This month of June for us is a month of Harvest, and we have seen that it is a pattern that the Holy Spirit is taking us through for a while now, that He declares a word for us for the month, and He takes us on a journey on how we can gain access into that promise, into that declaration, into that promise and will of God for us. And that is the same thing that He will be starting with us today. We will be looking at the Harvest Series, the Holy Spirit will be taking us on a journey in this month of June into how we severally connect to the Harvest that the Lord has declared and prepared.
Download Podcast: THE HARVEST OF HIS PRESENCE
One of the things we must be mindful of is that God is the LORD of the Harvest. The Bible says in Genesis 8:22; "As long as the earth remains, seed time and Harvest will not cease", Apostle Paul puts it this way: when there was a tussle in the church, he said; "I Paul plant, Apollos waters, and the LORD gives increase" He is the LORD of the Harvest, we don't determine the Harvest, He determines the Harvest. He is the LORD of the Harvest. And I want you to have that deep seated in your spirit as we go on this journey with the Holy Spirit this morning. That God is the LORD of the Harvest. So, He supplies seed, He multiplies it, He blesses and increases.
And today, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit we would be starting that series; and today we will be looking at one specific and definite part of that series. Which is; "The Harvest of His Presence" that is the first one we would be looking at in that series. Genesis 8:22 says; "While the earth remains" God established it, Harvest was not a man made idea, Harvest is not manmade, Harvest is God ordained that is why He is the LORD of the Harvest. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and Harvest Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Now from that Genesis 8:22, God let us into a structure that He has created on the earth. On the earth, God has created an order, a circle that will continue to happen, whether you are in Australia, or in America, or in Africa or in Europe. This circle will continue to exist, we will all see it, we will all walk in it, and we will all experience it no matter where we are on the earth. As long as you are on the earth, there will be seed time and there will be Harvest.
There will be cold and there will be heat, there will be summer and winter, there will be day and there will be night. I don't know where you are, but right now where I am in Nigeria, we are in the day time. And I did not cause the day time to break, God caused it. And in another few hours from now it will be night. Because I did not orchestrate it. If human beings have the power to determine the time and the season, then you will realize that in some places or in some peoples territories, there would be day time all through or there would be night all through.
This is one thing that God has in His control. God has created, God has orchestrated that there should be seed time and Harvest. There should be cold and there should be heat, there should be summer and there should be winter and there should be day and night. God orchestrated this from the beginning, no matter how scientific people want to explain it or interpret it; we know and this is the truth. That God instituted this structures and there is a reason for it. So that's the background. So God is the LORD of the Harvest He is also the LORD of times and seasons. And He has created them for a specific reason.
Now when we are talking about the Harvest of His presence, when we are talking about His presence, we are talking about the presence of God. The presence of God is not like ripe pawpaw that drops on everyone. The presence of God is a product of Harvest. And when we are talking about Harvest, there is no Harvest on the earth without seed time. So God has instituted that on the earth, before we can have any Harvest of any kind, there must be seed time- there must be seed for there to be a Harvest. So Every time we talk about Harvest, bear in mind that there is a seed locked up that produced that Harvest. So when we are talking about the Harvest of His presence; talking about the Harvest of the presence of God.
There is a seed that opens up the Harvest of His presence. But I want us to be mindful of this; as much as we love the word Harvest, don't always think that Harvest connotes a positive thing. Because many us say wow Harvest is a nice word, it sounds cool, God give me Harvest. What kind of Harvest are you asking from the LORD? Because what you Harvest is a product of the seed you have put in the ground.
My brethren, the Bible says "God cannot be mocked" you can't fool God, you can't mock Him, you can't ridicule the principles of God. Whatsoever a man sows, whatsoever seed a man puts in the ground, "that" the exact same body of seeds is what he will reap it's just that he will have much grain. Last week the Holy Spirit was teaching us of how Jesus gave us a life principle that is so solid. It said; "when you have a grain of wheat it abides alone until it falls to the ground and die" all you have is a seed but when it falls to the ground and die-you sow it, then you are waiting for a Harvest.
Eventually, in the process of time, you will have much grain. So when we are talking about Harvest it does not necessarily mean that Harvest connotes a positive thing. Because at the end of every Harvest there are two things that usually happens; and I want you to receive this seated into your spirit, because the world through this Covid 19 pandemic, has gone through a season that God has expected that each and every one of His children to use that season to sow a seed. Because what happens after this season I have heard so many people talking about the post Covid 19 season what will happen, how you can key into the post Covid 19 season.
