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Even in such an unpredictable situation, that seems fraught with hidden dangers, when stepping out of your home could be inviting needless trouble, you can be at peace knowing that you have a God who is aware of it all. And therefore, though it could be a time of famine and lack, as you seek Him in intimacy and fellowship that comes to you through His Spirit and His word, you will lack no good thing. It is also why the prayer of the psalmist, continues to be our focus, as we offer it unto God, saying, Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; And may your good spirit lead me on level ground. [Psalm 143:10]
And, His word through which He guides and leads you, will never return void, without accomplishing the purpose for which it has been sent. It is also, more importantly, the spiritual seed that needs to be sown in the soil of your heart, to see it bear fruit, and manifest in His promise to you.
HIS promise – your lifestyle:
And, it also needs to be a process, that involves His word of promise, becoming your very lifestyle, as it percolates into every aspect of your life, influencing it to bring about a transformation in you, from within. It needs to be something that is much more than a ritualistic and superficial response to it. For, it is the will of God, that you may fulfill His call upon your life in His adequacy and power. It is never based on your strengths and weaknesses, as the world assumes it to be.
And, the life of Moses, his transformation into the towering leader that God had called him to be, teaches valuable lessons regarding the manner in which the unchanging God works even in your life, to make you what you have been called to be, by Him. Moses began with fear and insecurities, as he dwelt upon his own self. But they were all lovingly erased by the Lord Almighty who described Himself as ‘I AM WHO I AM’, or in simple language, the God who is ‘Always’. [Exodus Chapter 3&4] He is always present, always unchanging, and always helpful. And His continual presence is what makes you special and successful in fulfilling your calling, even as Moses recognized and acknowledged it to be, in his own life. [Exodus 33:15] It is a truth that holds good, in all the ups and downs of life.
Even in a time of famine:
Famine comes even in the life of the one who is faithful to God. It is what happened in the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham, and Isaac, his son. [Genesis 26:2] For it is a fallen world, that is becoming increasingly more evil and vile, as you and I can well attest to, especially now, in the midst of a crisis that has caught the entire world unawares. The world is still grappling vainly for a solution to it. But what makes you special, as a child of God, even in your time of famine or lack is the presence of God with you to lead and guide you through it all, that you may live and not die. And the life of Isaac reveals truth concerning it, as you perceive it through a spiritual lens, that could be contrary to what the world advocates.
For, the Lord began to teach Isaac to profit, even from a situation that the common man operating with only his common sense would have avoided, to go in search of greener pastures. [Isaiah 48:17] But Isaac, in obedience to God’s guidance, stayed in the place of God’s choosing, though it was a land that was going through a famine. And in that particular context, more important was what he did next, as God counseled him. He not only stayed, but he also sowed in it. Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundred fold, and the Lord blessed him. [Genesis 26:12]
Seed – time – harvest:
God began to teach him a very vital principle that runs through the scriptures, finding it’s first mention in the life of Noah. [Genesis 8:22] Vital, for godly blessings come only in godly ways. There needs to be a sowing of the seed, before a reaping, of a harvest can come. And there is a period of time that lies between the two. The order of it never changes; and is valid even today, in your life. It is how prosperity, that is the blessing of God comes to you.
God’s word – the spiritual seed:
God begins with a seed. And, before you have the physical seed in your hand to sow it in the land, it needs to be a spiritual seed, that is the promise of God’s word to you; one that needs to be planted by you, in the soil of your heart. For, your felt need may be very immediate. And, with many people, the thought of it, can leave them clutching at any means of survival, even if it is not from God. But the overwhelming truth remains that with God, His call and His purpose for your life, or the spiritual seed that comes to you through His word, comes first.
Does it mean that He does not care about your pressing felt need? It is not so. For, He is your Heavenly Father. He knows your need, and He cares. And it is why the Lord’s words are very clear, bidding you to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, so that all that you need may be added unto you.
