Reaping and Sowing

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturea will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."
Galatians 6:7&8

"Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
2 Corinthians 9:6

"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
James 4:8

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Galatians 6:9

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children."
Hosea 4:6


This week I want us to focus on a spiritual principle that I feel goes under our radar alot of the time. It's called reaping and sowing. If you sit and think about it the whole of God's spiritual structure and/or law rides on this principle. It is a neutral principle to a degree, giving that it works for both the believer and non-believer. This principle works unto rewards and unto punishment, to the reaping of eternal life or corruption. So with all of that said I feel it is very important to show God we are setting our hearts to understand this spiritual principle.

"My people perish from lack of knowledge." Ever hear the saying, "knowledge is power"? Well, when talking about this reaping and sowing principle it proves to be very true. Now reaping and sowing is the broad truth but can we think of specifics in scripture? How about "Draw nigh unto God, then He will draw night unto you", or "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, THEN the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness" or how about, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". So let's render these a bit different to illustrate the principle. "Sow into drawing closer to God, and reap Him drawing closer to you", "Sow into walking in the light as He is in the light, and reap Him cleansing you from all unrighteousness", "Sow into the confession of sins, and reap His faithfulness and justness to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness". Do we get the picture? Scripture is absolutely riddled with this underlying principle.

Now let's draw our attention to Galatians 6:7&8 which states, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturea will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." I love this one as it helps me pass personal tests in my life. For example, you have the opportunity when by yourself to watch something you are not supposed to watch or do things you should not do, believe it or not when you pass these tests by "fleeing and pursuing" (see devotional entitled "Fleeing and Pursuing") you have just sown into the Spirit! When you sow into the Spirit God has some kind of spiritual gifting for you in the end if you do not become WEARY OF DOING GOOD. Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." We must live our lives in light of this principle if it is to be well with our souls!

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7. So if we do not live our lives in light of this priniciple what does that say about us? It means we are deceived! Paul says BE NOT DECEIVED, GOD WILL NOT EVER BE MOCKED (proven to be a liar) WHATEVER YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! SOW THIS IS WHAT YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! ARE GOING TO REAP! I have wrote about this before in other devotionals but feel the need to hammer on it some more. There is a great many people deceived out there. They think because they have prayed a prayer that they are instantly ok. They teach a doctrine unsupported by scripture and I pray those are the people that read these posts before it is too late. Galatians 5:19-26 says, The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. I pray we all begin to live by these core principles again. We live in a very dark world that is constantly sowing into the flesh and reaping nothing but destruction! I am so thankful for Jesus sacrifice! He has enabled us to be partakers of the Holy Spirit thereby being a people capable of living within the healthy bounds of reaping and sowing! Let's keep fighting to stay in the Spirit so we do not gratify the lusts of our flesh! So the next time you have the opportunity to watch, do, look, hear something you are not supposed to and YOU DO NOT GIVE IN, give a little elbow jerk in the air and say "SWEET! I JUST PASSED A TEST, THANK YOU GOD FOR YOUR FAITHFULNESS TO ME"! Guess what happens as you continue to pass tests? YOU BECOME A TRUE DISCIPLE! You are now disciplining yourselves and showing God that you can be a person that is entrusted with MUCH instead of LITTLE! Remember brothers and sisters, you can store up treasures to reap just as you can store up wrath, just because it is not immediate does not mean it isn't coming. DON'T GROW WEARY! Let's pray for each other please! I mean that, I pray for the people who read these posts please be lifting me up as well!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff