Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The previous two messages have introduced the fact Scripture teaches us not only do we have to actively perform sowing, but we also must actively perform reaping. God handles the growth, development, and multiplication of that which we’ve sown until it is ready to be harvested (reaped). We’ve also learned the spirit of mammon is a powerful, principality demonic spirit with several lesser demonic spirits reporting to it. These spirits can wreak havoc with a Believer, ignorant of The Word of God or not accepting of it because it doesn’t comport with their denominational, philosophical, or traditional beliefs.
Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
The most important challenge for a Believer who has sown and who has made a harvest claim is to remain in faith. Why do I say this? Because the enemy is going to come to you immediately after sowing and immediately upon calling for your harvest. Jesus warns us of this with the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:3-23. The enemy in verses 3-4 and 19 will come immediately and steal The Word away. Those who are babies, spiritually, in The Word will immediately succumb to the enemy’s temptation, deception, and condemnation (satan’s only weapons) because they have no spiritual depth or endurance. The enemy in verses 5-6 and 20-21 will again use the same actions on those who are not babies, but young, spiritually, like a child, and have not driven a deep spiritual root by study, meditation, and faith-growing experiences. These verses warn that shallow faith—faith without deep roots in God’s Word and character—can’t withstand pressure. The Word of God attracts persecution, and unless a believer is rooted, they may stumble when trials come. The enemy in verses 7 and 22 again uses the same actions of temptation, deception, and condemnation on those who are much more mature than the baby and the child, more like a late teenager, young adult, spiritually. The seed (God’s word) lands in a heart already occupied by thorny distractions—worldly concerns, desires, and anxieties. The thorns grow faster and stronger, ultimately overpowering the seed. The heart is contested soil, where divine Truth competes with worldly forces.
What makes the fourth Believer, the adult, spiritually, a success according to Jesus in Matthew 13:8 and 13:23? The good soil is a heart that not only receives The Word but sustains It, allowing It to multiply. It is a lifestyle of ongoing fruitfulness created by continual growth, not a one-time event. There is active participation, daily, in spiritual growth. The fruitful hearer doesn’t just receive The Word passively—they understand, bear, and produce. Spiritual productivity is a result of deliberate, consistent, and daily engagement. The contrast with the thorny soil (verses 7 and 22) is stark: here, The Word is not choked but cultivated.
The question we need to answer is how The Word is cultivated and not allowed to be choked? We must create good soil in our hearts. Remember, we’ve learned in the past the heart is amoral. This means it is neither good nor bad, itself. The soil of our hearts will grow whatever we feed it, and it will grow it very well. Jesus taught us this in Matthew 12:35.
Matthew 12:35
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
What makes a good or an evil man? According to Matthew 12:35, what he has fed to and grown in his heart. When one is under pressure, what is growing in the heart is revealed from the mouth. This is what Jesus taught in the Parable of The Sower. The first three soils immediately or eventually became corrupt producing evil treasure (read fruit). The fourth soil was continually cultivated, doctored, weeded, and watered with The Word of God through reading, meditation, confession, action, and praise and thanksgiving producing good fruit (read treasure).
Another verse of importance to helping Believers understand how to cultivate The Word, continually, in their hearts is found in Ecclesiastes 11:4.
Ecclesiastes 11:4
He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
The world does things based on “observation (looking at)” and “regarding (considering)”. They are looking at and considering things in the physical realm in their decision making. This is not how The Kingdom of God works. The Kingdom of God operates on Spiritual Laws with the foundational Spiritual Law being The Spiritual Law of Love. The next layer of Spiritual Laws is composed of the Law of the Seed, the Law of Sowing and Reaping, and the Law of Manifold Return (these have all been discussed in previous messages found on the website). All other Spiritual Laws build upon these two layers. The Believer is to work from what is outlined in Joshua 1:8. The Kingdom of God and its Spiritual Laws are far superior to the natural, or physical, realm.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Joshua 1:8 is the blueprint for prosperity and success in this world according to The Holy Spirit. The Word is the foundation from which meditation yields faith-filled confession (decrees), and then faith-filled action (James 1:22 be ye a doer of The Word), complemented with faith-filled praise and thanksgiving. The faith-filled confession or decree of The Word is the seed which is sown along with whatever God has instructed a Believer to sow such as money, time, love, prayer, etc.
