SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

Recently I am watching Andrew Wommack’s series on ‘A Sure Foundation’. He talked about seed time and harvest, and how this law always works. But there usually is a time lapse between sowing and reaping. The seed needs time to germinate, spring up and then grow to a point where it can bear fruit. If we don’t understand this principle then we will get discouraged if we don’t see fruits soon enough.

He taught from Mark 4:4-8. It was a parable of how a sower sowed seeds and some fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and ate it. Some fell on stony ground and it immediately sprung up but because it had no root, it withered away. Yet some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew and choked it, so it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a harvest: some thirty fold, some sixty and some a hundred. 

This verse was given to me in Apr 2011. That was the time I started studying the word of God seriously. I knew God was trying to tell me that one day this word will produce a crop because it is like seed sowed in good soil. In Feb 2012, He even gave me an imagery of a big oak tree and told me that one day I will be like that oak tree of righteousness and others will take shade under my tree. 

I always take it that Mark 4:8 was referring to how the harvest might be progressive like healing manifestation. Thirty, sixty then hundredfold. But when I read it again, I saw that the word of God sowed in different good soil might produce different harvests. For some people it might produce thirty fold harvest. For others sixty fold. Yet others hundredfold. As for me I want to go for the hundredfold harvest. 

Somehow the principle of sowing and reaping was brought to my attention when Pastor preached about it two weeks ago. He was saying that we might be eating of the old harvest but are we sowing for the next harvest. He was talking of sowing in a time of famine to reap a hundredfold return. When I watched his sermon again, I had this sense that the famine we are going to see is going to be more severe than we can imagine. 

This is definitely not good news for the world but for the church, when there is a famine, there will be a transfer of wealth. This can’t take place under normal circumstances. Only under a major shaking or a time of famine. Once again I am convinced that the Lord connected me to a particular group for a time like this. It had only been a few months but we are already seeing a time of famine in the world.

For some reason while the people of the world are fearful of their financial future, I am not. Somehow I know this is a great opportunity for the transfer of wealth. Although I don’t like to see people losing their jobs or economies going into recession, I believe this shaking is for our good. And the world will not understand the power of a seed. The power of sowing in a time like famine. It doesn’t make sense to give when you could be in lack. 

Genesis 26:12 says ‘Isaac sowed a seed in a time of famine and he reaped a hundredfold in the same year.’ There is a transfer of wealth taking place in a time of famine. Things are always inverse for the church, so when the world is in famine, the church will prosper. That was what Andrew Wommack did. During a time of recession in 2008/2009, the Lord prospered his ministry and they were able to buy properties at a fraction of the price because people were selling frantically. 

He was bold enough to enter the market to buy the properties instead of putting his money in the bank because he knew that one day things would turn around. And when it finally did turn around, they benefited so much from the downturn. This was something the Lord impressed upon me too. This is not the time to draw back but be bold. When the Lord tells us to take action, we obey. We don’t have to fear like the people of the world. The Lord protects and blesses our seed when it is sown.

PURPOSE OF GOD’S SHAKING

Yesterday the Lord opened my eyes to see that this season was similar to the one I had experienced in 2010. It was a time of shaking. Shaking is always uncomfortable and scary at times but I know that the outcome is always good. After the shaking comes release and promotion. After the shaking was over, the Lord always moved me on to my new season. It was almost as if I felt stuck in that season forever but then the shaking came and suddenly I was released from inertia. Suddenly the thing I was waiting for so long came to pass. 

This morning as I woke up I was thinking about the times of shaking in my life. Another shaking happened in end 2002 till mid 2003. That was the time something bad happened in my mum’s family. It coincided with the SARS epidemic and the re-organisation in my previous company. So many things were happening all at once. I wasn’t taught well by the Lord back then so I was tossed and turned during the storm. I couldn’t get a grip on Jesus but He held on to me.

