I had a good laugh when my sister and avid
reader Funmi said to me ‘Your blogs are
long but we read them honey. There is always deep word in them, so I simply
make myself a cup of coffee and then dig in’. Please make a cup of tea or
coffee as you read sis. This is actually part of a mini-book I am working on. I
am in teaching mode today because that is what is on my heart to do. Indeed the
things I want to share with you today are part of a message I shared recently
and I just have a sense that someone else out there needs to hear this today. And
be sure to pray the prayers at the end okay? Thanks ma’am.
Happy
and fortunate are you who cast your seed upon all waters; for the seed will
sink into the mud and when the waters subside, the plant will spring up; you
will find it after many days and reap an abundant harvest - Isaiah 32 v 20. Please walk this Scripture with me, okay.
Cast your seed upon all waters
– Simply put sis, this tells me that there is no room for idleness or excuses
in the life of a woman who is to fulfill godly purpose. Why? Because to ‘cast’
implies effort and clearly requires action. It needs you and I to do something
beyond praying and fasting. It is a call to action and to obedience. And the
Scripture tells us to cast our seed upon ALL waters, so we cannot hang on that ‘one thing’ that we have mastered, that
we feel we know best, that we feel safe doing. We cannot continue to walk
around unfulfilled but not wanting to take the chance on the things that God
has laid in our hearts to do.
But water can
be uncomfortable, overwhelming, scary… and when we are afraid we do nothing! Sometimes,
we don’t want to get wet so again we do nothing! At other times though, the
challenge is not so much about our getting wet; rather it’s that the water before us appears to be flowing towards
a direction different from where we would otherwise want it to go and it
doesn’t seem to make sense. When we look at the direction of everyone else’s flow,
we struggle to understand how God can be asking us to cast our seed in waters
whose flow is against the popular tides, the tides that the logic of men or
economics would otherwise seem to suggest wouldn’t bear fruit. And sadly also,
if we can be honest… sometimes it’s that we are fixated on what looks like
someone else’s fruitful dry ground and harvest, and we don’t allow ourselves
remember that the harvest they are enjoying is because at some point they got
their feet, clothes, even their whole selves wet so they could cast their
seeds. Hmm!
Casting your
seed is not a ‘cute’ activity. It is
not about staying at the edge of the river bank and daintily dropping your
seed. Nope! If we are to get to that point of an abundant harvest, we will have
to step into the waters and we will have to get into the place of a strong
flow, to the place where our seed can sink deeply enough into the mud such as
to take root. And this is a challenge for many people – the fact that they not
only have to contend with water, but it is muddy water at that!
And mud is
nasty isn’t it sis? Mud is not cute; it’s not elegant or sophisticated. Mud
will ruin our beautiful clothes and nice shoes. Mud will dirty the feet we just
manicured. Sometimes, mud is even smelly and offends our sensitive noses that
only respond well to the scent of designer perfumes. Mud can be quite thick and
difficult to maneuver in. And of course, there is the fact that people will disdain you for the mud that is on
you. When you are in the mud, you won’t look like what they want to be
associated with will you? But here is the thing sis… if we are so
concerned with how we might look to others in our seasons of casting seed, we
won’t be bold enough to take the necessary steps towards God’s call for greater
levels of impact in our lives. Can I encourage you today to move a move towards
that thing that God has called you to even though you think people will
ridicule you, dissociate themselves from you? It will be just for a season sis.
They will eventually come back to celebrate you. Trust me on this!
The seed will sink into the mud
– Once you take this step, be ready for a season when you cannot see your seed,
when your efforts do not seem to be yielding anything, when it looks wasted. It’s
part of the process and if you understand this scripture, you will know that
your harvest is in the making under the mud. Sis, have the confidence that
there will indeed be a springing forth and that after the waiting you will
celebrate and be celebrated for your harvest. I know from experience that it
can be pretty discouraging when your seed is covered up, especially because you
will see others whose seeds don’t seem to have been in the mud as long as
yours, but it looks like they are very close to harvest or already walking in
harvest.
