"Put in the Sickle for the Harvest is Ripe" 

Joel 3:13

​Part I:  The Sickle and the Harvest


While on a prayer call for Ukraine,  I heard these words, “Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe,” repeatedly.  The words are the same spoken by Joel in Joel 3:13.  ​They certainly caught my attention as I began to ponder their meaning for the present situation.  At the time, I did not realize that news had just come out that Ukraine had just launched a six front counter-offensive against the Russian front.  The convergence of the word and the counteroffensive was more than coincidence and alarmed me and thus this word. Interestingly the Russian flag has the symbol of a sickle on it.  In meditating on this word, a two part message I hope will encourage us in these spiritually active days.  Part I focuses on the sickle; part II focuses on the Harvest. 
         As we enter the 21 days of “Straits of Tammuz” ending on the 9th of Av, what does God mean by “Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe?"  The word sickle, in this passage, is the Hebrew word מַגָּל mag̱âl; from an unused root meaning to reap.  Interestingly, this exact word for sickle is used only twice in scripture, Joel 3:13 and Jeremiah 50:16.  Both passages speak of times of judgment but also times of turning, of decision, and great promise.  The parallel messages of these scriptures should call us to attention. How do we apply it to today? 
          The Russia/Ukraine war is a type of Antichrist-driven manifestation.  The Antichrist spirit greatly honors and is aligned with the god of war (Mideast Beast pg 130-133).  It incites rebellion against God's word.  The wars, violence, and rebellion in the nations are being driven by a demonic force driven by a god of war.  The Antichrist spirit is a modern day emergence of a global spirit of Jezebel and Ahab.  As these spirits escalate their activity, we will see more of these eruptions, more aggression, and violence in the days ahead.   To counteract this, God is summoning Watchmen to watch over the harvest fields, pick up their sickle and wield it for the harvest.
​           The "sickle" is a prophetic picture of the word of God ​(Interpreting the Symbols and Types pg 168).  When used in alignment with God's purposes and covenantal alignments, the word becomes a powerful weapon of warfare, activating supernatural intervention.  Legislating with the word of God in faith opens the windows of heaven for divine intervention.  How God answers is up to Him, but the wheels are set in motion.  The word becomes active, dividing the soul and the spirit.  "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."   We can be assured He is always watching over His word to perform it, and it will not return to Him void, Is 55:11.  What does the word of God do?  Here are a few reminders:
  • ​All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17
  • Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.  Ps 119:105
  • The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. Is 40:8
  • Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Mt. 24:35
  • ​Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  Mt 4:4
           The word of God has legislative authority to herald in God's purposes.  To counteract the activity of the Antichrist spirit, God is calling forth watchmen who will legislate His word to herald in the harvest.  It is time to pick up the sickle and wield it.  If we are to do it, first, we must see and recognize the time.  God is calling us to attention.   If we see these signals, we can learn and train our spiritual muscles to match the rigors of the times and season ahead to legislate with God’s word.  This is not a time to shrink back, but rather take action, be willing to learn, ask God to strengthen us spiritually, stretch our spiritual capacity for wisdom and revelation, and be alert. 
          What does “Put in the sickle” practically mean for us today looking at the harvest field of the nations?   If we recognize the time, here are focus points for steps forward to wield your sickle:    ​
  1. Take action:  To pick up a sickle requires action and spiritual muscle.  Your sickle is the word of God.  
    1. Align your spirit with God’s word and what He created you to be.  This requires deep humility and may require repentance.  Take off the dross, and be willing to take the circumcision.  Sounds fun…but the reward is real.  Zech 3;  Romans 12:2; Acts 3:19; Pro 28:13; Mt 3:8
    2. Get rid of entanglements and thought patterns that do not align with God’s word.  This includes opinions, even cultural norms that oppose God’s word.  One cannot accurately throw a sickle for the harvest unless it is sharpened and wielded in the right direction.  Rom 8:26; 2 Cor 3:5; Rev 3:5, 21
    3. Nurture who you are, your identity in Christ, with God’s word.  Phil 2:13; Rom 8:26; Eph 6:10-18
  2. Thrust your sickle towards the harvest:  Declare God’s word towards the harvest fields around you.  
    1. Call in the harvest.  Declare God’s word over the harvest.  Expand your prayers beyond petitions into declarations trusting God in His word.  He is watching over it to perform it and may just be waiting for your prayers of faith to perform it.  This may be a person, place, city, nation.  David says, “Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance,” Ps 2:8; Phil 2:10-11 
    2. Expand your horizons in prayer.  James 4:2; Ps 2:8 
    3. Release the prophetic.  The prophetic release will be a key instrument in calling in and speaking life into the harvest:  Amos 3:7; Joel 2:28-29 
    4. Use the strength of your gifts and calling to declare God’s word into your harvest field whatever it may be, family, work, cultural interest, city, nation.  Rom 11:29; Phil 2:13; 1 Cor 14:3,12
  3. Bring the harvest into the barn.  Make the church ready.  
    1. Pray for messengers to be sent into the harvest fields of all the cultural spheres, tongues, tribes, and nations. Mt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8, 13:47; Rom 10:13-14
    2. Pray for the fullness of the Gentile Church to receive the harvest. Isaiah 62:10-12; Malachi 3:1-7; Mal 4:5-6; Rom 11:25-26
    3. Declare the first two commandments of loving God and one another as a foundation for the harvest in the church; Mt 22:40
    4. Release of the Holy Spirit in vessels that can sustain and grow revival:  Joel 2:28-29;  Zech 12:10 
    5. Salvation in Israel:  Ezek 39:29; Ps 14:7; Heb 8:7-13; Rom 11: 25-27
    6. Release of a new intergenerational prophetic movement in the body of Christ and in your church:  Mal 4:5-6, 1 Cor 4:15; Joel 2:28-29; Is 54:13; Jer 31:31-34
    7. Release of spiritual mothers and fathers in the spirit of Elijah:  Mal 4:5-6; Jer 31:31-34
    8. The church make herself ready in the end time biblical narrative to prepare her to be strong in the days of adversity.  Mt 24:22; Lu 21:36; 2 Peter 3:3-6; 2 Tim 3:1-5; Rom 13:11; Dan 11: 32-33
We are entering a season when the word of God, as the sickle, wielded and empowered through ignited saints will usher in the harvest.  We, as watchmen, are being called to pick up the word of God with eyes and heart that understand His covenant, and purposes and proclaim them into increasingly dark atmospheres.  We are in a time when Watchmen, who know how to build, are being summoned to watch over the harvest, the destiny of nations, and Israel.  It is time to thrust forth sickle for the harvest of nations.  For there is coming a day when “Your watchmen will lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion,” Is 52:8.   ​
Picture
"Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, 'The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.  Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.  Our God will fight for us.'”  
Nehemiah 4:19-20