The Power of Sowing and Reaping

In our fast-paced modern, civilized, and high tech society I believe we need to learn more about farming.  Why you say?  Many of Jesus' parables had to do with things learned in the context of an agrarian society, in these parables are powerful spiritual truths that can transform life.  In Genesis 8:22 from the covenant with Noah God makes an everlasting promise involving seed and harvest, "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."  This means that until there is an new earth from Revelation, there will always be seedtime (sowing seed) and then there will be harvest when the seed grows up and yields fruit.  In the Body of Christ there has been much talk of spiritual warfare, breakthroughs, tearing down strongholds, and taking territory for the Kingdom of God; these are good and true thoughts but I believe from Genesis one of our primary roles was farmer or tender of crops.  In Galatians we pick up this theme of sowing and reaping, as Paul talks about the difference of sowing to the flesh vs. sowing to the Spirit.  Galatians 6:7-8 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."  This Scripture challenges us to not be deceived by thinking we can sow to the flesh (everything we are apart from Christ) and believe we will not reap.  The even more important point is if we sow to the Spirit the promise is we will reap eternal life, in other words the fruit of the Spirit that comes from sowing to the Spirit will last for eternity.  As I was on a 26 mile bike ride, my mind began to ponder the principal or law of sowing and reaping and how often I had reaped things in my life I didn't want.  I sensed the Holy Spirit inviting me to go deeper in my understanding and revelation of this law, so I can become a sower to the Spirit and reap good fruit.  We are told in 2 Corinthians 9 that God provides "seed to the sower and bread for food", you don't eat (use it for your own purposes) seed you sow it.  Amazing that God does not even expect us to provide the seed, He gives us the seed but we have the choice of what we will do with the seed.  Seed that is not sown into soil does not grow and seed sown into poor soil often has a hard time producing harvest.  It is also an amazing truth that Isaac sowed in year of famine, where crops were scarce and had a lot of difficulty growing, and he reaped 100 fold in that same year (Genesis 26:1-12).  What does all this agrarian talk really matter to you for anyway?  I believe the most foundational level on which we sow and reap is in our spirit and soul (mind, will, and emotions).  Let me give you an example, let's say there is a thought dropped in your mind of fear about an upcoming event or meeting.  If this fear becomes bigger by your mind grabbing onto it and looking at all the ways the meeting could go bad, these thoughts now are sown into the adrenals and body.  Soon you are in a fight, flight, or freeze mode.  In any of these places, from a place of fear and not peace, we will tend to make poor decisions which will end up to reaping some bad results.  From the perspective of being an orphan we often have thoughts of insecurity, inadequacy, failure, or selfishness; this orphan thinking left unchecked will bring about a reaping in my own body as well as my choices in relationships to others.  This is why the highest level of spiritual warfare is to take every thought captive.  What if we can learn how to consistently sow to the Spirit, knowing the promise that we will reap eternal life will then come to fruition.  As I mentioned from the passage about Isaac sowing in a year of famine, times of lack and difficulty in our lives (emotionally, financially, spiritually, and relationally) are some of the most amazing opportunities to trust God by sowing to the Spirit when so much of our being wants to despair or be completely frustrated.  Isaac who must have been seen as a fool to sow in famine believing the covenant promise when others were headed off to Egypt where the water supply was man controlled, would have to painfully wait for harvest to get what he was believing for.  It's an incredible fact that in the midst of 400 years of drought in terms of hearing from God, God sows the most powerful seed in all of history.  The death of His Son, Jesus Christ, Jesus speaking of Himself says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)  Since God understands the power of sowing good seed in the midst of hardship, how much more does He want His children to get this powerful truth and live by it.

Becoming a Sower to the Spirit,
Bret