Faith EnergizersSample

LESSON 23

The Law of Seedtime and Harvest, Part 2

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

5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. 6Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 7Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

Haggai 1:5-7

Everything on the earth revolves around the law of seedtime and harvest: our words, thoughts, and finances. Principles of seedtime and harvest are discussed repeatedly throughout the Old and New Testaments. Galatians 6:7 tells us, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall also reap. If you are sowing productive seeds according to God’s Word and have not been reaping the abundant harvest that God promises, then God says, Consider your ways. Take an inventory of your life and find out what has been hindering your harvest.

How you sow will dictate how much you reap. God reveals to us that He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. (2 Corinthians 9:6).

When you tithe your finances, it is like planting seed. God says, 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).

Expect a harvest. A farmer has joy on the inside of him when he plants his seed, even though it is hard, physical work.

Even though he knows there is much tilling, weeding, and fertilizing ahead of him, he expects and plans for a harvest. He knows the law of seedtime and harvest, so there is a joy in planting the seed.

Faith cannot work in a sinful heart, a heart that is not pure. Many times, sin is what keeps believers from receiving a harvest. What has been happening in the Body of Christ is a ‘spiritual Watergate.’ There are some things that are coming out from under cover. God is doing a supernatural purging in the Body of Christ in these last days. He says He is going to have a glorious Church, without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. Sin has been running wild in the Church, and God is not going to tolerate it any longer. When we made a decision that we were not going to put up with illegal things in our political system, we had a purging of the government. We must now check ourselves because God wants sin out of our lives.

The prosperity message is not a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme or an overnight success formula that you can work up and then just live any way that you want. It is a lifestyle that you have to be committed to or it won’t work for you. The laws of God work together. One is designed to affect the other, and you can’t pick out one little thing and ignore the rest and expect it all to work. You can cause the laws not to work at their best when you inject something that is not designed to be there. For instance, in flying, there is the law of lift, the law of drag, and the law of thrust. If you don’t apply those laws properly, even though they are laws, you won’t get off the ground. Once you get off the ground, if you do something to interfere with those laws, such as turn the engines off, then you negate those laws, and another law comes into manifestation immediately: the law of gravity.

In Leviticus 26:14-16, God tells us, 14But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all of these commandments; 15And if ye shall despise my statues, or if your soul abhors my judgment, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant…16Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

God is saying that if you disregard His commandments, it is like SOWING YOUR SEED IN VAIN. Violating one law causes another law to be violated. Some people think that now that we live under grace, there are no commandments. If that were so, it would be all right for us to commit adultery, steal, or have other gods.

God expects us to obey the commandments of the New Covenant just like He expected us to obey the commandments of the Old Covenant.

One reason people are not reaping a harvest is many have forgotten two of the greatest commandments given by Jesus. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matthew. 22:37). That ye love one another, as I (Jesus) have loved you (John. 15:12). God’s perfect plan for His people is to walk in love. His commandments were not given to put people in bondage but to allow His blessings to flow abundantly in their lives.

He wants us to be so blessed that we can give unto every good work, but we must hearken unto His Word and keep His commandments.

18My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

1 John 3:18-23

God expects us to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. There are a lot of Christians who are violating that commandment, and they are not receiving the harvest God has promised them.

The second part of this commandment indicates that if you are not walking in love, then you are SOWING YOUR SEED IN VAIN. The Bible explains in 1 Corinthians 13:3 that you can give all your finances to the poor, but it will profit you nothing without love. The nature of God is love. When you made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you became a creature of love. Jesus said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:35).

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, we are even given a description of the virtues of the love of God. 4Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil… Without these characteristics in our lives, without love in our hearts, we are sowing our seed to the wind.

You have to make a decision about the love walk and not waver from it. You will have opportunities to get in strife, but don’t let it destroy the seed you’ve planted. Sowing your seed in strife is what the Bible calls mingled seed (Leviticus 19:19). You have to determine not to entertain strife but to resist it at all costs.

God promises that if we hearken to His commandments and do them, He is going to bless us on every hand.

3If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

Leviticus 26: 3-12

As we are obedient to the Covenant and keep our hearts clean and pure before Him, the seed we sow will bring forth a productive harvest. We will become vessels of honor through which His divine favor flows out to all humanity.