I would like to use this medium to share with you about receiving your harvest from the Lord.
I was looking for wedding rings in London and I had searched all around London for a particular set of rings. I got to this shopping mall with a friend of ours called Julie and this guy walked up to us. He was well dressed and looked really good. He carried a book that looked like a bible in his hand and had a tag on his shirt that said something about Jesus, so as soon as I saw him I started smiling and got ready to give my testimony because he would have been the third person walking up to me with the intention of preaching to me that day. He told me that he wanted to talk to me about Jesus Christ and as soon as he said that the smile on my face became broader. I replied, “Very good. We are also born again and I am a pastor. What is your name?”
The guy said, “Never mind. Have you read the Book of Mammon?” That was when I saw the ‘bible’ he was holding. I started laughing. He asked me why I was laughing and I told him it was because if we got into a discussion, one of us would leave that place angry and it definitely wouldn’t be me. So I advised him to just run along and preach to somebody else. However, he insisted on talking to us about his ‘book of mammon’ but I also insisted that he leave us alone. As he was leaving, he turned back and said,”So rude!
I later told Julie, “I have absolutely no apology for refusing to listen to poison. I have the right to insist that, that guy should not force me to listen to the lies of the devil”. That is the kind of attitude I would like us to use in the body of Christ. You do not ask the devil to leave politely. If you do, he will just laugh at you and continue. Do it the Nigerian way; tell him,”Commot! Get out of my house right now!”
Now say this with an authoritative attitude: “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yes I have a goodly heritage. The earth belongs to me; I am blessed in the Name of Jesus Christ and I receive the increase of the land in the Name of Jesus Christ. Halleluiah!
If you are shy of making these confessions, that’s your problem, and if you think confession is a waste time, it is also your problem. We know where we are going to and we know that we get there by our confessions. Where you are today is the result of words that came out of your mouth, whether good or bad. Do not blame anybody. The reason you are where you are and the reason why you will get to where you are going is your confession. Shout aloud, “I am blessed!”
I see increase coming. I see it so much when I am meditating on God’s word. I cannot use words to describe it, but when we get into it you will understand what I am talking about. Step into it in the Name of Jesus Christ. No one should be left out of it. Tap into it.
Kenneth Copeland said that it is a greater evil to refuse to take the harvest than to refuse to sow seed. It is evil when you refuse to sow seed, but the evil of leaving your harvest to rot in the field is greater. You may ask what is the evil in not sowing seeds is. Sowing seed is part of God’s plan. If you look at the book of Genesis and study it carefully, you will notice that it is God’s plan that the trees, humans, and everything that He has created multiply itself by sowing seeds. All living things have been given a way to reproduce themselves. They have seeds which when sown into the earth, cause them to bring forth after their kind. It is interesting to note that if we all refuse to sow mango seeds into the earth, in some years to come, mango trees will go extinct. This is not only true about trees but also with animals, and humans as well.
There is a plan, a design that God has set in motion; …seed, time, and harvest… (Genesis 8:22). Pay attention to this instruction I am giving you right now: never think that the teaching on seed and harvest is the churches’ design or Men of God’s design to acquire wealth and get things from people. Such thinking negates God’s word in your life and cut yourself off from multiplication, increase and fruitfulness that we are talking about.
It has always been God’s design that multiplication in any thing comes by sowing its seed. I’ve never see a farmer complaining when he is going to cast his seed into the ground saying he doesn’t know why he has to cast his seed into the ground every year, and saying that the ground is just eating up all his corn.
God puts a demand on everything that desires multiplication to sow its seed, be it plants or animals, humans, anything. If you desire increase in your life, you have to sow seed.
Now after you have sown your seed, you have to put in your sickle and take your harvest. Some people are good givers but poor receivers. They do not know how to take the harvest. Some people just think that since they have sown the seed, they can just sit back, fold their hands and the harvest will just drive its way into their house. Well, it’s not going to happen that way. To receive our harvest, there are things we must do. Your Giving is meant to bring increase, multiplication and harvest in your life; we need to decide to receive the full harvest of every seed sown.
Gloria Copeland made a statement that I love. She said that she has purposed that she will not leave planet Earth until she has taken a hundred fold harvest of every seed she has sown. Now that is a very strong statement.
I believe that many Christians have gone home to be with the Lord and most of their harvest are here on earth unreaped. I believe that for some, their children will tap into it by faith and receive the harvest of the seeds that their parents sowed. Do you know that there is no seed you sow that goes without a harvest? Harvests always come. Some may be afraid of the last statement I made because they are thinking of the evil seeds they have sown. Ask God to forgive you and the evil seed will be destroyed in the ground.
There is no such thing as all the bad things you did before you got saved are haunting you. That is not the gospel! When you got born again, you became a new man in Christ, old things passed away and all things became new (2 Corinthians. 5:17). Also, if you did something wrong after you got born again and you have repented, then God forgives and cleanses you from all unrighteousness and there is no harvest coming from that.
One thing that hinders harvest the most is our flesh. A simple example is a scenario where having sown my seed, I am confessing and putting my faith to work for the harvest. Now suppose God has prepared that to use Nugwa (my wife) to bring the harvest to me. Everything continues to work together for my harvest to come forth and then, just as she was about to act, flesh comes in. Perhaps she says or does something I don’t like and my flesh takes over. Perhaps I get really angry (like many of you do, get angry without showing self-control) and gave her ‘a piece of my mind’. You know the bible says we should be angry and sin not. However, after I act unbecomingly, Nugwa might just say, ‘Lord, I prefer to give this thing to a donkey’.
It ought not to be like that. I mean, if we don’t allow flesh to come into it, when the Lord speaks it is supposed to be a great joy to respond. You may even want to add more and increase your seed, not that when you are supposed to give to Mr A, you give it to his friend. You have still given however you have allowed flesh to come into it and dictate to you.
Take flesh out of the way because flesh hinders harvest the most. I always remind myself that nobody is worth making me walk in the flesh and lose my harvest. Walk in the Spirit and walk in love, so that harvest can come.
So many times God sends things to His people through angels and that is how they keep aborting their harvest – yielding to their flesh walking in strife, bitterness and malice.
This is why there are people you lay hands on over and over again. You make every effort to minister to them and yet nothing happens. What you need to do is to encourage them to get out of that flesh and stop being a profane man.
A profane man is someone that yields to his flesh – Like Esau did. He yielded to his flesh. Esau was hungry. Hunger may be a valid feeling but it is still part of the flesh. He yielded to the desires of the flesh contrary to the laws of the Lord God and he lost his birth right. He lost the blessing. That is serious; losing the blessing because of a plate of porridge.
He wanted instant gratification. You are angry at this moment and you must just speak now. You go blabbing and spilling everything out. Afterward you are completely deflated and you’ve lost and damaged a lot with your words. Say this out, ‘I will not allow flesh hinder my harvest.