STEPS TO ABUNDANT HARVEST

Genesis 8:22. While the earth remaineth, seed time and
harvest,...Shall not cease.
Gal. 6:7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap.
Harvests are commanded by seed sowing. Let no one think of receiving
any without sowing. It is good to pray because it's another kind of
seed sowing.To keep praying for financial harvest without sowing
financially is trying to break the principle of sowing and reaping.

FOUR BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR ABUNDANT HARVEST: Hosea 10:12 Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow
GROUND: for it is TIME to seek the LORD, till he come and RAIN
righteousness upon you. There are four basic principles we can draw
out of the above passage:
SOWING OF THE SEED, THE GROUND FOR THE SEED, RAIN OVER THE SEED and
TIME OR SEASON OR OPPORTUNITY TO SOW

1. THE SEED SOWN:
A seed is an integral part of a substance that has the potent power to
produce more of that substance if it is properly and carefully sown.
Gen 1:11-12. Every seed is liable to reproduce abundantly if it can
pass the following tests:
i. QUALITY TEST: Quality is the worth of the seed. Psalm 126:6 He that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing PRECIOUS SEED, shall doubtless come
again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. The quality of
the seed sown determines the quality of the harvest reaped. The widow
of Zarephath gave Elijah aquality seed. She gave of the only seed left
for her and her son to eat and DIE. She actually laid her life down
when she gave to Elijah first. She had more than enough for her, her
son and Elijah allthrough the rest of the famine years. See 1 Kings
17:8-12. Jesus commended the widow who gave all her last earnings.
Though they were just two mites, but she was judged to be the best
giver. See Mark 12:41-44.
Isaac sowed in the land of Gerar, but in the time of famine. This was
a precious or quality seed. It could have been eaten to sustain the
family during the crucial time of famine. No wonder, he reaped
ahundred-fold harvest the same year! The quality of your seed
determines the quality of your harvest.
ii. QUANTITY OR MEASURE TEST: Luke6:38. Give, and it shall be given
unto you. GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, and SHAKEN TOGETHER, and RUNNING
OVER, shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that
ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 2 Cor. 9:6 But this
I say, He which soweth SPARINGLY shall reap also SPARINGLY; and he
which soweth BOUNTIFULLY shall reap also BOUNTIFULLY. In Luke 6:38,
there are four different measures of giving which will produce equal
measures of harvest. This does not mean that one will receive the same
measure or amount sown, but the harvest will be proportionate to the
measure of seed sown. A good measure will produce good harvest. A
pressed down measure will produce better harvest than good. Harvest is
measured to you according to the measure of the seed sown.
iii. SOURCE OF THE SEED TEST: A bad seed will produce bad or no
harvest at all. There are cursed seeds. Cain gave to the Lord cursed
seed from a cursed ground. See Gen 4.There are corrupt seeds. Mal 2:3
and Matt 7:17. The kind of seed in your hand will determine the kind
of harvest you get. A stolen fortune given as a seed will bring no
good harvest or none at all. Whenever we give bad seed we forfeit our
harvests.

2. THE GROUNDS FOR THE SEED: Every good seed requires a good ground to
produce harvest. In Matth 13:3, Jesus gave a parable of the sower. The
seeds in the hand of the sower were good seeds because they were the
seeds of the kingdom of God. The grounds were the variables: WAY SIDE,
STONY GROUNDS THORNY GROUNDS and GOOD GROUND. Only the seed that fell
on good ground brought forth harvest according to the measure
received. I will like to discuss two types of grounds relative to this
study. THE SOWER GROUND and RECEIVER GROUND.

i. THE SOWER GROUND: Hosea 10:12. I said, plant the good seed of
righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard
ground of your HEART, for now it is time to seek the Lord... (NLT)
Jere. 4:1-4. Let us see verses 3 and 4. ''Thus saith the LORD to the
men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not
among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and TAKE AWAY THE
FORESKINS OF YOUR HEART, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem... because of the evil of your doings. 2 Cor. 9:7 Every man
according as he purposeth IN HIS HEART, so let him give; not
grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a CHEERFUL GIVER''.

