“Seed Time/Harvest”
Intro
(Genesis 8:22)
“While the earth remaineth (exist) seed time harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
After the great flood, the Lord spoke to Noah. He told him to let every creature that creeps to go about its way of life followed by Noah then building an altar to offer up a great sacrifice. Then the Lord gave the law. Seed time and Harvest is a law first/principle second that will always be around whether we have a consciousness or unconsciousness to it It is a law first because it is a direction (command) if you will that we are to live by. It is a principle because we can apply to many if not all areas of our life.
Many of us grew up with it referred to as “reap and sowing”. Either a natural saying or a spiritual awareness we heeded the words of our elders. We now know that whatever we do unto others will be done unto us.
(Parable of the sower)
Question: What is the seed? Let’s go to Luke 8:11-15
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God”
You have to plant that word. Use that word. Water it, clean out the weeds from around it. Keep the bugs from it so that it can grow properly. A prime example of how someone’s true heart can effect is found in
(I John 4:19)
“We love him because he first loved us”.
Jesus Christ sowed one of the greatest gifts of all. Because of his seed of Love we can now harvest love. Because of the joy seed, we can now harvest seed. We can reap peace, abundance, grace, mercy and kindness and loving our enemies (Luke 6:27).
I have a thought though. We have seed time where we plant the seed. Great care is taken to plant the seed (the word) into the world which is the field. The soil is tilled up. You have the water (doing ministry) and the harvest is the result of what is planted.
My question is this though. What happens in between you planting the seed and it being harvested? The answer is the growing of your Faith.
(Hebrews 11:1)
says…”Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen.”
This is the time where you are proven through the fire, storm, hurricane and tornadoes. Trust in him and use the faith (not the force) but the faith. The enemy is going to throw you off track, but you can’t afford to lose ground on what you’ve already gained.
We are in this building tonight because we made it through the famine, the drought. We were encouraged, supported, prayed over, been in prayer, planted a seed. The enemy tried, but we came through now we have harvested the benefits of our obedience. Had we left the devil sink his teeth into the foundation of what God had planned for us (faith works) the battle would have been lost.
See, when you’re standing in between the season of sowing and the season of reaping you’ve got to be in faith and have faith with you. Stand on the seed which is the word of God. Trials will come, but trials will go. Bad weather may hit, but bad weather doesn’t stay. Gods works is stronger than any other storm coming your way because he can say “Peace be still.” Your faith will prove the harvest.
In the law of seed time/harvest, attention to detail is vital and must be present. Tares (weeds) will tend to sprout up if you are not keeping an eye on the ground the seed has been sown.
Here’s a little insight so we understand what is truly happening. Don’t think you are simply protecting your investment. Snipping a twig here, killing weeds there. God is pruning you for a ripe harvest. He’s removing those individuals that want a piece of your glory. He’s removing those strongholds that you’ve been battling for years, those addictions that just seem to never go away, those physical ailments that have plagued you every day. He’s going to touch those areas of your life right now!
God revealed to me the harvest in a vision one night. “I was walking on the street with a fence line to my right side. On the other side of the fence was a mango tree (my favorite fruit from Trinidad). On the tree were two mangos, one not ripe and other ripe. So I began to go towards the tree but I had to go through. Let me say that again, I had to go through in order to reap the ripe fruit. At the same time someone else was after the same thing, but I beat them out. So the victory is mine and the enemy has lost.
I’m declaring tonight that God is going to bring the harvest you’ve been waiting on. Claim it now. Pursue after it. Believe in it. Stand on the word (seed). Believe that his word is true.
In order to have a spiritual harvest, there needs to be a spiritual seed. Start claiming victory over
1. your strongholds
2. over you children, and their children
3. over your job
4. relationships
5. finances
6. business/businesses
Every area of your life that needs to be touched by the hand of God.
Continual sowing will yield continual growth.
(II Cor 9:6) says…
“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
The harvest is a reflection of the seed sown, what you had to go through during the waiting period. Don’t let the enemy hit the CORE (root) of God’s plans for you.
There is a movie called ‘Faith Like a Potato’. It takes place in South Africa. Long story short a farmer w/an anger management issue is converted to a believer (follower) of the word. Needing to bring in money for his family, he decides to plant a crop of potatoes. The land is very dry. Most would think it was dead and no life could come from it. With no rain, he begins to question his decision to plant. So after a while of waiting, he and his farm hand decide to take a chance and dig, but first they pray.
As he begins to dig, what is revealed is astonishing. The seed yields crops twice the size of what is expected. How is that? He was looking for signs of rain, signs of growth above ground. All the while there was water running underneath the ground.
My point is this. In between seed time and harvest God is still doing his best work though you may not see it.
Don’t give up on the harvest that is coming your way. Believe in God to meet your needs as Psalms 23 says. Believe he will multiply be he can do more than we ask or think. Continue to sow generously in all areas of your life where you want to see a harvest…
(Matt 6:33)
“But seek ye first the kingdom of god, and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”
He will manifest himself. If planted with the heart it will show. Sow with the expectation of a new existence, a new experience.
