31 Faith-Building LessonsSample

LESSON 22

The Law of Seedtime and Harvest, Part 1

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22

God is telling us that there are a few things that will never change. As long as the earth remains, there is going to be seedtime and harvest, day and night, and summer and winter. You cannot change it, so you might as well learn to live with it and make the necessary adjustments. What we are dealing with here is a law.

A law is defined as a general principle to which all applicable cases must conform. When there is something that never changes, then it is commonly referred to as a law. God is telling us in Genesis 8:22 that seedtime and harvest is a spiritual law set into motion by Him. Since this is a spiritual law that cannot be changed, then we must learn to use it to our advantage.

Your whole life consists of seed planting. You are planting seeds all of the time with your thoughts, your words, and your actions. I am a sower of seeds. The Bible says in Mark 4:14 that the sower sows the Word, so God compares words with seed. Every word that you speak is a seed. Your heart is the ground in which these seeds are planted, and if the ground is good, the seeds are going to take root and grow and produce fruit. You can either plant good seeds from the Word of God in that ground, or you can plant bad seeds (of doubt and unbelief). If you plant bad seeds in the ground of your heart, you will get a crop of misery, sickness, poverty, lack, and want.

This is what happened to me back in 1969 while I was an automotive paint and body repairman. I was going broke, my marriage was on the rocks, and it seemed that everything I touched turned bad. I wanted to be a success, but it looked like success had escaped me. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong, but it just looked as though all the odds were against me.

One day, a sower came and sowed the Word into my heart. The sower’s name was Kenneth Copeland, and the words he sowed were God’s Words. I sat there with an open heart and heard all that he said. Even though I had a lot of negative seeds in my heart, the sharp-edged Sword of the Spirit dug deep into my heart and plowed up my field. New seeds were planted in that ground even though all of those other seeds were planted in that ground. Even though all of those other seeds were trying to choke it out, somehow those seeds of God’s Word lodged in my heart. All of a sudden, I realized that I could break up my ground and dig up those corrupt seeds that were inside of me and plant new seeds. Thank God, those new seeds were the Word of God, and the harvest would be the will of God for my life.

Did you know that the commercials you hear and see through the news media are producing seeds in your life? Satan has been very clever to use every form of communication to plant bad seeds in your life. Your eyes and ears are gateways to your heart. What you hear will get into your heart. If your eye is not single on God’s Word, then your whole being is going to be full of darkness. If your eye is single on God’s Word, then your whole being is going to be full of light. Whatever you are listening, harkening, and adhering to is going to produce fruit in your life. If you are not giving your attention to God’s Word, then you are probably giving your attention and hearkening to Satan’s word. Whatever word you are listening to is going to produce fruit in your life.

The devil will tell you that everyone has to be sick sometimes. When you go to God, He doesn’t talk like that at all. I grew up thinking sickness was a part of life, and you couldn’t do anything about it. I was never told when I was growing up that by His stripe,s I was healed. I didn’t know you could resist sickness!

When symptoms came, I just told everybody that I was sick.

I didn’t know that sickness could be stopped! When it came, I just accepted it like everyone else.

The problem is, when everybody says the flu season is coming, if you have those seeds planted down on the inside of you, then you will expect to have the flu. Why? Because the seed was planted. If they say that depression is coming and you allow those seeds of defeat to get into your heart, you will expect financial crisis. Eventually, it will come to pass in your life.

A man’s harvest depends entirely on the seeds he sows (Galatians 6:7 Phillips). If you are not satisfied with your life, if you are not happy with what is happening around you, you cannot blame anyone but yourself. You are the one who planted the seeds. If you don’t want tomatoes in your garden, then don’t plant the tomato seeds. If you don’t want defeat in your life, quit planting those seeds.

A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Matthew 12:35

Your heart is a spiritual production center, and the seeds you sow will grow. There is work going on inside of you. The Bible says as he thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7 AMP). Every word that I hear and allow to get into my heart will produce. As I think on those things and meditate on them, they become reality. I become what I think and what I dwell on. The very seeds that I sow in my heart are eventually going to reap a harvest.

You are the one who plants the seeds. If good things are happening in your life, then you must be planting some good seeds. Some people don’t understand why they can’t keep a job. They don’t understand why they are the first ones to get laid off. But if you listen to them, they have planted the seeds. “Well, they’re laying people off again, and I’ll probably be the first.” The seeds have been planted, and the harvest will come.

We’ve been taught how to fail, how to be sick, how to go broke. We’ve been taught how to live in misery, how to fail in marriage, how to fail in business, and for the most part, we’ve been very good students. But it is now time for us to have our minds RENEWED TO GOD’S WAYS. God says that we can succeed through Christ, so let’s plant those seeds and begin to harvest success.

Job 4:8 says, Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. If you plow iniquity and wickedness, you are going to reap iniquity and wickedness. If you sow seeds of hatred, you are going to reap hatred. On the other hand, if you sow seeds of love, you are going to reap love. If you plant seeds of strife, there is going to be strife around you all the time.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, and reap in mercy (Hosea 10:12). God is showing us the law of seedtime and harvest. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). If you want good things in your life, then you must sow good seed. How? right words! 20A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 21Deathandlifearein the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (Proverbs 18:20-21).

The Bible tells us to put away from ourselves a froward mouth and to put perverse lips far from us. A froward mouth is one that is not under the conviction of God’s Word. It is an uncontrolled mouth. Learn to speak the words of God in every situation, and the harvest that begins to come up in your life will be one of joy, peace, health, happiness, and prosperity.

The Bible even expresses that the giving of our finances is like sowing. Our money is seed.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

2 Corinthians 9:6

How you sow will dictate how much you reap. This is a law, and it will work for you if you will put it to work.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Do you know how you get cheerful in giving? You expect results. You expect a harvest. The farmer who is out there laboring in the field, planting his seed, has a joy on the inside of him because he knows he is going to have a harvest one day. When you sow your finances, do you expect a harvest? Well, you should because God has promised it. God says that He will multiply seed that is sown. When I give for the Gospel’s sake, I’m planting seeds in the Kingdom of God. When I give tithes to my church, I’m planting seed. When I give to the poor, I am planting seed. God says that if I do it sparingly, that is the way I am going to reap. If I do it bountifully, then I am going to reap bountifully.

You see this principle working in every facet of life. Words, thoughts, actions, and money are all seeds. Ideas are seeds. One idea inspired by God can change your whole life. Thoughts are seeds. Thoughts from the devil are seeds trying to overcome the seed of God. We stand in the strategic position of being the only one who can determine the outcome of our lives by the seeds that we allow to enter into our hearts. What seeds are growing in your heart? I trust they are God’s Words. If they are, then you are in store for a wonderful harvest.