Let the Fire Burn

Leviticus 26:9-10 9 “I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. 10 You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!

A couple of years ago I was in the Mississippi Delta near the end of the cotton harvesting season. As I was driving an overpowering smell of smoke began to come into my car and as I looked off in the distance I could see fields that were as black as charcoal still burning ever so slightly. The Lord brought that picture back into my mind recently as I was preparing to write this article.

Fire is often used by farmers to remove pest, weeds and residue after harvest. It is a common method to prepare the field for the next planting season. Just like fire is often used to remove the unwanted chaff of the past season in agriculture, fire is often the means by which the Lord removes the imperfections in His people to prepare for the next season in the Spirit.

There has been a cleansing taking place throughout the world collectively and our lives individually over the past 3 years. Unfortunately, many of us have been attributing much of what the Lord has been doing in our lives to the devil. At the risk of sounding cliché I must tell you, IT IS A NEW SEASON and the old grain must be cleared out to make room for the new harvest. We must submit to this process and stop binding the devil when we should be throwing our hands up and saying purify me Lord so that I can get to the next level!

If you have been in spiritual circles for any length of time you know that there are often “buzz” words that spread among us. One of the “buzz” words for the past couple of years has been completion. People often get excited about these terms without really even understanding why. It is like contagious laughter that no one can find the point of origin for.

Just as completion in agriculture is evidenced by the burning of the fields to make room for the new; completion in God’s season is characterized by the clearing out of what had to come to completion to bring forth the new move He wants to birth. We are completing a season of divine transition as the Lord of the harvest is burning up the chaff of preconceived mindsets and man-made definitions of God and His Spirit.

In western culture especially it is very difficult for us to accept what we cannot understand yet God is not limited by the rational understanding of our finite minds. He is preparing a harvest right now that is requiring major adjustments in the hearts and lives of His people.

I cannot name the countless times that I have quoted and heard others quote Matthew 9:37 “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” but we must remember that as we quote that scripture and we pray that the Lord send the workers, that the Lord is the Lord of the harvest. Because it is His harvest He knows best who to send and how to send them. He is seeking radical change and He is pulling out the heavy equipment and He is burning up the leftovers of the old crops to bring forth a new, strong harvest.

In the midst of this season of holy field burning we must remember that God cares gently for His fields. When He burns or tills them it it is only so that the next season’s crop is healthy. It would be foolish to burn a field only to move to another field and leave that one barren and wasted. Therefore let us embrace the fire together knowing that if we will only yield to this process we will eat the good of the land.