“Thou shalt keep the feast of … Ingathering which is at the end of the year when thou hast gathered in they labours out of the field. Exod.23:15-16; 34:22;
Gen 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal.6:7-8 and Mk.4:26-29
Divine favour greetings family, I welcome you to this last month of the year with these glad tidings that it is harvest time because the Lord has graciously named this month for us as our Month of the Ingathering. He gave me this word from Genesis 8:22 and all the other texts above. A closer look at the texts would reveal to us the following principles.
First the covenant God entered into above with Noah and Moses and the children of Israel binds God to fulfilling the word as He promised. For this reason, as long as the earth remains, we shall always be sowing and reaping. In Genesis, He calls it seed time and harvest. In Exodus, He calls the harvest ingathering. When the Lord came, He gave the parable of sowing and reaping as describing the kingdom of God. Apostle Paul in one of his epistles to the Church in Galatia also shows us that God has ratified this covenant in the New Testament.
In light of this, we can place our confidence in these truths because the Lord said even though heaven and earth shall pass away, His word abides forever. See Mt.24:35; Mk.13:31 and Lk.21:33. Thus this promise is also made to us in the New Testament because the Lord ratifies them in His earthly ministry as the Son of Man and caused his servant Apostle Paul to ratify it on His behalf in the epistles. See Gal.6:6-10 and 2Cor.9:6-10.
We all know that God cannot lie [Titus 1:2] therefore, He will perform His word in our lives to the extent of the condition we meet. Therefore in this month of the Ingathering, let us look back at this closing year and take stock of all the seeds we have sown and be encouraged that God who causes the seeds sown to grow will bless us with a bountiful harvest of all the good seeds we have sown. This is another opportunity to also take stock of all the wrong seeds we have sown and consciously and humbly repent of them so as to truncate their harvest.
In light of the foregoing, this month we shall be looking at the theme titled: Understanding the law of Seed time and harvest. The law simply put is that as long as there is earth, we would reap what we sow. To the Prophet Jeremiah, God made it clear that while His covenant with the day and night remains, His covenant with King David and the Levites would be valid and subsisting.
Secondly, there are many kinds of seeds that can be sown in time. Where you have seeds you must also have the soil to sow into. For instance, there is first the seed of our lives [what we do with it]. It is sown into the soil of time. There is the seed of time; it is sown into the soil of our affections. This is why Apostle Paul enjoins the Church in Colossians 3: 1-2 to set their affection on things above and not on earthly things. There is the seed of character; this is sown into your relationships. There is the seed of attitude; this is sown into either your flesh or your spirit. There is the seed of the word of God which we sow into the hearts of men [Lk.8:11]. There is the seed of money sown into giving and receiving. There is the seed of prayer which is sown into your time. We can go on and on in this.
Thirdly, how we sow also matters. You either sow bountifully or sparingly. Anyhow you sow is how you will reap. See 2Cor.9:6
Fourthly, your motive for sowing matters so that God can bless you as He pleases and the result of your sowing would bring you some eternal benefits. God is the only one that can test the hearts of men. Any time you sow, God looks at your heart to see your motive and then your manner of giving and the content of your giving and orders your harvest accordingly.
Finally what and who you sow into matters. This is where giving with intentionality counts. The soil of people you sow into should not be wasters so that you can reap a bountiful harvest. Whereas every seed sown would bring harvest to you by God; be careful to protect your seed from the proverbial birds of the air that come to waste your seeds so that you cannot reap a bountiful harvest from God. In the parable of the sower, those seed sown into good soils received thirty, sixty and a hundred fold. You want a hundred fold; then sow into good hearts. It is only the Holy Spirit that can help us do this. See Rm.8:14; Mt.13:3-4, 8-9 and Lk.8:5, 8-11.
In this month of the ingathering therefore, let us take time to participate in our twelve days covenant to see the harvest of the good seeds we have sown all through the year and preceding years that are due for harvest.
Meanwhile, someone may be reading this blog that is yet to open their hearts to the Lord for the good seed of the word to be sown into it. If you are that person and desire to know the Lord today, you can do so right away and the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in your heart from this day. Please say the following prayer out loud in faith and become a member of the family of God through the Lord Jesus Christ:
Heavenly Father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan plus his unfruitful works of darkness and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com