Sis, let me
encourage you to constantly remind yourself that it doesn’t matter what is
going on with the next person’s seed. You really have no clue what kind of seed
they were given; you don’t know the attributes of the mud in their own planting
stream; you don’t know how long their plants will abide – the race is not to
the swift. The only thing that needs to matter
to you is that you are fruitful in
the season or seasons where God has appointed you to deliver a particular kind
of glory. Please don’t undermine your potential and purpose because your
eyes are on someone else. Trust God with your seed and with the process okay?
When the waters subside - This
says to me ‘When it is your time’
and that time shall surely come. But please note that it didn’t say when
the waters ‘cease’. Sis, we
must be paying attention to know when the waters subside. We have to remain
alert, and we can’t assume perfect conditions must be in place before God calls
on us to take the next step. That is not the way He works. If stand by waiting
to see completely dry land before we make the next move, we will miss God’s
season.
The
plant will spring up - I love this sis. The
plant will (not might) spring up. It’s an assurance from our
heavenly Father that His mandate to produce and be fruitful will not fail in
our lives if we are faithful to His divine instructions. But you know, a spring
is a tiny spurt, a small start. Will you be discouraged when after getting wet,
getting in the mud, after waiting all those many days, what you see is a small
spring? Perhaps you have been faithful to cast a seed into a ministry you
believe God called you to start. Were you expecting that by now you would have
had 200 people under your ministry and you only have 42? Can I remind you today
that God does not work by numbers? Even if no one shows up, He has said He can raise
stones to do what needs to be done. Can I remind you that your assignment is to
get the Word out to those God has assigned to you for every season? Can I
remind you that it is God that will build the church and not you? Can I remind
you that the Bible tells us not to despise the days of small beginnings? Be
careful not to despise your spring sis. Please!
Springing is a
verb, an action word, another process indicating growth and growing. But growth
involves time, and it can be slow. However, even when we cannot see the
evidence of growth springing out on the surface, there is an underground acceleration
to ensure deep roots are being established… deep roots that will sustain us for
the assignment that is to come. Be encouraged today sis. Believe that despite
what you see or can’t see, God is doing a greater work. If you will allow Him,
He would like to build muscles in you – spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and
even physically, that you need for your next level. Please wait on God for the
full manifestation of that thing you have planted. Be patient with the process
to allow God elevate you into your assignment and harvest in the fullness of
His appointed time.
You
will find it after many days - The fact that the Scripture tells
us that we will find it after many days speaks to me of the fact that we will
not see the spring of our seed if we don’t look for it, if we are not attentive.
I know however that we cannot afford to look for it with the eyes of the flesh.
We must be looking with the eyes of the spirit otherwise we will see things that
have the appearance of, but are not the result of our planting. Remember the enemy is not sitting back
waiting for you and I to enter harvest easily. His job is to present us with
false evidences so that we might be distracted, misdirected, or better
yet completely derailed. For this not to happen, we will need spiritual insight,
clarity, divine discernment and direction. Sis, the only way to get this is to
remain deeply connected to God, and plugged into His word, His presence and His
voice; to learn to wait on Him and completely rely and trust in Him, to be
obedient to His instructions – even when they don’t seem to make sense to us.
In this place
of waiting, we will need to exercise patience, to endure, to have the spiritual
fortitude to overcome the emotional ups and downs we will likely experience. And
the Scripture doesn’t tell us how those ‘many
days’ will be - whether they would be very stormy days; whether the days
might be so incredibly hot and we continuously find ourselves in serious sweat;
or whether the days could be so cold that we can barely move, almost paralyzed
by cold. The Word doesn’t also give us a sense of how the terrain will be during
those ‘many days’. Why is this
important? Because water has the power
to change a landscape, it can wash away certain areas and make them look
completely unfamiliar. You and I know that in unfamiliar spaces we are
sometimes too scared to think and end up making wrong choices based on fear.