After that storm ceased, the enemy attacked me with another horrible ordeal. I came out badly wounded but God was gracious. He pulled me out of my workplace quickly and nursed my wounds in the next company. That was when I could really start afresh. God also restored many things and I gave birth to Joshua. Three years later, I didn’t know He was preparing me for another shaking in my company, another re-organisation. Thank God this time round I was much better equipped.

As I learnt to cooperate and flow with the Lord, I was amazed I accomplished things I never thought I could. It was not by power or might but by His Spirit. Where many people left the company in defeat and shame, I left with my head lifted up. My bosses felt that it was a pity I could not stay to help them. The Lord did a marvellous work of restoration in that company so I would never be taunted by the defeat in my previous company. The enemy’s mouth was shut up tight.

I never really saw this shaking in the same way. Maybe I had forgotten about how shaking felt like because it was a decade ago. Over the years there were some attacks and I went through challenging times in my journey but none was of this scale. 2016 and 2017 was a bit like 2003 and 2004, yet I wasn’t as badly wounded the second time round. Still I wouldn’t call those years times of shaking.

When I reviewed last year’s journals, I realised that the Lord had already preempted me of this great shaking to come. I noticed God’s shaking begin to happen to people around me last Aug but thank God it didn’t really happen to me. I went through a transition but I wouldn’t call it shaking. At one point I was a bit affected by the moodiness of some people. I also noticed there was a shaking even in Heng’s workplace.

There is a slight difference between transition times and shaking. The latter is usually of a bigger scale and catches people off their guard. A transition is more or less predictable especially when one cooperates with God regarding a move or shift in his life. God has already prepared him in advance for the shift so transition is expected. The common grounds in transition and shaking could be confusion and discomfort in the process. Old things are being dealt with so as to prepare the person for the new wine. The new things God is bringing.

So yes, my past experiences with God reminded me that times of shaking always bring about the fulfilment of His purposes, which is always good. Things that cannot be shaken will remain. This shaking will show up the gold from the bronze and separate the sheep from the goat. It will also flush out all the injustices and evil forces behind certain people. God is forcing the enemy to show hand so he could be totally defeated. 

A time of shaking is also a time of birthing. Even though it didn’t make sense in the natural, many great movements were birthed out of crisis. Besides the Lord is shaking out the strongholds of the principalities and the enemy had no choice but to let His people go. That is why I observe that things which were inertia for a very long time suddenly moved during the shaking. And once things moved, there would be a momentum. 

I am beginning to see that one may encounter numerous divine shifts and transitions in his life, as God brings about change in sequential moves so it would not be too overwhelming. But times of shaking are far and few. God is merciful because He knows many of us may not be able to take the shaking. So His best plan is to bring us to the destination in progressive moves. The changes are more gradual in the latter. Each shift brings us closer to the destination but times of shaking usually bring us straight to the destination.

Which is why I am even more convinced that after this shaking, the promise I had been looking out for will manifest. Yes, my set time has come. It had been a decade since the last shaking took place. A time of shaking is also like a test for us. If we passed the test, we would be promoted. And yes the Lord will cause me to pass this test. In fact, He will also allow the shaking in my life when He is confident that I will pass the test, just like in 2010. He wanted so much to release me to my next season. It had been long overdue. 

It’s like God opening my eyes to make sense of what was happening in the spiritual realm. Once I saw the pattern and His purpose in the shaking, I was able to cooperate better with Him. I would no longer be confused or blindsided anymore. I can see clearly now. I also don’t resist the things God is doing because I understand why He is doing all these. If He says this season of lockdown is for my good, I gladly embrace it and make the best of it.

So yes, my response to all these wonderful things He is doing in my life is to praise and worship. Rejoice and celebrate for my set time has truly come! I will give thanks to God in advance for the fulfilment of this promise. I will sing and dance. I will worship Him with extravagance. This is really the last push. Praise and worship is an offensive weapon. Recently the Lord had been showing me the importance of praise and worship. Previously it was fasting.