Powerful Principles About the Law of Seedtime and Harvest

Powerful Principles About the Law of Seedtime and Harvest

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

The Law of Seedtime and Harvest as I understand it is a process of exchange. If you desire to reap a harvest of any kind it has to be preceded by sowing the relevant seed required. It is a simple but very profound life principle. Farmers understand this and so do the most successful people in th world.

I was thinking about this some time ago and it hit me that whatever you want to receive you must give. In this corrupt world that we live in most people tend to keep hold of what they possess and take from other people or sources in order accumulate more of what they have. However, this is not how life works.

To put this into perspective think about a farmer. If the farmer wants to harvest maize he sows maize seed. The more maize seed he sows the more maize he can harvest. When it comes to finances wealthy people are often seen as greedy and selfish people. People with this mentality believe that rich people cheat others in order to become wealthy. This is far from the truth. On the contrary wealthy people are the biggest givers in the world. Proverbs 11:24 says, “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.

After giving much thought to this principle I saw how it applies in other areas of our lives. To have good relationships you need to be a good friend to other people. To better your skills in your profession teach others what you know and someone will teach you what you don’t know to help you advance to a higher position. People that go into business do so a lot of the time to achieve time and financial freedom, therefore, they put in a lot of time and money into their ventures in the beginning.

“Proper preparation solves 80% of life’s problems.” ~ H. Jackson Brown

So instead of being too conservative develop a certain level of being liberal and give as much as you are capable of. The investment that you make will always come back to you in a greater measure than what you sow. As long as you understand this principle and do not violate it your life will be a rich experience filled with peace and happiness.

The Bible also puts it this way, “In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.” according to Proverbs 14:23. You cannot reap a harvest where you have not sown seed. It’s as simple as that.

sowing seed and reaping a harvest
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When I was in high school, I experienced a decent amount of success as someone who was growing in faith. I used to give my best with what I understood about success at the time. With time I learned that receiving a harvest was a combination of various things including hard work and diligence. The learning experience wasn’t always pleasant but did me a world of good in the long term.

I used to do well in my studies and to an extent, I stood out in some of the subjects. Part of it was a combination of natural intelligence in those subjects and diligence to study to be exceptional. I didn’t do so well in my final year studies, however, and had to redo some subjects to get into college. What I lacked I believe was understanding of some material and I didn’t work hard enough as well.

Given that I was a school leader then, I had limited knowledge and experience in leadership. Some assignments I carried out successfully, while others weren’t that successful as much as I had hoped. I lacked a constant model to learn from and partly low self-esteem as I didn’t have much confidence in myself. There were times when I felt like I was dying and couldn’t become better than I was at the time.

I was a pretty good sportsperson as well and particularly enjoyed athletics which I excelled at. I had coaches who trained me and pointed me in the right direction to perform at my best level. Due to their guidance and dedication on my part, I won a couple of prizes for being the best athlete. I say all this to show that success and failure go hand in hand just like seed time and harvest time.

Before a seed germinates it first rots and dies.

When I was struggling as a leader in those early days, I was going through a phase of seed sowing. Before a seed germinates it first rots and dies while it’s in the soil which is how I felt. When that process is done, it begins to germinate and produce fruit which looks different from the seed it was before. It’s amazing how that works and it’s helped me understand how success and failure work.

It’s when you’re at the end of yourself that you shouldn’t give up because a new season is coming your way. At that moment when I felt like I had failed as a leader, I became a completely new person. I went from a place of fearing leadership to one of loving the responsibility and building other leaders in the process. It amazed me how people indicated they missed my leadership years after I left but I understand why today.

By the time I went to college, I was in a place where I looked for leadership opportunities to test myself. I commanded natural respect with the people I led and worked with which was a positive indicator for me. What made the difference was that I worked hard to develop those skills and learned from successful leaders. It was a combination of hard work, the right strategies and working smart that got me to that place.

Since then, I’ve constantly learned from the example of others and applied myself well to keep building other leaders. If you feel like you’re not capable of leadership, my experience should come as a source of encouragement. I was that person who used to shy away and stay in the background to avoid being picked. God had a different plan for my life and lovingly guided me into becoming the leader I’ve become today.

seedtime and harvest as a way of life
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These lessons would become a lot clearer in my various business endeavors starting in college and beyond. I started learning new perspectives about money, business and financial freedom after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It was different from what I had been accustomed to up to that point so it changed my mind entirely. What I knew at the time was that I should just go to school, and get a good job that pays well.

I had never learned anything different before that so I was pretty excited about experimenting and testing what I read. So, I took note of the lessons that were taught about starting a simple business to make money and tried. My first business in college involved buying and selling airtime to students and I made 200% profit from that venture. I was pretty amazed at my results and I even invested the money into unit trusts to experiment with investments.

It was a positive experience for me as a young man and that desire for financial freedom never left me since. I invested in my financial education (seedtime), put in the required work and made money (harvest). At times I got help from friends to sell on my behalf when I wasn’t around and paid them for their services. It was a way of working smartly to maximize sales and cater for every scenario.

