It’s harvest time. Souls are God’s greatest passion. Buildings, finance, fame, and all other things are good, but don’t compare to souls. God is a soul hunter, just as Satan is a soul hunter. All over scriptures, God avowed His love and passion for souls. See the following scriptures.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise (Proverbs 11:30)
|
|
Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4)
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)
|
|
|
|---|
Therefore thus says the Lord God : “Behold, I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls go, the souls you hunt like birds (Ezekiel 13:20)
Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:9)
Jesus came for souls. Everything that God does on earth, He does that souls may be saved and give Him the glory. God is searching for men who will have the same passion for souls as He has. Souls carry eternal value that every other doesn’t carry. We are living in dangerous times, the last days for that matter. Many souls are in chains, crying for harvest, either to be harvested into the kingdom of God or to hell. You and I must care for souls and must desire to invest in them. Before we go further, let’s look at the attributes of the human soul.
Souls comprise of the mind, the will, and the emotional part of man, Souls don’t die, they are eternal, souls aren’t saved instantly at birth, they are saved progressively through meditation in God’s word (1 Peter 1:9; James 1:21). All souls will be judged in eternity by God, souls are very costly and expensive to save (“For the redemption of their souls is costly”-Psalm 49:8)
As believers, we must love what God loves. He loves souls and wants to save them. We must enter into this season of harvest of souls and partner with God to harvest souls in the following ways. You must harvest souls to God by telling others of Jesus, both verbally and in behaviour. You must use your personal resources to bless souls, “if the value of a thing is determined by how long it will live for, then investing in souls that don’t die is the greatest investment”
You must cherish and honour all souls, poor, rich, small or great, no soul is of inferior value to God. You must pray for souls, those close to you and distant from you, to know God. Your career, business, and ministry must promote the success and wellbeing of souls
You must watch over souls to the best of your influence, living your life to face your business is not the will of God. How other souls are living must be your concern, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4)
No one cares about what God cares about and God won’t care about what he cares for. To harvest souls for God is to live your life in a way that every soul in your sphere of influence are positively impacted, influenced, and to the best of your ability, turned over to Christ.
“Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2)
Harvest of helpers
“For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter; and whether bond or free, there was no helper for Israel” (2 Kings 14:26)
One type of harvest we desperately need at this time is the harvest of helpers. All through scriptures, the subject of help or helpers is very critical. We see the stories of those who cried to God for help or those whom God chose to help. Basically, this is telling you and I that there is a limit to what your human ability can do here on earth:
There is no self made man. There is no self sustained man. No matter who you are, you can’t fulfil your destiny alone. If that’s the case, let’s look at what God’s words say about “help” and “helpers”
“And the Lord God said, “ It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18)
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me: (John 15-26)
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46-1)
I will lift up my eyes to the hills, From whence comes my help (Psalm 121-1)
Who is an helper? People, systems, organizations, and individuals whom God stirs up to solve problems with and for us either temporarily or permanently. At this critical hour in the world, the last days, you and I need help from the Lord. Top of which is from the Holy Spirit
Before I tell you the kind of help you need to harvest, let’s look at how to trigger help as an harvest. If you don’t sow help, can you reap help?
In Exodus 1:17-21, Egyptian midwives helped the Hebrew women to deliver and protect their male children and God rewarded them with help
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”-Matthew 10:42
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”-Luke 6:38
Exodus 2:16-22, Moses was rewarded with a wife for helping the priest of midian’s daughters
Ruth helped her mother in law and was rewarded with Boaz (Ruth 1:4). Rahab helped the 2 spies sent by Joshua and was rewarded by Joshua, Joshua 2. The shunamite woman helped Elisha with accommodation in 2 Kings 4: 8-37
Some of you only live for yourself, you don’t have any seed of help you have sown into any life that you can harvest. Selfishness kills the harvests of helpers.
So, in this season, we want to cry to God for harvest of the following helpers: harvest of givers, harvest of recommenders, harvest of Defenders, harvest of Intercessors, harvest of Sacrificers, those who will spend for me and be spent until my needs are met, harvest of burden bearers and harvest of Kingdom Resources
“And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honour, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days” (1 Kings 3:13)
Ayo Akerele is the senior pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through [email protected]
