One of the things I love about my church( TPH) is the opportunity to hear the varied biblical viewpoints of visiting speakers when they come to visit. Well, I don’t always agree with them; Infact, on one occasion, we had a regular speaker whose viewpoints I don’t typically agree with come and what I did, if I recall now, when I was feeling uncomfortable with his view point, was to respectfully step out of the building to get a breather and came back to my seat when I had calmed down or perhaps I pinched my hubby and gave that shocked ? or ‘head to the left and right no-no’look.
Well today, we had Stephen Chandler, current pastor of one of the fastest growing church in the states- not surprised at this because clearly his dad, who started the church and Stephen, who followed after, had sown the ‘good’ seeds. But seriously, I totally was hyped by this ‘Seeding your Harvest’ message and just had get my fingers and phone to work immediately.
I hope you learn a thing or two and the write-up encourages you as you journey in life this week and beyond.
‘It is your responsibility to seed your harvest…’ Chandler, Stephen, This Present House (The Dome, Lagos, Nigeria), Live Streaming, 24 November 2019. You have to sow the seed- no one else will. Even God called called forth light, the moon and stars etc .. no one did it for him. Your parents, mentors, counselors can train, advise or counsel you, but you have to sow that seed- that word -that action yourself. Here are some key things to note:
1. Everything that you see today in whole form started in ‘seed’ form- the seed is the Word..Luke 8:11. The seed is the beginning…you have to start from
A to get to Z.
A seed is a response to the word of God. It is simply carrying out what you hear from the whisper of the Holy spirit. If the Holy Spirit says that you should carry out an unpopular action like sowing a financial
seed to an organization that doesn’t hold your beliefs… it simply means you are sowing a good seed as long as it is backed up by the word of God. Yes it is unpopular… but you see God honors Obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Make sure but you have checked off the following, in carrying out your seed sowing process:
‘God told me to do this’ ✔
‘I have confirmed it with the word of God.’ ✔
‘I am sure of the directive that I have heard.’ ✔
Well, if you didn’t hear it and did it.. please you are on your own ? (OYO)
3. Don’t forget that you are not only going to sow the seed, you will still need to water and nurture it until you see it grow. ‘Oh no!…,’ at the process. Yeeaah!! Rome wasn’t built in a day.. this applies to any establishment or culture-shaping area of societal influence- media, government, education, economy, family, religion, and arts and entertainment (Enlow, Johnny, The Seven Mountain Prophecy). You still have to sow, water and nurture any seed that you sow until it becomes harvest. The positive values of excellence, consistency, integrity are still very key during the germination process.
4. Sometime we tend to judge a harvest or make assumptions of how one got a harvest.. you can’t do that because you don’t know the full story.. you don’t know what has been sown to bring forth that harvest. Face your front, Mind your business and sow your own seed …lol!
4. You can’t get a great harvest unless you sow a good seed. So, why not sow a good seed. Bad seeds will germinate a bad harvest, conversely.
5. Every seed takes time to become harvest.
There is seed time
There is time – wait time
There is Harvest time
Sometimes you have to ‘wait.’
6. Every seed MUST produce- whether good or bad.
God is not a debtor that he will forget your past, current or future seeds. Isaiah 55:10. God’s word will not return to him to void. That is why the word of God..the holy book should be your backup/reference.
7. Not every seed is financial or involves money. You can sow kindness, food, anything that isn’t financial or is financial, but it must be backed by the word of God/the holy book/ a promise that you hold on to beyond a shadow of a doubt(faith). … Likewise, not every harvest will be financial. This isn’t magic.. it is just the law of ‘seed time and harvest…Gen 8:22 ‘you get what you put it… beyond the physical, there is a higher force that makes that seed eventually become harvest and there is that ‘wait’ period: drought, hail, snow, or rain, some trimming or pruning, etc, will come first before the ‘harvest.’
3. Your harvest doesn’t come from people. Stop looking at people for your harvest
My summary
Sow that seed/word/action – take that first move. NO SEED NO HARVEST
Be consistent – don’t give up during the process- God remembers it all
After all has been said and done … sit back and wait patiently until it is time to start reaping your bountiful harvest (because you have sown good seeds o).
A few notes from my Sunday morning today… Musings of a 21st century Nigerian American woman mother and writer 21stCNAWMW @DeeCla Publishing