If you are not even keyed into the Covid 19 season you, you can't receive anything no matter how much you paid for that online course and they are telling you they will teach you the principles. If you are not keying into the Covid 19 season, what God except you to sow while the seed of time that God has given you, you can't Harvest the post Covid-19 season. And this is it, after every Harvest two things happen and I want it to sink into your spirit, it is either there is a feast after the Harvest or there is a famine. Those two things are always the outcome of every Harvest. After every Harvest, there is either a feast or a famine. And what will determine that is the body of seed and the attention that you paid in the seed time. Every time you have the opportunity to sow there is also a period of waiting, what you do while you are waiting determines whether what you are going to get as an Harvest is a feast or famine.
Because there are many people that sow seeds in the Covid 19 season, and after this period, they want a Harvest. What will determine whether you will have a feast in your post Covid season or you are going to have a famine is what you were doing in your seed time. And I want us to read a Scripture in Psalm 91. We will read verse 1 to 3 and jump to verse 9. Let us see a classical example of what happened with David and what the instruction of God is. I'm sure many of us quoted this Scripture during the Covid-19 season. Psalm 91, because we are craving for safety, we want the presence of God to be with us. There are certain things we are saying to God LORD protect me, LORD guild me, LORD I want divine protection.
But see what David said; "He who dwells in the secret place". Now when you hear the word "dwell" What does it mean? "He who dwells" another verse says; "he who abides" When you are dwelling somewhere, when I say where is the place of your dwelling? Is it not talking about your house? Is it not talking about your location? Is it not talking about where you are locked down? "He who is locked down in the secret place of the most high, he who abides in the secret place."
So what David is saying is; that man or that woman, who is found, who dwells who abides, whose location- when you are looking for him and you press your locator, or your GPS where you will find him: his location, is in the secret place. Not just anyhow secret place. The secret place of the most high. "He who dwells" he who is locked down in the secret place of the most high "shall abide" under the shadow of the almighty. This verse one let us into a divine secret- he who dwells, he who is locked down in the secret place of the most high; he whose seed time was full of activities in the secret place, he whose lifestyle is about the secret place it says such one shall abide, such a person shall Harvest the presence of God.
So the key to Harvesting the presence of God, is in your secret place, what are doing? Number one: where is your secret place? In the Covid season where were you locked down? It is not enough to say, that you have skills or you have gifts. I know some sisters that were locked down at the houses of their boyfriends or their fiancés in the Covid season would want to arise after the post Covid season, and go to church or places of worship, and want to use their talent and gift the way they used to use it.
They want to sing and have the presence of God, they want to Harvest what they did not sow; you want to go back and lead prayers in the same power and you have not sown in the secret place, God is saying this is the time where He will put to shame Sampson's that laid their heads on the lap of Delilah and they want to shake themselves like they used to shake themselves, and they will realize that God is gone. This is a time where God is saying to us, that see I will reward my children, with the Harvest of my presence, those that were locked down in my presence, in my secret place.
He who dwells in the secret place of the most high, "shall abide under the shadow." He that sowed to be in the secret place that man, that woman, that boy, that girl, that was locked down in the presence of God will Harvest His presence. It says; I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the [a]fowler And from the perilous pestilence." Verse 9 "because you have made the Lord" the reason why God will show up for you, is because you have made the LORD. The reason God will make you Harvest His presence is because you have sown the seed of waiting on Him of abiding in the secret place, of dwelling in the secret place "because you have made the Lord who is your refuge even the most high your dwelling place."
Where is your dwelling place? It's so critical, it y so important where you dwell. Where you dwell talks about the soil and the seed that you have put in the ground. Because it is where you dwell that determines your Harvest. The Bible says; "who comes out with the redness of the eye? But he that has tarried in the place of wine" where have you tarried? No wonder in Exodus 33 down to about chapter 35 when Moses tarried in the presence of God so much that Moses said; "God show me your glory" I have been walking with you, show me your glory and the God said, "I will hide you in the cleft of the rock in verse 22 and I will cause my goodness to pass before you" and when Moses came down from that experience, when Moses came down from where He has tarried, the Bible says the children of Israel could not behold his eyes because there was light.
You carry the presence of where you have tarried. Where have you tarried in the Covid season? It will determine the presence you carry in the post Covid season. Where have you tarried? Where did you dwell? Where did you abide. It says; "even the most high your dwelling place No evil shall befall you, nor shall any pray come near your dwelling, for He has taken charge over you." Now when we read all these and we quote it to ourselves, The question is; you want to have the presence of God, have you sowed the seed of time in His presence in the secret place.
In Matthew 6:6. Jesus said; "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you [c]openly." God sees in the secret, all the people that came into His presence, into the secret place. God is not like National Bureau of Statistics, that miss out on the number of people that are Nigerians, or the number of people that are in a place. No! God is all knowing and all seeing. So if you were in the secret place God wouldn't have missed you out. If you had tarried in His presence He wouldn't have missed you out. He said; "pray to your Father in the secret and your Father who sees in the secret will reward you openly" Matthew 6:6. Your father who sees your prayers, your supplication, your worship, you intercession, your meditation, your study, He will reward you in the open.
