There’s been a drastic change in the weather here in Wisconsin the last couple of days. Monday and Tuesday we experienced some of the warmer temperatures of the year. High 80’s to low 90’s. And yesterday I don’t think we even reached 60 degrees. This makes the change feel even more dramatic. And it reminds me of the changing season that is coming.
I’ve written about the changing seasons of our lives a couple of different times. And I know and realize that there is a time and a season for everything. There is a time to be born and there is a time that we will die…at least for our earthly body. A time to sow and a time to reap. A time to give and a time to receive.
We’ve all met the people who seem to be stuck in the “time to receive” mode, even though they don’t seem to be doing much of it…and we can’t see where they have ever entered the time to give mode...which explains the lack of receiving. And on the opposite side of things we see the people who really struggle with the time to receive. Oh, in their flesh they want to receive but in the spiritual side of things they really don’t know how. They are unsure how they can make this happen. And for some reason they almost feel guilty being on the receiving end.
But we need to know that it is really a part of God’s plan for our life to bless us and to give to us. He wants us to be in the receiving mode…it is part of his concept and part of his design. He created the world with abundance. And to whom do you think he wants this abundance to go to? Does he desire it for his people or for those who are walking in darkness? But his people have to learn the concept of laying hold of the treasures, laying hold of the abundance that he has purposely placed here. But…he also put certain rules and methods of operation in place to be able to receive and this is what Solomon was referring to when he said that there is a season for everything. Summer doesn’t take place without the spring and spring doesn’t happen without a winter. And reaping doesn’t take place without sowing first.
Where are you in your seasons right now? Have you been sowing for what seems to be an eternity but have yet to do any reaping? Remember there are seasons for everything. Would a farmer continue to sow where there is no reaping? Would God want us to live a life where we are always sowing but we are not reaping anything?
There is so much more to this than what I can cover in a short letter. But if you seem to be stuck in a mode of sowing without reaping I would encourage you to check a few things:
· Are you sowing in fertile ground – When you give your first fruits and your offerings are they going into a ministry that itself is producing fruit? Just as a farmer will not throw good seed on bad soil…we should not sow our first fruits and our offerings into a ministry that is not producing.
· Are you declaring a return when you sow? When you write out that check or sow that offering, are you commanding and declaring what you expect? Let the enemy know that what you are doing is more than just a ritual…you expect a return…you are promised a return and you will receive a return. It is written in God’s Word!!
· Live your life expectantly – When you do this you should plan accordingly. Expect it to happen. This is what God asks us to do. He wants us to live in faith…seeing things that are not as though they are. Live it out and live expectantly.
I don’t want to oversimplify…study this yourself. Look up the scriptures. And know for certain that just as you sow…you will reap. 30 – 60 – 100 – unlimited returns!! This is what God desires for us.
Matthew 13:23 – “But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Have a blessed day,
RodZ
© 2008 – Rodney Zimmerman – All rights reserved
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