Thankful for
the Harvest!
Jeanne Alcott
Thanksgiving season makes us think of the harvests the early settlers in America had and how thankful they were for them. They understood the importance of seedtime and harvest. It was life or death for them. When the seed went in the ground, there must come up some crops so they could exist. That’s how they received their provision.
This is how we receive our provision also, but not just food crops from the ground. Seedtime and harvest are throughout our entire life. Through our seeds that we sow in our life, we activate the harvest of what God can do for us. Seeds of time and love, ones of finances and funds, prayers and sharing, hard work and sacrifice.
Seedtime and harvest is a very simple principle. We plant a seed, it grows, and we reap a harvest. We can see it happen in the earth all the time with the farmer. But for some reason it’s harder to see it happen when it comes to giving and receiving in a spiritual sense.
The farmer wouldn’t be afraid to put seed into the ground so the crops could grow. He or she wouldn’t say, “Oh, this seed is all I have. I’m afraid to put it in the ground because then I’ll have nothing. I won’t have any seed.” The farmer wouldn’t say that because they know there is something much greater waiting for them if they plant the seed. It’s going to grow into something good and bountiful that will be a blessing. That’s why they don’t grip those seeds as though their life will be hurt if they release them. Their life will be made better because of the seeds they plant.
God’s shovel is bigger than yours.
In His Word, God gives the analogy of the farmer planting seed and seeing abundant harvest. He does not want us to fear giving, thinking that when we do we will be losing it. We’re actually just allowing it to produce. When we sow seed, we’re giving it the go ahead to produce! That’s what activates the supernatural. That giving activates the supernatural receiving.
This is what a certain farmer realized spiritually because of what he saw happen in the ground. So he became very generous in giving to others. In fact, he gave away so much, his friends couldn’t understand how he could do it and yet he continued to become so prosperous. So one day one of the friends came to him and said, “We can’t understand you. You give far more than the rest of us and yet you always seem to have more to give.”
So the farmer explained to him the reason this is. He said, “I just keep shoveling into God’s bin and He keeps shoveling into mine, but God has the bigger shovel!”
God’s shovel is bigger than yours. You could give a shovel full of money, love, sacrifice, time—you name it, whatever you give Him, His shovel is bigger when He gives back to you. He just keeps putting it in your storage bin and therefore you have that much more to pull out and continue to give to Him.
That’s the key to increasing your storage bin. You have to activate the supernatural provision. You do that by going through the seedtime. The seedtime precedes the harvest. The planting of it has to be done in the ground, then once that seed is in the good soil, it can produce a harvest not just in the work God does with it, but in your life as well.
Sow generously then reap generously.
When the Apostle Paul was trying to teach this principle to the Corinthians, he said to them, Remember this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings. (Ref. II Corinthians 9:6.) Just as the farmer—if you sow in a generous way, you’re going to receive in a generous way and with blessings coming to you.
Then he went on to say in that same chapter in II Corinthians 9, You will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous. (Ref. II Corinthians 9:11.) Now, that’s describing the activation of supernatural provision. Being enriched in all things and in every way—the supernatural. It can’t just happen on your own. But because you put that seed in the ground and believe that blessings will come to other people, God says, “All right, I have their seed now. Therefore, I’m sending their harvest and it will be generous, full of blessings. I will enrich them. Their needs will be met. I will make all grace, every favor come to them in abundance so that they may always and under all circumstances and whatever their need is be self-sufficient.” If we could just see what’s happening in heaven each time we give!
Get this picture: if you’re hands are full of seeds just as the farmer, and you go to the good soil and you drop the seeds in there, they are not in your hands anymore. So what does it mean? Your hands are empty. Oh but not for long. Because now that your hands are empty, God can fill them!
Then as your hands get full of more, you release more and then God gives more. That is supernatural provision! Each time you must release what’s in your hand before God can release what’s in His hand. Remember He has bigger to give to you than what you can give to Him.
God can’t pour into hands that are full.
I love a poem that I read. It’s about a person who came to the understanding of why God gave seedtime and harvest and what it could mean to them. In this poem, they describe how they gave to God and afterwards they stood there feeling as though they were empty-handed. It scared them, until they heard His voice. Here’s what He said,
“Lift your empty hands to Me.”
Empty hands I lifted to Him,
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches
Till my hands could hold no more.
And at last I comprehended,
With my mind so slow and dull,
That God could not poor His riches
Into hands already full.
That’s what God wants us to realize. As we empty our hands before Him with total trust in what He will do with what we give to Him, then and only then can He pour His riches into our hands. We have shown Him that we believe in His supernatural provision for seedtime and harvest. We will receive the harvest He has for us in His timing and His way. It’s a trust factor that He is watching for to come from our heart. Do we have the trust to release that seed so He can grow it or will we hold onto it? The supernatural cannot be activated without the seedtime and harvest. The trust in Him.