In Hosea 10:12, God told Israel to breakup the fallow grounds. A
fallow ground is a ground not adequately prepared to receive seed. A
hard, thorn and thistle-filled ground. NLT Bible call it THE HARD
GROUND OF YOUR HEART In Jer 4:3,4, and 2 Cor 9:7, we clearlly
understand that the ground God is talking about is the ground of the
HEART. Your heart is the first ground for your seed. It's the most
important ground. The state of your heart when you sow will determine
to a greater extent the harvest. You can't reap a good harvest if you
sow with a grudging, envious, unforgiving and lack of penitent heart,
though your seed may be good: your heart corrupts your seed. Paul said
God loveth a cheerful giver The motive of your heart when sowing will
influence or affect your harvest.

5 BASIC THINGS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE GROUND OF THE HEART:
a. Give motivated by love from your heart.
b. Give cheerfully.
c. Give and expect a miracle: Prov 23:18, Prov 24:14. Your expectation
shall not be cut off.
d. Make God the source of your harvest.
e. Consider the seed sown dead. Untill the seed you sow dies, it never
brings forth harvest. John 12:24. Verily, Verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and DIE, it abideth
alone: but if it DIE, it bringeth forth much fruit. This statement is
true, not only with a corn seed, but with any kind of seed. Every seed
must be alive to qualify for sowing and must be dead to bring harvest.
If you sow a seed (financial for instance), don't attach yourself to
the seed. Whatever is done with it should not be your concern. Your
concern should be how to get your harvest. When you give out something
and expect the receiver to use it according to how you desire, you are
wrong. You still attach yourself to the seed like the owner. To you,
that seed is not yet dead. You may naturally be aggravated when you
discover that the seed you gave out and expect the receiver to use in
a particular way has been miss-used or given out to someone else. Your
anger may be an indication that you still hold on to the seed despite
that you have sown it. A farmer does not in any way go back to the
earth to see what the earth is doing with the seed he has committed to
the earth otherwise he won't get any harvest. Believers loose thier
harvest because they become concerned with how the church use their
money because they are the givers and not because they are sincerely
concerned. Jesus said your seed must be dead to bring it's harvest.
Every seed must be alive for sowing and must be dead after sowing to
produce much harvest. Don't attach yourself to any seed you have sown.
That seed is no longer yours: only the harvest is. This is a mystery
about sowing and reaping. I hope and pray that you understand the
point I am giving here.

ii. THE RECEIVER GROUND:
The second type of ground is the receiver ground.These may be God,
Prophets, Parents, Widows, The poor, Brethren and The Needies.The
harvest each of these grounds produce differs respectively. I am not
about taking each of these grounds one after the other. My prayer is
that God will lead you to sow appropriately.

3. OPEN HEAVENS OR RAIN:
This is the third principle for abundant harvest. Remember that we are
discussing the principles for abundant harvest. We have four principles
in our focus. We have discussed two, which are THE SEED SOWN and THE
GROUNDS FOR THE SEED. Open heavens is synonymous to Rain. Hosea 10:12
... it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and RAIN righteousness
upon you. Joel 2:23-24. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice
in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the FORMER RAIN moderately,
and he will cause to come down for you the RAIN, the FORMER RAIN, and
the LATTER RAIN in the first month. And the floors shall be full of
WHEAT, and the VAT shall overflow with WINE and OIL. James 5:7. Be
patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the
husbandman waiteth for the precious FRUIT OF THE EARTH, and hath long
patience for it, untill he receive the EARLY AND LATTER RAIN. The
scriptures above indicate the importance of rain oropen heavens in
seed sowing and harvest. As
the physical rain is vital for physical harvest, so is spiritual rain
for spiritual harvest. There can be no harvest without rain or open
heavens.