And what is the reward of God? It's the Harvest you will Harvest His presence, you will Harvest the presence of God in your life, in your ministry, in your family, in every where you are, because you have sown. Because the presence of the Lord is the reward for being in His secret place. We know there are so many men of God all over the world, and we see the Harvest of the presence of God in their lives, and some of us want to envy them and some us want to say how come this person is Harvesting so much of God's presence?
It is because he/she dwelt in the secret place. If you sow the seed you will not be denied the Harvest, that is what Jesus is saying to us in Matthew 6:6. Your Father that sees in the secret, whether you are in the remote village in Africa or you are in a big city in America, or you are in a big city in Africa, or you are in a big city in Europe or you are in a country side; God that sees in the secret will reward openly you will Harvest His presence because you have sown in His presence. Who has come out with a redness of eye, than one who have tarried in the place of wine.
James 4:8 says; "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." Draw near to God, we have read this Scripture severally and we have said ok how do I draw near to God? Draw near to God by being in the secret place abiding, dwelling, locking down yourself in the secret place. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. You will Harvest His presence. Ecclesiastes 12:14, It says; "God will bring every secret thing to judgment." Everything secret God will bring to judgment, whether good or evil. So God brings to judgment every secret thing. Sneaking to somebody's house and you think nobody saw you, there is a GPS of heaven on your life, there is a GPS of God, it's a locator that never messes up, it doesn't need network. God sees in the secret and rewards in the open. What are you doing in the secret place? Where are you located? Where is your secret place?
That Ecclesiastes 12:14, is very instructive. God will bring every secret thing to judgment, and don't think God is talking about evil things alone, it says whether good or evil, every secret thing will be brought to judgment. I want us to see a Scripture in Luke 12:3. In the words of Jesus, so that we will understand that this thing is just so important, it's so vital. It says;"Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops."
Whatever you have said in the dark, in the secret place. Remember when we are talking about the dark don't think it's talking about the dark as it were. What you have said when nobody sees, the things you have uttered when nobody sees, what you have done in the secret place it shall be heard in the light. The results, the Harvest will show. There are some people that don't rejoice in Harvest and the promise of God for us is for us to rejoice in Harvest. Why will people not rejoice in Harvest? Because after the Harvest there comes a famine. But when you have a feast after Harvest, then you rejoice. And that is the promise of God for us as His children. After this seed time, there comes a Harvest and this Harvest is coming with a feast because you are going to rejoice, because you have Harvested His presence.
Luke 12:3. "Whatever you said in the dark shall be heard in the light and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the house tops." What you have whispered, God said as you have said in My ears so will I do unto you. Child of God, all those times that you have labored in the presence of God. You have sown seeds in the presence of God, you are dwelling in the secret place of the most high, you are abiding. Because I love the words that are being used; "abiding" present continuous tense- you did not exit you are still there, you did not give up, you did not change location, you are still there. Dwelling in the secret place of the most high, abiding under the shadow of the almighty.
Then it says; "what you have said there, what you have whispered there, it shall be proclaimed on the house tops", the Harvest of His presence. When we spend time, just like the Bible says in Psalm 91 vs. 1, "he who dwells", it is not for everyone, it is for he who dwells. You have a choice to dwell. You make a decision to dwell. He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. The presence of God is your Harvest, because you have dwelt. When we talk about Harvesting the presence of God, maybe you don't know God enough, that's why you don't know how powerful it is to Harvest His presence.
To Harvest the presence of God is to Harvest the presence of the God of all possibilities, to Harvest the presence of God is to Harvest the God of all flesh, the Father of spirits, the Father of light. To Harvest the presence of God is to Harvest the presence of Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Rapha, God our healer, God our provider, is to Harvest the presence of Jehovah Elshadai, the multi breasted God that we all suck on that never runs dry. To Harvest the presence of God is to Harvest the presence of His glory. So when you Harvest the presence of God, you have gotten the real deal. But it does not happen until you abide.
In Mark 4:22, in that Scripture Jesus is making reference to something important, about us dwelling in the secret place, it says; "For there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed", nothing! Your hidden prayers, your quiet intercessions, your time of fellowship in the presence of God, for days in fasting, in prayer. Doing it hidden, nobody knew you were fasting, nobody knew you were crying to God, nobody you were locked up in your room for seven days crying to God and praying.
