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Nurturing and cultivation is the effort in-between seed time and harvest time, and the outcome of your harvest is ultimately determined by the quality of nurturing and cultivation you have put in. These two important factors will be the centre focus of my discussion this morning. Cultivation makes the land to favour the germination of seed, why did I say so? For instance, if the land is hard, cultivation breaks it and prepare it for the plant to grow and flourish adequately. Without cultivation, there is no planting. And for plants like tubers, the farmer takes more time to prepare the heap, so the bigger the heap, the better your chances for getting a big tuber. So it means that the less the effort you put into cultivation, the less the turn out of your harvest. Therefore cultivation greatly influences a farmers harvest season. I also see cultivation as the process of trying to acquire or develop a quality or skill, while nurturing involves care and protection of someone or something they are growing.
The two simple truths I am trying to establish here is that there is something to break and let go and there is also something to nurture and protect. You may have fallen into any one of this category or you could be also in these two categories. What are the things in your life that you need to break out from? For some they have caged their purpose, for some they don’t even know their purpose, while others have discovered it and haven’t yet done anything about it.
So the question is what are you growing? and what kind of harvest do you have in view? If you are expecting a good harvest, then what effort are you putting into what you are growing in order to have a good harvest. Cultivation and nurturing is painstaking and it requires a lot of effort, a lot of people are aware of this and they put everything they have into it. This is the first category of people, the second category of people are the ones that actually don’t know what type of seed they have, and if you do not know the kind of seed you have how then will you know the planting season and the kind of effort that is required to put into it?
When to plant is very important, but not all seeds are planted the same time, not all conditions favour the same seed, and not all seeds that are planted the same day begins to yield harvest at the same time. As a matter of fact some seeds will yield after a month or two while other seeds will yield after a number of years. But this is the good news, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, when it begins to yield it is more enjoyable, lasting and could serve you and others in various capacities.
So what is your seed? do you know it? when is your planting season? do you know it? what kind of soil or environment will you thrive effectively? Do you know it? Because a water logged soil may favour a plant and may pose as a threat to another, and what kind of harvest are you expecting and how soon are you expecting such a harvest? These are very important things we must consider as we make choices on daily basis. This boils down to our individual talents, our purpose, how we build our carrier and even how we prepare for eternity which is the post important.
Let me begin from here, Jesus said in Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. I want us to see this scripture in the light of what I am talking about here, I want us to note that word “pluck it out and cast it from you” does this not talk about nurturing? If you must reap heaven as your harvest where there is joy, peace and everlasting life, what are you cultivating, what seed are you planting and how well are you nurturing it? You must begin to cultivate, nurture and prune everything that does not produce good fruit in you. If there is anything, be it habits, attitude, rigid mindset, un-teachable spirit, or a bad character preventing you from having a good harvest, the time to begin to predict your harvest is now, cut it down and pluck it out. I have discovered that the best way to save a good harvest is by plucking out the bad so that the good can remain and yield good fruit.
No farmer haven cultivated, and in the process of nurturing sees his fruits going bad and would leave it to be among the good ones. Jesus said in John 15 any branch that does not bear fruit will be taken away, and the ones that produces good fruits the Father will prunes. Meaning that bad attitudes should be discouraged and trashed out and let the good ones thrive. The reason is because, bad plants easily choke the good one and the both cannot thrive in the same environment, that is how God had designed it, you can’t nurture both good and bad at the same time, that is why the Scripture says bad company corrupts good manners, if you want to be wise, keep company with the wise, you can’t be hot and cold at the same time this is the principle of the kingdom that we must be aware of.
In Matthew 13:30 Jesus told a parable and He made this striking statement; Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. You may be thinking that because you are moving in the company of the brethren, clergy or because you are doing a so called good work or the work of ministry, a good harvest is waiting for you, sorry you will be in for a surprise. Jesus said there would be a separation by the reapers. If you do not separate yourself now there would come a time when separation would be difficult and the place meant for such people is eternal damnation.
Separate yourself now, set yourself apart holy, sanctified and fit for Gods use, do not wait until the day of harvest before you realize how much you have learnt your field to be filled with thorns and thistles. Jesus said cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. It is better for half of the field to be saved that loosing the whole field, it’s your choice, separate yourself now, prepare your field now, do the pruning now, cast out every bad branch so the good can grow. I pray the Lord help us in Jesus name.
Thanks for reading. God bless you.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