RAIN FROM ABOVE - OPEN HEAVENS: Isaiah 55:10. For as the rain cometh
down, and the snow from HEAVEN, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it BRING FORTH and BUD, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater:... WHAT IS OPEN HEAVENS AND HOW DO I
EXPERIENCE IT? James 5:17-18. Elias was a man subject to like passion
as we are, and HE PRAYED EARNESTLY that it might not rain: and it
rained not on the earth by a space of three years and six months. And
HE PRAYED AGAIN and THE HEAVEN GAVE RAIN and THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH HER
FRUIT. Open heavens occur when the people of God develop a passionate
quest and hunger for God. 2 Chro. 7:13-14. If I shut up heaven that
there be no RAIN,... If my people, which are called by my name, shall
HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY, and SEEK MY FACE, and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED
WAYS; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and
HEAL THEIR LAND. Hosea 10:12 says after you have sown your seed, call
upon the Lord till he come and rain his
blessing on you. Open heaven is a rain of heavenly blessings onthe
earth. It is the greatest secrete to abundant harvest.
The promise of open heavens in Joel 2:23-28, was fulfilled in Acts 2
when theApostles gathered together in the upper room, waiting for the
promise of God's heavenly rain. The scripture, from verse 2. Says And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled the house where they were sitting. Peter stood up to
preach and in that single day, three thousand souls were saved
(harvest). The opening of heavens. And the outpouring of that heavenly
rain (Spirit of God), brought an endless harvest to the kingdom of God.
The fame of the Apostles went abroad. Many were brought to Christ
daily. The church grew and multiplied in geometric progression. This is
what happens when the heavens open: abundant harvest. Closed heavens
renders the seeds (efforts) fruitless. Our continual and persistence
prayer provokes a speedy harvest of our seed.

4. THE SEASON OR TIME OR OPPORTUNITY:
This is the last but not the least of the principles under discussion.
Hosea 10:12. ... it is TIME to seek the Lord... Gen. 8:22 While the
earth remaineth, SEED TIME and HARVEST...shall not cease. Eccl. 3:2 A
time to be born, and a time to die; A TIME TO PLANT, and TIME TO PLUCK
UP THAT WHICH IS PLANTED. There is time for everything under the heaven.
The above passages clearly indicates that there is time to sow. Every
farmer has and understand thes owing season. Season, time
and opportunity are the same. God usually presents opportunity for us
to sow seeds. They may not be the most likely opportunity for us, but we
must be sensitive to it. Eccl. 8:5 says Whoso keepeth the commandment
shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both TIME
and judgement. A wise man is able to discern the opportunity to sow and
to act accordingly, though it may not be an appealing opportunity. Men
and women who sowed during the time of famine and lack reaped
great harvest. Though it was not a likely time to sow, but their actions
brought them unusual harvest. In Gen. 26:12, Isaac sowed in Gerer during
the time of famine and lack and he reaped a hundred fold harvest
the same year. In 1 Kings 17:8-12, the widow sowed into the life of the
man of God during the time of famine and lack of the last seed in her
house and she and Elijah and her son were sustained through out
the remaining years of famine. Eccl. 9:11 says time and chances
always present themselves to men. Eccl 11:4 says he that regards the
wind will not sow. The wise man encouraged us to sow all the time when
opportunity presents itself. Please read the entire chapter of Eccl.
11.

THE WAITING PERIOD:

"...Till he come and rain righteousness upon you". Hosea 10:12e.

"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waitheth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath LONG PATIENCE for IT, UNTIL HE RECEIVE THE EARLY AND LATTER RAIN. " James 5:7.

Mark 4:26-28 KJV

And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

Hebrews 6:12 KJV

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 10:36 KJV

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Ecclesiastes 11:1 KJV

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

All the scriptures above show that there is a waiting period between when seeds are shown and when harvest comes. We must respect this. 

It takes both faith and patience to receive from the Lord. 

Remember that impatience can make you cancel your harvest by saying whatever contradicts faith. 

Prayer: May you receive the grace to work these principles. May they
pass from the realm of knowledge to practical steps for you. May you
enjoy the dividend of walking in these principles. May your steps
transcend into life-giving testimonies in Jesus name.

My email: word.healing@yahoo.com