Spiritual seed- sown in your heart:
‘For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to me void; But it shall accomplish what I please, and prosper in the thing, for which I sent it’. [Isaiah 55:10,11] The Lord God Almighty has promised so very clearly, to give you seed to sow, and also bread to eat, signifying that you will surely have what is necessary to satisfy your immediate need, that can certainly not be brushed aside. And besides it, you will have what is necessary in your hand to sow physical seed, in the land of your residence, ordained by Him to you.
Spiritual seed – revelation truth of God’s word:
This revelation truth is the spiritual seed that comes to you, to be received by faith in the soil of your heart. And what you sow in your heart, is what will give in your hand the physical seed, or provision, that you can then proceed to sow or invest in the land ordained by God to you, no matter what it’s present condition is. For, you will know then that He is the Lord who knows the end from the beginning; and that His word of promise to you, when it goes on to become your lifestyle will never return void, but will prosper to become reality. It will free you from within, to refrain from hoarding, what you need to part with, in order to sow and in time harvest or reap the blessed abundance of God.
It is the reason why the word of God very clearly mentions the need to guard your heart with all vigilance; for out of it spring the issues of life. Your heart needs to be fertile soil in order to bear fruit. Fruit, from the seed, or God’s word, that is sown in it.
Spiritual seed – understanding it’s nature:
God’s word as His relevant and specific promise to you in your situation is the spiritual seed. And understanding the nature of God’s word therefore, is the key in experiencing and enjoying a rich harvest that is abundant life from God.
Seed – incorruptible and imperishable:
Having been born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. [1 Peter 1:23] God’s word, the spiritual seed, is incorruptible, and therefore will never be in effective, in failing to deliver what it declares. It will not return void or empty, to remain just a catchy phrase that captures your attention. And it will never lose it’s power, for it is the imperishable seed, that will never pass away. It is the enduring Word, that has no time limit attached to it. [1 Peter 1:24,25] Therefore, the promise of God, the spiritual seed that you receive, to plant it in your heart by faith, will surely and certainly come to pass, and in His time.
And crucial is the fact, that it also comes with a procedure. For, the blessed assurance of this truth, the spiritual seed that Isaac sowed in his heart, led to him sowing physically in the land ordained by God to dwell in, though the environment that existed then, dictated otherwise. It is valuable instruction, that comes to you and I, to teach that spiritual seed needs to be sown in your heart, for it to manifest as physical seed in your hand, to be sown in God’s appointed dwelling place for you. It is in what is permanent and enduring, that God is primarily interested. Prioritizing His word in your life, more than anything else, will bless you, and also find you satisfying the heart of God.
But, underscoring it all is the loving compassion of God, who is your Father, and who therefore knows your every need, the nature of your need, and also when it needs to be satisfied. He cares for you, and meets your every need that it may bless you, and also that you may be a channel of His blessing in the lives of other people.
And the familiar happenings in the life of the prophet Elijah, go to prove the point. [1 kings 19:1-18] As he lay under the broom tree exhausted, afraid, and depressed, fleeing from the wrath of Jezebel, who sought his life, it was his felt need of hunger that the Lord immediately satisfied, before unveiling to him the spiritual perspective of what was ahead of him in the path of God’s call upon his life. And He is the same God even today, in ministering to your need and mine, in every issue and aspect of life. Therefore, may your focus in response be on the permanency of God, His promise, His plan and His purpose for your life, and the source of it all, which is the word of God. For, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes to you from the mouth of God. [Deuteronomy 8:18]
Why does the HE give you the word?
It is because , In the beginning was the Word; The Word was with God; and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him; and without Him nothing was made that was made. [John 1:1-3] All things came into existence through the Word. It is why His word comes to you as a spiritual seed. The beginning of creation, testifies to it, in the very first chapter of the Bible. ‘Let there be light’. was the word spoken by God, when what was dark, empty, and chaotic, became an earth that was bathed in light, fullness and a beautiful order that in God’s sight was good, and with the physical creation of man was very good. [Genesis 1:1-31] Even this day, the change that needs to happen in your life, the lack that needs to be satisfied, happens through the word that He gives you initially as a spiritual seed.
