kids_of_korah

The Wait Between Planting and Harvesting

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 09:41:41 +0100

Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.” (Mark 4:26-29 NLT, emphasis mine)

There is a time difference between planting and harvesting. Sowers have to wait. Waiting is always a part of the process of the seed-time and harvest cycle because seeds take time to grow.

In the natural realm, we easily understand that most seeds don’t grow overnight. In fact, the bigger the plant, the longer the time it needs to grow and bear fruit.

For example, Mango trees take up attention for nurture without bearing any fruit or yield for harvest up to 3 to 6 years.

Some tomatoes are grown and harvested as early as 45 days.

Be it days, or weeks, or years - there is a waiting period.

The question is… How much harvest are you praying for? It might require a big “seed” and a longer waiting time.

This is also the reason we keep on sowing - continuously, as a way of life. A lifestyle of sowing protects us in between those seasons and periods that we have no harvest, simply because it takes time.

Christianity is not having a genie in a lamp where we rub and voila, our wish is God’s command. Our faith in God is not also like an ATM, where we sow our cash and out comes more cash for us.

We have to wait. The act of waiting is a law of seed and harvest.

Back to the mango tree, where one has to wait for at least 3 years:

Just imagine all the toil and hard work for all those time, and yet, no fruit! But there’s an anticipation of harvest, which is comforting because you can see the tree right in front of you.

And here is where our faith comes in: We don't see it with our physical eyes, but we just have to wear our shades of faith and trust God that it’s coming.

Wealth is progressive. We wait in faith and anticipation. And while we wait, we nurture the seed in prayer and praises.

There is a Waiting Period between Planting and Harvesting. Keep on sowing.

(image courtesy of Pixabay)

Laws of Seed and Harvest (Part 3)

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 08:54:48 +0100

Seed must be planted in good ground

Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! (Matthew 13:8 NLT)

The goal of seed planting is to reap a harvest. The goal is not just to plant some seed, but it’s a start.

Now that you’re planting seeds for a future harvest, we must verify that the ground will yield a desirable outcome.

There are different kinds of soil, as typified in Matthew 13. Each type of soil yields a different value and size of harvest. It’s a natural law, and a spiritual law. A rocky road has less chances of yielding a bountiful crop compared to a well-tilled land.

For starters, our home church is (supposedly) good ground. If you claim a certain church as a spiritual home where you receive spiritual nourishment and care, then it’s good ground.

There are other good grounds out there, much like there are stock options around where your investments will grow.

A good ground can be a person:

Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. (Matthew 10:41-42 NIV)

What is the reward of a prophet or a righteous person? It must be great! My seed of kindness in a form of cold drinks has a harvest.

The widow of Zarephath knew this very well. The prophet Elijah was unashamed to ask from her some water and bread in a famine-ravished land. And yet, in all the people in that area, she and her were overflowing with provision. (1 Kings 17:7-16)

Disclaimer and Caution

God’s laws are perfect; but we humans are flawed. Some Christian leaders have issues of corruption when it comes to offerings.

That’s why our Lord warned us ‘not to let our left hand know what our right hand is giving.’ (Matthew 6:3)

Better yet, give to their ministry or church, and not directly to the person.

(Image courtesy of Lightstock)

Laws of Seed and Harvest (Part 2)

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 05:21:27 +0100

Harvest Size is Dependent on Seed Value
Remember this: The farmer who plants a few seeds will have a very small harvest. But the farmer who plants because he has received God's blessings will receive a harvest of God's blessings in return. (2 Cor 9:6 GW)

(Image courtesy of Lightstock)

In the natural realm, we understand that if a farmer does not plant today, he will not reap tomorrow. Moreover, when a planter uses inferior and low-quality seeds, the harvest will be affected. It’s either the entire yield is poor in quality, or the cream of the crop is small.

Defining a Valuable Seed
Heaven’s economy is different from our world system. The Lord of the Harvest, in all His justness and fairness, does not see the value of a seed like we do.

We easily measure in amounts, and we easily contrast the buying power of a 100 bill to a 1 coin. But this is not the eternal basis of value.

