TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 25TH MAY 2024)
“He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.”
“As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.”
“In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 146TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
We thank the LORD for bringing us safely to the end of another week. It is out of the LORD’s mercy that we are not consumed.
Today is another bright and beautiful day from the LORD. For the Citizens of God’s kingdom, every day is a seed sown into our lives to bring forth a harvest of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Sadly, many are not bringing this harvest to the LORD because we are not spending our days as we should.
Now, one may ask, how should I spend my day as a kingdom Citizen? The answer lies in a letter Paul the Apostle wrote to his spiritual Children in the Church at Galatia. The very verses that holds what we are looking for says,
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:7-9NKJV
Hidden in these scriptures is how to spend our day (I mean each day the LORD allows us to see). We are to spend our days not sowing to please the flesh.
If we spend our days sowing to please the flesh, we will never reap righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost as harvests. We will reap sin, restlessness, and sadness. The Bible says we will reap corruption.
Have you ever heard people say they had a bad day? Why do people have bad days?
The reason is simple. They either spent a portion of the day sowing to please the flesh, or they spent it reaping from previous days that they have sown to please the flesh. There are no two ways about it.
For the days we spend to please the flesh, some of us do spend it responding to all that the flesh asked us to do.
Things the flesh usually ask people to do are; “get angry,” “respond to that provocation,” “hate this person” “set your eyes on that explicit picture,” “be disappointed,” “satisfy me carnally,” and etc.
YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A GOOD DAY IN YOUR LIFE SOWING TO PLEASE YOUR FLESH.
I think we should take a closer look at this Bible passage. If you look at the three verses we just read above closely, you will see some life transforming truths.
The first one made it clear that God has set a spiritual law in motion that make sure that whatever we sow, we will reap. If we sow to please the flesh and then go and pray or fast against the harvest of our seed, it will not work. The harvest will still come, leading to a bad day – and sometimes bad days.
For instance, here is a young woman or man who just fell into sexual love with an opposite sex (Falling into sexual love alone is a seed we sow to please our flesh). Then the flesh will drive him or her to get himself or herself sexually satisfied.
Now while he or she is responding to the flesh, everything will seem pleasurable. But after the act, reality will dawn on them. Something troubling will result and anxiety will set in.
Then they will start praying to God not to let anything bad happen. Let’s assume they spend days fasting and praying about it, there will be no result because the law of “reaping whatever a man sows” will override their prayers. For some it might not end in just one bad day but many bad years.
That is the reason for unwanted pregnancies and sexual intercourse induced marriages in the society today!
When sexual intercourse induced a marital desire, that desire will result into a marriage built on the wrong foundation. We do not get married to satisfy sexual desires, we get married by God’s design, to fulfill divine purposes.
We must understand that prayers do not work where we have sown to please our flesh. The harvest will be sure because God is not a law breaker. He could suspend laws, out of His mercies to favor us, but does not break them.
THAT IS WHY, IT IS BETTER NOT TO SOW TO PLEASE YOUR FLESH THAN TO DO IT TRUSTING GOD TO TAKE CARE OF THE RESULT.
The Best way to spend your day as a Child of God is to spend it sowing to please the Spirit; the reason is because, “he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life”.
Every time you spend, watching a movie that enhances your faith, is a seed you have sown to please the Spirit. Any time you attend a Bible meeting, where you are taught the ways of God, is a seed you have sown to please the Spirit.
Any time you listen to a life-giving message on a compact disc; a message that contains the good word of God, is a seed sown to please the Spirit.
Staying away from gossips, sinful people, striving men and women, and whatever does not edify, is a seed you have sown to please the Spirit. You will never have a bad day sowing to please the Spirit.
The next truth we see in that scriptural passage says, “We should not grow weary in doing good.” In other words, we should not grow weary in sowing to please the Spirit, every day of our lives. The reason is because, we can only reap if we faint not!
The raw King James version puts the same scriptural verse this way;
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9 KJV
Reaping the seeds we sow to please the spirit has three harvest seasons. I will not go into that now because we have covered it in a previous devotional. But the ultimate principle that governs the harvest of good seeds sown, is persistency.
We must be persistent and not faint, or loose heart. In other words, we should keep sowing to please the Spirit!
Our devotional text this morning says we should not observe the winds that come to discourage us from sowing to please the Spirit; terrible winds from unsuspecting people that cause us to faint in the process of doing good.
The Bible made it clear that a Kingdom Citizen who observes such winds will cease sowing to please the Spirit. And that is very true, especially in a world driven by an evil and corrupt system like ours, that makes you a laughing stock or a prey, for doing the right thing.
GOD IS LOOKING FOR THOSE WHO WILL STAND BY HIS WORD AND SAY NO TO THE ENEMY!
There are young men and women, who have been made to break their virginity on the altar of sin and all forms of sexual perversion, because they became a laughing stock for sowing to please the Spirit, by keeping themselves pure.
Sadly I remember one who reaped a terrible harvest that claimed her life, after being made to give up on holiness by her friends, for not sowing to please her flesh.
She decided to do it just to escape the evil winds of mockery from her friends. In Bible terms, she fainted, she could no longer hold on; she ended up sowing to please her flesh and reaping premature death as harvest.
A major highlight in our devotional text says,
“In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.”
That means we should never allow our “morning” or “evenings” to hinder us from sowing to please the Spirit. The Bible says weeping may endure for a night but Joy comes in the morning.
Our morning represents a time of joy and our evening a time of trial. This scripture then means, in time of joy, we should sow to please the Spirit, and in time of weeping (when the evil winds of mockery and discouragement is blowing on us), we should still sow to please the Spirit.
We can only reap the reward if we faint not. I believe the message of today’s devotional has been passed.
Any problem you create for yourself by sowing to please your flesh cannot be solved by prayer, fasting, or giving. It can only be solved through repentance and the healing of the breach; which takes time, depending on the gravity of what you did.
Sadly, the principle of seed, time, and harvest has been reduced to money-talk by greedy dogs called men of God, consequently, blindfolding us to the real truths God buried in His word concerning it.
I did not call them greedy dogs, the Bible called them so. But I trust this morning that the Holy Spirit has enlightened you. It’s a new Day for you in Jesus’ precious name. AMEN!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY!
“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalms 126:5-6 NKJV