Sowing and Planting for a Harvest of Strong Relationships

Sow love and forgiveness... Receive Love and Forgiveness
(Brotha DC)

The Bible makes it perfectly clear.  We must sow seeds of a specific kind in order to reap a harvest of a specific kind. If we want to receive love, we must sow seeds of love into the lives of others.  Likewise, if we want to be forgiven, we need to forgive others.  Looking at the following scriptures:

Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns.

Ecclesiastes 11:1 [Message]

A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24 [AKJV]

If we want to have friends, being mean and ugly is not the way.  We must love others with the love of the Lord.  People refer to this as agape love... from the Greek word in the original Bible manuscripts.  Agape love... which is God’s love... is unconditional.  It is not based upon attractiveness.  It is not based upon what 1 May get out of it.  You can love the un-lovely with God’s love.  Even if an individual returns your love with hatred, if it is truly the love that is what comes from God and what emulates the character of God (1 John 4:8, 16) it is possible to still love such a person.

Let us pray to have that love manifest in our lives during this upcoming week.  At the mall.  Sitting in traffic.  In bad weather.  When in a hurry.  No matter what the time or season; lead the love of God manifest in your life.

Likewise, if someone does something to hurt you, you must sow forgiveness.

I was in a church where some church leaders were upset with a decision that the pastor made.  I heard one individual say “I will never forgive him…  Never!”  Such a declaration reveals a character that is so far removed from the love of God that it could be possible that person may be completely incapable of knowing God.  We may even be able to say that someone incapable of forgiving may be incapable of being forgiven.

A very dangerous state to be in!

   ⁹Whoever says he is in the Light and [yet] hates his brother [Christian, born-again child of God his Father] is in darkness even until now.
    ¹⁰Whoever loves his brother [believer] abides (lives) in the Light, and in It or in him there is no occasion for stumbling or cause for error or sin.
    ¹¹But he who hates (detests, despises) his brother [in Christ] is in darkness and walking (living) in the dark; he is straying and does not perceive or know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:9-11

Charlie Peacock said it best:

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do

What's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Saviour

I wanna be in the light as you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Lord be my light and my salvation
All I want is to be in the light of love
All I want is to be in the light

The disease of the self runs through my blood
Like a cancer fatal to the soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring the sickness under control

I wanna be in the light as you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Lord be my light and my salvation
All I want is to be in the light of love
All I want is to be in the light

I wanna be in the light as you are in the light
Lead me into the presence of the Father
I will follow right behind, true love will find
All I want is to be in the light of love
All I want is to be in the light

Is there such a thing as a man of peace?
If there is, then a man of peace I want to be
I will need your help if I'm ever to be that
If i'm to lay down, lay down, lay down
Then I'll lay my life for my brothers and sisters
I will nees your help, Jesus I need your light
Forever shining bright

Spirit of the Living God, please shine the light of Jesus through me... into the lives of others... overcoming and overwhelming my faults, failures and weaknesses.  I refuse to hold grudges against those who have wronged me.  Not only will I forgive... but I will actively pray blessings into their lives.  This I do in Jesus name.  Amen

Planting Seeds of Righteousness
(Judypie)

Righteousness is more than a religious word. You have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, and there is a great reward for those who walk uprightly in their day-to-day living. Righteousness means doing things God’s way; being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. No man can tame the tongue, but you can take every thought captive so that you speak the right things. Words begin with a thought, and when you think God thoughts, you will speak and act like God. He who sows righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) shall have a sure reward [permanent and satisfying]. (Proverbs 11:18b) If you want to harvest righteousness in your life tomorrow, you must plant seeds of righteousness today. (Henry & Richard Blackaby, Experiencing God Day by Day)

Holy Spirit, help me plant the good seeds of righteousness. I expect to reap a crop of peace and love. I plow up the hard ground of my heart for now is the time to seek the Lord. Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. I am a peacemaker planting seeds of peace and I will reap a harvest of goodness in the name of Jesus. Amen

I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,
      and you will harvest a crop of love.
   Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
      for now is the time to seek the Lord,
   that he may come
      and shower righteousness upon you.’

Hosea 10:12 [NLY]

² Test me, O LORD, and try me,
       examine my heart and my mind;
 ³ for your love is ever before me,
       and I walk continually in your truth.

Psalm 26:2-3 [NIV]

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

James 3:18 [NLT]