Build your year with God.
As the farmer puts his plough into the land and cultivates it for the upcoming season of growth and abundance, so must we as Christians be diligent in our efforts to establish the tools of our ministry which reaps the harvest of souls for the kingdom!
The ill-equipped farmer is the one who sows sparingly yet expects to reap abundantly according to 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NKJV). When we rely on our own understanding or we contemplate the surroundings we are situated in, it is easy to live out of our carnal mannerisms negating the grace and omnipotence of God.
“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God. Not only by unbelief but by fancying that you know what He can do.”
The 3 Pillars of Divine Harvest: Vision, Sowing, and Timings in Christ
- Determine and align His vision with your field
We see Jesus numerous times teaching on this essential key, “Sit down, visualize the outcome, and plan accordingly. A lack of this methodology will leave you between a rock and a hard place later when unplanned outliers hinder the vision. Having a vision is wonderful, but it needs to be accompanied by a regimented layout otherwise it will forever remain a mere visage of what could have been.
In these plans, you must consult God and allow Him to outline His desires and purposes to you for the time ahead. When we move forward with our plans and fail to prioritize God in them, we end up with an outline that leans entirely on human wisdom which is subject to carnal storms and plagues that rob us of the original outcome.
“Let me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, — Psalm 25:4-5(b) (NKJV)”
Setting even one foot forward without the guidance of God means you have elevated your mental fortitude above His omniscience and swung the door open to the winds of dissolution.
Notice that Noah did not conceive the Ark out of his own intellect, every plank, nail, and measurement came to him from the drawing board of God. This occurred because Noah submitted himself entirely to the ways of the Lord and as a result, his seeds of righteousness and faithfulness produced a great harvest.
God’s essence is that of order and structure!
- Lay that seed in the field!
Having established the vision, it is now time to begin the work of preparing the field and sowing the seeds in which your future is harboured. This is the aspect of farming that is most often spoken about, but many fail to follow through with the act after they have pronounced their intention to do so.
It is one thing to plan and have it all figured out, but it is another to do the work under the unction of faith knowing that in those seeds planted lies a promise of producing a harvest and a harvest in abundance. We should come to the understanding that by stepping out of our carnal belief and into spiritual faith, we are allowing God to use the impossible fertilizer on our seeds known as “endearing faith”.
“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” - Martin Luther
God is not moved by speech because words are fickle, it is in your actions that you touch His heart. Begin to put your hands to the plough, ready the seeds, and embark on the journey of sowing the promises of tomorrow knowing that God is with you.
Cast your mind back to David, a friend of God who sowed seeds that later benefitted his bloodline, seeds that he never reaped the harvest of but believed that God would see them fruitful in their due time. He was a man after God’s heart, meaning he was constantly moving with Him, giving Him the space to do what He needed to do, and in every action performed was a seed filled with grace for a future harvest.
If we follow the example of David, we will begin to view every opportunity, every test and trial that comes our way as an opening in our field eagerly expectant for a seed to be planted.
Your entire year, its blessings, victories, and abundance rely on the seeds you plant and when you do not capitalize on your planting season you will stand empty-handed when others harvest. All it takes is a leap of faith mixed with a persistent work ethic to establish a prosperous seedbed waiting to burst with blessings.
When David volunteered himself to fight Goliath and won, we see that he was not made King straight away, rather, he sat with Saul until the day of his crowning… but he was a simple shepherd boy mere hours before this! This is the power of snatching up your opportunity when it presents itself, planting the seeds when the timing is right!
- In the timings of Christ, we abide.
“If you seek nothing but the will of God, He will always put you in the right place at the right time” - Smith Wigglesworth
Perhaps now comes the hardest part, waiting. God is in the planning, He is present in the planting, but He finds His home in the waiting. It is here that you build a relationship and friendship with Him as David did, because in this phase there is NOTHING you can do to accelerate the process, it is entirely subject to His timings!
Everything in the supernatural works according to timing, nothing is out of season, much like natural seasons, you cannot work out of order because it is not the will of God. If God has promised it to you, and you have done the groundwork, stand on the promise that in His right time, He will work it out for your good according to His purpose.
Joseph was someone who had been promised kingdoms and rulership, however, in his youthful years, he was subjected to slavery and imprisonment at the hands of those who wanted to destroy his destiny. These could have been the locusts that plundered his field, yet, he considered all of these events “seeds” that had to be planted so that he may one day reap the harvest that was his promise.
He understood a key principle, “If God is in it, then why doubt it”. If Joseph was carnal, he would be checking his field with frustration and doubting whether or not God had chosen him for this purpose. It is a natural place we all find ourselves in, the harvest isn’t immediate or the crops don’t look promising so we entertain doubt.
As the year begins and we pack out our daily planners and schedules, let us take time to do so under the greatest coordinator that could ever be. When we plan with God, we yield ourselves, our families, and everything we own to Him and I have never seen Him disregard that which was surrendered unto Him!
We serve an expansive and abundant God who looks out onto your field every day in an effort to see how He can increase it! Commit it all to Him and watch how He takes your one and expands it into a multitude!