What happened to my parents.
I’ll never forget how my parents came into the truth of this principle from God and how it changed all of our lives. My mother tells what happened when I and my sisters were just kids, and we were growing up in Seminole, Oklahoma. Mother and Dad were working in the laundry and they had to work hard every day. Long hours.
Although our basic needs were met, it was a struggle. We were not living in the spiritual provision that God could provide. The place of blessing that goes beyond what you can do by your own hands and cause to happen by your own efforts. That’s why it’s called supernatural.
So the day came that Dad said to Mother that he felt the reason God’s presence wasn’t more real to them and they weren’t experiencing all He had for them was because they were not giving to the Lord. They had not given back to Him a portion of what He had provided.
As the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, God gives seed to the sower and bread for eating. The same God who does that will provide and multiply your resources for sowing, and He will increase your fruits. (Ref. II Corinthians 9:10.)
Mother and Dad knew they had fallen short on their giving to God’s work because they felt they didn’t have it to give. They couldn’t afford it. You can imagine the bills they had to pay and the expenses they had with raising all their children. But God’s Word does not lie. It doesn’t paint a false picture. God means what He says when He promises He will provide and multiply your resources when you sow them. That’s when you become enriched in all things.
So my parents determined right then and there that they wanted to please God and so they were going to give to Him FIRST out of their income, even if it meant they had nothing to eat but beans every day. They had to trust Him with their giving and therefore show Him they trusted Him with their lives. When they began to do this, God’s presence filled them with joy and peace. He was so pleased with their obedience.
As His Word says, He wants a cheerful giver. That means someone who trusts Him, and they give out of themselves without holding back. (Ref. II Corinthians 9:7.) Their heart is in their giving. That’s what God wants. Our heart. If we’re holding onto our seed out of fear or indifference, then God doesn’t have our whole heart. He wants to see that we trust Him so much that we can release what we’re hanging onto as our source. We make HIM our source. We believe that He is the One who gives seed to the sower and bread to eat.
Here come the blessings!
When my parents showed God their faith by giving, and they proved they wanted Him more than they wanted to hold onto their seed, that was the big turning point. God began to bless our family in so many different ways. Spiritually, financially, and in the plans He had for our future.
The first thing that happened was my dad received a good job in Tulsa and so we moved there. Once there, my mother received a very good job also. This affected the lives of all of my sisters in so many ways I cannot even name them all.
We were able to get an education, have our needs met, and see God be faithful to help us through each difficult situation. Mother and Dad were able to earn a retirement. Oh yes, God has a bigger shovel and He can put more into our hands than we could possibly put into His hands.
All my sisters have been givers to God and to others. We understand seedtime and harvest, but just as important, we understand God wants to see our trust in Him. We want to please Him above all. When you do, He will release your supernatural provision!
OUR PRAYER FOR YOU.
Father, how we thank You for Your Word on seedtime and harvest. I believe as my friend opens their hands and gives, their stubborn needs will be met. You’re going to cause a flood of miracles to come. Blessings are being released. That’s because they’re showing obedience and trust in You.
Oh yes, we trust You, Lord, we trust You. You’re going to refashion their life. Change those circumstances to the harvest. It’s harvest time! They’re planting their seeds and believing that You will take care of their life.
So we believe for You to stop what the enemy has done against them and watch over their family and friends. What a mighty God we serve. We’re expecting to see mighty things in the life of my friend. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Your harvest!
Yes, we are expecting to see mighty things happen for you. You’ll be enriched in every area. That means some important needs are going to be met. We must believe for that.
So let’s come together according to His Word. Share with us where you need to see a harvest. How do you need to receive supernatural provision? As soon as we hear from you, we will pray, and then we will send you some words that God wants to speak into your life from His Word. So contact us soon by clicking here now. Jeanne Alcott
SPECIAL NOTE: Activate God supernatural provision!
Now, we encourage you to activate God’s supernatural provision for you. You do that by giving to Him and then believing that He will multiply it back to you. That’s what He has promised. There are many ways that God multiplies this to you.
#1: The most important way is in eternity. Once you plant a seed into God’s work by your prayers and finances, that seed does not die, but it grows for eternity because of what it accomplished in the lives of people.
#2: Another way God gives to you is the joy you experience here on earth knowing that you obeyed Him and pleased Him through your giving and now you get to see the beauty of what happens through His work on this earth.
#3: The third way God multiplies your seed is by blessing your life and supernaturally providing for you according to what He promised in His Word.
So as you give today, you can rejoice! And John and I rejoice with you as we give of our prayers and finances into Alcott Ministries. God is about to do some great things. And now you’re a part of it. Praise God.
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All scriptures are taken from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition unless otherwise indicated.