SOWING AND REAPING
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.2Cor 9:6
Do you have what to sow?
In another post entitled Justice doesn’t mean righteousness, we saw that everybody has something to be thankful for. The lord has committed to every man a gift specific to them and no one else.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:8-11
What do you sow as a serious believer?
When you become born again, you have achieved the greatest earthly success. You are at step one in the spirit realm and ready to determine the rest of your spirit existence. The bible describes two ways that a believer increases in the spiritual realm.
1) You sow unto spiritual Greatness
Which is function of winning souls and increasing the family of God (Matt5:19, Dan12:3)
In the book of Rom 15:27, the teacher Paul ministers spiritual things. He receives carnal things in return. However, no matter whether you are a minister of the gospel or not, the carnal things you get from your work become seeds for creating your spiritual wealth. This is a lesson that must be learnt by all children of God. Many of them assume that they are not concerned in all aspects of spiritual sowing.
Rom 15:27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.
2) You sow spiritual Riches
Which is function of your giving to the poor (Matt19:21). I have taught elsewhere that instead of the wrong teaching on rebuking the devourer [[Gods army of righteousness (Joel 2:25) sent by God for destruction towards those who store up wealth in the earth]] rather store up your wealth in heaven and stay safe.
You can with this knowledge choose to be both great and rich spiritually. On the other hand, you may sow strategically to become great but poor (as many pastors do today) or become a rich but uninfluential person in the spirit.
How do you sow the seeds you have?
You can sow into your body, your soul or your spirit. The bible advises you to sow into your spirit which is incorruptible. This is what we saw before. There are however important things that you require to do to be an all-round success and to boost your increase in the spirit.
You are also advised to sow bountifully (2Cor9:6). Be excellent at the things that you do. Give your best and do not say that God will come and complete certain parts for you. Treat every aspect of your responsibilities with diligence, patience, prudence, concentration and perseverance. God deserves our whole hearts, minds and strength.
Where do you sow your seeds?
Sow in good soil. This has to do principally with the reason you do the things you do (your heart). If you have other anticipated gains previewed in your heart that have nothing to do with God, then your reward spiritually might be short circuited (Luke 8:14). Be not distracted neither by the things of this life nor by trials and temptations. The devil never stops coming after the ones that refuse to bow to the things he has to offer [[Matt4:4, Luke 4:4]].
Sowing in good soil is explained simply by the fact that with all other things put together, prefer the best choices based on the word of God. Do not make any presumptions out of fear, favours or other forms of vices. Be strong in the lord and in the power of his might. Where you sow your seed has nothing to do with the church you attend. The church of Jesus Christ is one.
When do you sow your seeds?
.The bible says you can sow all the time. There is always something important to do for the lord wherever you are and at all times. Allow the spirit of God to lead you. While waiting, study the word and meditate therein. Even if you do not seem to understand at the moment. God considers the attention you are giving the word as a form of service (Isaiah 66:1-2). He will not fail to guide your ways
Why do you sow your seeds?
You sow because you are a child of God; God is a spirit and is teaching you his ways while leading you towards his spiritual inheritance. You sow spiritually in order to reap spiritually. If all you see is an earthly prosperity, then there will be nothing for you to see in heaven. I add here that the lord showed me poor people in heaven in a vision which I have shared elsewhere. You are given access to control much based on the manner in which you controlled the little given you in the earth (Luke16:10).
EXPANDING BENEFITS
The manner in which you regard the scripture (2Cor 9:6) determines whether you use it to make or to mar. The truth is that any farmer that does not plant as many seeds as possible, automatically limits his or her harvest. It does not matter how well the soil was tilled and watered and cared for with manures and fertilizers.
When God asks you to sow bountifully, the most important question is not that you just go ahead and do just any nice things. Ask yourself this question. HOW DO I RELATE WITH GOD?
The bible teaches us that God is a father (James1:17) and that he is a spirit. The best relationship we have with God is one where we are both children of this wonderful father and also that we are spirit beings too. A dog gives birth to a dog. We are told in John1:12-13 that we are not flesh and blood but born of God. 1Pet1:23 also lets us understand that we have an incorruptible nature just as the one that gave birth to us. The proceeds of our hearts therefore must be built with incorruptible fabric.
All in all, the Christian after Jesus Christ is someone who completely forgoes the earthy and relies fully on the spiritual. His sojourn in the earth is a journey towards accomplishing the will of heaven in the earth. This means that although we exist as spirit, soul and body our attention is on the spirit man that gives us the true identity of ourselves.