It is only in the place of trusting God completely that we can make it sis, no
matter how unfamiliar things become around us.
Happy are you who when you cast
your seed -
…..YOUR
seed! Sis, what is the seed that you have been given? Do you know? Listen, God’s first commandment to us at creation was
to be fruitful. Are you fruitful? I know you are busy. I know you are
productive. But until you work your seed to the fullest, you will not be
fruitful – not according to God’s design. This is my new Holy Spirit inspired
mantra – ‘Busy, Productive, and Fruitful’.
More than anything else I am grateful that I am fruitful in the things that are
God’s true calling on my life. I understand that I am graced to do ‘more’ and I
am committed to walking in my more. I am casting my seed on all the waters that
God shows me, even when I have to do it afraid… even when all I know to do is
to trust Him and allow Him resource me in His own way. Can you identify your
seed sis? If not, what are you allowing
to cloud your vision? Are you allowing your ‘eyes’ to cloud your vision? Or are
you allowing fear to cloud your vision?
Let’s do a
little honest one on one here sis. No one else is reading this but you….. Are you by any chance allowing the size of
another’s harvest to cloud your vision? Are you allowing what you see in the
life, profession, marriage, ministry of the next person intimidate you into
sitting on your seed? If you are doing this, then what you are doing is
disdaining the seed God Himself gave you and you need to repent of this. God
does not count success and prosperity and impact in the way that the world
colors it. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. So
if He has given you a different seed, He knows exactly what He is doing. If
this has been you, then today, you need to ask God again with a pure heart to
help you to see and value what it is that He has already placed in your hand;
what He is waiting for you to plant.
Truth sis? You
and I will never be difference makers if we sit on our seeds. And many of us
have been sitting on our seed. We are doing the one or two everyday things that
we know to do, operating in our safe spaces….but we know we are made for so
much more; we know God has been placing a demand on the ‘more’ that He put inside of us. Instead of sowing those seeds
towards purpose and impact however, we have been sitting on them; we have put
them in storage for one reason or the other.
Some of us have stored our seed in the land
of I’m very busy.
Instead of sowing our seed, some of us have rented a flat for it on the
topmost floor of Number
1, I’m afraid street. We
have bought a duplex for our seed to reside at Plot 1, Procrastination
Junction. Some of us have made our seed permanent
tenants on the penthouse of Number
5, I don’t have what it takes plaza. This
all adds up to sitting on our seed and
God is placing a demand on you and I today to change the address of our seed.
Sis, what is that more that
God has been calling you to do – in your life and in your ministry, but which you
have been too busy, too scared, too worried about the resources you don’t have,
too focused on someone else’s, to do something about? God is placing a demand
on your obedience today. What will you do with your seed? Will you cast it or
continue to sit on it?
The Lord would
have me share a word that might just be for you. You know exactly what seed you
have been given and you have not sown it for one reason or the other. Worse
still, you have gone past wishing things were different. As you see it now, you
stored it for too long and your seed died long ago. You have convinced yourself
that you have made peace with your inaction and there is no point crying over
spilt milk. You have settled for that which you have at least been able to do
and you are grateful for that, rightly so. But sis…. even in that place of
settling, you and I know that you are not fulfilled. And can I tell you
something? You can never be. You can never be at peace or fulfilled in the
place of ‘less than’ because your
seed…. dead as you think it is, will keep calling on you. Your life is designed
to deliver glory to God sis. And as long as you have not delivered commensurate
glory for each season God has you in, you will remain unfulfilled.
I have a word from God for you today sis. God
said to tell you that seed is not
fruit. Fruit rots and is thrown away, but seed can be stored for
generations. This is as true in the natural as it is in the spiritual. Your
seed cannot die! There is life in it. It can lie dormant for years, but when
you choose to sow it, it will breathe again and it will bear fruit. God says to
remind you of His word in Job 14 v 7 – 9: that there is yet hope for a tree
that is cut down to a stump; that at the scent of water it will bear fruit and
bud. If He can do it for the tree, He can do even more with your seed. God says
it’s not too late. He is the One that breathed upon dry bones and they came
back to life. Nothing is impossible unto Him. He did it before and He can do it
again for you, His precious child.