And in the new covenant, transformation in your spirit, to make you a new creation in Christ, happens through His word. It is the entrance of His word, that brings light in your inner being. [Psalm 119:130] Isaac sowed the word of God that came to him as a spiritual seed, in his heart. And even in your need, it is to begin with, the word of promise and provision, that God gives you, as the seed that needs to be sown in the soil of your heart. It is how harvest comes to you, in God’s time, a harvest that will surely and certainly come.
And right through the Bible one can see instructive, confidence building examples of it, that you can hold on to in faith, trusting in the faithfulness of the God who has given it to you, and His enduring word that is incorruptible and imperishable. It began with Abraham, who was called by God, to be blessed in all ways. [Genesis 24:1] And, it was the harvest of the spiritual seed that God gave him, to begin with, saying, ‘Surely I will bless you’. [Genesis 12:2] With Isaac and with Jacob too, it was the word of blessing that God spoke to them, that was the beginning of a change. It was the promise of blessing, that was the seed received by faith and sown in their hearts, that from then on became their lifestyle, to yield a rich return in the manifestation of the promise in their lives. In your life too, God always begins with a seed. It is His word which comes to you in your situation.
And, how do you sow His word in your heart?
The prophet Jeremiah’s words describe it very well, in saying, ‘Your words were found, and I ate them’. [Jeremiah 15:16] And the principle underlying it is both logical and simple. It is as you partake of something, that it becomes part of you. ‘You are what you eat’, goes the saying! The nutritious food in front of you, is not going to make you strong, unless you partake of it. The same could be said when it is healing that you are in need of. You need to partake of the word of healing that comes to you from God.
It happens through your inclination to hear from God through His word with understanding, to preserve or sow it in your heart, and guarding it, that it becomes life and health to all your flesh. [Proverbs 4:20-22] ‘I have set before you life and death; and therefore choose life’ are the words of Moses, from the sovereign God who values your right to choose, what is right. [Deuteronomy 30:19] Jeremiah describes his response of delight and joy when it came to partaking of God’s word wonderfully saying, And your word to me was the joy and rejoicing of my heart’. [Jeremiah 15:16]
May it be your response and experience too, in seeing the word of God becoming part and parcel of you, like a piece of poetry that springs forth from your memory, one that you can articulate without any external aid ! And if the word has taken it’s rightful place in your heart, it will reflect in what you speak out in your circumstance, however dire and foreboding it may be, for, it is out of the fullness of the heart that the mouth speaks. It is also how you overcome the challenges of life. Therefore, may the word fill your heart, so that when a problem comes, it is the word that comes out of your mouth. For, A man’s stomach shall be satisfied by the fruit of his lips; From the produce of his lips, he shall be filled. [Proverbs 18:20]
The direction of your life:
The seed is sown, and the word is spoken. It is the natural functioning, or how things operate in life. And viewing its’ spiritual perspective, it can be said that, the word that is written, needs to be sown in your heart, to be spoken by your mouth. For, it is what you speak that determines the direction of your life, even as it did in the life of Isaac, to take him to a place of abundance.
The tongue has the power of life and death:
And those who love it will eat its’ fruit. [Proverbs 18:21] And having the power of life and death, may seem at the outset to be, difficult to believe, but it is also true that the Bible never makes a tall claim that it cannot substantiate with an absolute truth. And His word is truth! Therefore, what the Lord God spoke and did to Jeremiah, illustrates the power of life and death, in the word that you speak forth.
Life and death -to sow and uproot:
Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold I have put My words in your mouth; See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms; To root and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant. [Jeremiah 1:9,10] And as you put your faith in the Lord and His unchanging and all powerful word, may the picture above be your experience too, to know and act upon this powerful truth. For, God has given you the seed, that is His word, to uproot all the destruction that the destroyer, the devil has planted in your life, so that it can never come back.
And may your heart be filled with the life giving word of God, to know that in all the challenges of life that come, He is all that you need, for He is the source of every good thing in life. May it be the seed that you sow and plant in your heart, which leads you in the path of righteousness, to take you to the place of abundance and satisfaction that can only come from Him and through Him.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
