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"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7).

I'm going to catch me a thief!

Satan stole my harvest for years, but I found out why and I know how to stop him.


Let me explain. One of the very first things I began to do as a new believer was to give. I wasn't giving to get. I was giving because I wanted to do the kinds of things God did. Giving was the first thing I noticed about God. It's His nature to give. I picked that up immediately: "For God so loved the world, that He gave" (John 3:16).

From my first day as a new Christian, I was doing a good job of fulfilling the first part of Malachi 3:10: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house...." There was meat in my house and I was blessed as a giver.

But then I discovered God wanted even more for me. I began to get excited every time I heard the second part of that verse: "and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

But despite the fact that I was a faithful giver, I could not say I had been blessed to the point that I didn't have room for more. Why? One day when I was jogging, the Lord began to deal with me about that. You know, what you sow is what you reap, He said. You know you've always had everything met - your needs have always been met.

"That's right," I said.

But are you at the point in your life where you cannot receive any more blessing?

"No," I answered.

Let Me tell you something, Jesse. For years you never named your seed.

He was right. I didn't know how many times I had given gifts - sometimes quite large gifts for me - in obedience to the Lord. Then months later, I would be walking past great fields of harvest that I didn't know were mine. I would see harvests everywhere and think: God, this is what I need for my ministry.

Because I didn't know what kind of seed I had sown, I didn't know what kind of harvest to expect. I didn't know I was walking past my harvests. As a result, the devil was able to control what belonged to me. He was standing by those harvests with his guards saying, "That's not yours. This is the wealth of the wicked. You are the just."

Satan was able to do it because I never named my seed. I didn't know what I put in the ground, so how was I to know when it came back 30, 60, or 100-fold?

Sown or Thrown?
I was not operating according to a basic principle - sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

"Whatsoever" you put in the ground is going to come up. "Whatsoever" encompasses all human activity. All our acts are forces. Every time we think, every time we feel, every time we exercise our will, we are sowing. So we have to consider our ways and give thought to what we are sowing. If you consider what you are sowing, then you will recognize your harvest.

What you sow is what you reap is the law of Genesis 1:12, that every seed reproduces after its kind: "And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

All of life, everything you do, is a process of sowing. You sow clothes, you get clothes. You sow healing, you get healing. I told a lady one time, "I want to pray for you so I can feel better."

"No, you mean so I can feel better."

"No, so I can feel better," I said. After I prayed for her, I said, "Oh, I feel better."

"So do I," she said.

"Go sow. Go sow," I said. "More health will come to you."

Understand what tithing does. It meets the general operating expense of the church, such as salaries, light bills and upkeep. When you brought meat to God's house, that meat met the necessities of God's house. Because you met the necessities of God's house, you harvested provision to meet the necessities of your house.

But when you gave an offering above the tithe without naming it, you were throwing it instead of sowing it, and you lost it before you got out the door. You would see a need and throw money at it, not even thinking about naming the type of seed you were sowing or naming your harvest. That seed would land on top of the ground and before you got out the church door, the devil would steal it.

So, you were eating and paying the light bill, but you continued to face the loan payments. That's not what God wants. He wants His people to be blessed. He wants His Church to be out of debt. The Church will be out of debt when the people are out of debt. Deception has kept God's people without their full entitlement.

Sow Specific Seed
I don't care if it's two cents, name your seed. When you give your child $3, $2, a quarter and you say, "Put this in the Sunday school offering," and ask him what he's believing for.

Out West not long ago I had a little 7-year-old boy walk up to me wearing a big, silver belt buckle, starched and creased jeans and a western shirt. With tears in his eyes he said, "I want to give to your television ministry." He gave me $7. Now that's a lot of money for a 7-year-old. I almost went, "No, little fellow." But the Lord said, What are you doing? Ask him what he's believing for.

So I told him, "You have given me a seed. If you don't name this seed you're going to lose this money. And seven bucks is a lot of money to lose."

"That's right," he said.

"What are you believing for?" I asked. "Name your seed, little fellow."

"A four-wheeler wouldn't be bad."

"Anything else? This is a big seed."

"And a horse."

I said, "Fine. Now this is a horse and a four-wheeler. Isn't that wonderful? The devil can't rob you, son. You have planted your seed. You're motivated by love. You've named it. You're not deceived. You're not mocking God. You've got it coming."

"Thank you," he said. Then he asked me if he could hug me. He hugged my leg and off he went. That was in the basement of the church. Right after that I met the boy's father in the foyer of the church and he told me how proud he was of his son, how his son was a hard worker and had never asked for a dime.

"It's kind of strange," he said. "I don't know if I know the voice of God as much as some of you ministers, but let me just ask you a question. This morning I was driving to church and the Lord...I don't know if it was the Lord or not...my wife and I were talking, and we thought about maybe buying the kid a four-wheeler...."

"Has your son ever asked you for a four-wheeler?" I asked.

"He never asks me for anything. He's a hard little worker...He delivers papers. He does all kinds of things. And my wife said, 'Let's get him a horse, too.'"

"When are you planning on doing that?" I asked.

"I'm thinking about doing it this afternoon."

I told him, "You know, you ought to obey God."

Now, if I had said to that little boy, "Thank you, brother, for blessing the ministry. Come here, little fellow, let me bless you," that would have been a thoughtless gesture on my part. That little boy would not have named his seed, and you will never make me believe that if he hadn't named his seed, he would have gotten his horse or his four-wheeler.

Like that little boy, I want my harvest. It's going to happen, too. You can take it to the bank. The devil stole from me for too long. I tell you, I'm catching that thief and I'm getting back what's mine. I'm going back in my canceled check records and finding records of seed I planted, and I'm naming it and calling it mine.

You should too!

Source: One Word From God Can Change Your Finances by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers

Author Biography

Jesse Duplantis
Web site: Jesse Duplantis Ministries
 
Jesse Duplantis is a dynamic evangelist who has traveled throughout the world since 1978 preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries (JDM), which has its International Headquarters in America and additional offices in the United Kingdom and Australia.
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