“[Jesus] said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Jesus declared, “The fields are ripe and the harvest plentiful and it’s time to begin reaping.” At that moment, the great, final spiritual harvest began and this same harvest is going to last until Christ returns.
So what did Jesus see in his time? Did he see a spiritual awakening in Israel? Was there revival in the synagogues? Were priests returning back to God? The Gospels reveal very little evidence of any spiritual move toward God; if anything, they show the opposite. Yet, at this very point Christ declared that the fields were ripe.
Do you think Jesus’ words regarding a ripe harvest apply today? Are nations repenting? Is there a great stirring in our society? Is there a cry for holiness in this generation?
With few exceptions, such things are not happening. When Jesus’ disciples wanted to know the condition of things as the last days approached, he answered by speaking of famines, earthquakes, tribulation, divided nations, false prophets. “On the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear” (Luke 21:25-26). In short, Jesus is describing here the most anxious, depressed, stressed-out generation of all time.
In the midst of all this upheaval and turmoil, Jesus is telling his church, “People are ready to hear. Now is the time to believe for a harvest.” Christ is the Lord of the harvest and if he declares the harvest is ready, we must believe it. It does not matter how wicked this generation becomes or how powerful Satan seems to have grown, our Lord is saying to us, “Raise up your eyes to the harvest!”
Jesus is seeking laborers who have endured fires and forgings, a people who will stand before the world and proclaim, “God is with me! I have come through more than a conqueror through Christ who lives in me. I am living proof that Jesus is all-sufficient.”
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.