The fall season is an exciting time of the year. First, the leaves take on beautiful colors and fall to the ground as the trees prepare to rest for the winter. Then, finally, there is a cooling down, and the air becomes cool and crisp, bringing refreshment. Change is happening all around us! The Jewish people celebrated three fall festivals, God’s appointed times celebrating the harvest gathering, times of rejoicing, and thanksgiving to God for His blessings (Leviticus 23:23-43).
The themes of the fall feasts are significant to us as believers in Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the feasts and the entire Old Testament (Luke 24:25-26). The feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) teaches repentance, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), redemption, and the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) rejoicing.
The fall season is a great time to set in motion a faith-based examination of our lives. Do we believe in a spiritual and financial harvest, and are we contending for it? Are there things we have allowed to slip that the Holy Spirit has instructed us to do? Remember disobedience is sin (James 4:17). Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us? We must not allow fading of our passion for growing or letting things sap our energy, for we will reap a harvest in due season if we do not lose heart (Galatians 6:9).
We all want to change. However, it must be from the inside out, not by trying to change our behavior. Transformation is the biblical word for lasting change, which comes from beholding the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). We do this by reading the Bible and listening to the anointed preaching of the Word. Therefore, it is essential to ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the glory, truth, and power in the Word so we can see Jesus!
Harvest is a time we’ve all been waiting for. It is a time to reap what we have planted, tended, and believed for. It is God who has given seed to the sower and bread to the eater, and it has opened the door for God to meet our needs and give us enough to invest in the work of His kingdom. Yet, as believers, we often focus on sowing seed but have forgotten to apply our faith to reaping the harvest. God has promised to multiply our seed and give us an abundant harvest.
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Now may He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 2 Corinthians 9:6-11
If you haven’t thought of yourself as a harvester before, it’s time to start thinking of yourself in that way. Jesus is the Lord of the harvest, and He is calling you to help Him bring in His end-time crops, the biggest harvest of souls the world has ever seen (Matthew 9:37-38). But, it takes a harvest of finances to reap a harvest of souls!
As we come into this fall season headed towards the end of the year, it’s not how we start the year that counts, but how we finish. We are running a race and must lay down any burdens keeping us from winning the race and fulfilling the call God has placed upon our lives (1 Corinthians 9:24; Hebrews 12:1). We are partakers of the heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1). The way we end one season determines the way we begin the next. So, whatever progress you have or have not made this year, it’s time to finish well!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Living the Abundant Life 