from pastor Rich Allcorn 

If you've been in church any time at all, you have heard the scripture, "Whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap."  Simply put, whatever you sow or put out there as a fruit or a "seed" of yourself, you will reap a harvest!  You will see "fruits" of your actions.  This applies to what you say, as well as what you do! 

This week we are looking at the "seed principle" in general, to give you a background on which to build the foundation of this teaching. 

When you sow a seed into the ground, you place it deep into the soil, and you cover it up.  It is there to stay.  It is committed, and will not get up out of the soil to return to you.  In fact, you will not hear from that seed again until you see the final results, as they burst forth from the soil in victory! 


SEED BASICS
Before the seed can produce, it first has to be planted.  The seed, somewhere in this process, has to "die" to itself.  It has to break apart and die.  And as it does, a new creation comes forth!  A root begins to form, which reaches deep into the soil to find a source of nourishment to "feed" the plant that is now beginning to develop.  This is called the tap root!  And from the tap root comes other off-shoots that spread out laterally, to gather additional nourishment, all of these with the purpose of providing more and more food, more nourishment, for the plant so that it can grow!  As that nourishment comes into the plant, this new plant begins to grow and grow and grow, until it suddenly pushes it's way from the earthly soil world it began in, and bursts into the atmosphere of our world!  And at that point it begins it's life here, in the Earth, as it continues to grow, develop and bring itself to a point where it is time for it to give forth of itself as it is harvested! 

If we plant a seed, and then dig it up once a week to see if it is growing, we STOP the entire process, and the seed each time it is returned to the soil has to begin again.  Sometimes, if we do this enough, the seed cannot die and begin the growth under the soil.  As a result, we will have "killed off" any chance that plant ever had of becoming a full, living plant in the Earth. 

But if when we plant it, we leave it alone, and we "trust" that it will do what it was designed to do, then one day we will see the results of that seed which we have planted, as it triumphantly bursts forth into the atmosphere of the Earth and pronounces it's arrival! 

Seeds never grow and produce a harvest the very next day!  When you plant a seed, if you were to go back to the soil the following day and pronounce failure because you do not see any results, people would think you'd never planted a seed before in your life!  Anyone who has planted seeds knows that it takes time and patience.  More than anything else, it requires patience!  So, when you plant it, you must then wait ... patiently, for the results.  You remain, expectant, know that the rules of planting, proven time and time again, are when you plant the seed, you "wait" ... and then harvest comes.  But you cannot have the harvest without the wait - they are inseparable! 



IN SUMMARY: 
1.  plant the seed  
2.  cover it 
3.  forget about it 


THINGS "NOT" TO DO: 
1.  dig it up to check on it's progress 
2.  worry about it  (it won't change the outcome at all!) 
3.  watch it grow  (you WILL NOT see anything until the harvest) 
4.  judge the progress by what you "see" on the surface 
5.  get impatient  (if you're impatient, sowing & reaping is not for you)


Study on this, and let Holy Spirit talk to you about it.  Meditate on it.  There are "Kingdom things" to learn from this, if you will take the time.  Next week, we will begin from here.  Until then, look around you and notice "growing things" around you.  Observe how they react to water, sunlight, seasonal changes, etc.