What a wonderful message our pastor brought to us Sunday. The message was about harvest time.
He showed us how when we are sowing with the word of God, the seed is always good, the seed being the word.
However, we are responsible for our soil (our hearts) being right. You see, you can plant seeds all day long, but if the soil is no good, then the seed will not grow. Oh it may try to spring up but if the soil is bad and does not have the nutrients that the seed needs for growing, that sprout will just wither and die. It will never form the strong root system needed to keep it alive and help it to grow to maturity.
Itís sort of like that in our lives. We can read the word of God, but if we do not meditate on it, if we do not get it established into good soil in our hearts, then we will soon likely forget what we have read. If we would concentrate more getting the soil ó our hearts ó right first, then when we read the word, it will come alive within our hearts.
We should pray for understanding before we read the word, and pray that the Lord would prepare our hearts to receive his word, that he would show us if there is anything in our hearts that would hinder the word from taking place. In other words, check our soil (hearts) and see if there is too much of certain components that would keep our seed from growing as it should ( in this case, things like bitterness, anger, malice, covetousness, lack of love.)
Our pastor said it like this. The seed is always good; I am responsible for the soil. God is responsible for the seed which is his Word. Amen!
Sometimes we sow seeds into othersí lives or we sow seeds into different works of the Lord. This is a very important part of sowing those seeds. If we sow a seed into the ground, do we stand there and watch until it springs forth? No. We water and weed and take care of our sown seeds. But we don’t stand watch 24 hours a day. We will walk out one day and see sprouts springing forth. Hallelujah! What a joyous day. We sow our seeds to the Lord, not to the person or organization.
Pastor put it like this. Donít give to the church, give to the Lord. Get your mind off the seed and the harvest will come. Meditate on the word.
Most importantly, donít give up on your seeds. The harvest will come.
ěAnd let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart….(Gal. 6:9)
From the very beginning God told us there would be a seedtime and harvest.
ěWhile the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.î (Gen. 8:22).
Well, last I checked there was still cold and heat, still a winter and a summer, and for sure still a day and a night. So it only stands to reason that there is still a seedtime and harvest. Amen!
Godís word is our seed that we are to sow. His word will prosper.
ěSo shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Is. 55:11).
Seedtime and harvest is not always about finances. The most important seeds we sow are the ones we sow into the lives of others. We must be careful of what we sow. There are bad seeds as well. Remember this, if it is not good, it is not God.
How do we know what to sow?
Look into his word and let him give you the seeds (his words) to sow. They will always be good seed. They have a special coating on them; it is called love.
And now in this season, please allow me to sow this seed into your lives.
Jesus came to this earth being born of a virgin. He is the only begotten son of God. He walked on earth as a man. He was crucified on a cross, died and was buried. He went into the depths of Hell and paid our debt for sins past, present and future. On the third day He rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is there waiting for us, and one day when we approach the Throne of God, he will be there to say I’ve already paid for them, they have free admission into the Kingdom of Heaven.
You may ask how can I know this for sure? Well, first, you must accept him as your Lord and Savior. You must confess that he is Lord. That he is who he says he is: the Son of God. Then, believe in your heart that he has forgiven your sins on the cross. That he shed his blood for you, and that he loves you. Amen!
You may say, but I have so many sins. We all did. But when we come to him and accept his free gift of Grace, we are able to renew our minds, our way of thinking and behaving with his word.
Now the seeds are sown and God will bring in the harvest one day according to his word.
How can we prepare our hearts to receive his seed?
Stay in the word!
Neta Monroe lives in Salisbury.