Seed, Time & Harvest Thought Conditioner

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat
winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”  Genesis 8:22

“So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep,
and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how.” (Mark 4:26)

 The brilliance and genius of God is in the seed!

We need to be more seed-oriented than need-oriented.

If you want an extraordinary harvest, sow an extraordinary seed.

OVERVIEW
Many of us are facing big needs. Needs so great that without the direct intervention of God, they can’t possibly be met. Because of that, we need to be more certain than ever before that we understand – and abide by – God’s laws of Seed, Time and Harvest. Those laws are extremely important, but, praise God, they’re not complicated.

Seed, time and harvest is God’s method; the law of Genesis is one of God’s fixed laws. Everything produces after its kind and the seed is in itself. It works that way in everything.  This law has existed since God created the earth and according to Genesis 8:22, it “shall not cease.”

Seed, time and harvest applies to every area of your life. It works for all of us, whether or not we realize that this process is taking place. We all will reap whatever we sow in many different areas of our lives.

In the natural world, everything revolves around seed, time and harvest.  It’s the same in the spiritual world. God’s Word is the seed that given time, produces a harvest.

Your Father tells you that you should meditate day and night on his Word because he wants you to continually plant spiritual seeds from His Word in your heart throughout every day and night of your life.

THE FARMER UNDERSTANDS
I’ve never seen a farmer plant his crop and then worry day and night.  No, he waits with a knowing, with a confidence.  He doesn’t necessarily hope that it will happen, or even believe that it will happen.  He takes it one step further.  He knows that his harvest is on its way.  You know that you know that you know – just like the farmer – that your harvest is on its way.

A farmer has to prepare the soil and plant seeds in order to get a crop, but God created the natural laws that govern sowing and reaping. God sends the rain and the sun that makes plants grow, God gave the land to farm on, and God is the source of the farmer’s harvest.

What if a farmer waited until he saw his neighbors reaping their crops before he sowed his seed? Regardless of how sincere he was or the justification for not sowing his seed at the proper time, he would not reap a crop overnight. The law of seed, time and harvest cannot be violated.

If you really want to thrive, you must learn to be a sower of seed.

The Scripture says, “Whatsoever a man sows, that he will also reap.”  All through the Bible, we find the principle of sowing and reaping.  Just as a farmer must plant some seed if he hopes to reap the harvest, we, too, must plant some good seed in the fields of our families, careers, businesses and personal relationships. 

I don’t have to be with you when you plant your garden to see what you’ve sown. All I have to do is be there when the crop grows up to know what you’ve planted. If you have death in your life – if you’re depressed, discouraged, angry, or bitter – you haven’t been meditating on the Word of God. Spiritual mindedness only produces life and peace.

If you aren’t experiencing the abundance and victory that the Lord has promised, it’s not God who has failed. Praying longer and petitioning harder won’t change anything. You must take the incorruptible seed of God’s Word and keep on planting it in the garden of your heart.

It’s your responsibility to guard and protect your garden.  Whatever is growing in the garden of your life is what you planted or allowed to be planted in your heart. Scripture reveals that as you think in your heart, that’s the way you’re going to be. (Proverbs 23:7) If you focus and meditate on God’s Word, your thoughts will produce life and peace. (Romans 8:6)

PARABLE OF THE SOWER – PART 1
“The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the Word’s sake, immediately they stumble.  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the Word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the Word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”  (Mark 4:14-20)

The parable Jesus gave in Mark 4 about the sower sowing the seed is one of the most foundational teachings of the Bible. In Mark 4:13, the Lord said that “if you don’t understand this parable, you cannot understand any of the others.” This passage is the key that unlocks the revelation of important foundational truths that you will use every day for the rest of your Christian life. It’s truly that important.

Jesus was using the illustration of a man sowing seed which fell on four different types of ground. The kingdom of God is likewise. God’s Word is the seed that must be planted in the fertile soil of your heart to bear good fruit. The Word of God is what brings change.

FOUR HEART TYPES
The Lord clearly describes four different types of people’s hearts, and how the Word of God interacts with their heart to bring forth fruit – or not. I believe he was also describing four different stages towards fruitfulness.

First, you go through a stage where you hear the Word of God but your heart isn’t set on it. You aren’t seeking after the things of God. The Word goes in one ear and out the other. That’s the first type of person.

