There is a spiritual law called the “Law of Sowing and Reaping” and it is summed up in the following verse:
Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”
This spiritual law, without a doubt, carries over from the Old Covenant into the New Covenant; however, many seem to think it doesn’t apply to Christians today. The consequences were often very quick and quite severe under the Old Covenant; however, that is often not the case under the New Covenant. Perhaps, because the consequences often come after a long period of patience and mercy from our Lord, some fail to “connect the dots” between what was sowed (long ago) with what they are reaping today. It might be two years later or thirty years later that they are now reaping what they sowed back then (or even what was sowed into their lives by someone else).
Here at Free Indeed Ministries, we are always digging to find out what was “sowed” back then. Sometimes we refer to it as cause and effect. Same principle, just different terminology. When Christians ask for prayer, we put on our spiritual detective hats and start looking for clues. And some of those clues go way back! Even back several generations at times. We often find a generational pattern of iniquity that has never been broken and left at the cross. Isa. 53:5 tells us that Jesus was “bruised for our iniquities,” but the victory He gained for us generationally must be appropriated in each of our lives. Each generational iniquity must be identified, repented of, and then it is placed under the blood of Jesus (in the same way our own sins must be repented of).
If those generational iniquities are not identified, broken, and laid at the cross, the enemy will come looking for a weakness and try to creep into our lives to bring about the curses that inevitably follow the iniquitous pattern. Prov. 26:2 tells us that “a curse without cause shall not alight.” In other words, may we examine some of the problems we are dealing with in our society and in the church and rather than put a Band-aid quick fix on it, look for the spiritual root. If a problem has a spiritual cause (or root) it is only when we apply a spiritual solution that the problem goes away completely.
Today, it seems that many Christians turn to every other humanistic solution possible before they consider that those solutions are not working, and, in fact, have made things worse―sometimes much worse! We get emails, letters, and text messages continually from people that have a spiritual problem, and many have tried all the worldly solutions with no tangible results. We can tackle an issue at the symptom level, the problem level, or the root level, but if we want to have long-lasting success, we must pull it up by the roots―like a bad weed that spoils a beautiful garden.
What has been sown (spiritually speaking) one will reap. There’s no getting around it. Often the Holy Spirit has already shown the individual the (evil) root of the problem and they get in touch with us (or similar ministries) to deal with the “yucky” spiritual fruit they are experiencing―or reaping. Typically, the solution involves taking the person through a process of identifying where the door to the enemy of their soul was opened, assisting them through repentance (if it was something they were responsible for), and then breaking the power of the enemy that has inadvertently gained access to their lives―in other words, tearing down strongholds and casting out demons.
We thank God that He trained and equipped us years ago and we have been able to see the fruit of deliverance in the lives of people both here in America and around the world. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is one we don’t hear much about today from the pulpit, but the continual unbroken thread of that spiritual law runs from all the way from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation. That leaves us with two questions: 1) Why does it seem to be so ignored today? 2) Why are we so quick to pray over someone without digging a little deeper?
Prayer: Father, would You give us a fresh understanding of the Law of Sowing and Reaping and how it affects our everyday lives. Open our eyes that we may see the undesirable spiritual roots that are causing undesirable fruit to manifest in our individual lives and in the church today. May they be pulled up by the root so that we don’t keep treating the symptom or rehashing the problem. Help us connect the dots between the cause and the effect. And may we be reminded daily that what we sow, we will reap―whether good or bad. In Jesus’ Name we pray!