvest for years.  I've been to conferences; I've read emails about it; I've heard prophecies about it - and nothing ever happens."

In the past decade, I have been to many special meetings that have challenged us to take the move of the Spirit outside church walls.  More than once I've wondered, "How many times do I have to go to a meeting to hear this message?"

We've heard it taught. We've heard it prophesied.  Many of us are tired of hearing it.

But we can do one of two things:  talk about it, or do it.  We're never going to do what we've never done before until we do what we've never done before.

Step into it.  If you don't have it in you to take big steps, take small steps.  Take them consistently and let God grow you.  Work doesn't just happen.  Either we do it or we don't.

This month, I'll be writing about the harvest in the blogs that are part of my online school of the Spirit.  Among the many actions I will suggest, look for one you can take consistently.  Start small if you need to; soon, you will grow and become ready for greater challenges.  You're already more equipped than you think you are.  Christ in you is all the gift-mix you need.  

One of these days, a conference speaker will get up to teach about the harvest. And somebody's going to walk out of the meeting and find someone on the streets to minister to.  And if anyone asks them what they're doing, they'll reply -

"Don't talk to me about getting into the harvest.  I don't have time to talk about it.  I have work to do…"