The second type of person gets excited about the Word, but they don’t have root in themselves. The end result is they don’t bear fruit either.

The third type of person gets excited about the Word, and it takes root. The Word of God begins to germinate and starts producing life in them, but then they get distracted by the things of this world. (Mark 4:19)

The fourth type of person is the one who really nurtures and takes care of the Word of God. They focus on it and aren’t distracted by the things of this world. So they produce a bountiful harvest. (Mark 4:20)

The reason Jesus used the picture of a seed to describe the kingdom of God is because it’s part of how God designed things. There is seed, time, and harvest – there are steps and stages to growth.

I constantly meet Christians who pray and believe for God’s intervention in their lives, but remain frustrated with their results. Why? Because they have never conceived their miracles by planting the seed of God’s Word in their hearts. That’s like a woman who prays to get pregnant and then is confused when it doesn’t come to pass even though she has never had a relationship with a man. The seed has to be planted for conception to take place.

God’s Word is never the variable. It has the same potential in every single person’s life.

What makes the Word produce differently isn’t the seed itself, but rather the type of soil on which the seed finds itself. This parable illustrates four different types of hearts. The Word of God has the same potential to produce in every person’s life, but the difference in fruitfulness is related to how we respond to the Word. This parable reveals that there is really only one type of response that will allow the seed of God’s Word to fully produce its fruit.

THE SUPERNATURAL SEED OF GOD’S WORD   
The seed is the Word of God (Mark 4:14), and the ground is our hearts (Mark 4:15). Our hearts were created by God to bring forth fruit when His Word is planted in them. Just as a seed has to remain in the ground over time to germinate, so the Word of God has to abide in us.  Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

God explains that his Word is a “seed.” He says that His Word “shall not return to Him void.” Your Father promises that His Word will always “accomplish that which he pleases and purposes.” God says that His Word “shall prosper in the thing for which he sent it.”

You must learn how to sow seeds from the Bible into the “good soil” of your heart. If you “grasp” what the Word of God says about your situation and “comprehend” and understand these great spiritual truths, you will persevere because of your faith in God. Your faith, patience and perseverance ultimately will be honored when all of the seeds you have planted “bear fruit” and produce a marvelous harvest from God.

Each seed sown has its own set season or a specific, individual time when it will produce a harvest.

Stay the course… and your harvest is guaranteed!

You must plant a seed, which is the Word of God. If you aren’t reaping what the Word of God says, you haven’t planted what the Word of God says to plant. You reap what you sow. If the Word of God is primary in your life, you’re going to get the results of the Word of God.  That doesn’t mean Satan won’t fight you and you won’t have problems.

The end result will be you’re going to have what the Word of God says. Satan may fight you, but you’ll win. Many of us know this intellectually, but in our hearts, there is fear or reservation. We don’t have the absolute confidence that God’s Word is going to prevail in our lives.

God’s Word is the seed. It must be planted in the ground of our heart. This is also like sowing a seed in the womb of a woman. You can’t conceive a child apart from this seed being sown. There was only one virgin birth, and there isn’t going to be another. Stop begging and pleading with God to move. Instead, sow the seed of God’s Word.

To conceive and give birth, whether it’s for a miracle you need in your body or for the vision God has given you, you must first plant God’s Word like a seed in your heart. Conception, which eventually produces the fruit, cannot take place without first planting a seed.

You may not see God’s blessings and provision now with your physical eye, but they are very real. They are shaped by God’s Word and your confession! When you look around, you see lack; but God’s Word says, “Give, and it shall be given…He which soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” 

You change the seen with God’s Word.

You shape the unseen by calling things that are not as though they were (Rom. 4:17).

Jesus explained the mighty power of spiritual seeds when he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Of all the seeds it is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and find shelter in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31–32).

Your faith in God starts out small like a mustard seed. However, these seeds can and will grow….and grow….and grow… if you continually plant the seeds from the Word of God into your heart.

Jesus said, “When the seed is sown, it grows up and becomes greater” (v. 32). Notice, He didn’t say that when the seed is sown it occasionally grows up and becomes greater. Or it grows up and becomes greater if it’s God’s will. He said, “It grows up and becomes greater.” Period.

Christians who have financial challenges should plant financial seeds from God’s Word in their hearts. If you have severe sickness in your body, you should continually plant healing seeds in your heart. You cannot plant the seeds continually “without producing any effect.”

