Charles Capps - Seedtime and harvest

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

The first chapter of Genesis contains what I call the law of Genesis. If you get a good understanding of this, it will help you understand God's ways. The law of seedtime and harvest is Gods method.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

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.

Genesis 1:11 ,12 Now let's look at what God said to Noah after the flood. God made a promise regarding this earth.

And Noah ... offered burnt offerings on the altar.

And the Lord smelled a sweet savour ; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for mans sake .

While the earth remaineth , seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 8:20-22 This is the method that God has chosen for this planet, and it will be that way as long as this planet is in existence.

Seedtime and harvest is God's method. The law of Genesis is one of God's fixed laws. Everything produces after its kind and the seed is in itself. It works that way in everything.

The seed of strife is in strife itself. If you get into strife with someone, it will create more strife. If you give love, you can reap love. The seed is in itself.

This is God's method of seedtime and harvest. But sometimes people say, "I know why you're speaking God's promises. You're just trying to use God's Word to bring a manifestation."

Yes! That's the way it works! That's why He sent His Word.

The Kingdom of God works this way. It's as if a man should cast seed into the ground.

Look at what Jesus had to say about the kingdom.

So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;

And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

Mark 4:26-29 This is something you can do. Jesus said that you are the one planting the seed. You speak it out of your mouth. When you speak it, it is as a seed, it goes into the heartthe human spirit and there it begins to grow and produce. The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed into the ground. Mark 4:15-20 shows that the heart of man is the soil, or ground.

Notice Jesus said, For the earth (the heart of man) bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (Mark 4:28). Sometimes people give up before the harvest. Many of you reading this book have done that. You gave up during the growth process.

In Mark 11:23, Jesus tells us the principle of the law of faith. Whosoever shall say, shall believe, shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe what he says will come to pass, shall have whatsoever he says. (Paraphrased.) That is the God-kind of faith. That is the way it works.

The Seed Is a Necessity

Sometimes people think it's going to happen just because they say it. Saying it is involved in planting it. But it won't necessarily happen just because you say it. I want you to get this point, because many people get hold of Mark 11:23 and run off into left field and make a mess of things.

It wont work just because you say it. But saying it is involved in working it. It's like saying to a farmer about farming, 'You won't necessarily have a harvest just because you plant. But you will never have a harvest if you don't plant.'

We get criticized for teaching people to confess the Word of God and say what God said. Some people say , . "Confessing God's Word is just too mechanical."

But were talking about planting seeds for a harvest. When you're talking about the power of words, you're talking about the power of seeds. It is the life in that seed the farmer plants which causes the manifestation of the very thing he planted. There is life in God's Wordin the promise itself. It is the life God breathed into it.

God's Word is incorruptible seed. So what are you going to use for seed if you don't use God's Word? God's promises are seeds for a harvest.

Act as God Would Act

I have heard people say, "Those people who confess God's Word and say the promises of

God over and over are just trying to act like God!"

Yes! That's exactly what we're trying to do: Act as God would act in a similar situation. We know how God would act in a bad situation because of what He did in Genesis 1:3. He saw darkness over the earth, and He said, "Light!" What did He do? He spoke the thing desired. Some will say, "But that was God."

That's right, that was God. But in Genesis, God also said:

... Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26 How was man going to have dominion? You can understand how Adam could run the jack rabbit out of the cabbage, but what was he going to do when the elephant began tromping own the cabbage?

God said for him to subdue it. He was to do it the same way God didwith the power of faith-filled words. He was to subdue the earth, and he was to do it God's way. When he saw something that he didn't like, it was his responsibility to change it. He was to change it the way God changed thingsspeaking faith-filled words. Jesus said:

... What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Mark 11:24

In other words, pray the desire; don't pray the thing that you don't desire. Speak the thing desired, even when you pray.

Sow It the Way God Said It

We have been taught that we should "tell it like it is." That is not a Bible method. The Bible method is that you say it the way the Word of God says it.

If your wants are in line with the Word of God, then say it the way you want it. Say it the way God said it. When you see lack and problems in your life, speak abundance and peace. That's the seed you are sowing. Go to the Word of God, find the promise, and plant that seed. You are seeding for a harvest.

The problem has been that people say a few things, they plant a few seeds, then go off and leave them. You dont necessarily have a harvest just because you plant the seed. You must care for that seed. It takes time for these things to manifest.

Its not going to happen just because you say it. But saying it is involved in making it happen. The farmer is not necessarily going to have a harvest just because he planted. But planting is involved in obtaining a harvest. There will be no harvest without planting.

The law of Genesis says everything produces after its kind. But the very thing which God has designed to cause us to be victorious in life can also work in reverse for us, if we don't follow the instruction bookGod's Word.

Checking the Seed

God didn't give you the Word to put you in bondage. But I have had people say, "This confession teaching just puts me in bondage. I can't say anything anymore, because I have to watch what I'm saying.

You can see it taking effect when you have to watch what you are saying. Some of the things you continually speak are causing your problems.

When people come to me and tell me about their problems, sometimes I ask, "How long have you been confessing the negative over this situation?" Some have been doing it for 20 years. Their major problem is just one inch below their nosetheir mouth. The problem is what they have been confessing for 20 years.