The Most Generous Giver of All
Our Lord Jesus was and is nosey about offerings. He observed the givers:
He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." (Luke 21:2-4 NIV)

Just how could two coins amount to be “more than all the others?” Because God counts our generosity – how much we have left for ourselves. Others give out of their surplus, an amount that won’t affect them. But giving out of our poverty means that we are using more faith – a deep trust in God to provide for the next meal, and faith to invest for continual provision for the future.

Now, there’s nothing wrong in giving out of our surplus. God wants us to prosper so that we could easily give and share in every opportunity. What we are measuring here is the power of our personal seed at any given time. And because God does not look at amounts but on our generosity, then a 100 cash offering from a 1000 wage is so much powerful and valuable than a 10,000 offering from a million in the bank account. Such big offerings in proportion to what’s left are risky, and thus require more faith in and dependence on God.

But we don’t conclude that we should remain poor and needy so as to depend on God our whole lives. Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor so that they don’t have to be poor anymore.

Remember that God wants us to prosper in that level of having an abundance to give for every good work.

Giving out of poverty means we have a chance in life. Giving is the key to break poverty off our backs. Seeds are highly valuable and powerful when it is a generous amount. And God takes notice and commends such gift and giver.

What God desires is that we start sowing in whatever level we are, break free from the bondage of poverty, and as God blesses us with bounty, we remain faithful to Him by continually sowing our seeds and increase our faith to also increase the amount of our seed to give to every opportunity.

There are a lot of opportunities out there for giving. Jesus promised that there will always be some poor people among us. Plus the occurrence of natural disasters and calamities that affect our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We should never tire in giving. We should never grow weary in doing good.

Our seeds become powerful and effective for a 30, 60 and a hundredfold return when we sow in faith.

Laws of Seed and Harvest (part 1)

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 03:32:04 +0100

There is a force at work in our lives that governs our prosperity. It is a mechanism set in place by God that goes on and on even when we are not aware of it.

(Image courtesy of Lightstoc k)

The Lord has said, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest...will never cease.” (Gen 8:28) Seedtime and harvest is a paired action and reaction. Sowing and reaping always go together.

The laws of seed and harvest are so embedded and ingrained in our system, both physical and spiritual, that the Bible says, “God can not be mocked. A mans reaps what he sows.” (Gal 6:7)

So now we have a responsibility to embrace these biblical principles and have them be deep-rooted into our consciousness.

The seed must be planted
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (John 12:24 NIV)

A seed for planting will remain to be just that, a seed - single, unproductive and inefficient. It will stay that way as long as it remains in your hand. The potential for harvest happens when it is planted.

We can hold on to what little we have, and that’s all we’ll ever have, a little seed. But if we place it in God’s hand – into good ground – then this seed will turn into a harvest.

Sow what you expect to reap
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:12 NIV)

Don’t expect apples from a mango tree. We understand this clearly in agriculture. The same law applies in the spirit realm. When we give away watches, we will also receive watches.

The principle is to NAME THE SEED.

Most of our seed is cash, and most of our desired harvest is cash. But we can break it down to the actual use of that cash. Is it for a dream house, dream car, dream job, dream education, etc?

If you are praying to purchase your own house and lot or condo in the future, then you name your seed for that. Each time you sow into God’s work, label it, and pray, “Lord, this is for my dream house.”

Also, giving towards your church’s building project is a wonderful way to receive your own dream house, because whatever you do for God’s house, God will also do for your house. (Hag 1:9)

Find other practical ways for seed-planting for a targeted harvest.

If you’re a student wanting to secure your education, plant your seed in your church’s scholarship fund.
Or for your own dream car, why not gas up your church’s vehicle for missions?

For those of us who deliberately have nothing, we can still give something to break the yoke of poverty off our backs. We can give ourselves, our time, our service.

God understands that people work either in an office or in a factory for an equivalent amount of money for the time rendered. We all need to start somewhere, and God’s blessings of favor and opportunity will eventually result to cash that we can give to God’s work.

(Continued on next post)

It’s never too late to set the gears in motion. Start today. Start planting your seeds to expect some harvest in the future.

The Welfare of the Seed-Planter

Wed, 11 Dec 2013 02:49:17 +0100

Sowers are special to God
Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver [whose heart is in his giving]. (2 Corinthians 9:7 AMP)

There are only a dozen verses and categories where the Bible explicitly showed what or who God loves, and one of them is a cheerful giver.