You must not allow Satan, the pain and discomfort in your body, or anyone or anything to stop you from continually planting supernatural seeds from God’s Word into your heart.

We are going to the Lord as a beggar instead of as a son who has already received his inheritance. Instead of claiming what is rightfully ours, we are begging for what He could do but hasn’t done. We think it’s God’s responsibility, it’s His turn to fix this problem, when the truth is that God has done his part. He gave us the seeds of his Word, which will grow the solution to our problem. He’s given words that have life to them. All you have to do is take that Word, stand on it, and begin to release the life that is in that seed – the Word of God.

What you need to do is take the Word of God, plant that seed in your heart, and let it grow. Then the supernatural life and miraculous power of God will come right up out of the midst of you.

What you don’t know is hindering you.

The truth will make you free, but it’s only the truth that you know that sets you free. 

Unbelievers cannot sow the seeds of God’s Word in their hearts. Christians are given the privilege and ability to sow the seed of God’s Word.

WE ARE THE GROUND
The seed produces the fruit, not the ground. It’s the Word that brings forth the results. This was one of the first truths that God ministered to me out of this parable of the sower sowing the seed.

The ground does have a part to play. It can either allow the seed to produce to its full potential, or it can hinder, choke, and stop the Word of God from working. However, it’s not the ground itself that produces the fruit, it’s the seed.

We are the ground. Our heart is where we either allow the Word of God to have its complete rule, or we can let the Word be choked by the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust for other things.

Our heart can become hardened towards God and not give His seed a place to germinate. Our heart can affect the growth, but it’s the seed – the Word of God – that brings forth fruit. All I am is ground. (Genesis 2:7)

I’m just dirt – a place for the seed to germinate. I provide warmth and nutrients, but it’s the Word that produces the fruit.

PARABLE OF THE SOWER – PART 2
In Mark 4, the Lord taught three parables that illustrate that the Word is to the kingdom of God what a natural seed is to a harvest. The first of these parables, the story of the sower, is the key to unlocking all the others (Mark 4:13).

If we don’t understand these truths, Jesus said, we won’t understand any of His other parables.

There are many life-changing truths in these parables, but one fact must be understood to get the full benefit of this teaching: The Lord used the comparison of His Word to a law of nature, which is unchangeable, not an institution of man.

Here’s what I mean: Nearly all systems that people have created can be cheated or manipulated. The legal system can be beaten, letting the guilty go free. The educational system can be beaten, passing students who haven’t really learned the material. But the process of seed, time and harvest can’t be changed.

This is why our Lord chose to compare the way His Word works to a seed. The germination process of the Word of God in your life takes time and can’t be avoided.

In the second parable of Mark 4, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29).

What would happen if you planted a seed in your garden and then dug it up each morning to see if anything was happening? It would die and never produce fruit. You have to have faith that the seed is doing what God created it to do.

Some people put God’s Word in their hearts for a day or two, but if they don’t see fruit almost immediately, they dig up the seed through their words and actions and wonder why it didn’t work. It must be left in the ground over time. Then, there are also different stages of growth.

Mark 4:28 says, “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”

Many people are impatient, wanting to bypass the growth cycle and get the full ear right now.  God’s kingdom operates on laws, like the laws that govern the fruit-bearing process of a seed. God will not give you the full ear of corn if you haven’t seen the first blade. That’s the way God’s kingdom works.

This is precisely the reason most people don’t see God’s best come to pass in their lives. They have lottery faith. They think that since God loves them, He will just grant their request regardless of whether they put the miracle of the seed to work or not.

Even though it does not make sense to attempt to receive a harvest without planting seeds, this is exactly what many Christians do. Many Christians attempt to receive a harvest (of healing, deliverance, prosperity, etc.) without faithfully planting the seed of the Word in the good soil of their hearts.

DON’T NEGLECT THE ROOTS! 
You have to let God’s Word just stay rooted on the inside of you. You can’t back off of it. You must keep digging and looking for greater revelation.

Failure to let the Word of God take root on the inside is probably the number one reason why people aren’t seeing greater freedom manifest in their life. They just aren’t giving it time.

Satan would love to get you to where you don’t have any depth of root in your life. Then he can come against you and just steal the Word. He wants to pull it up before it ever gets rooted. However, if you grow a good root system, you’ll be able to stand despite all the troubles, trials, and hardships that come in your life.

