The Lord prompted me to write this afternoon. There was no mistaking the burning within me that would not let up. I went to my closet and grabbed my pen and journal and wrote. I wrote quickly listening to the Lord. Everything written was reminding me of Scripture verse after verse. I got through and looked at the words written down.
It looked similar to many other things I had written and shared over the years. I had the question of "Why?" pop in my mind.
Almost just as quickly it was as the Lord asked me, "Would you still obey, if I asked you to share this again? "
I thought about it for a moment , thinking yes , and then all of the sudden it was like the Lord was teaching me again. The Lord brought to my mind the words, "Crop Rotation." Crop rotation is a process farmers use to keep the soil fertile, to keep away pests, to try to avoid diseases etc.
God the Father is the one who provides the seed. We are just His workers, working with His Son Jesus , to work the Harvest. We are commanded to share the Gospel. We are not premitted to alter the instructions He gave us. God could do all the work Himself, but chooses to allow us to be a part of the work.
Crop rotation...
Are you friends with the all same people you crossed paths with 10 years ago?
No, why?
Because some removed themselves from your life, and maybe some you had to remove yourself. People have died and already stepped into eternity. New lives are born. We meet new friends. Just like the seasons, the people that we are in contact with change. This season will never be like the last and someone may need to hear the message repeated. Their heart may have been hard toward the Voice of the Lord last season, but the Lord worked the ground of their heart to be soft and fertile ready to receive the message of the Gospel.
Are you a weary worker, not seeing the results of your labor? The Lord sees all and reward in due time. Your job is to be obedient in whatever task He gives you. Do you wonder "What's the point," because you think no one listens? Our job is to share what God has done , because even though not everyone will accept the message and there are weeds in the garden; it's as though the Lord doesn't allow us to see the labels in the garden.
What if it is as if He doesn't allow us to see who shall become a teacher? What if we aren't allowed to know who will be a discerner of spirits, an encourager, a prophet, a pastor, etc . We are just given the seeds to scatter. We don't know who may be legit or false right away. Time will show by what they say and do. It's as if the signs of tomato, corn, green beans, potatoes etc, are purposely missing at first.
We are just told to cast the seed and to water it. God is the One who makes it grow. If we knew that someone would end up rejecting Christ, how quickly would we stop loving, showing compassion, or praying for a change of heart? Jesus died for all and God loves all, but not all will follow Him in obedience. The first step of obedience is to turn away or repent of sin and rebellion against God that was the reason for Jesus' death. It's only by accepting His Lordship that He can save us. Lord, means we will obey in whatever He asks us to do. Get to know His Word, get to know and recognize His Voice when spoken.
He wants obedient laborers for the Harvest of Souls. He didn't tell you to make the seed grow or the sun to beat upon the garden. He just asked you to water it, and cast the seed. He doesn't ask you to pull the weeds, because only He knows who is a part of His Harvest into His Barn, in the safety of His Hands and Kingdom. The rest shall not remain in the end, and that should break our hearts, as it does our Father's heart. That means that soul is lost and their father remains to be the devil. They shall never experience the Father's Perfect Love , nor Life eternally with God the Father and Jesus , as heirs with Him. We are no longer slaves to sin; we are free and we should want the same freedom for others.
All Scripture from the World English Bible
Matthew 13:1-43
On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside. 2 Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach. 3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. 6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. 14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,
‘By hearing you will hear,
and will in no way understand;
Seeing you will see,
and will in no way perceive;
15 for this people’s heart has grown callous,
their ears are dull of hearing,
and they have closed their eyes;
or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and would turn again,
and I would heal them.’*
16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.
18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. 19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. 20 What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds† also among the wheat, and went away. 26 But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also. 27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’
28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”
33 He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures‡ of meal, until it was all leavened.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, 35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”*
36 Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
1 Corinthians 3:4-15
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly?
5 Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him? 6 I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. 14 If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
Galatians 6:7-10
Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let’s not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don’t give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.
Obey. Don't give up! Leave the results up to God who oversees His Garden and the Harvest of Souls for His Kingdom.
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