Christian Living
ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR NEED
THEN… PRAY FOR A SEED!
By Chuck Johnson
I am simply amazed at the Word of God sometimes. Or, maybe not the word, so much, as how we try to make it complicated, when in fact it was given in very simplistic from. We are told, “…God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…” (1CORINTHIANS 1:27). Simply put the word is only difficult to understand if you are trying to understand it in your intelligence and not with your spirit.
Lately I have been hearing a lot of teaching regarding sowing seeds and reaping a harvest. The teaching made a lot of sense to my mind and yet I still ‘didn’t get it’. The teaching was from great men of God, Brother’s Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, and Leroy Thompson, and yet it just didn’t seem to work… until now! I recently lost my job (not my source), but just the pipeline God had been using to meet my needs. In the natural I know that with a wife and three growing boys at home, and bills due that I would need to seek income. But, I was also aware that God knew my needs, and so rather than just set out on my own to find a job, and then ask God to bless what I had found, I decided to seek His will first. My flesh kept warring against my spirit. My flesh cried out what are you going to do, you’ll lose everything and be out on the street. Ah, but my spirit, Hallelujah cried louder and reminded me, “… my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (PHILIPPIANS 4:19). We are told, “…your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” (MATTHEW 6:8), and that we are to “… seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (MATTHEW 6:33). I had told God that if I had not heard clear direction from Him by Monday of the third week of my unemployment, then I was going to go find a job on my own. When Monday rolled around I got up early to head out but, I didn’t have a peace about it in my spirit, so I just went out into my back yard while the rest of my family slept, and I spent more time in prayer and the word.
I started thinking about the teachings I had heard on sowing your seed in anticipation of a harvest. I read again, and again the following scriptures.
“ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” (2 CORINTHIANS 9:6), “…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7), “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (LUKE 6:38), and “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown…” (2 CORINTHIANS 9:10).
To borrow a phrase from the nineties I had a ‘paradigm shift’. God knows our hearts, and He knows that my wife and I are truly cheerful givers; there is no greater feeling than helping others. My thoughts went from thinking about the bills that were due, to the lack of ability to pay our tithe and give to further the kingdom, and that was a terrifying thought. That afternoon as my wife and I began to pray in regards to our situation, my prayer focus changed drastically. Instead of sitting there telling God about all of our needs, (remember He knows all of our needs, and promises to meet all of our needs) I began praying for seed to sow, I cried out to the Lord, and as David found so many times, He heard my cries, and answered my prayers. My wife went to check the mail, and less than three hours after praying for a seed to sow we had nine, count them nine checks in the mail from a source we would not have imagined in a million years. Now I can’t promise God will always move that fast, although we told him right then and there that it would be alright with us if He chose to do that all the time.
The very next day we deposited the checks, prayed regarding the fertile soil to plant in, and planted several seeds. We are now anxiously awaiting the harvest, and thanking God in advance not only for the harvest, but also for providing seed to the sower.
God is indeed good all the time. We have a promise that shows us how God feels towards us in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future.” Amen.
It’s okay to tell the Lord of your needs, although He is already aware of them. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (PHILIPPIANS 4:6). To “Be careful” in the original, Greek means to “be anxious (for) or take thought (of)”. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 PETER 5:7)
Instead of praying your need, pray for a seed, and then watch what God will do!
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