Not every venture I ever did was a success, however, even though I applied myself well to the businesses. One of the businesses I tried was a network marketing venture which I enjoyed and gave my best. It wasn’t as fruitful as I desired and I figured it wasn’t something God had intended for me. I learned some valuable lessons about entrepreneurship nonetheless. That season felt like one of seedtime in terms of real-world business education which serves me well today.

God has placed before us open doors to our destinies but they come with adversaries that resist us.

Today after going through many failures in business, I’m at a place where I’m well equipped to keep growing. Building my blog has been a long journey of ups and downs but I’m now at a point where my path is clear. It took a lot of trial and error, disappointments, tears, sweat, hard work, ridicule, etc. but I’m still here. That’s why going through adversity isn’t always an indicator that your opportunities are not from God.

God has placed before us open doors to our destinies but they come with adversaries that resist us. Resistance to your dreams tests your determination and resolve to push through in the pursuit of your ambitions. Just like your faith can’t be certified genuine when it’s not been tested, your desire needs to be tested. You have to persevere through the highs and lows until you get to the ultimate destination you envisioned.

I started this blog more than a decade ago and it’s only now that I’m starting to make serious progress. There were moments of significant growth here and there but they were few and far between. As much as I worked hard, I didn’t have a solid blueprint at the time so it was mainly trial and error. Now that I found a solid guide and a proven formula that works, I anticipate continued growth going forward.

You’ll find that in your life some seasons will be longer and others shorter in realizing your dreams. What I’ve seen though is that the bigger the challenge, the greater the reward that waits for you. I must say you can only experience the reward if you don’t quit and stick it out through seedtime seasons. God will not leave you nor forsake you so you just have to play your part.

You have to persevere through the highs and lows until you get to the ultimate destination

Seedtime and harvest time don’t only apply to the physical things we see but also to the intangible ones like relationships. Relationships are more valuable than the physical and material things of life as they open doors in powerful ways. The things you do for people today may have eternal consequences that are not so obvious in the present. This applies in both cases whether you do good toward others or whether you do evil towards them.

From the Bible, King David had a good relationship with his friend Jonathan who was the son of King Saul. Although King Saul sought to destroy David out of envy, Jonathan stood by him against King Saul his father. His goodwill towards David would be key in having David look after his son Mephibosheth when Jonathan was dead. David spared Mephibosheth’s life when the Gibeonites wanted the blood of everyone in Saul’s bloodline.

Were it not for Jonathan’s kindness towards David, he would have perished with the rest of Saul’s bloodline. That’s why it’s important to treat everyone right no matter who they are or what they do for a living. You never know the doors that they can open for you when you least expect it. Treating people simply based on their social standing is foolish, to say the least. It can come back to bite you tomorrow.

Throughout my life, I’ve sought to live peaceably with all men as best as I possibly can. There are people I’ve had to separate myself from but without insulting them or making them feel less than me. I’ve also seen people who have severed relationships in such a way that makes reconciliation difficult. Some of them were too full of pride to ask for forgiveness and decided to leave the relationships like that. It’s a sad way of living.

The things you do for people today may have eternal consequences that are not so obvious in the present.

There are friends I’ve had for over 20 years whose relationships I value having gone through a lot together. It’s the kind of friendship that is genuine where we seek more to add value to one another. These are guys I met in high school, struggled together, laughed together, cried together and conquered together. There’s a powerful bond that’s formed when you’ve been through the trenches together and that’s kept us connected for the longest.

While we live in separate locations, we still keep in touch and often reminisce about where we came from. The opportunities we get to meet become special moments to remember in fellowship with one another. I’ve been blessed to have doors open to me and receive favors because of the relationships. I’ve also done the same as I value friends who are genuine with no ulterior motives. It’s through the tough times that you get to know who your real friends are.

I value the relationships I’ve developed with other men with whom I went through a men’s discipleship program. It seems the best friendships are those forged through trials and tribulations and you make it to the other side. That’s the common thread I see with those I call true friends whom I know have my back. It’s the type of friendship where you know you can go to war with someone and count on them.

I’m naturally introverted but I also realize the value of having relationships to maximize my potential. Understanding that God created us to be interdependent reminds me that sometimes I need to be more intentional about relationships. There are things I know I wouldn’t have achieved had God not placed certain people in my path at various points. When He does, I ask for wisdom to help me see the purpose of the potential relationships.

It seems the best friendships are those forged through trials and tribulations.

In whatever you set out to do, understand the law of seed time and harvest time and what to expect. We reap what we sow in the long term even when it’s not obvious. Don’t get tired of doing good though I acknowledge how tempting that can be especially in your lowest moments. The good works and good deeds you do today may manifest much later when you’ve forgotten about them.

The opposite is also true in that what you think you’ve gotten away with may come back to haunt you. The painful part is that bad things catch up with you when you least expect them. Live a life of sowing good seeds consistently so that your future turns out brighter than today.

I hope this has given you great insight into the Law of Seedtime and Harvest. Whatever you wish to achieve in your life be prepared to give it and you will reap because you reap what you sow. Please share your thoughts and views about this principle. We would love to hear from you.

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