Patience Is Your Seed: 9 Keys for the Season of Waiting
Dr RJ Sing, 23 min
Originally recorded as “Blessed Beyond Measure”
Sermon outline
The time between your seed and your harvest is a season of waiting, and if you guard your words, stay thankful and keep expecting, God's blessing will come.
Main text
- Lamentations 3:25-26
Opening
He welcomes church members and everyone tuned in to the broadcast with Romans 10:17 and introduces the series Blessed Beyond Measure. He prays for spiritual wisdom, insight and growth in the knowledge of God, in words drawn from Colossians 1. He then reads Lamentations 3:25-26 in two translations and begins a list of keys.
1. Patience is your seed to your harvest
Time is a hidden and mysterious ingredient in an uncommon harvest. Waiting may be painful, but it is the season between the seed and the harvest. Some have lost their harvest because of the pain of waiting: frustration breeds a critical spirit, words of doubt are spoken, and the cycle of blessing is aborted.
“Patience is your seed to your harvest.”
- Lamentations 3:25-26
- Psalm 30:5
2. Know that unthankfulness brings a curse, not a reward
Be willing to trust God in the seasons of waiting, because he has promised a change. Your anger does not intimidate God. He decides when you qualify for the harvest, and the harvest will surely come, because his word does not return void.
Illustration: Instead of the thorn the cypress will come up, and instead of the brier the myrtle.
“God will replace every financial disaster with a financial miracle.”
- Isaiah 55:10-11
- Isaiah 55:13
3. Refuse to permit words of discouragement to pass your mouth
God tells his people not to fear or be dismayed, because he strengthens, helps and upholds them. Those who oppose your progress will be confronted by God himself.
“Those who oppose the battle against your progress will be confronted by God himself.”
- Isaiah 41:10
- Isaiah 41:11
4. Your enemies will never succeed against you
Those who war against you will become as nothing, and the Holy Spirit himself is involved against your enemy. Every scheme, strategy and trap against you will ultimately fail if you are patient in waiting.
“So patience is the key.”
- Isaiah 41:12-13
- Isaiah 59:19
- Isaiah 54:17
5. Keep your eyes upon the rewards of waiting
Men fight for a reason: to gain something they want. Stay focused, because the spoils of war are worth the battle. Refuse to sin with your mouth, and never speak words that encourage your enemy.
Illustration: David ran towards Goliath armed with an inner picture of success and the rewards that were promised. Jesus went to Calvary fully aware of the resurrection.
“The spoils of war are worth the battle.”
- 1 Samuel 17
- Proverbs 18:21
6. Your words of faith will influence the heart of God
By your words you are justified and by your words you are condemned. While you wait, create a climate of gratitude and thanksgiving, pray without ceasing and give no place to the devil.
“You cannot plan your success and failure at the same time.”
- Matthew 12:37
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17
- Ephesians 4:27
7. Your success will require your total focus and attention
Work on your expectation and the picture of your future. Obedience is always rewarded, and everything God has promised will come to pass. You are not fighting alone, so do not keep company with anyone who is not in agreement with the word of God, and avoid broken focus.
Illustration: When wrong people talk to you, you make the wrong decisions.
“Obedience is always rewarded.”
- Deuteronomy 28:2
- Psalm 84:11
- Exodus 23:22
- 1 Corinthians 15:33
- Psalm 145:14
8. Overcoming involves more than one battle
The one who chooses not to quit will win, so never consider quitting. The person who endures temptation and is approved receives the crown of life.
“Hell fears a fighter.”
- James 1:12
9. Some facts you should know about expectation
Expectation is the current that makes your seed work for you. Expect God to protect you as he promised, expect favour from someone close to you, expect financial ideas and wisdom as a harvest, expect your enemies to be confused and to flee, and expect God to bless every act of obedience. This, he says, is seed faith.
Illustration: There is a Boaz close to you.
“Expectation is the powerful current that makes seed work for you.”
- Hebrews 11:6
- Malachi 3:11
- Luke 6:38
- Deuteronomy 8:18
Change your mind for the better
The blessing of the Lord is something believers walk in and experience, and toiling does not increase it. He reads the call to repent from the Amplified Bible as a call to think differently and change your mind for the better.
“That's my encouragement to you today. Change your mind for the better.”
- Proverbs 10:22
- Matthew 3:2
- Matthew 4:17
Putting it into practice
- Trust God in the waiting and refuse to speak doubt or discouragement.
- Create a climate of gratitude and thanksgiving.
- Keep your focus, and keep away from voices that disagree with God's word.
- Do not quit.
- Raise your level of expectancy this month to receive more from God.
Closing
He makes a solemn declaration of explosive blessing, increase and favour over the listener. He then leads a simple prayer to receive Jesus for anyone who does not know him, followed by a confession of new life. He ends by speaking the priestly blessing of Numbers 6, urges people to read the Bible as God's words to them and not as a religious book, and signs off until next week.
Declarations he led
- Dear God, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Your word says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. I now ask Jesus to come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. I receive eternal life into my spirit.
- I declare that I'm saved, I'm born again, I'm a child of God, I now have Christ dwelling in me and greater is he that's in me than he that is in the world. I now walk in the consciousness of this new life.
In his words
- “Time is a hidden and mysterious ingredient to an uncommon harvest.”
- “Some of us have lost the harvest because of the pain of waiting.”
- “You cannot plan your success and failure at the same time.”
- “Hell fears a fighter.”
- “Explosive blessings are coming your way.”
Every scripture in this message
- Romans 10:17
- Colossians 1:9-12
- Lamentations 3:25-26
- Psalm 30:5
- Isaiah 55:10-11
- Isaiah 55:13
- Isaiah 41:10
- Isaiah 41:11
- Isaiah 41:12-13
- Isaiah 59:19
- Isaiah 54:17
- 1 Samuel 17
- Proverbs 18:21
- Matthew 12:37
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17
- Ephesians 4:27
- Deuteronomy 28:2
- Psalm 84:11
- Exodus 23:22
- 1 Corinthians 15:33
- Psalm 145:14
- James 1:12
- Hebrews 11:6
- Malachi 3:11
- Luke 6:38
- Deuteronomy 8:18
- Proverbs 10:22
- Matthew 3:2
- Matthew 4:17
- Romans 10:13
- Romans 10:9
- 1 John 4:4
- Numbers 6:24-26