Sowing and Reaping

Spring has sprung and seeds are beginning to sprout; another amazing cycle of seed time and harvest. When I walk around my garden checking to see what is coming up and what has died, most of the time I have a hard time distinguishing between the flowers and the weeds as they all look the same to me. It is only when they start to come to maturity that I know what needs pulling up and what needs to stay rooted.

I recognize the thistles as they are very distinct and I marvel at how many I uprooted last year and question why there seems to be multiplication this year! My expert gardener friends tell me that I must have left some of the root and they will keep coming until the whole root is removed. I want everything to look beautiful on the surface, but lack the patience and the necessary passion to spend hours in the dirt dealing with bad seeds. A couple of summers I was away a lot and really neglected my garden, the weeds got away on me and I never seem to have caught up with them since. We live on an acreage so this is not a small garden! This year I told my husband to get on the tractor and plough it all in; a radical move because I will lose flowers and plants as well as weeds.

Do you ever feel like that in life? Overwhelmed by circumstances? Unable to conquer an addiction or sin? Has the enemy planted ‘tares’ in your field that feel like they are choking the life out of you? Think that you have dealt with a sin, but it keeps coming to the surface again? It is easy to get overwhelmed and wish we could just start again. When we are faced with adversity do we retreat or put on our armour and push through until we have regained what the enemy has stolen?

We are in a time right now where the Lord is dealing with and exposing those things that are contrary to His will and purpose in us and in the Church. We see leaders falling because of hidden sin, evil being called good and good evil. If we are to be that bride without spot or wrinkle then we need to allow the Lord to be radical in uprooting and tearing down the ‘weeds’ in our lives and in the church. God is exposing the ‘bad’ seeds we have sown and dealing with them is often hard and painful.

I believe that this is a time of re-alignment in our lives and that is not always a pleasant thing. The Lord says in Amos 7:8 in the NL translation that he is testing His people against the plumbline and He will not ignore their sins any more. He is revealing those things that we have only partially dealt with and so still bear bad fruit from the root that is left.

It is like having a chiropractic adjustment: it hurts, and sometimes it doesn’t stay in place the first time because the muscles have to readjust around it. When the Lord shows us those things in our lives that are out of alignment we need to readjust our thinking and bring our thoughts into captivity. (2 Corinthians 10:5 ) otherwise like the weeds, they will take over our lives. God is holding up the plumbline of His Word, aligning us; adjusting our lives so that we bear good fruit for His kingdom.

Charles Reade said “Sow a thought, and you reap an act. Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny ‘ this goes along with this word from James [Jam 1:14-15] But each one is tempted by his lusts, being drawn away and seduced by them. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is fully formed, brings forth death. MKJV

Conception takes place when we allow our unrighteous thoughts to take root and we begin to fertilize them by fantasizing about how things could be. The next step is the act and sin is birthed. This works for good or evil. We can dwell, meditate on the Word of God and the seed of the Word will bring forth a harvest of righteousness and Godly character in us.

Paul tells the Galatians [Gal 6:7-9 ]Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also will reap. For he sowing to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But he sowing to the Spirit, will reap life everlasting from the Spirit. But we should not lose heart in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not faint. MKJV

This year I have been praying for crop failure by repenting of seeds I have sown that hinder me walking in the fullness of all the Lord has for me. So many times we look at the above verse and I don’t think we grasp the full meaning of what Paul is saying. We dismiss words we have spoken, we justify judging others because of their sin and we sow seeds of unrighteousness which do not bring forth a harvest of peace. Even in our thoughts and our attitudes we condemn and pass judgment. We deceive ourselves that those thoughts are unspoken, (“I’m keeping my opinion to myself”) but they speak volumes in the spiritual realm and the Lord knows our hearts. He is not deceived.

Hosea 8:7 says, they sow the wind and reap a whirlwind – seeds sown good or bad, produce more than was planted, they increase just like the thistles.

What seeds have we sown in the Church? I believe one of them is apathy: we have sat back in our comfortable pews not realizing that in many areas we have given the enemy a foothold. We have bought into the lie that we can do nothing to bring change and many of us have lost hope and many have left. We need to pray for health and wholeness in us and in the Church. Plant good seed, pray theWord and deal with our individual lives so that we produce good fruit.

The law of sowing and reaping is not just about finances, it is in every area of our lives. We need to rise up in the opposite spirit, the militant Church can and will overcome. The end of the Good Book says that we win; in fact we already have the victory. We just need to enforce it!!

This is a serious time, and a glorious time to be alive! We were called to the Kingdom for such a time as this. Esther fasted and prayed and found favour with the King and her people were saved. Now is the time to sow to the spirit and not to the flesh.

I encourage you to fast and pray at this time especially as we head towards General Synod. If I had been vigilant in my garden the weeds would not have taken over and I would be enjoying the fruits of my labours instead of starting from scratch.

Psalm 148:6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].

God has decreed in the plumb line of His Word how He wants us to conduct our lives and what He expects of His Bride. Let us decree His Word and sow seeds which will bring forth a harvest of righteousness. We have all we need to walk in victory; the Blood of Jesus overcomes; the Word of God is our sword; the Holy Spirit is our Guide; the armour of God protects us and the power of God in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

Let’s plant these seeds of victory and scatter them abroad and pray that they land in good soil and bring forth a hundredfold return.

Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? MKJV (Rom 8:37) Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us. MKJV

(1Co 15:57) But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory [making us conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ. MKJV

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and He revealing through us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. MKJV

1Jo 5:4 For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith. MKJV

Good seed produces good fruit - let’s plant it by our words, our actions and our very lives, let’s be a sweet fragrance that exudes the love and presence of the Lord wherever we go.

Jane Jones is ARM's National Prayer Co-ordinator.