Harvesting The Abundant LifeSample

Sowing to the Harvest

 

What and how do we sow toward harvesting the bountiful, satisfying life God has made available to us? Several things come to mind: faith, God’s Word, worship, gratitude, prayer and discipline. 

Faith

Faith is the foundation of the Believer’s life. Without it, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Without it, we wouldn’t be His. Though we live in a physical world, our life is also spiritual. Faith lives in the spiritual realm. It is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of realities not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). We are to journey through this life by faith, not by the things we see (2 Corinthians 5:7).    

  

Faith is believing God and trusting Him. It helps us live day by day. Paul tells the Ephesians that it is a vital part of our spiritual armor and can put out the “flaming arrows” of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16). Faith helps us say no to the “old man” and yes to the Spirit.  

  

Sowing into our faith helps us harvest the overflowing life God has already given us. Paul encourages Timothy by saying, “Fight the good fight of faith! Take hold of the eternal life – you were called to it” (1 Timothy 6:12).  

Scripture 

We have the supreme faith-growing tool available in our phones or on our nightstand: the Bible. To enlarge our faith, we first need to know who God is and what He says. “Faith comes by hearing,” Romans 10:17 says, “and hearing by the word of Messiah.” 

God’s Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). It is alive with His Spirit and contains the power to change our lives. “All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed” (2 Timothy 3:16). 

The apostle Paul urges us to not follow after the things of this world or conform to the belief they can satisfy us. He exhorts us to renew our minds and experience transformation (Romans 12:2). This renewal involves planting seeds of new information to replace the old, failing lies. We need the truth, and it’s found in God’s Word.

 

A regular diet of God’s Word will change us. We will know what He has given us, how He wants us to live and how He has empowered us. As we plant the seeds of God’s Word in our lives, we will reap a harvest of seeing His marvelous grace and astounding love for us. We will rejoice in wonder that the almighty and holy God cares for us. We will gather a crop of wisdom from His Word that will help us navigate this life, love others and live in peace. 

 

The bounty of God awaits us. His Word reveals it. Sowing the Scriptures into our lives enlarges our faith and helps us lay hold of the abundant life we already possess.