I was more concerned about all of this growth above ground, which is the way most people are. They want some visible results – something physical, something tangible. They desire to see lives being changed, people healed, and all kinds of other fruit. However, before all of this growth can occur above ground, the vast majority of growth must take place underground in the root system. It’s actually the root system that determines how big the plant or tree above ground will be.

All the good in my life has come as the seed of God’s Word has taken root in my heart and produced fruit. Once the seed takes root, it just produces. What an awesome truth.

If you neglect the root system, you might have a plant or tree grow up for a brief period of time, but it’ll never produce fruit. It won’t live because it’ll never be able to withstand varying conditions like heat and drought. The root system is what enables the tree to really produce and be able to withstand hardship.

Once I made this decision to attend to my root system, I actually quit worrying about the visible results to a large degree. Instead, I focused on taking the Word of God and keeping it in my heart. I knew that if I kept God’s Word dwelling on the inside of me, instead of just allowing it to come in and out, that it would literally begin to put down roots through every part of my being and the power of the Word would start permeating me.

Most people don’t like the root building process.  They want to experience the benefits that are visible in their lives, but they don’t want to spend time alone with God in His Word, letting it get rooted and established in them.

Don’t worry about the growth above ground – the blessings and benefits that are visible.

Instead, put your focus and emphasis on getting rooted in the Word of God.

The time you take getting God’s Word rooted and grounded in you isn’t wasted time. You will reap its rewards for the rest of your life.

“BUSY-NESS” CAN CHOKE THE SEED 
You may be one of these people who love God, place an importance on his Word, and want to see the fruit, but are so occupied with all kinds of good things that the seed of God’s Word is being choked out in your life. Many Christians are simply involved in too much. They’re constantly taxing their kids here there, and yonder, and they’re involved in everything the church has to offer. If you’re not careful, it will choke the seed of God’s Word and keep you from being productive. These things aren’t bad – just natural.

All this busy-ness is like weeds sprouting up all around the stock of corn you planted. The soil only has so much nourishment. Those weeds will suck much of the moisture and nutrients out of the ground, which will keep the seed that you want to grow from really producing and bearing fruit. This is what happens to us when we get so occupied doing other things. They don’t have to be bad things, it’s just that we’re so occupied with them, and it saps our attention and energy. We don’t really have any time to be able to focus on and fellowship with the Lord.

You may not feel like you’re the sharpest knife in the drawer. You may be acutely aware that you have all kinds of liabilities that other people don’t have. Yet, you can commit yourself to the Word of God and meditate on it until God’s Word takes deep root in your heart. You can refuse to allow anything else to divert your attention or sap the strength of your heart that could be going toward the Lord. If you devote yourself completely to the Lord and his Word, God’s Word will make you a success. It will cause fruit to come in whatever area he has called and anointed you to minister.

THE GROUND WITH LESS
God showed me that it was the seed – the Word – that produced the fruit. And the ground that yields the best fruit wasn’t the ground that had more, it was the ground that had less – less stones, less thorns, and less weeds. The real productive soil wasn’t soil that had more than everything else; it was a soil that had less.

This told me that I didn’t necessarily need all of these external talents that people normally put emphasis on in order to be fruitful. It’s really just a matter of the heart. If I would rid myself of the stones, thorns, and weeds, I could bear much fruit. I just needed to eliminate the things that occupy my attention and devote myself completely to God.

If I put the Word of God first place in my heart, then the Word will produce an abundant harvest in my life.

This really encouraged me. I prayed, God, if what really makes your Word become fruitful is being less, then I can certainly be less. I may not be able to be more, but I can definitely be less. I can get rid of these things that hinder me.

THE POWER IS IN THE WORD
The Word of God often refers to itself as a seed. There are a total of forty-four verses in the New Testament where the Greek word sperma was translated “seed.” This is the same word from which we derive our English word “sperm.”

People who never planted any seeds are disappointed and surprised that they don’t have a harvest. They wonder, why am I not healed? Why haven’t I prospered? Why hasn’t God answered this prayer? Why are my relationships falling apart? Why can’t I hold down a job? Why is it nothing in my life ever seems to work? They’ve been praying and asking God for all of these things, but they haven’t taken his Word and the promises therein and sewn these truths in their life.

