We must understand as believers that, as we walk with God, there will be moments when the Word of God may seem not to be producing the desired results in our lives, even though we are walking in the light of it. You may have heard the Word concerning your calling, healing, finances, marriage, career etc, and have been so excited about the Word only to wait for three months, six months even a year or more, without seeing the Word fulfilled. It looks like the word failed; but no matter what you are going through, if you can understand that the Word of God, as powerful as it is, behaves like a seed, your faith will stay strong – even when you are not seeing the results yet.
In Mark 4, Jesus teaches the parable of the sower. He explained to His disciples that “the seed is the Word of God”. An understanding of the revelation of the Word of God as a seed will cause your faith in the Word to be unshaken in the midst of contradictory sense evidence or circumstances.
Jesus said in John 12:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”. This means, when the seed of the Word of God is sown in the ground (your heart), it will first die, before it germinates and yields fruit. You may be walking in the revelation or light of a particular word that has come alive to you; it could even be a prophecy concerning your life. Very often, such a word so impacts you at first that you might expect the manifestation straight away; but no, that Word will have to go through the spiritual process of germination – just like a physical seed.
During the death stage, it may look like the Word you have believed will not come to pass. You may come across as an oddity. Friends and family may lose hope in you. You may not have the support of many; but if it is the Word of God that you have believed, it shall surely come to pass. The integrity of the Word is the basis of our faith in it. It cannot fail. It is very important not to lose your confidence at this stage. The enemy will attempt to make you doubt the Word, but you will have to stand your ground and remain engaged in the Word till it comes to pass. The death of the Word is a necessary prerequisite for the harvest you are expecting. In the same way that a bright red tomato is more glorious that the small tomato seed which was first planted, so will your harvest exceed your expectations. That is why the Bible says God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).
Our faith therefore must be locked in the Word of God, regardless of the present circumstances; when men are cast down then we will say there is a lifting up (Job 22:29).
Remember there are different kinds of seeds with their respective glory; yours may require a longer time because of the greater glory it carries. We are not all farmers of the same crop. Some crops will be harvested while some others will not even have sprouted yet. The way the Chinese bamboo behaves is very instructive. In the first four years of planting the seed nothing seems to happen – the seed fails to sprout even amidst continual watering. And yet in the fifth year the tree shoots up to about 80 feet! Even though nothing seemed to happen during the first four years, a great deal was in fact taking place – the tree was developing itself underground by expanding its root system to make it tough enough to sustain its impending external growth in the fifth year and even beyond.
In the same way, be encouraged not to give up; do not slow down in your prayer; rather be fervent in spirit (Romans 12:11), for you will soon be calling in for help with the harvest! Rule for God!