SELDI Podcast with Tony Williams

"God's Provision - Sowing and Reaping in Life and Career!"

• Tony Williams

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"God's Provision - Sowing and Reaping in Life and Career."

God's love for us is unconditional. He has provided us with everything we need for life and for growing in our relationship with Him, demonstrating His constant care and provision.

God's providential design is not limited to a specific area of our lives or careers. He desires that we understand and embrace the truth of His universal plan.

Consider the seasons of the year. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.  

God's creation of the seasons is a testament to His desire for our prosperity in all aspects of life, both in the natural and spiritual realms.

In the area of our finances, God gives us this admonition;

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." 2 Corinthians 9:6

This truth not only applies to our finances, but also holds for kindness, love, encouragement, and acts of service done in love. Love is the key that unlocks the full potential of our actions, making them truly fruitful and effective.

Love is the prerequisite that God uses to ignite the process.

 "If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:3 NLT

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Speaker 1:

Greetings my friends. Tony Williams, here, I thank God for you, and God loves you and me and he's always giving us guidance, instructions to help us live the abundant life, and today he shares this message through me to you. It's called Provision, sowing and Reaping, and Life and Career Provision God providing everything we need when we need it, in whatever he's called us to do. Provision, sowing and reaping in life and career. God uses this terminology of a farmer to give us insight into a process that, if we follow the process, we'll gain the results. This is what he says in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6. Remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

Speaker 1:

In 2004, a young man from another country was here in my town and a friend of mine asked me if I would meet with this man. He was a missionary. He is a missionary, someone who shares Jesus with people who may not have a relationship with Christ. He's invested his life to do this and as I was preparing to meet with him, I went to the Lord in prayer and I was asking God Lord, what would you have me to do regarding this missionary that I'm going to meet with today At four o'clock in the morning, and I make this notation in my Bible 4 am June, the 11th 2004,. Regarding missionary request. God speaks to my heart. What I just shared with you.

Speaker 1:

Remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. God was saying to me, tony, if you trust me and obey me and do what I tell you to do, this is what you can expect and this is what God is saying to you. My friend, wherever you are in the world, whatever your circumstances may be, god wants to bless you and he's entrusted something to you that you can give. Sowing is like giving, so equate in your mind. Sowing, the farmer has seed that he or she puts in the ground with the expectation that they're going to get a harvest. Your resources, your time, your talents, your ability, your finances are like seeds, and so when we plant them with the right attitude, god will take what we give, what we sow and produce a harvest. Give what we sow and produce a harvest. The most important thing when we do this God just shared this with me today is having love. If I give everything that I have to the needy but have not love, it profits me nothing. So we have to do it from a motivation of love, love for God and love for the people that he's placed in our pathway. To sow into what do you have to sow? You may have finances that you can sow, that you can give. You may have an act of kindness and generosity that you can give to a person, a smile, a word of affirmation. These are things that we have, that we can give. Consider them as seeds that when you take the action motivated by love, to do any of those things, you can expect a harvest, and God has promised this. I wondered why God wanted me to share this message, but I think it's because, in today's economy, people could tend to become a little anxious, I believe, about whether or not they're going to have the finances that they need to meet their obligations and fulfill the goals that God has helped them to set. God is saying to you, my friends, and to me be assured that my promises never fail. When we obey God, do what he tells us to do, when he tells us to do it, and how, motivated by love, we enrich the soil and the environment for that giving, whatever it is, money, kindness, goodwill to produce a harvest, and it comes back. And this is why you may hear people say we reap what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow. What does that mean? And again, it's the farming terminology. When you plant, you can expect a harvest. And, in God's economy, when you plant the way he tells you to plant and where he tells you to plant and how, with love, he says I'm going to produce a harvest for you. And you may say well, how do you know that works, tony? Well, as I mentioned 2004, god gave me this scripture that I just read to you. I'll read it again. Remember this A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. God was saying to me you will reap according to how you sow. How much are you going to sow, tony? Are you going to do it with a loving heart? Are you going to trust me?

Speaker 1:

And I made a decision in 2004 to do that with a young missionary, and I've been doing it since then. And let me tell you what's happened. I went back to ask God Lord, what's the impact of that? In 2004, my finances were just starting to take off. My sales career was just starting to take flight and through that period, from 2004 up until today, the Lord has prospered me Generously. He's prospered me and I still am able to give and give to other causes, other individuals that are investing in the kingdom of God.

Speaker 1:

Why do I share this with you? It's not to brag on me. It's to share with you what God placed on my heart to give you because he loves you, I love you, and God wants us to have the very best. We have to do it His way. Do not hoard your finances. See your finances as an opportunity to be a good steward for God.

Speaker 1:

When God gives you an opportunity to give to someone, take it and do it with the right attitude of love. Don't do it grudgingly. It's best not to do anything if you feel like you're being manipulated or you're coerced into doing it. If it's not done from a heart of love, it won't profit you anything. It's like putting seed into barren ground. But when you do it motivated by a love for God and a love for the person and what they're doing, then God says I'm going to multiply that back to you. So from 2004, as I began to practice that, god has tremendously blessed me in so many ways and it doesn't come back in the way you necessarily sow it.

Speaker 1:

You may sow financially and reap a harvest of joy and satisfaction in a relationship that's been estranged. It may affect people in your family. It can come from a multitude of ways that only God, supernaturally, can provide, and I can attest to that. However, the key message is when we give the way God tells us to give, it's sowing, and when we do it with a heart of love, motivated by our devotion to God, we can expect a harvest. So when you give, expect it.

Speaker 1:

Here's another thing you may not have the finances, but you do have something to give. Why not sow kindness? Why not sow a word of encouragement to someone that you meet along the way? Why not show or sow a smile to someone, a pet on the back to someone? All of these are gestures of sowing that you can expect to get a harvest back. When you encourage others, my friends, you can expect to be encouraged back.

Speaker 1:

That's the way it works. That's God's economy. He brings it back in ways that we can't even envision, but he says I will bring it back. And so when God says you generously give, he says I will provide everything that you need and you will have not only all your needs met, but you will have some left over so you can share with even more people. And what happens? This is what I've experienced, and, oh praise the Lord.

Speaker 1:

When you give, god gives you more to give. If you give kindness, god refills you with more kindness. If you give love, god fills you with more love. If you give money away, god fills you with more money. Whatever you give away in love, out of obedience and devotion to God, he multiplies it back. And so I believe that this is the message God wants you to hear when you give, you can expect a return. When you give with the right motivation, it's like fertilizing and enriching the soil, and God loves a cheerful giver and he blesses us abundantly with peace, with prosperity, with all the provision that we need in every area of our lives to accomplish every goal that he helps us set for the glory of God. Thank you, jesus, amen.