Now, we must ask ourselves why satan attacks a Believer who is prosperous because they have mastered The Kingdom Spiritual Laws or a Believer who is receiving revelation from The Word and The Holy Spirit, bit-by-bit, until they master it? satan does NOT want a prosperous Believer. In this world, money is power and influence. satan doesn’t want a willing and obedient Believer with wealth. Look at Job, who is a perfect example. satan hated Job. We learned in recent messages that satan had been observing Job. satan was trying to figure out how to destroy him because Job was the richest man in the East, and he was always helping people financially and spiritually. Job’s wealth also gave him immense status and influence with kings and princes who, The Scriptures tell us, bowed to Job (remember what God told Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3: that He would bless him and make his name great). satan eventually found something he could legally accused Job of breaking and went to God to accuse him.
satan wants to keep Believers poor, or living paycheck-to-paycheck, or get them comfortable with what they have accumulated for themselves. Why? satan fears a prosperous Believer. A prosperous Believer with a heart for God’s Kingdom and the message of Jesus Christ, will help push The Kingdom forward by always tithing and always, and constantly, giving offerings to the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, and to ministries with good soil taking The Gospel of Jesus Christ and The Kingdom of God to the world. And the Believer’s giving grows and grows each year giving increasingly more. This is God’s will and His plan. How can a Believer support their church if they are not tithing or support the spread of The Gospel of Jesus Christ and The Kingdom of God if they are not able to afford to do so? The latest statistics I saw concerning tithing, alone, is only about 23% of Believers tithe. Even less give regularly to the Gospel’s advance. This is truly sad. This means satan has even more money to fund horrible things in this earth. Could you imagine the power of the Church and its wealth if Believers obeyed God and tithed and gave offerings at God’s command?
What are some things we as Believers need to be aware of when it comes to protecting and then to reaping our harvest? First, once we make a claim, command satan’s hands off our claim, and command the ministering spirits to go forward and bring the claim to us, we must stay in faith. This means we MUST believe that what we’ve claimed is done. No matter the amount of time for it to manifest in the physical realm, we MUST stay in faith. God keeps His Word if we can keep faith. If a Believer is tithing and is sowing offerings, the Believer has confidence to claim and receive because they have a multiplying account in Heaven. Second, we don’t speak about our claim again unless we are thanking and praising God, in faith, for blessing us according to His covenant. Third, we don’t get into fear, doubt, or unbelief and begin to speak words to negate our faith-filled claim. Instead, we only speak what God’s Word says about us, which is God loves His children and wants the very best for them. He loves to give us our needs and our desires. There’s nothing God loves more than blessing His children so they can fulfill His commandment for us to be blessed and to be a blessing to the families of the earth. We see this of God in Psalm 84:11.
Psalm 84:11
For The LORD God is a sun and shield: The LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
The one place where Believers will experience the most opposition to God’s promises is in the local church. Not all local churches, but many of them. This is sad but true. The religious mindset Jesus spoke against is so prevalent in speaking against prosperity, even though God’s Word is filled with hundreds and hundreds of verses – THAT HE SPOKE – establishing prosperity as a fruit of righteousness, a covenant birthright, and our heritage – IN THIS EARTH. We don’t need prosperity in Heaven. We don’t need wealth and riches in Heaven. We need it here where God commanded it so we can be a blessing.
The two most popular, religious mindsets are “we don’t want any of this world’s goods,” and “I just need enough for my family and me. We’re not greedy.” Both mindsets sound very spiritual. However, both mindsets are actually rebellious against, and disobedient to, God’s Word – His command. These statements, being made by the self-righteous, religious mindset, are dreadfully wrong thinking. This is saying God created prosperity for the devil and his children/kingdom. The wealth of this planet is for God’s children, not satan and his kingdom. The only time God speaks against wealth and riches in a Believer’s possession is when the wealth and riches become the Believer’s God – and not God, Himself (I Timothy 6:10; I Timothy 6:17). Otherwise, we are to tithe and give offerings generously and to expect our offerings to multiply back to us – IN THIS EARTH – and in Heaven (our Heavenly rewards at the Bema Seat). God commanded us to be blessed and to be a blessing. Not just to our family, but to the families of the earth. AND, He commanded us to joyfully and heartily enjoy the abundance He blesses us with for ourselves.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-19
18 Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
In closing, Psalm 23, Jesus is our Shepherd. Because of this, “I shall not want.” This means all our needs and our desires have been given to us by our Shepherd. Because as the second half of I Timothy 6:17 says, “Who giveth us richly ALL things to enjoy.” Where? In this earth and in the life to come.
How much blessing you receive is based on how much blessing you’ve sown!
In Christ Jesus,
Larry