The Lord already loves us just as we are – His children, His treasured possession. There is nothing in this world that could lessen that, and there is nothing we could ever do to make God love us more than His other children. God’s love is absolute.

But there’s a special action on our part that thrills His heart: Cheerful giving. He is thrilled because with our cheerful giving, He gets to give to us more.

Joyful seed-planters give in faith. They have come to grips that they are not letting go of what little they have, but are actually preparing to receive.

And because they do so in faith, God is pleased. Some pastors put it this way: God’s greatest desire is to be believed.

When we believe God and put our faith in His Words, He is thrilled! And one way to show our faith is in our offerings.

Seed-planters always receive another set of seed for planting.
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]. (2 Corinthians 9:10 AMP)

God initiates it, and He sustains it. It is the Lord who provides seed for sowing. And then, He wants us to have seed storage for Him to fill and increase and expand.

He does all this, not for our avarice and senseless gratification, but for us to be busy in good works. Imagine all the good things we can do in the world if money were no object.

We can feed the poor and hungry. And then we need to transport these goods. So God blesses us with trucks. But it’s overseas, and the airport is destroyed by a calamity. It’s either God blesses us with helicopters or C130s, or we have enough finances to rent one. And it’s all because we want to feed the poor and hungry.

So we really need to plant that seed and receive more from God for planting again.

Seed-planters receive bountiful harvests from God
But remember this—if you give little, you will get little. A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much. (2 Corinthians 9:6 TLB)

Given the same circumstances among farmers, if they have the same size of field and the same amount of seeds to sow, naturally we would think that their harvest is the same. But if we factor in the pests, and the ruined crops, or a storm, and even the fertilizers used, then we could rationalize a noticeable difference in yield.

The Father wants to give to His children. But the truth is seed-planters receive more than those who do not. And as God prefers to work within the confines of His Laws, so God blesses the work of our hands. The more work we do on our seeds – praying, anticipating and believing, versus planting and forgetting about it – then the Lord will bless the latter than the former. God doesn’t want us to live in the “desert” where we depend on manna. He wants us to toil the ground and reap a bountiful harvest from it.

Seed-planters who are cheerful tickle God’s heart. In return, God always gives them more seed to sow, and more harvest to enjoy the goodness of God.

The next time you drop that offering in the offering box, set your heart on seed-planting, and sow it in God’s work. Sow it in faith and joy, and anticipate the cycle of another seed-planting opportunity and the pleasures of living in your harvest-rewards.

Image courtesy of Lightstock.

The Seed Principle

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 08:27:05 +0100

The Bible is our reference for Christian Economics and financial progress. The Word of God is full of revelations concerning prosperity waiting to be uncovered by every generous child of the Father. And it all starts with a seed.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Spiritual Seeds

God’s Word is a seed.
The farmer sows the word. (Mark 4:14 GWT)

When we share the Gospel, the Holy Spirit uses the Bible verses that we have planted into people’s hearts to convict them of their need of a Savior. Sometimes, we reap a harvest of souls in just hours (or less). Other times, it takes days, weeks, months and years before these people surrender to the love of God. And there are also times when we will reap a harvest from other seed-planters. They heard the word of God somewhere, grew in their hearts, and now, with your ministry – they are ready to become disciples of Christ.

Faith is a seed.
“…Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20 NIV)

We have all been given a measure of faith. With some people, that seed grows fast. With others, it takes a lot of cultivating of the Word and water of the Holy Spirit.

The Kingdom of God is a seed.
He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. {27} Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. (Mark 4:26-27 NIV)

The influence of God in the hearts of men is growing all over the world. In some areas, this little seed may take time to grow. Other people might impede its growth, they may even uproot it, but God will always leave a stump as a testimony that the Gospel is or has been there.

Money sown into the Gospel is a seed.
Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. (2 Corinthians 9:6 NLT)

Money is not unspiritual. It is also something that the Bible teaches. Monetary resources, like a seed, though small and seemingly inadequate, can also grow. Money, like a seed, must be planted, in order for it to grow.

