THE LAW OF THE HARVEST
God has established spiritual laws-invisible forces-that govern every issue of life. These spiritual laws are unchanging. While our circumstances, relationships, finances, or employment will change
from time-to-time, spiritual laws that govern and impact us remain constant.
Ignoring or complying with these spiritual laws will bring either blessings or curses into our lives. As our spiritual maturity grows in the Lord, we will discover the circumstances we face today were actually determined weeks, months, or even years ago by the decisions and choices we made then. Likewise, today's decisions will determine our spiritual strength in the near or distant future.
WHEN WE PLANT, WE HARVEST
The greatest spiritual law is the LAW OF THE HARVEST. It simply says that when we plant, we harvest. Conversely, unless we plant, we will not harvest.
The LAW OF THE HARVEST is not about money, as some have portrayed it. It is about harvest and the multiplication of God's Kingdom. Often what is returned to us does not come directly from the person to whom we gave. It comes from unimagined and unanticipated sources. Thus, it is God's mysterious way of multiplying His Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God expands by sowing seeds. No matter what you give, more will be given to you. If you give mercy, you will receive mercy. If you offer forgiveness to those who have offended you, you will
reap forgiveness. With the same measure that you give to others, it will be given back to you (Luke 6:36-38). In fact, more will be returned to you. When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored
Job's losses, giving him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10). When he gave of his time, energy, and resources to pray for his friends, Job received a double harvest of everything.
SMALL OFFERINGS MULTIPLIED
The LAW OF THE HARVEST was employed when Jesus took a boy's meager provision of seven loaves and three fish and multiplied them to feed 5,000 people. Even today, the Lord takes our small offerings and
multiplies them to touch and feed thousands.
The LAW OF THE HARVEST is also true in human relationships. When we sow kindness into a friendship, we receive friends (Proverbs 18:24).It is also true in the expansion of the God's Kingdom. When Cornelius
sowed prayers and alms, it resulted in the "good news" of Jesus being released to the entire Gentile world (Acts 10). Now that was an investment with tremendous dividends!
The LAW OF THE HARVEST also operates in education. Those who teach learn more than their students. As a teacher sowing into the lives of students, God has multiplied my understanding of the truths I am
teaching. I honestly believe that I benefit more than my students.Furthermore, my investment of time and energy is multiplied in my life, our ministry, and hopefully in advancing God's Kingdom.
GOD'S HARVEST LAW IN ALL OF CREATION
God has woven the LAW OF THE HARVEST into all of creation. It permeates the laws of physics and particle exchange. Simply put in scientific terms, it is the exchange of positive and negative charges
in an atom that forms the building blocks to everything we see.Negative charges bond to positive charges, thereby creating matter.
In a similar way, when we give, we create a negative charge (a reduction of what we are or have). By God's design, this negative charge shouts out for and attracts a positive charge (an addition of
what we are or have). By God's grace, we acquire a greater total mass in the end. Said in scientific terms, true spiritual life is an energy exchange of giving and receiving. The act of giving requires faith that God is loving, good, and gives gifts to His children. By rewarding our giving, God teaches us the value of giving, and
thereby, imparts His character to us.
THE LIFE OF JESUS, A SEED SOWN INTO HARVEST
The LAW OF THE HARVEST is even portrayed in the death of Jesus. He said that His life was a seed that when sown would produce the harvest of the Kingdom (John 12:23-24).
Whatever we give (time, prayer, mercy, forgiveness, love, tenderness,patience, or even money), it will be given back to you with dividends. God will lavish it upon you in good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over (Luke 6:38). For in the justice of God, what you sow will be given back to you in greater abundance.
Remember, it is the LAW OF THE HARVEST-not the size of the seed-that multiplies the Kingdom of God.
