Rebecca Davis  Ranson, West Virginia

Everyone loves to bring in a big harvest.  Whether it is the harvest of earnings from your job or the harvest from your backyard garden, we want to bring in a lot. We also like to do the least work to try to gain the most. It is true; we should work smarter and not harder. Sometimes we think cutting corners to save time is smarter.  We tend to lack the effort to actually figure out what the smartest way is. Surely, cutting corners only leads to more work in the long run. The Bible tells us that “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;” Matthew 9:37.  If we are not a part of the laborers in every area we are trying to grow, whatever we think we are planting will not produce fruit. After all, “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26b) Let’s examine how our gardens will grow.

Where are you planted? Before we can even begin to grow anything, we have to see where we are planting. We sow where we are planted. We are planted in so many different places in life. Is it good soil, rocky soil or bad soil? It could even be choked out by thorns? If your seeds are not planted properly in the ground, they could be eaten off the land. In rocky soil and dry soil, there is not enough moisture to keep it growing. If it falls upon the thorns, the stronger plants will keep them getting the nutrients, sun, and water they need to grow.  Good soil yields good crops. In other words, is your ground even able to produce a harvest? See Luke 8:4-18.

 The home is where your heart is. Is your home conducive to producing good fruit? Are you sowing good seed there making it a welcoming place to be? Are your family members thorns trying to suppress other’s growth, or do they allow others to flourish? If they are choking you out and limiting your harvest, you are going to have to do some weeding. Now, we cannot simply get rid of our family, but we can limit the access that some members have to us. You can protect yourself from the pain the thorns can cause. Uproot them from your space. Pray without ceasing to help your family grow. God promises to save your family if they believe. “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31 So, pray for their salvation. Pray that they will be uprooted from their old ways and find good soil to be transplanted into. Be that good soil.

How about your job? Are you sitting on dry ground that won’t allow you to spread your roots? Are you being choked out by the thorns of bad attitudes, excessive criticism, or a lack of upward mobility? Is it a place where you can plant yourself to utilize your talents and growth mindset to shoot upward? You should be able to sprout where you work. A creative mind can flourish where a person set on growing is allowed to make change, plant, and grow. If you are not able to grow, pray for direction. Pray for your employer, your coworkers, and your workplace. Peacefulness in the work place creates good soil in which to grow.  

The quality of your spiritual soil can be life changing. Galatians 6:8  warns us that sowing flesh will reap corruption, but if you sow of the Spirit, you will reap everlasting life. Because your church is the place where you get fed your spiritual food, you have to be sure you are receiving the proper nutrients in your spirit. Your Pastor not only feeds you, but is watering your garden with his wisdom. Are you able to mature eating a grand meal of spiritual food?  Does the message line up with God’s Word? Are you being equipped to go and make disciples of all nations? Are you able to utilize your gifts and talents or being choked out by others? Are you learning? Are you able to grow there so that you can sow outside of the church walls? Surely, the place where you are rooted should be a place where you can continually learn and grow. The growth and blessings of a church where you can be prolific is a place where you are taught to reach out and plant. You plant. Someone else may water. The goal is to grow the Kingdom. Sowing into others is the product of a ministry that keeps you well fed. Pray about your church. Pray for your church. Always pray for your Pastor.  

Speaking of sowing…We have to be sure that the seeds that we are planting are good fruit. Are you able to sow the fruit of the spirit where you are planted? If where you are is not allowing you to be yourself, allowing you to grow, and allowing you to plant, maybe you need to be transplanted. Examine yourself more closely than you have examined any other area of your life. If you are beginning to plant seeds of discord instead of harmony, it’s time to pray that you can resolve the issues so that your seeds can thrive. You want your seeds to produce a harvest after the rain. 

God sends the rain not to rain on your parade, but to grow you. Leviticus 26:4 “I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.” God sends the rain so that your harvest will be plenty. Can you stand the rainy season? The rain from God produces strength and perseverance. If you are willing to work through it, your harvest will be great. Rain comes in many forms. The rain may be peaceful and soothing. It can come as chastisement. It can be a season of lessons. There may be a season of loss. Rain may even be a dry season. God may be showing you who you are and directing you to your intended path. Your rain depends on what God needs to show you. In order for you to make it through this rainy season, you have to stand strong. Sometimes you have to put on your rain boots, put up your umbrella, and trudge through the mud puddles. Rain helps your seeds to grow. If you can put on determination and sow through the storm, your harvest will be plentiful.  Are you sowing on fertile soil that will grow with you or are your seeds landing on fallow, dry land? 

There are very few crops that you can just plant and walk away. Are you tending to your garden? You have to pull the weeds. Yank out weeds of uncertainty. Remove weeds of poor self-esteem. Get rid of the fixed mindset that holds you back. Weeds show up as negativity, lust, hate, wastefulness, jealousy, covetousness, lack, sin, or hurt. You have to be sure, that whatever your situation, that you are able to plant the right seeds and not add weeds. Your seeds should be those of encouragement, forgiveness, blessing others, patience, creativity, mindfulness, faithfulness, love, a clean heart, and a sound mind. Your garden should be a place where the fruit of the spirit, gifts and talents are the most prolific for you and those whom you are sowing into. 

Deuteronomy 22:9 warns “You shall  not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled.“ You can only plant one type of crop. You can‘t plant righteousness next to contention. Harmony and discord will not grow together. Love should choke out hate. Loyalty and comradery should overtake jealousy and competition. Peace should grow taller and shade out strife. Pray without ceasing so that your seed produces fruit. 

Prayer: Dear Father, the Provider, Holy One, Thank you for watching over me and providing for my needs. Thank you for leading with your Word. As you watch over me, guide me to the good soil. Help me to see if where I am planted is not good for my soul, nor good for my seed. Show me which “fields” to plant so my garden will grow. Give me the heart, Lord, for the people where I am planted. Let me be conscious of the type of seed that I am planting. Give me wisdom to know that the words of my mouth are seeds; let them be positive giving you glory. As I plant, Lord, keep me from seeds of destruction, thorns, and poor soil. Send the rain Lord. Water my garden so the harvest will be plentiful. As I tend to my garden, help me to continuously remove the weeds from my mind, from my mouth, and from my surroundings. I honor you, give you all the glory, and praise your name name. Amen.

Memory Verse: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9