The Multiplying Power of Seeds

God will always honor seedtime and harvest
"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:22 NIV)

A seed has the promise of a harvest. They always go together. When God declared this law, He was talking to Noah, who survived the global deluge together with his family. God promised that as long as the earth continue to spin and support life as a planet, then seedtime and harvest will just continue to happen.

Offerings, giving to the work of God, and seed-sowing are a Christian and Biblical routine. As long as we are alive, sowing our seed in godly ground and anticipating a harvest should always be a continual process.

God enables every seed to yield a harvest.
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:8 NIV)

Each seed may bring forth more than itself, more than double. We could claim and believe God for a harvest of at least 30 times what was sown. A harvest is never a ‘harvest’ if the seed-planter just reap a breakeven return. One lone apple seed grows a tree. And one tree produces who-knows-how-many apples.

Sowing money-seed in the offering will also multiply.
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. 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. (2 Corinthians 9:10-11)

There’s a paradigm shift in offerings: Never ever mindlessly drop that money in the offering box. Give to God’s work with heartfelt gratitude and anticipation of a harvest. Apple seeds carelessly thrown onto a good backyard may grow on its own. How much more when we offer our gifts in the altar with all sincerity and expectation! The seed planter will reap a harvest.

Thoughts on Mistakes in the Ministry

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:22:56 +0100

My God does not make mistakes; I do. He did not make a mistake to call me in the ministry; I did - I failed.

But my failure does not nullify God's call - it just proves so even more. It emphasizes how much the Lord has entrusted me with His mission of touching lives.

A failure in the ministry due to 'trying' is something we can all move on with. We are but oil lamps that need to be refilled with the Holy Spirit.

But there is a form of failure when God, the Master Employer, decides to fire His servants.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them. (Eze 34:10 NIV)

I pray to finish well. [2 Tim 4:7] I conduct myself above reproach and disqualification. [1 Cor 9:27]

The Master Planner didn't call me to destroy me. I choose to melt in the warmth of His love. I respond to His love by loving Him back - in the manner He has chosen to be loved back.

(Image from ChristArt)

The Living God and the God of the Living

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:43:54 +0100

"And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not, don't you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, 'I am--not was--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.' The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living." (Mat 22:31-32 MSG)

Christian teachers should read their Bibles, everyday. Also, reading an English Bible has an academic benefit: It helps grow our grammar skills. In turn, correct grammar helps us study the Bible - properly. And the revelation continues.

We should pursue English grammar expertise because it is the world language and the learning standard. As near-native speakers, we have a personal obligation and responsibility to hone our skills. We owe it to ourselves to enhance our English in every area possible.

Sidelight:

There is life after physical death. We serve the God of rewards and judgment. Our after-death condition is determined by our present living status. If you spend your lifespan with God, you will be spending eternity with God.

(image by ChristArt)

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Teach to Serve, Serve to Teach

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:34:36 +0100

"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”” (John 13:12-15 NIV)

For most people, the act of serving and humility are acquired attitudes; these qualities are needed to be taught. Our Lord Jesus has set the example for us to follow: Let us serve God and His people.

Let us also teach the people to serve God and our fellow believers. As teachers, we follow the Rabbi's example; and as followers, we lead the way to the Lord. We teach and lead by example and in humility.

When we go as tentmakers/ESL-teachers to countries that do not have a missionary visa, we serve God and fulfill the Great Commission. The first step is to be credible (to teach). Only then can we have opportunities to share the Gospel (with wisdom!)

Who would ever want to go out of their way, mess up their routine, and inconvenience themselves for a time just to have opportunities to share God’s saving grace to a Bible-starved nation? They are those who follow the call to go into the entire world and make disciples of Christ.

There are short-term missions available to those who are willing and obedient.

(image by ChristArt)

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Teach with Caution and Integrity

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:13:01 +0100

"Be careful about the way you live and about what you teach. Keep on doing this, and you will save not only yourself, but the people who hear you." (1 Tim 4:16 CEV)

As Christian teachers, we teach by example and we practice what we teach.

Teaching is a tool and means to get people saved - most specially when teaching English in EFL countries.

Our missions began when we got saved. We must wisely use our influence as teachers and leaders to plant the seed of the Gospel. Living a careful life is already an education for the observer. We can teach them by our conduct and speech that righteousness can be done.

Let our words match our works. Let our walks confirm our talks.

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