FOOD FOR TEENS: HOW TO HARVEST GOD'S PROMISES

Dear Teens, have you ever studied the scriptures and seen precious promises and just desire to have them working in your life but you can't seem to activate them? For you to understand how these things work you need to look closely at the mother of all parables which Jesus taught in Matthew 13 and Luke 8. He described basic spiritual principles with the concept of farming. From this parable there are four key elements to every harvest, which are; The Seed, the Soil, the Sun and the Rain.

If we can understand each and every one of them, I guarantee you, harvesting God's promises will becomes just as easy. Now lets delve in.

1. The Seed: According to Jesus in Luke 8:11, "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." For every believer who wants to harvest God's promises in their lives, the first thing they must do is to search out these promises from the Word of God, which are scattered all over the Bible, and Apostle Peter described it in 2nd Peter 1:4,  "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises" and the quality of the crop is determined by the quality of the seed sown. Gods Word is incorruptible; 1st Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." There is no seed as potent as the Word of God, when scripture says its incorruptible, it means undecaying, immortal, it can not die. This is the kind of seed every farmer needs to sow in his or her farm or garden. You may ask, what are some examples of the Word of God (seed) that are applicable in my life? These are Scriptures that guarantees you of God's goodness in any aspect of your life for example

For your health: 1st Peter 2:24, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

For your Finance: 2nd Corinthians 8:9, " For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

For your Protection: Isaiah 54:17, " No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."

And so on and so forth. They are so numerous in scriptures, for you to live a good life in Christ, you must get these seeds of God's Word

2. The Soil: Luke 8:15,  "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." The soil is your heart, so the seed quality seed which you have taken must be planted in your heart, you can never know the power of a seed until it is planted into the ground, even so God's Word with all His power cannot produce result in your life until you plant it. Psalm 119:11,  "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." The question now on your mind is how do I plant the word in my heart? Just 2 steps to this. Firstly, meditate the word regularly, the word must move from your conscious mind into your subconscious, which is your heart, for this to happen you must understand (see) place the word of God consistently before your eyes, not just your physical eyes but the eyes of spirit until it takes hold of heart because if it doesn't get here it will not begin to work, and for it to thrive well, you must remove whatsoever might choke the word from working in you such as contrary ideas, sin, deceitfulness of riches etc. Secondly, consistent declaration of those promises over your life. If the word is not in your heart, it will be easily stolen by the enemy

3. The Sun: Matthew 13:6,  "And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." and Matthew 13:21, "Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." The sun which represents tribulation or persecution is going to come because of the seed (The Word) which is in you to test it, people are going to come into your space to offend you and get you to give up on the word inside you, though this may be tough a difficult time but it is there for the see. Remember that the same sun that brings heat also brings light needed by the plant for photosynthesis. That light is the knowledge (wisdom) which God will release for that plant to grow and produce fruits. Please let offense make you miss out of your harvest but instead focus on the light, the lessons God will teach you through out those tough times, no wonder plants always grow in the direction of light or Sun. No wonder Joseph became a good Prime minister because it was through trials thats God built it him. what about David, Abraham and even our Lord Jesus, The trial is where the glory is hidden.

4. The Rain: Hebrews 6:7, "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:" Now without waters in the ground, your seed wouldn't sprout, it wouldn't germinate and it will never manifest from under the ground, so you must consistently supply water to the seed sown for it to grow. This water is the Holy Ghost supplied through consistent prayer. Isa 32:15, "Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." No wonder Jesus admonished us Luke 18:1,  "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;"

If we continue through prayers and the supply of the Spirit, release the living waters into our garden, whatsoever we plant must germinate because that soil becomes a fertile ground. If all these conditions above are met, your life will be as a fruitful field filled with good trees, do these and begin to enjoy heaven on earth. 

God bless you, have a lovely 2023.