In practical kingdom business growth there is a process involved in the word from heaven becoming manifest into the natural world.
Patience is required to reap a harvest. There is a space of time between the planting and the production. Our part is to patiently wait for the harvest and to care for the soil and the growing seedling or plant. There is nothing we can do to make the seed have life. God puts the life into the seed, and He causes it to sprout and grow. We can and must, however, provide the proper atmosphere, nutrients and care for the seed to grow to fruition.
This means holding on to the idea or vision even when we cannot see anything with our natural eye that indicates the idea is growing. The larger the idea or vision the longer the gestation period. A large work like a large animal or plant takes a much longer time. A chicken is birthed in only three weeks and is fully-grown in about twelve weeks. A human baby is birthed in nine months and takes about twenty years to be reach maturity. You can grow a radish in the garden in a few weeks; an oak tree will take many years.
The vision may be lost if we abandon it. Many worthy works planted by God in the hearts of men have failed to come to fruition because they were prematurely abandoned. If a brood hen sitting on eggs leaves the nest even one day too soon, all the chicks in the eggs will be lost.
The seed planted in the soil dies and is reborn a living plant. This eliminates any potential of human effort adulterating the pure supernatural natural growth process. The temptation is to abandon God's plan during the time of the death and rebirth transformation.
John 12:24: "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
Just as a natural gardener works to care for the soil keeping it loosened so that it does not become too hard for the seed to grow, we must keep our heart-soil tender by forgiving and receiving healing for all offenses that can press down and harden our heart. The soil must be kept moist and the temperature in the proper range by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We must keep the weeds of useless words (bad seeds) out of our soil. Useless, negative words or thoughts will grow weeds that rob nutrients from the good seed and prevent them from growing properly.
We must not only allow time for growth, we must also allow space. Seeds that are going to produce a large plant will require more space in the soil of our heart. Planting too many seeds in too small a space will cause them to grow improperly and bear little or no fruit. After the plants are up and growing, it may be necessary to remove some of them in order that there will be adequate space for growth. With some plants, it will be necessary to prune or trim the limbs to provide space on the plant for good fruit to grow.
Keeping the weeds out means taking every thought captive. We must remove the thoughts that would hinder the growth of the growing vision. Negative thoughts of doubt, worry, and fear will choke the vision. The enemy of the vision will always attempt to plant the seed that “you cannot do it”, or “you are just not capable enough to do whatever God has said.” He is exactly right. We cannot do it. We are not supposed to be able to do it. God does it! We must hear, believe, and obey what God tells us to do next. The earth brings forth the crop by itself.
Thinning the plants means that we may need to lay down some really good ideas in order to concentrate on the more important vision. Our heart-soil just is not big enough and enriched enough to bring forth all the good ideas in the world at one time. If there are too many ideas or visions in one heart, none of them will grow well.
Trimming and pruning branches means cutting off excessive or wild growth of the vision. Too many branches on a fruit tree may cause the fruit to be small and may cause disease because sunlight cannot enter. Branches that are too long or improperly shaped may break when the fruit nears maturity. We may need to limit parts of the idea or vision as it grows.
We are the manager of our garden. What we choose to hear and believe, what and how we think, are the seeds that will produce our life and affect change in the world. Setting our minds on things above and meditating the things of Christ produces the life of Christ and heaven. Bad thinking always produces bad life. God thinking always produces quality life. The difference between the man who tries hard but always accomplishes little in the kingdom and the man who is of much valuable service is what each hears and believes. In other words, how they manage their gardens.
All the seemingly unrelated negative events that consistently happen to the unproductive man are the product of bad seeds growing to fruition. All the seemingly unrelated doors of opportunity and blessings that consistently come to the productive man are the results of good seeds. Nothing happens until somebody believes something.
Remember “the earth yields crops by itself.” We cannot make growth, but we must care for the soil, thin and trim the plants, protect the seedling from a hostile environment and predators, pull the weeds, shoo off the birds, and above all, keep the soil moist with the presence of the Holy Spirit through prayer. Communing with God in prayer and meditating the word (thought, vision, seed) in the Holy Spirit is the process by which the natural growth and eventual harvest will come.
Prayer and meditation is speaking to and hearing God. Speaking to and hearing God does not only involve audible words. Communing with God also involves speaking and hearing by pictures and feelings. It is seeing and feeling what God is saying as well as praying visions and feelings to Him.
Prayer and meditation is experiencing in the spiritual realm what God desires to bring into the natural realm.
To intimately commune with God, one must come to a place of inner quiet where the thoughts and distractions of the world can be silenced. Close your eyes, quiet your soul, and seek to enter into the presence of the Father. Ask God what He wants to do with your life today and wait quietly before Him. When you have a clear word, a vision from God, meditate it in your spiritual mind. Look at it. Understand it. Get to know it. See it happening. Feel how it feels. Then pray the vision back to God. With the vision in your spirit, go to Him and ask Him to give you the vision He has shown you. Daily continue praying this way. You will find that the vision will change some. It will become more detailed with a little more of this and a little less of that as God continues to clarify the vision in you.
You are now pregnant with the word from God. The vision is now alive within you. Allow yourself to become excited as you feel the first movements of the living vision within you. Original creation is beginning to be reshaped as the vision in the spiritual realm begins to impact the physical realm. All over the world things may begin to move or adjust in order to set the stage to bring about the vision that God has placed in your heart as a seed.
Next, begin to speak the vision out loud into the earth. Share it with those who can hear. Let your passion for the vision come forth as you speak it to others as God directs. You may need to begin writing it down or sketching it out on paper. Don’t be alarmed if the vision is a thousand times greater than you think possible. Remember it is God’s baby; He will bring it to birth.
Be faithful to pray the vision and be ready to take whatever next step the Lord shows you. Wait and watch for the opportunities and circumstances that in time will appear before you to birth the vision.
