It’s almost 2am now, I’m here reminiscing on the events of the last 5 days. It all started on Monday morning at the Mini International Conference of Rhema Chapel International in Ilorin. I had been given an opportunity to speak in 4 sessions by one of the Men of God I love and respect the most – Rev George Adegboye. In case you don’t know Rev. George Adegboye, let me give you a short, yet apt description – He is the only man alive referred to as the Living Bible and Mobile Concordance. I certainly believe that his grace is a special one, or how do you explain that a man can speak for 1hr and continue cross-referencing verses of the scripture with absolute accuracy without mixing it or mincing words. How do you explain when a man reels out from memory what a particular word and references all the other places where the same word can be found all over the bible. Apart from all these, he is also the pastor of my pastor. He’s a man I’ve watched and loved from a distance, so you can imagine how delighted I was, when I heard his invitation to come and speak in his church’s international conference. I was excited.
The past 5 days have been fulfilling, exciting and rewarding for me. I have been a blessing, I have learnt, I have been blessed and I have come to meet a lot more people. Rather than 4 sessions, I was eventually given 5 sessions, and I enjoyed every one of those opportunities. The theme of the conference was, activating the power of God in your life. My focus was activating that power for financial empowerment. God is the one that gives us the power to get wealth, God wills that we prosper, He desires that we can achieve all that we want to achieve, He’s the author of our godly desires. All that power to create lies within us and what we need to know is how to activate it.
On the penultimate night of the Conference, I spoke about how to Reap. Here a few of the thoughts here, and if I’m able to attach the PowerPoint slide, it will be at the end of it as well.
My Text was from the Bible, from the Books of Luke 12:22-38 and Mark 4:26-32. You can read these two texts and find a few of my thoughts below. In my opinion, these two scriptures show the way to reap one’s harvest, or activate that which is already done in one’s life.
1. Worry Achieves Nothing.
Worry is not a method for achieving anything. Worry does not work! Worry is like an advance fee paid on problems you may never own. It’s like a rocking chair, it keeps you moving but gets you nowhere. There would be times when worrying will seem the next reasonable thing to do, don’t succumb to that temptation. It won’t get you anywhere, and it won’t help you achieve anything. Is the due date on your debt approaching, did your exam result show up scary? Whatever it is that is making your harvest look further than near, don’t worry. Worry is clear evidence that you don’t believe. The bigger your worry, the smaller your faith. Worry shows that you have little faith.
2. The way to sure wealth, is to seek God’s Kingdom first.
Nobody may have explained it to you this way before, but think about it. The verse says, seek first the kingdom of God and it’s righteousness, and all other things will be added. By seeking to understand the principles for the operation of God’s kingdom, by seeking the establishment of God’s kingdom wealth and all the “things” that others pursue are guaranteed. Does it not then make sense that mans greatest quest ought to be to seek God’s Kingdom? God’s kingdom is the domain or sphere over which God’s will is done. It’s God’s territory and it’s operating laws. To seek God’s kingdom is to understand the way the kingdom operates. This piece of information is explained in many parts of the bible with many parables. The kingdom rather than “you must be born again” was Jesus’ number one message. Being born again, just qualifies to see the kingdom, it’s not the ultimate.
3. To reap, you must first sow.
The principle of Sowing and Reaping is one of the fundamental principles on which the earth is made. As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest will not cease. To activate or reap anything, you must first sow. There are two levels of sowing, there is the spiritual then there is the physical. All things have to forms of manifestation, the spiritual and the physical, everything is first unseen then seen. Just as this, you need to sow a spiritual seed, to get the first manifestation of your harvest and then a physical seed for it to be birthed physically. By honouring God with your substance and the first fruits of your increase, you sow a spiritual seed, the harvest of this is a multiplier effect on the physical seed you sow, and it’s this physical seed that gets your barns filled with plenty (Prov3:9,10). If you sow a spiritual seed and you don’t sow any physical seed, there will be no harvest. Your offering is a spiritual seed, your investment (of money or energies) is a physical seed.
4. The Season Defines the Activity.
Seed time and harvest are the seasons, sowing and reaping are the activities. There are activities that are right for seed time and there activities that are right for harvest. Understanding the times and the activities is critical to success. If you don’t sow in seed time, you cannot have harvest in harvest. If you don’t reap in harvest, the harvest will be there but it will not benefit you in any way.
5. To Sow, you need a Seed and a Soil
To sow, you need to have a seed, then you need to plant the seed in a good soil. Your seed is what you have, cash, resources, energy, e.t.c. that has the capacity to increase or replicate itself. Your seed is the same material as your harvest, only it’s in limited quantities. You also need to sow into the right soil. There are soils where you don’t need to fertilize, there are soils in which you need to. Your soil is the condition of your heart – are you sowing with the right attitude? Are you sowing cheerfully or bitterly?
6. Seeds are inspired by God.
“God is the one that ministers seed to the sower”, your sowing should not be dependent on how much the person needs, who the person is, or if the person is disabled or not. God is the one that inspires and leads you to know how much to commit.
7. There are shared responsibilities between you and God in Sowing and Reaping
God ministers the seed, you sow and water, God waters as well and God brings the harvest, you reap! When you know what seed you should sow and were, you then need to water the seed, the seed is watered by praise, by prayer, by positive confessions and by sweat. You walk away, and God without your participation brings the harvest. When the harvest is ready, God begins to seek labourers who know how to reap. During the harvest, the son that causes shame is found sleeping. There is so much available, but reaping requires special skills.
8. Reaping Requires your active participation.
Reaping requires being alert, and knowing when to put in the sickle. Sleeping during harvest is a guarantee for poverty. It is possible that one sows, harvest comes and because of lack of alertness or dexterity one misses the harvest. To harvest, one must be a “labourer”. Reaping requires work, self development, developing and nourishing of God inspired relationships, alertness to new opportunities, the right attitude and faith. If the harvest comes and you don’t have work – a means of exchanging value for reward, then you might be described as sleeping during harvest. Your labour might be without rewards until harvest, but woe unto him who harvest meets without work.
The best time to start practicing all these? Now! Either start with what you are doing, or start doing something. Start giving more value than you can get rewarded for, start creating rather than competing. Don’t wait till tomorrow, start now! In case you are wondering what you can start with, you can join us at the New Nigeria Club for some opportunities we are taking part in. Start now!
