A TIME to Think HARVEST! An 8-Day Prayer Focus

By Chuck Pierce

TIME FOR HARVEST!

Most of us do not understand harvest time. Because of our complex lives, we are far removed from the actual production of our food supplies and the origination of the source of our provision. The harvest was a most important season (Gen 8:22; 45:6). Our lives should be aligned and reconciled around a harvest mentality (Gen 30:14; Josh 3:15; Judg 15:1; Ruth 1:22; 2:23; 1 Sam 6:13; 2 Sam 21:9; 23:13).

Revisit and review when you or your family bloodline had a breakthrough and moved forward in some type of harvest shift and mentality. I decree that you will see when any curse entered your bloodline to rob you. Let the Lord remind you of the events that came to kill, steal, and destroy your harvest progression! Allow this to be:

1. A season of gathering (Zech. 8).
2. A season of judgment (Jer. 51:33, Joel 3:13, Rev 14:15).
3. A season of grace (Jer. 8:20).
4. A time for the Good News to be heard (Mt. 9:37-38; Jn. 4:35).
5. An end of a season or age and the beginning of a new season of provision (Mt. 13:39).

We must understand that Harvest has a process:

1. The seed was broadcast and plowed under in late winter.
2. Prayer was offered for rain - the early and the latter rain (Zech. 10).
3. The grain was grasped and cut with the sickle (Deut. 16:9 and Mark 4:29).
4. The grain was gathered into sheaves (Deut 24:5).
5. The grain was taken to the threshing floor.
6. Tools were used for threshing. You have tools for harvest.
7. The grain was winnowed (tossed in the air). Let the wind blow away your chaff.
8. The remaining grain was shaken into a sieve (Amos 9:9). Some of you are in this process.
9. The grain was brought into the storehouse. Find your storehouse.

Your Harvest must be protected because Harvest has major enemies:

1. Drought. Ask the Lord to identify and break all your dryness.
2. Locust invasion. Ask the Lord to remove any devouring in your harvest.
3. Plant diseases (mold, mildew). Ask the Lord to remove any mold in your life.
4. Hot, scorching winds. Ask the Lord to turn any adverse winds.
5. War. The enemy wanted to live off the land. Declare that any enemy that has eaten your harvest will run out of your land.

FIRSTFRUITS: A KEY TO BLESSING

This feast was also called the "Day of First Fruits" (Num. 28:26) because it marked the beginning of the time in which people were to bring offerings of firstfruits. It was a feast of joy and thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest season. Then these offerings were presented as a "wave offering" for the people. The first ripe fruit, grapes, grain, oil, wine, and the first of fleece, were required as an offering (Ex. 22:29; Lev. 2:12-16; Num. 18:12; Deut. 18:4; 2 Chr. 31:5; Neh. 10:35,37,39; Prov. 3:9; Jer. 2:3; Rom. 11:16). At this time, the Lord was credited as the source of rain and fertility (Jer. 5:24). In the New Testament the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), at the festive time when Jews from different countries were in Jerusalem to celebrate this annual feast. The interval between Pentecost and tabernacles was the time for offering firstfruits. Ask the Lord for your firstfruit offering.

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8-Day Prayer Focus

Day 1: Read Hosea 6, especially v. 11. Ask the Lord to revive and raise you up. Ask Him to reveal your harvest to you. "Also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed for you, when I return the captives of My people."

Day 2: Read Exodus 23, especially v. 16. "And the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field." Thank God for His leading. Be willing to follow Him. Thank Him that He has given you firstfruits.

Day 3: Read Gen 2 and 8:22. "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." Ask the Lord to reveal your harvest season to you.

Day 4: Read John 16:7, 13. The old Jewish festival obtained a new significance for the Christian church by the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you new and fresh.

Day 5: Read John 17. Take Communion. Ask the Lord to reveal any horizontal relationships that are not right.

Day 6: Read Job 5, especially v. 5. "Because the hungry eat up his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and a snare snatches their substance." Ask the Lord to show you how the enemy has had access to your harvest.

Day 7: Read 1 Sam. 12, especially v. 17. "Is today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the LORD, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a king for yourselves." Ask the Lord if there are any judgments on your harvest.

Day 8: Read Prov 6:8. The harvest mentality of ants is mentioned as a lesson for the sluggard. Break any apathy that is stopping you from moving forward. Memorize Proverbs 20:4. "The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing." Ask the Lord to reveal any area of laziness in your life that has stopped you from plowing. Meditate on Proverbs 10:5. "He who gathers in summer is a wise son; he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame." Break a spirit of slumber. Ask the Lord if you have rested when you should have gathered.