RCCG Open Heavens Devotional Monday 18 March 2013 OF PLANTERS AND HARVESTERS By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

RCCG Open Heavens Devotional Monday 18 March 2013 

OF PLANTERS AND HARVESTERS 

By Pastor E. A. Adeboye

Memorise: “And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” John 4:36

Read: John 4:35-38

Bible in one year:  Nahum 1-3

Key point: Reward comes from performing the specific assignment given to you by the Holy Spirit, and not the one you assigned to yourself.

If you manifest the word of knowledge or wisdom while I witnessing about Jesus Christ, your hearers will find it I difficult to turn down the Gospel message. 1f you evangelise but lack those gifts, ask the Lord to give them to you and He will. More than any one else, it is those who witness Jesus Christ that need these gifts. Another lesson from todays passage relates with harvests in God’s Kingdom. There are two broad categories of labourers in the vineyard - the sowers and the reapers. The sowers are the planters. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul declares: 

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”

God calls some people to kick-start certain divine projects start a parish, lay the foundation of a church building, etc.. He may not necessarily want them to complete it because He has others who should nurture what their predecessors began and pilot it to its end. Unfortunately in the Body of Christ, instead of seeing one another as partners in

progress, there ¡s a lot of rivalry on who will complete what According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, God is the constant factor ¡n the equation between the planters and

the harvesters. He gives the increase that is noticed in any farming season. Verse 8 of this scripture says,

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour’

it is possible you sowed the seed into the sinner first, and later another person preached to that person before he eventually received Christ; yet both of you will share from the reward of winning that soul. God is just and t-le knows how to reward everyone for his or her labours. So stop struggling or fighting over Kingdom assignments. Just work out the part that ¡s committed to you faithfully. in due course, you will reap abundantly. From what Jesus said in John 4:35-38, there is reward for the planters, and there is reward for the harvesters. They shall both share in the same joy. If you are sent to start a parish or church building, go ahead and start ¡t. By the time you are transferred, take it in good faith and go to your new place of assignment knowing that you already have a share of the reward tot that place w ether men acknowledge you or not. Just stay focused on the work God has given to you.