(2 Corinthians 9:10-11 NLT) For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. (11) Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
Law of Sowing and Reaping
- God created the law of sowing and reaping.
- God created another law that says a seed will produce only after its own kind.
- Seeds are not always financial in nature.
(Galatians 6:7 TPT) Make no mistake about it, God will never be mocked! For what you plant will always be the very thing you harvest.
- The Word of God is the most powerful seed we have available.
Giving someone a financial gift might change their life on the outside, but the Word of God can change someone’s life from the inside out and make an eternal difference.
How can money, a neutral thing become something that I can sow and have it produce a harvest? It is just like the brick; it is powerless to produce anything. Unless something is attached to it.
- Money can become seed only if the real seed is attached to it.
The basic plan for our finances:
- We receive income from our job, business, etc.
- We tithe (10%) honoring God, off the top.
- We save, pay our bills, and financial obligations.
- We sow seed out of our discretionary income (what is left over).
(2 Corinthians 9:10 AMPC) (10) And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity]. [Isa 55:10; Hos 10:12]
Principles of Reaping
(Proverbs 10:5 NKJV) He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.
(Proverbs 10:5 TLB) A wise youth makes hay while the sun shines, but what a shame to see a lad who sleeps away his hour of opportunity.
(Ecclesiastes 11:1-4 NKJV) (1) Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days. (2) Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, For you do not know what evil will be on the earth. (3) If the clouds are full of rain, They empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. (4) He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.
Solomon is telling us that there is not going to be a convenient or opportune time to sow or to reap. If you are moved by the present conditions, you might not do anything.
(Ecclesiastes 11:4 TLB) If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.
Many times, when the Lord deals with us to sow, give, or do something above the norm, will not be a convenient time.
Reasons Why We Don’t Reap A Harvest
We want to reap harvests and reap big harvests!
Natural things oftentimes are patterned after spiritual things.
- People do not reap a harvest because they have not sown.
A farmer cannot reap a harvest if he has not planted.
If you want to reap, you must sow.
Remember, if you have nothing, God will give you seed to sow, to get you started.
Remember when your harvest comes in:
- Honor God with the tithe of your increase.
Tithing is the key to your sowing being blessed. (Malachi 3:10-11) When you tithe, He will make sure that it rains on the seed that you have sown. God will rebuke the devourers, the bugs that want to steal your harvest. He will also make sure that the harvest is ready in its due season.
(Galatians 6:9 NKJV) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
(Galatians 6:9 MSG) So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up or quit.
- Some people do not reap because they quit and give up before they harvest.
- Due season or the right time is always later than you want it to be!
When you sow naturally, you do not sow today and reap tomorrow or even next week.
Reaping takes patience. You cannot rush the ground!
Faith works this way too! (Mark 11:23) Even the mountain dissolving and ending up in the water is the same as it jumping up and getting cast in the sea.
- One of the keys to a constant harvest is to make sure that you are always sowing.
- Look for “suddenly’s” but plan on realities.
- Some people don’t reap because they think the reaping is automatic.
(Mark 4:26-29 NKJV) And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, (27) and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. (28) For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. (29) But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Who planted the seed? The man did.
Who caused it to grow? The earth. (God’s responsibility)
Who did the reaping? The man did.
Reaping is no more automatic than sowing is. You make a decision to reap.
Think about this: even with spectacular, supernatural provision, the Children of Israel still had to gather the manna that fell from Heaven. They also had to gather the quail that God caused to fly into the camp for them.
When the spectacular provision stopped in the Promised Land, they had to sow, the earth brought the fruit, and they had to harvest.
- You sow by faith, and you reap by faith.
- Reaping will require us to learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Not only will he lead us to sow, but He will show us when to reap.