As a body of believers called Harvest Church...as a spiritual community...as a passionately artistic and musical and prophetic tribe...as a bunch of friends who love to laugh and do life together...
...we are so sold out to the Gospel. We are still smack-dab in the middle of a torrent-flow of grace, and there is no going back...ever. We have, each one, paid a high price to be faithful to the message of reconciliation. Many of us are being forced to live it out painfully, in our own households, where no one applauds or appreciates. Those not having to live out the grace-Gospel in their own households, are - with all their hearts - standing with those who daily watch with longing for a prodigal's return. When you love someone, their prodigal becomes yours too. And it hurts.
No easy life...no "marshmallow world in the winter" for a Harvester.
But just you wait. Just you wait and see what God will do.
In the summer of 2009, a prophetic minister out of the UK called the Preacher and I out of a crowd, and spoke over us a word of incredible financial prosperity, an unquestionable affirmation of "the Gospel we preach" (this minister had never met us, and had no clue what we were, that very day and that very week, going through); he said that God was pleased with what we preach, but more importantly, He was pleased with how we were painfully (the very word used!) living it out in our home...and he spoke a declaration over us that there is a strong anointing on our lives for the return of the Prodigal.
We knew right then that 1. We were in for some financial hits, and 2. The accusations against us and what we preach would continue, and 3. That we would have to stand in utter faith for who knows how long until we saw even one prodigal coming "a long way off". The prophetic is like that...a word from God rarely comes to pass on Tuesday. Rather, it is meant to equip you to wage war...for the long haul.
But the Preacher and I were, at that moment, equipped to stand strong...caught up into heaven, so to speak, and given an inexplicable ability to see from the vantage point of the Finished Work of Christ.
And then...a year ago...we saw the First Fruits of our prophetic word:
Do you see the man, towards the center of the frame, hands clasped in front of him, lifting his voice in praise?
A prodigal of 25 years. Suddenly... he came home. Is still home. I mean...he's
home. Every Sunday, when I hear this man worship God with all his heart, I know that if God can bring this son home, He can bring ANYONE'S dear one home. There is not a man anywhere like Bobby - all he has to do is show up, and your faith is built, and you find yourself believing that all things are possible. He has the strongest anointing for encouragement I have ever seen on anyone, period. No lie...all he has to do is show up, and you are changed.
I think every prodigal we see come home will be like this one...exactly like the First Fruits of the word of the Lord to us and to Harvest Church. Each one...strongly anointed for prophetic worship...with the affection of the Father hovering over them like a sweet and heavy perfume. Just like Bobby.
If you know and love a prodigal of any age...Harvest Church is the place to be. Get here, fast.
Just sayin'.
I would be less than honest not to tell you. And it would be less than faith not to declare it.