Jesus said "there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it shall come to light." It shall come to light whether you as a pastor have been in the secret place, it will come to light, whether you as a general overseer has been in the secret place, it will come to light. If that Calling over your life, that God has given you, you have spent time to sow seed in the place of prayer, mediation on the word, it will come to light, there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed. When Moses was before God, apart from Joshua that sat at the foot of the mountain, Moses was there alone, but when Moses came down from the mountain, what was hidden came to light.
The children of Israel saw the glory of the LORD on him. The glory of the LORD was evident. There was a Harvest of God's presence in the life of Moses, it was vivid, everybody could testify that something has changed about Moses. You can't sow into the presence of God and not Harvest His presence, you can't sow into God and not Harvest, no! When you sow your time into seeking out God, seeking out first His kingdom and His righteousness all other things shall be added. You will Harvest His presence, because with His presence comes everything. He is the controller of the universe.
He said "the cattle upon the thousand hills are mine", child of God it looks as if you have been wasting your time, you have been saying to yourself, my mates have gone far, but I am here just fasting and praying and waiting on God as I have been instructed, calm down, you will Harvest His presence, that will make all those people that looks as if they have gone far, just like Elijah outran the chariot of Ahab, you will outrun them because with the presence of God comes acceleration and speed. The same God that catapulted Philip from where he was to join the chariot of the eunuch, the same God He is your God and He is alive and He has not change His position, He is the one saying to you, that you will Harvest His presence. You cannot sow a seed and be denied the Harvest, no! And God is the Lord of the Harvest not the devil. God your God, your Abba, He is the Lord of the Harvest.
I want is to see another Harvest in Acts 2. Because when we are talking about Harvest we are talking about real life experiences. You can't be in God and not Harvest God. Acts 2:1-4. "when the day of Pentecost had fully come, They were in one accord in one place", we did not know how long they have been there but the Bible says "they were in one accord in one place", nobody knew they were in this upper room until they Harvested the presence of God. It says; "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them [b]divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
This disciples gathered themselves together in the upper room, nobody knew they were there, Nobody knew what they were doing there, nobody knew they were in the secret place but when the Harvest of the presence of God came, the whole world knew. What they did in the secret place in the dark, was announced in the roof top. That is what Jesus was saying. In Luke 12:3 it says; "what you have whispered in your private room, shall be proclaimed on the house tops". What the Apostles and disciples were doing in their private room, in the upper room was announced and in verse 14 the Bible says; "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. " For these are not drunk” For these are men that have tarried in the presence of God.
It says; "For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only [e]the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh." Now listen to this child of God, the promise of God is a seed, until you sow it, there cannot be a Harvest, what God says in the last days I will pour out my spirit, that is the Harvest. But I am giving you so that you can sow the seed that will produce this Harvest. I will pour out my spirit, it is not on everyone walking on the street, my children that I find in the secret place, in the last days I will pour out My Spirit on them. So when we Harvest the presence of God, it is a product of the seed you have sown.
Where is your location? Where are you abiding? Where are you dwelling? You can't be a Sampson whose head is on laps of Delilah and you want to shake yourself like other times, no! Your lots will be cut off and once they are gone, you can't do the things you used to do in the secret. You can't Harvest where you did not sow. As long as the earth remains seed time and Harvest will not cease. In Matthew 4, Jesus Harvested the presence of God, the Bible says in verse one that "Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God, and was tempted by the devil." But Jesus stayed in the presence of God, no wonder when He was responding to the devil, He was not responding of the flesh, He was responding by the Spirit.
That's why in the Scripture where it was written concerning Him in Isaiah, the Bible says; "He will not judge by the seeing of His eyes or the hearing of His ears" as He hears He judges and His judgment is true and He was able to judge the devil by the word of God because He was a man that tarried in the presence of God. And after the experience Bible says "and angels came and ministered to Him." Where is your secret place? What seed are you sowing? You have been praying for God's power, you have been praying for God's wisdom, you have been praying for the anointing of God, what are you sowing? How are you sowing? What is happening in your private room? What is happening in the dark place where nobody can see you?
Are you locked down in the presence of God? Because God said in Ecclesiastes 12;14 it says "God will bring every secret thing to judgment" and that is what is going to happen in the post Covid season. God will bring every secret thing to judgment, whether good or evil Whatever you have been doing will be brought to judgment. What will be the Harvest? Even as a child of God you have been in the secret place, but how much time, you have sown the seed and you are quick to go, what are you doing in your waiting season? You are not even checking on the seed you have sown. Whether there would be famine or feast would be dependent on what you have done in your seed time. Because seed time does not just talk about planting, it entails a lot more, and Harvest does not just talk about reaping, reaping is a subset of Harvest.
And the Holy Spirit will be taking us into details of more of that in this month of June, but the most important thing, for us to do is this; whatever you do in the secret place, God the Lord of the Harvest, is seeing you and He will reward, whether good or evil.
