Day 7: The Harvest is Ripe
Intention
The current pandemic has created the greatest opportunity for global harvest we have ever seen.
Scripture
“And then He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptised will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.”
—Mark 16:15-16“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.”
—Luke 10:2-3
Reflection
A friend asked me this morning what I hear the Lord saying to me in this time. It reminded me of something Reinhard Bonnke wrote in the introduction of his book Evangelism by Fire:
“People ask, “What is God saying to the Church today?” Why is that a problem? Does God speak so inaudibly? He says nothing today that is not in His Word already. I know one thing that God is saying. If our prophets are true they will be voicing the same urgency as Jesus Christ, and echoing the same Great Commission: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).”
We have an opportunity right now through peer-to-peer and digital evangelism to preach the Gospel to the whole world — but we need more workers. Jesus said, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Luke 10:2). So we need to pray for workers for the harvest. And as He says in the very next verse, we need to go.
This coronavirus pandemic has been like fertiliser for the harvest field. People have been removed from their comfort zones and are now crying out for hope. We have the hope that they are looking for, and His name is Jesus. COVID-19 will fall like Goliath, and its head will be the stepping stone into the greatest harvest the world has ever seen. Now is not the time for hibernation or binge-watching Netflix — now is the time to pray and go. Now is the time of salvation!
Jesus says that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. He then goes on to say that the reason we receive this power is to go and be His witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). God loves everyone; Jesus proved that by dying for everyone; and the Holy Spirit came so that every believer could be empowered to preach the Gospel, so that everyone on earth could hear the good news and call on the name of Jesus for salvation (Romans 10:13-15).
What can this look like practically? There are many great initiatives for sharing the Good News and I have been trying a bunch of different things and seeing a great response, but I am especially excited about the sixty-second Hope Story Challenge. This initiative has now been launched globally through GO 2020, and together we believe we can reach one billion people for Jesus in May. If you are reading this right now, I nominate you to share your Hope Story:
Step 1—Shoot a 60 second video on your phone of your testimony or story of hope, and finish with an invitation to follow Jesus.
Step 2—Share the video to any social media platform that you have, and use the hashtags #HopeStory, #BestDayOfMyLife, and #GO2020.
Step 3—Tag five friends to nominate them to in turn share their Hope Story.
Prayer
Father, we pray together in the authority of the name of Jesus for an end to this pandemic. Please purify the Bride of Christ. Raise workers up and hurl them into the harvest. We pray that souls would be saved — our friends, our family, our community, our nation and the nations of the world.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
31 Days Prayer Points
1. Pray for five people and share the Good News of Jesus with them.
2. Pray that God would use His people to reach one billion people this May.
3. Pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic, both in Australia and globally.
Pat Steele is an announcer at Christian radio station Pulse 94.1 in Wollongong, New South Wales.
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