The Spirit of
the Lord also ministered to me that there are too many of His children who are looking
at their seed and thinking it is too small. Listen sis, the size of your seed
has nothing to do with the size of the harvest. Trust God with it, no matter
how small it looks. Do you not know about the acorn seed and the mighty oak tree
that is its harvest? Do you not remember that God told us that all He needs is
for us to have mustard seed sized faith for us to move mountains? 2 Corinthians 4
v 18 tells us not to look at the things which are seen but at the things which
are not seen. What has the size of your seed got to do with anything, sis? Be
obedient to cast it regardless of how small it seems, regardless of whether it today
looks like the effort of the planting will not yield a commensurate result. You
see, your seed is not about your ability. It’s about God’s power and might.
Respect it! Treasure it! Sow it! And then trust Him to magnify the results. As
I prepared for a message I ministered at one of our Sista Power gatherings recently, God said to me that ‘the
value you place on your seed determines the harvest you will reap’. Let this be a word in due season for you
sis. Place enough value on that ‘little’
that you see, and allow God do His bit to bring you the ‘much’ harvest.
Our anchor
scripture in Isaiah 32 v 20 assures
us that we will reap an abundant harvest and Genesis 8 v 22 tells us that ‘While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest shall not cease’ so
the abundance God has in mind for you and I is not a one-off victory. Harvest from
God’s perspective is not about money or fame; it is not about a ministry of
millions of people. The God kind of harvest
is about fulfilling purpose according to the creation mandate to be fruitful.
Harvest is in our spiritual DNA! It is our desire that we be considered
by God as vessels of honor, fit for every good work, purposeful, productive, fruitful!
We want our lives, our efforts, our gifts and our talents, our relationships,
our businesses, etc to measure up to God’s standard as acceptable sacrifices.
We want to be able to lay them before His alter and know that they come up
before Him as a delightful aroma, a sweet-smelling savor. This is my heart’s
desire and I am pretty sure it is yours also.
But you see sis,
harvest only responds to sowing.
Harvest only answers to a seed.
Even the world knows that if you don’t sow your seed, you will not reap any
harvest. One of my pastors, Hyacinth
Aneke once said ‘Rain is useless to those
who do not have a seed in the ground’ and as I think about our anchor Scripture
I agree. The waters are useless to those who will not cast their seed. Harvest
is the promised reward of those who cast their seed, those who are purposed to
continually make a difference for God. And listen sis, harvest is important first
because it provides for the many contingent destinies which cannot be fulfilled
until we manifest the fullness of all God has called us to be; and secondly
because the seed for our next
level is always in the harvest. Think about it in the physical… the seeds for
the next planting season are contained in the fruit that is harvested in this
season.
Cast your seed sis. Please do. Let go of
every fear and uncertainty. Reorganize your priorities and your schedules to
make room for your seed. And then wait and trust and seek and you will find. Be
diligent to carry out the instructions God will give you in your season of
waiting. And then trust Him with the unfolding of your harvest in the process
of time. Try it sis. This is the big difference between going to just bed every
night, and going to bed with a sense that the day counted for something truly
worthwhile. It is the difference between just waking up every morning, and
waking up with excitement and expectancy for what purpose and impact will
unfold through you each day.
You and I no longer have time to be casual
about life sis. We have lost so much time already. But God is anxiously waiting
for us to step up to the plate so He can accelerate time and help us redeem
even that time which has been lost. Will you cast your seed today? Will you
commit afresh to delivering on heavens purpose, for heavens glory, for
the Kingdom to come on earth, for God’s will to be done… and for a crown that is glorious in thought, and will be truly majestic
in reality? Yes? Halleluyah! The Lord will help you sis, even as surely as He
is daily helping me.
Be blessed sis… for you surely are!
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