Last Sunday, I preached on the first section of the prophetic word the Lord gave me for 2009. “Rebirth” was the title of the message. (You can listen to it on the “Resources” page of the church website, or on our iTunes podcast). One of the points of the prophetic word said we should pray for the reapers and be a reaper.
When it comes to helping people be born again, we can fulfill one, two, or all three of the three roles involved:
- We can be a pray-er (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2- pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to the harvest).
- We can be a sower of the word of salvation into the person’s heart.
- We can be the reaper who leads the person to pray the prayer (or make the confession) of salvation.
During my time alone with the Lord this morning, he took me to Amos 9:13, and I got really excited:
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed. . . “ (NKJV)
What is a plowman? He’s the guy who breaks up the ground to prepare it for the seed to be sown. The person who is praying for the sowers and reapers is the plowman – preparing the way in the spirit realm for the Word of God to be sown and for the the person who is the object of the prayer to be reaped into the Kingdom.
The Lord is telling us through the prophet Amos that the whole process of praying, sowing the Word, and reaping souls will be tightly compressed. Each person will be born again so fast that the reaper (the last one in the process) will catch up with the plowman (the pray-er) as the plowman is praying for the next person! I believe this is that time! These are those days!
That means the Body of Christ will be reaping souls left and right in 2009. Figuratively speaking, the pray-er, the sower, and the reaper will be stumbling over one another trying to keep up with the pace of salvations. Glory to God!
We’re already seeing it. Riley Stephenson is the Minister of Evangelism at Eagle Mountain International Church on the grounds of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas. Brother Riley leads teams of people into the malls, shops, and streets of Forth Worth and other cities where Brother and Sister Copeland have meetings. The Lord used Brother Riley and his teams to pray, sow, and reap people into the Kingdom by the thousands last year, and the pace will pick up this year.
I expect to see the same thing at Abundant Life Church and throughout the Earth in 2009. Plowmen, you’d better be praying, because the sowers and reapers are gaining on you!!
Responses to “The Plowman Overtakes The Reaper”
November 7th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Aloha! And thanks for your comment.
This passage from Amos could have eschatological implications, but the most immediate ones have to do with the extraordinary abundance the Lord promises to restore – like the garden of Eden.
This passage shows four stages in the process of abundance – plowing to make the ground ready for sowing, sowing, reaping the harvest of grapes, and treading out the grapes to make wine. In the time envisioned by Amos, the process is compressed, and the plowman, sower, reaper, and treader are almost stumbling over each other to do their jobs. That’s abundance! That’s our God!
In the context of souls, I don’t think I’d read into this the thought that the treader represents Jesus as Judge. It’s more that process of sowing the Word and reaping the harvest of souls is going to be compressed in the latter days. Maybe the treader of grapes is the pastor who is discipling the new believer to maturity.
What do you think?
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November 6th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Aloha from Paradise (California).
I was looking for an explanation on Amos’ word and found this site/blog. I like your understandign; however, you failed to work the one treading grapes into the explanation. Any insight as to this application in the same picture?