POWERFUL! Laws of the Harvest: God Can’t Multiply What You Haven’t Sown

Based on Paul’s teaching in Galatians 6 and 2 Corinthians, let me share with you the five laws of the harvest.

In Galatians 6:7, the Apostle Paul highlights what I’ve heard called an “absolute principle” in Scripture: “For whatever a person sows he will also reap” (CSB, cf. Proverbs 11:18, 22:8-9). Throughout the rest of Galatians 6, Paul helps us apply this principle to our money and possessions. Paul has done this elsewhere, as in 2 Corinthians 9:6: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (NIV).

You can only harvest what you plant. In other words, if you haven’t sown it, God can’t multiply it. One of the clearest pictures of multiplication occurs in John 6, where Jesus is standing before 5,000 hungry people (more like 15,000 if you include the women and children). He takes a little boy’s lunch, five loaves and two fish—a Hebrew Happy Meal. You know the story: After Jesus takes the loaves and fish and blesses the food, he distributes it to his disciples until everyone is fed and there are 12 basketfuls leftover.