THE BODY
The spirit is above the body and therefore is subject to the dictates of the spirit. What a Christian sows for the body therefore is words. All a Christian requires to do to activate the blessings of the flesh is to speak words. This is well taught by many preachers of prosperity. When you confess positively all the time you receive what you say. God controls all the things of this world by his word. The seeds that are sown to the flesh are therefore simple words and a corresponding belief. If you decide to sow anything more than words to prosper in the earth, then of course you are just wasting time and resources.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:1-2 God used words to bless Abraham and Abraham used the same to propagate the Godly blessing to others. In the New Testament if your words will not prosper you in the earth, then nothing else can change your fortune because you are already blessed. Only people that are not connected with God need to do a special blessing sacrifice.
God will not reward you because you spoke just any words into another man’s life except when those words produced eternal benefits of salvation. Stop thinking that you are prophesying and men are receiving miracles from God and therefore you are spiritually making it big. That too is sowing into the flesh which are contributions to the shadow gospels
.Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven
Luke 10:20 says you should not rejoice over things that will not give you any spiritual benefits. There are certainly going to be flesh benefits which even now have caused many ministers of the word to go astray. Some of them think (as they work) that every seed they sow is a seed for eternal rewards. It is not sin to sow into the flesh but this should be done with great caution otherwise it will derail you altogether. It is not because it was done in church that it was for God.
THE SOUL
The spiritual soul is the identity of every distinct part of the body of Christ just like cells do to the body. You can in other words name souls from the spirit realm and give their functions. We can make a difference between a cell or soul attached to the body of Christ and one that is not. The soul prospers all the time by learning new things. There is no directional difference between a soul that is in the earth and another that has entered heaven.
For example if God gave you a talent to do a great engineering job, you could be required to learn to drive to be able to do this job effectively. After you learn to drive, your soul has prospered in this (driving) forever. If you do not know how to drive, this will not affect your main talent in any way. Of course salvation still remains the most effective prosperity of a soul. For your soul to prosper, just keep learning even if you may not need this knowledge at every bus stop of your life. The soul stops learning at death because there is no other learning that will help it prosper in its main talent. Not all learning of the soul benefits the spirit.
THE SPIRIT
The spirit of a man is the true boss of that man. When scripture says you should sow, this principally refers to your spirit man. Sowing unto your spirit yield dividends for your spirit man. Unfortunately, the wolves of our generation have confused the whole thing by connecting every word they see in the bible to a financial giving ticket.
Your spirit man is always with you even when you sleep. You are represented every time and everywhere fully as a spirit even if all your body parts are dysfunctional. Your physical heart is not your spiritual heart. Even as you sleep and dream, you are always with yourself and know deeper things about yourself even though your body rests.
The spirit sows by works towards the lesser; it is not about giving back to God but about God giving to man. When God gave you the seed to sow, he wants to see how much of himself there is in you (righteousness). When you act like God, then your practical training to become like him is appropriated. God is not out to teach you obedience (that you give back to him) but rather teaching you love (that you receive others the same way he received you).
The learning you get by keeping your body subject to righteous doing, is appropriated into your spirit man and nature. You become Holy (Heb3:1) as your doings exactly mimic those of a father that is prone to light and good. Although your representative offering and sacrifices in church development also mean that you love the brethren, your ultimate investment for spiritual sowing is to give to the poor. Pastors should always explain the reason for every giving in the church so that children of God always give out of love.
Give with a reason to cause people to love your God and not as a means to cause God to bless you. All children of God received the full blessing (Eph1:2) and should go ahead and activate it in faith (Luke8:15) and patience. You should also be spiritually minded like Jacob to rely fully on the blessings of God. It is not about the food that Jacob gave to his father Isaac but rather his attention that was fixed towards spiritual blessings.
THE MENTALITY
While many people still refuse to appropriate the ways of the lord, I’m wondering how superficial some “Christian” lives are given that a lot more is expected of us than just an ordinary service to the lord. In Luke 17:7-11, our lord gives a peculiar description of how his followers should behave. If you are to follow the lord, then your minds to serve should be renewed and transformed accordingly. Eventually you learn to serve as a routine habit and become excellent at it.
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat. And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
Luke 17:7-10
The kind of mentality you give towards serving the lord determines how fast you receive from him. Learn to love to serve him from your spirit; do not think that the things that are right should appeal to the senses. Always trust walking by the wonderful guide which is the word of God. There are some people who serve God as if someone is forcing them to do so. Rather you should think yourself as highly privileged to work in the lords service.
BEWARE OF LOVE FOR EARTHLY PROSPERITY
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom; Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 12:16-34
Worry more about the kingdom which our God will deliver to the righteous.I warn you therefore that there are many wolves out there that will not hesitate to teach you all forms of nonsense in a bit to empty your pockets. [[I do not say you should run back to the religions. They are worse because they do not move with the wind (Holy Spirit)]]. Beware of their tricks and sow correctly only towards an eternal reaping (Luke 12:33-34).
