Continuing on the topic of Soul Prosperity I point to the parable of the sower [Matthew 13] Jesus instructs us that the seed is the Word of God (the Bible) and the soil is our hearts. In the first blog [https://vyzyn.org/soul-prosperity-part-1/] we covered the topic that we must first receive the Word of God as the final authority of all truth. In the second blog [https://vyzyn.org/soul-prosperity-part-2/] we discussed a few manners of approaching the Word, the seed, like bad motives that keep the Word from springing forth or germinating.
What does time have to do with the blessings?
Its takes time for the seed to germinate and spring up. The Bible tells us in Genesis 8:22:
While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.
So we see from the Word that as long as we’re here on earth time and seasons rule everything. The Word instructs us in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Life as everyone experiences it is handed out in time and seasons. Time (the ticking of the clock) has something to it that can not be retrieved. Seasons are blocks of time that also have passing in them that can’t be retrieved. We can’t avoid it and should take advantage of it. To take advantage of time we need to take up action and do what we’re put on this earth to do. Everyone definitely has a destiny but few ever achieve it. Destiny is not fame. Destiny is simply achieving your purpose.
You may think I’m getting off topic here but I’m really not. I’m digging down deep into the soil because before soil must be broken up well for the water to get down to the seed. We must first know what season we are in before we sow. A spiritual season is very much like earth’s seasons. Consider the spiritual seasons:
Winter is when we feel dry and cold in our hearts, feels like we’re in the wilderness wandering. The temptation to become angry and bitter is strong. I wake up during those times and just put one foot in front of the other. Its a time to consider the past cycle of seasons and what we learned. What did we learn from the people in our lives? Did we keep them in prayer? What happened to them? Who left and who stayed? Why? Were they a mirror held up to show you who you really are? That’s when it gets really uncomfortable. Do we give up and let the wrong things die out or do we need to go through another cycle just like that? How did we treat the users and the one-way streets? Did we try to help them or did we get angry and mean before walking away? Were we a good example of a sheep or were we a goat? Did we help out those jaded and scarred to come out of their spiritual death? Did we pray for Godly repentance to grip the hearts of the users we encountered?
Spring feels new and there’s a fresh fragrance in the air. You’re encountering new people and new things. It’s very important to keep the new people and new things in prayer. What are you supposed to learn from them and what are they to learn from you? Pray that your communication with the new people is clear and concise. Many potentially wonderful relationships and accomplishments that God intended through new relationships have been hijacked by the enemy through poor communication. Poor communication is to blame for many offenses people have taken up against one another. It’s sad but true. Pride is the other robber of great accomplishments God intended to get done throughout the earth. That’s another blog for another time. Its good to sow in all spiritual seasons of your life but Spring is your season to sow and grow. Acting in good faith with everyone secures your integrity and in Winter you’ll look back and see what you’ve learned about humanity and yourself.
Summer feels just as good as Spring but the work starts to drag on and the heat can beat down really hard. You find energy and drive and start the season off right. Then a storm develops and seems like there is no end?! Temptation to lose patience will be strong. Your spirit will thirst for the watering of the Word and you will spend times just bathing in it just to cool off the thoughts in your head. God’s voice will be distant.
Then comes in your harvest! God broke up that hard soil of your heart and sowed the seed of His Word and watered and fertilized repeatedly while the sun came out and helped. And oh how grateful you are for the long hot sun because now you’re reaping the benefits of it’s work in you. And you spread it out and continue to pray it out over those around you so you can share your story about God’s awesome love because each juicy and savory detail has benefits to others. And oh how those trials drew out the worst stuff in you but now you’re so happy to be over it. The colors of your autumn come alive before you. This season is filled with His praise.
When you’re spiritually growing from one season into another and finish a full cycle of seasons, you go into the next cycle of seasons. Spiritual growth is not intended to end and each season and cycle is a continuum of learning and reflecting on the prior season and cycle. Such are the seasons of the spiritual life walking with Jesus. Anyone who says life with Jesus is easy is completely misconstruing the Word. Yes, Jesus said in Matthew 28-30:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
But Jesus was not saying in this passage that life with Him would be easy. What He was saying was that it won’t be easy and when it gets rough to go to Him in prayer. But Soul Prosperity takes a lot of work. Success lies in the heart and the heart must be willing and correctible. If you’re only willing to work the Word of God into your life at a fast food level, you’ll get no real spiritual nutrition out of it.
Asking Amiss Just Doesn’t Cut it With God.
Without the real spiritual nutrition, God will never use you to do great things because God never does anything emotionally. God never gives to us because He feels sorry for us. Emotions are a component part of our being and we’re made in His image, which means emotions are only a component of God. He experiences emotions but does not make His decisions by His emotions. God being perfect makes perfect decisions and that means nothing received in His Kingdom comes by way of serendipity.
We get out of the seed what we put into it. If we diligently study His Word, we’ll get that understanding needed before we can acquire His blessings (including financial blessings) and put those blessings to use. If you think financial blessing isn’t tied to your spiritual growth you are sadly mistaken. Remember, it’s even as your soul prospereth. God doesn’t waste anything and that especially what blessings come from His hand. That blessing must be glorifying to God and it’s not glorifying if it’s springing from a heart asking out of selfish lust. It’s not the material thing that’s evil, it’s the condition of one’s heart and it’s attachment to it. The book of James addresses this issue. You have not because you ask not and when you ask, you ask it amiss… which simply means asking out of a selfish, self-centered heart and not considering your motive. It takes time for us to open up and be willing for God to show us what is at the center of our motives. For some of us it takes a huge self-inflicted tribulation. If we’re not correctible, we’ll get another one or just walk away from God altogether.
If God let you win the lottery what would you do with it? It’s not money itself that’s evil, it’s the love of it that is evil. Money is never to be loved. Many lives have been destroyed by wealth and the Bible instructs us that money that’s idolized is ‘filthy lucre’ and wealth is deceptive. Money may be the answer to many problems but too much will corrupt the soil of your heart without the understanding necessary to do what God intends you to do with it. When people receive a financial blessing from God something good, enduring and glorifying to God comes out it. The Word tells us: the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and He addeth no sorrow with it. Prov. 10:22.
Again, we must work the seed down and that takes time, prayer and alone time with God to hear His voice. My recommendation is to take the scriptures of Luke 18:8:
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. [KJV]
And Mathew 13:23:
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. [KJV]
I encourage you to write down these 2 scriptures to remind yourself often of the importance to be diligent to Bible study because it’s not only about what you learn, it’s also about the quality of your heart’s experience to bring you that understanding Jesus spoke of.
I hope you’re receiving real Biblical wisdom and understanding from this series and it brings you prosperity in every area of your life. I pray that the Lord Jesus touches the heart of each and every reader and show them the soil this seed is going into. Reveal to each and every reader the areas of their heart that need exposure, correction, healing and why. Give them understanding that brings them into a prosperity that allows them to increase the boundaries of the Kingdom of Heaven that the gates of hell will not prevail against. Help them bring in the harvest of souls that lack the understanding needed to keep them walking with Jesus.
Join me next time on Soul Prosperity when the discussion is on where to sow your seed.
Be blessed.
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