Biblical Keys
Problem:
Many communities are living in areas that have no opportunities for any development at all. These people have settled for less, simply because of the availability of free food and have never left. They have become comfortable in the security of knowing that their provider will be there when they are in need again. If we continue to perpetuate dependency on man, we encourage the poor to look to the wrong source of provision, man and not God.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 “If a man will not work then neither should he eat.”
Work is not a curse it is a blessing. Most of these poor people have land in the rural areas which is lying idle. Africa is known as the begging bowl of the world, however God can turn that around, transforming the begging bowl into a bread basket.
God’s way is that people should develop according to His principles, where He rewards based on sowing and reaping, on stewardship and being faithful with what you have been entrusted with.
Solution: We Need to Become Givers
Once we understand that God is our source and that His all sufficiency is truly available to us, we can look at giving our way out of dependency and into His promise.
Acts 20:35 “it is more blessed to give than to receive”
The transition from a receiving to a giving mentality has far reaching effects, even extending into the reaching of the nations with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Proverbs 28:19 “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.”
In farming there is no greater example of this principle where we continually need to be sowing in order to reap a harvest. We need to sow our seed, fertiliser and other inputs, labour, time, management and capital.
If you give nothing to even good potential soil, you get nothing in return. We can’t keep on taking and not giving something back. The Bible says we will reap what we sow. 0 x 0 = 0, 0 x 100 = 0, 0 inputs in 22,222 holes equals 0.
How then should you sow:
1) Sow Bountifully
Corinthians 9:6 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
2) Sow Knowledgeably
In most of Africa it is not a case of idleness or apathy that is causing the dire poverty levels, it is often a lack of knowledge.
Hosea 4:6 “My people perish for a lack of knowledge”
3) Sow Faithfully
A secret of Farming God's Way is to start small and be faithful with little. In Luke 16:10 it says, "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much;”
Sow with Joy
The attitude with which we sow is crucial.
2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Nehemiah 8:10b “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Our joy is firstly founded in the Lord, but that same joy should move through every part of our lives and into the work of our hands.