21 Days of Fasting and Prayer - Here as in HeavenSample

The Harvest is Now

If you’ve been fasting food at any level, you’re likely hungry at this point in the fast. When we come to John 4, we see the disciples in a similar situation we have found ourselves in. They were hungry! It was time for lunch, so they went into a nearby village to find something to eat. After securing their meal, they return to Jesus and offer him some food. Unexpectedly, Jesus denies their offer and tells them he has food they know nothing about.

At this moment, the disciples are confused and ask themselves if someone else brought Jesus food while they were gone. Jesus continues to say that his food is to do the will of the One who sent him. As if the disciples aren’t confused enough, Jesus tells them a proverb about harvesting. It’s safe to say the disciples were utterly clueless about what was happening at this point.

The problem the disciples had, which caused them to completely miss what Jesus was talking about, was that they were looking at the whole situation from their natural point of view. All the disciples could see was their immediate need - they were hungry and needed food to eat. Jesus, on the other hand, was looking at the situation from a supernatural perspective. Jesus was not concerned with eating lunch. Jesus was concerned that the village they got lunch from was filled with lost people who needed to be saved.

So often in our lives, we miss what Jesus is doing because we look at our situation with physical vision rather than spiritual vision. Like the disciples, we can find ourselves going through a place filled with people who don’t know Jesus, and our primary concern is not sharing the Gospel; it is getting something for lunch.

That’s why a season of prayer and fasting is so refreshing. We become less concerned with what we need and more concerned with what God wants to do in and through us. When we take our eyes off ourselves and set them on doing God’s will, we start to see what Jesus meant: the “fields are ripe for harvest.” We begin to see opportunities to pray for people and see them healed. We start to notice people who are down and give them encouraging words. We see lost people all around us and choose to step out in boldness to share the Gospel.

The opportunities are endless because the harvest is now. Resolve to step out in faith and obedience today and watch what God will do!