You’ve heard the saying, “You reap what you sow.” Coming into September, we come to the month of harvest. What have we sown this year? What are our current efforts in harvesting for the kingdom? 

Pentecost was the celebration of the grain harvest. Jesus had said that the fields are ripe and white for harvest (John 4:35). September is the month of the grape harvest. While grapes mean various things symbolically in the scripture, one major component of their power is that they make wine. Jesus gave us a parable of the wineskins in Matthew 9:14-17 and in parallel passages Mark 2:18-22 and Luke 5:33-39.

These Scriptures show the Pharisees asking Jesus why the disciples did not fast like the other religious leaders of the day. Here was his answer:

“And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”

Matthew 9:15-17

To break it down, the phrase “children of the bride-chamber” means the disciples, and anyone who follows Christ, are the sons of God – children of God. They are not the sons of the bondwoman but the children of the promise and covenant. The Lord was saying that when He is absent from us in the flesh, we fast in order to draw the flesh into submission and the spirit into its rightful place of control. That brings us to the next point, the garment and the wine bottles. 

A new piece of cloth is stronger and not as worn as the older one. If the two are put together, the newer pulls and makes new holes in the fabric. The same way with our inner man. When we sacrifice our life and give it to the Lord of all creation, He isn’t calling us to give Him a section of our lives. Instead, He is calling us to give up our old life while He replaces it with His garments of righteousness. While our righteousness is as filthy rags in the Lord’s eyes (Isaiah 64:8), His garments of praise and righteousness are white and complete (Isaiah 61:10, Revelation 7:9,13). Our old tattered cloth will crumble and shred. It is weak in the presence of the most High. 

Instead, He has called us to put on new garments which are patterned after grace and knit together by the blood of Christ. It is the same with the wine bottles. New wine is strong and potent. Likewise the Holy Spirit of God is stronger than the flesh and more potent than the will power of man (Matthew 26:41, Romans 8:3) – that is, if you let yourself become intoxicated by it and indwell by the power of God (Ephesians 5:18). 

I am not advocating for some weird supernatural experience aided by physical things but instead pointing to the powerful life of a believer obedient to the calling of the Spirit. If we do not surrender our lives to the Lord, there is no use in trying to be led by the Holy Spirit because He will have no room to act (Romans 12:1-2). 

We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that others may see and know we produce the fruit of the kingdom. We must sow in the Spirit so that we may reap fruit of the Spirit and not the weeds of the flesh (Matthew 5:16, 7:17-19, 12:33, John 15:5). 

Bringing it back, we are to surrender in the soil where Christ plants us if we are ever to expect to bring a good harvest unto the Lord. September is the end of the grape harvest; let it be that you will bring fruits of the Spirit forth and not just empty weeds and rotten produce of your own doing. 

Let September be the month where you bring everything back to God and surrender in the soil.

You haven’t been buried, you’ve been planted. The seed must be crushed for it to sprout and in order to grow, you must come out of your shell. ❤️