Saturday, February 16, 2008

The Principles of the Law of the Harvest


In God there are no coincidences.


Yesterday I went to Anthony and Nick's school chapel services. Anthony got an award for his class for Student of the Week. He was so proud and so cute!

Although, Tadpole was the reason I was there, God used the message the guest speaker gave at his chapel service to renew a hope and encourage me.

The message was on the Principals of the Law of the Harvest from Galatians 6: 7-9.

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

The three principles are this:

You WILL reap what you sow.

You will reap LATER than you have sown.

You will reap MORE than you have sown.

You will reap what you sow.

If you reap God's character, the fruit of the Spirit into your live the the lives around you, if you sow prayer into your life, your children's lives, the lives of others, you WILL reap a harvest. (The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16)

As I pray for my children, my parents, my friends, of needs I hear, I am planting the seeds that God has asked me to sow. And I will reap. Sometimes we may be praying through our tears. Doing the right thing, through our tears, but keep sowing! Do not grow weary.... "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping,carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." Psalm 126: 5.6

So keep praying, God keeps his promises.

You reap later than you sow.

If you look at the natural law of sowing and reaping, which God uses as an analogy to His spiritual law, you sow a seed and then you have to WAIT...and wait....and, oh yea, WAIT....and then you see some evidence of your sowing, and then you wait some more and keep tending, before you ever see the harvest.

So often we stop, or give up, or get discouraged, because of the "later". But God has timing and all things have to work in His time. "In due time...." in the time God knows is best, and right... That is when the harvest comes. So do not grow weary, in due time!

You reap MORE than you sow.

Again, look at nature. One watermelon seed produces a vine, which produces multiple watermelons. Each watermelon can contain up to 600 seeds, which in turn, if planted..well you get it, we would be over run with watermelon.

So it is with God. He does "immeasurably more than we could hope or think." "Press down, shaken and running over." So He does not just answer, He does not just give us a harvest to reap, but an over abundant harvest.

Often, though, we give up before reaping time...or we are looking for a harvest different than He is giving. We think we know more than God..or at least HOW God should do it.

God often has us sowing seeds, but we do not know what the harvest would be. We pray for love, thinking He will package the answer a certain way, (6 foot 2, eyes of blue) and He delivers it differently (4 times 2 feet three, brown, hazel, black and blue eyed...) And His harvest ends up being far more satisfying, far richer, far more meaningful, than our planned garden.

It is funny though, as we plant those seeds of His word, of prayer, of righteous acts, even if we plant in tears, and with a certain thought of harvest in mind, we should still go on planting. Doesn't matter if we think we are planting watermelon vines and God brings up an Olive grove, ...it is "a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor" Is 61:3

It is good. It is ALL good, when it is a harvest from the Lord.

So..do not grow weary, keeping sowing the good seed, for at the proper time you will reap a harvest if we do not give up, more than you ever sowed.

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