Many of these people have come to me and said, “I prayed and asked God to heal me.” I’ve asked them, “what Scriptures are you standing on for being healed? What promise or promises – seed from God’s word – have you sown into your life to produce that healing?”  They’ve answered, “I don’t know what the Word says. I just know that it’s God’s will. I believe that God wants to heal me.” But they don’t have a Scripture to stand on. They don’t have a promise. They haven’t sown his Word into their heart!

Proverbs 4:22 says, “God’s words are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh.” If you’ll take God’s Word like a seed, and begin to plant it in your heart, it will literally begin to release supernatural healing into your life. 

The Word of God must be revelation to you. It has to be alive in you. It never will be if you haven’t taken the promises like a seed, planted them in your heart, meditated on them, and seen the Word of God work.

You’re wondering, why isn’t God answering my prayer? He’s given us the seeds but we haven’t planted them! That’s like someone praying over their ground and saying, “God, why haven’t you let the garden grow?” They didn’t plant the seeds!

God has established natural laws, and He’s not going to break them. He’s also established spiritual laws, and He won’t break them either. God’s Word tells us that the Lord has “sent his Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 107:20) All through the Word are promises revealing God as our healer and provider and attesting to how He wants to prosper us, but to see His healing and provision you must take God’s Word and start planting it in your life.

The parable of the sower says that in the same way that there are laws that govern how a physical, natural seed has to be planted and germinate, there are laws that govern the spiritual realm. One of these laws is that the Word of God is a seed. If you want results in your life, you must plant the Word of God in your heart. If you desire certain kingdom fruit in your marriage, relationships, finances, health, emotions – whatever it is – take the seeds (promises in God’s Word that speak about those specific things) and plant them in your life. If you will give this seed the proper nourishment and take care of it the way this parable tells you to, then it’s inevitable that you will reap the fruit you want.

There’s nothing wrong with the natural laws. You just have to cooperate with them. There’s nothing wrong with the spiritual laws, either. You just have to learn what they are and cooperate with them.

If I want results in my life, I must go to the Word of God. I must take seeds – promises that talk about the fruit I want to produce – and start meditating on them. Over time, what I have desired comes to pass and I receive the harvest. That’s one of the truths this parable of the sower teaches.

The number one reason why people aren’t receiving from God is because they literally haven’t taken the truths of his Word and planted them in their heart.

This is why people aren’t experiencing the victory they are praying for and desiring and begging and pleading for God to give them. This is why the Lord used this kind of a parable of a sower and his seed. He wants us to understand how His kingdom works. The sower sows the Word of God. This seed he’s talking about is not a physical seed. Rather, the Word of God is like a seed.

The kingdom of God works from this truth that the Word of God is a seed. Just like in the natural realm, you must plant seeds to produce a crop. You can’t have a forest without planting any seeds. You can’t have victory in your life without the Word of God being planted in your heart. It’s simple, but it’s true. This is how the kingdom of God works.

The whole kingdom of God – the Christian life, your victory, your success as a believer – is as simple as taking the Word of God and sowing it in your heart. If you will just cooperate and let the Word of God germinate, you will change effortlessly.

I’m talking the Word, quoting Scripture, meditating on the Word and teaching what the Word of God says. I’ve taken this approach because the Lord has given this revelation that –

It’s not who I am, what I look like, or any other natural thing that will impact the world for Him. It’s the Word of God that changes people’s lives!

The Word of God has to be planted in your heart for you to effectively change. If you follow the instructions of this parable, you will find that change is as normal and natural as when a seed is planted in the ground and grows up.

If you would take the Word of God and meditate on it day and night, it would change you. The Word would transform your life.

In the natural realm, it’s possible to get seed, plant it, and not have it produce the desired results because the seed was bad. However, in the spiritual realm, God’s Word is the seed, and its incorruptible.

The Word of God will work the same for anyone. This seed wasn’t the variable in any of the four examples in Mark 4. It was the ground. Now that fact is very, very important.

God’s Word is incorruptible. It always works. God’s Word never fails.

We may fail to understand and properly apply it. We may fail to take the corresponding actions it tells us to. But God’s Word never fails.

When some people hear that the Word of God is a seed and that if they will just take the Word and plant it in their heart they will see the miraculous results, they think, this is the answer! All I have to do is take the Word of God and all my problems will be over. Not exactly. It’s actually more accurate to say that once you take the Word, commit yourself to it, and start meditating on it and getting to know the Word of God for yourself, then all of your problems have just begun. You may not like what I’m saying, but it’s true.