"And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed." Joel 2:24-26 "And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust In thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Revelation 14:15

"Harvest Time"
Harvest time on the farm calls for hard and sacrificial work. During this special time all other work is abandoned. From early in the morning until late at night every thing is directed to the harvest. But it is not all hard work. The days of the harvest are also days of feasting, plenty of the best food is provided for the harvesters. The prophetic word speaks of a Spiritual harvest. For centuries the Church has plowed, planted, watered and cultivated, now it is harvest time. There have been times of partial gatherings, but the harvest is ripened, and the command is to "thrust in thy sickle and reap." The harvest the Church has been looking forward to has finally arrived. God has promised to pour out of His Spirit on all flesh. "My people shall eat in plenty and be satisfied." Plenty of grace, plenty of mercy, plenty of power, believe it, this is the time for God to work. "And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord our God has called." (Joel 2:32) There will be a place of deliverance in Zion, that place is the Church. There will be a people of deliverance, and they will be the remnant whom the Lord our God shall call. The prophets of Old saw a day when a mighty revival would sweep the earth, a time of plenty, a time of restoration, and a time of deliverance. The prophets described the wonders of that time in words like these; "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears to the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert." (Isaiah 35:5,6) They saw a time when those who were fearful shall find a place of security and described such a time in these words. "Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees, Say unto them that are of fearful heart, be strong, fear not; behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense: He will come and save you." (Isaiah 35:3,4) Job was a type of the Church from its inception to its rapture. Job started out victoriously, then went through a time of poverty and persecution. In the trial Job's faith held, and God turned his captivity and gave him a double portion of all he had lost. Even so the Church started off on a high note of victory, but later because of unbelief she fell into poverty and persecution. During the long night of death and suffering the real Church has held to the truth. Like Job, the Church in these last days will come to maturity, and will again shake the nations. "And I shall shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, the silver is mine and gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former, and in this place will I give peace." (Haggai 2:7,9) Before Satan came upon the scene in Eden, there was no want, no poverty, sin and sickness were unknown, and in the golden age when Satan is bound these things will be absent. In the long centuries between Eden and the golden age Satan has fill the earth with sin, sickness and poverty. At Calvary God made provision whereby through faith men could rise up and overthrow the enemy. Jesus Christ with His teaching, His suffering, and His death, was the expression of God crying out against all the death, defeat, sin, and disease in the world. The Church, which is a product of Christ's death and resurrection, is not in the world to bolster up a creed or maintain a ritualistic system of religion, we are here to cooperate with God in He great redemptive effort to restore men to their lost paradise.

The distress and suffering of the prodigal son were intense continuous and prolonged, "and no man gave unto him." This is the Church! It was said of the prodigal that in the midst of his want and suffering he came to himself, in other words, a revelation broke over his spirit. He remembered his father and how rich He really was. He remembered how good his father was, and that with Him there was no want. Today that same revelation is coming to a poverty stricken Church (I speak of the spirit). She is moving out of the swine herd into the will and purpose of God. As she moves out of that hog pen of religious games and foolishness, and begins to move with God is His great purpose of redemption; all the windows of heaven are open to her. The harvest of the earth is ripe and God is with those who will reach out to reap it. In the 14th chapter of Luke, Jesus was speaking of the coming Kingdom of God, and He likened it to certain man who made a great supper and bade many to come. It was evening time and everything was ready, that is what is going on now. Many of those who were invited excused themselves having, in their estimation, more important things to do. Jesus said of those, "none of these shall taste of my supper." The servants were then told to go into the hi-ways and hedges and compel the heathen to come in. What a picture of the soft underbellied thing that calls itself the Church today, and what a picture of the individual believer that makes up that Church. Without spiritual desire, totally void of conviction, gives only that which is demanded, and believes they are doing God a favor by going to church on a Sunday morning. Invite them to a prayer meeting, and like those invited to the supper, they have better things to do. "None of these shall taste of my supper." The vast majority of the modern Church have refused the invitation to thrust in the sickle and reap this final harvest of the earth, so God has said to the faithful remnant, "go into the highways and hedges and compel the heathen to come, that my house may be full." He is saying to you and I, go to the millions who have never heard, never been invited, they will listen, they will come. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:28,29) "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21:43) There are times when all our future hopes are wrapped up in our present decisions, times when all that has gone before and all that will come in the future is settled forever by our decision today. Today God's priority is to reap the ripened harvest of the earth. He has commanded every believer to "thrust in thy sickle and reap." There are over two billion souls living now who have never heard the good news that Jesus saves. You and I, the final generation of the Church, have been commanded by God to bring this message of hope to every creature, no believer is exempt from the call, some must go others must send. God's abundant blessings will come to those who respond to this great call, and His curse will surely come to those who refuse. Time is our most precious commodity, we must redeem it. The harvest is ripe, that means man's spirit is open to receive, he will listen to whoever gets to him first.