Your Harvest Is Closer Than You Think

James 1: 12 – 15, Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. NKJV

Satan is after anyone who loves and serves the Lord. Nevertheless, the Apostle James tells us that when we choose to endure temptation, we are blessed. Satan doesn’t want us to reap the harvest for the labor that we have done for God. We must realize that Satan is after us because he wants to consume our harvest or reward before it matures.  

We are children of promise. We have been given the assurance of the Holy Spirit, and He is the earnest of our inheritance in Christ until the day of redemption. Everything in the New Testament is based on faith and promise. If we will keep God’s Word and remain committed to His work, we will inherit the promises of God. Even so, James tells us that we are blessed long before we receive the promises he mentions in the passage above. Nonetheless, how can he call us blessed when we haven’t received the fulfillment of the promise?

James understood that if we endure temptations when they come our way and not be distracted from our heavenly calling, then we will absolutely inherit our reward for being faithful. Not only did James understand this principle, but Satan also understands it and seeks ways to seduce us from remaining steadfast in the work of the Lord. Our adversary, the Devil is always trying to tempt us with various things to see whether any will get our attention. If his scheme isn’t successful with us, then he will move on and try something else.

Therefore, we must constantly guard our hearts so that we don’t allow Satan to get our heart’s attention and pull us away from our faithfulness in serving the Lord. I have seen that Satan can be most effective with his evil devices when believers are waiting on an answer from the Lord. The writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 10 that we have need of patience, so that after we have done the will of God, we will receive the promise of God. He goes on to write that we must not draw back into lawlessness and unbelief while waiting on the Lord, even when it seems to us that He is late.

 Christians oftentimes become weary in doing well while we’re waiting on God to fulfill a promise or meet a need in our lives; this is the time that we are most susceptible to Satan’s seductiveness and stand a greater chance of being lured away from our faithfulness in Christ.  

When it comes to enduring temptation, that we might receive the reward of our faith, we have to be completely submitted to the timing of God, rather than try to get God to move in “our” time frame. Satan will definitely use our lack of patience to PUSH us into stepping ahead of God and to pull us away from the presence of God through evil desires. (Desires become evil when we allow Satan a place in our heart to lead us astray from God’s will).

Please take this word to heart today; use it to benefit your life and walk with Christ. I am seeing an increase in believers being pulled away, or at the least, becoming distracted from remaining faithful to their work of the Lord. We are truly living in perilous times, and we must guard our hearts so that we don’t fall prey to Satan’s schemes and lose our harvest. I would like to ask you to please pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ that God would strengthen and keep others from falling away from the Lord in order to meet an evil desire in his or her life. Together, we can pray and see a move of God in the hearts and lives of believers everywhere. We’ve come too far to turn back now!

Standing Together In Faith,
Pastor Asa Dockery