I am beginning to see more and more that what we are experiencing in our present lives is connected to what we have previously sowed. And I also continue to see more and more in scripture to support this way of thinking. Below is some of what I have been studying today.
Psalm 128:1-2 – Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks and lives according to His commandments. For you shall eat the fruit of you labor of your hands; happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you.
Everyone will eat the fruit of their labor. God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows that will he reap. If I live according to God’s will and ways, eating the fruit of my ways will make me happy and things will be well with me. If I don’t live according to God’s will and ways, when I eat the fruit of my labor, it will make me unhappy and things might not be well with me.
In trying to solve problems with people, many times the root is in the principle sowing and reaping.
People think that what they are going through is just arbitrary or somehow God trying to work something out in them. The neglect to see that what they are going through is just the results of everything planted into their lives in the past.
God in most cases doesn’t just pull up the plant by the roots without giving them a new gardening kit. Otherwise, they will replant what they are used to planting and re-reap what they have always reaped.
Transformation doesn’t come by God just reaching in and changing things without our help; transformation comes through not being conformed to the present age but by being renewed in mind. It is in putting off the old man and putting on the new man.
Ephesians 4:23-24 – And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.
Be constantly renewed. This is an active continuous process. Continually have a fresh mental and spiritual attitude.
I have been made new in Christ, but I have to PUT ON the new nature which has already been created.
How do I do this? By being constantly renewed in the spirit of my mind, by not being conformed to the way everything around me things but putting on God’s thoughts and God’s ways.
Isaiah 55:8-13 – For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens, and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out [from the spiritual exile caused by sin and evil into the homeland] with joy and be led forth [by your Leader, the Lord Himself, and His word] with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name of renown, for an everlasting sign [of jubilant exaltation] and memorial [to His praise], which shall not be cut off.
God’s thoughts and ways are not according to the present age. They are higher. But I have have them. I can think them. I can walk in them.
How? It has to do with sowing and reaping. This whole passage is on sowing and reaping.
The rain and snow come down and water the earth of my heart making it bring forth and sprout. What does it bear? Whatever seed is planted in it.
God has give us His word to produce a new crop. It shall not return to Him void. It will bear fruit and accomplish His purpose.
The word planted in my life and reaped will cause me to go out of spiritual exile from what sin and evil planted in my life and reaped in my present situations, circumstances and thoughts.
I go forth into new and better victories with joy, led forth by my Leader, the Author and Finisher of my Faith, the Lord Himself and His Word.
Now instead of living in death and destruction, I am led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills break forth before me into singing, and all the tress of the field shall clap their hands. I am walking in God’s ways, in harmony with His creation, and things are well with me.
Instead of the thorn (which has been rampant in my life before), shall come up the cypress tree. Instead of the briar (which was almost all I could see growing) shall come up the myrtle tree. This new fruitfulness will bring glory to the Lord.
Isaiah 3:10-11 – Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with them, for what their hands have done shall be done to them.
Galatians 6:7-8 – Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at. For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:9-10 – And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint. So then, as occasion and opportunity open up to us, let us do good [morally] to all people [not only being useful or profitable to them, but also doing what is for their spiritual good and advantage]. Be mindful to be a blessing, especially to those of the household of faith [those who belong to God’s family with you, the believers].