"It looked like everything was really happening. God began to use me and the money started to come in. The signs were there and I thought, 'This is awesome! My seeds have germinated and everything is wonderful.' "

But then suddenly everything died. It stopped working and you thought,

"What did I do wrong?"

You didn't do anything wrong. You simply forgot that there is an enemy out there who does not want you to succeed. He doesn't want you to walk in blessing or to harvest your desires. He will try and steal everything that God has given you.

So you cleared the ground and dug out all the weeds before you started. Now you start to plant, and you look excitedly and see your plants coming up.

You say, "Look at that; look at my beautiful plants."

You want to nurture them, and after a while you see another plant coming up. You say,

"Hang on, that plant looks a little different. Which one is my seed?"

Then you discover that the beautiful plant that came up at the beginning and that you were so excited about was actually a weed. Unfortunately there are new weeds that come out along the way.

Distractions and False Promises

You need to look out for distractions. Satan will try to stop you from getting there and watering your seeds daily and keeping on top of it.

He will try to distract you, and eventually you will get so busy with other things. After a while you will say,

"I gave it my best shot. I tried and it worked for a while. But obviously God doesn't want me to have this so let's just let it go."

Look out for discouragements that make you say,

"I've failed again. It's just like what happened last time. You know it's just my lot in life. Everybody else plants seeds and they grow fine. I plant seeds and they die.

"That's just how it is with me. I might as well just throw in the towel. Why should I bother trying?"

Watch out also for false promises and hopes. This is like the weed that grew there that you thought was a wonderful promise.

Enemy Attack

Watch out for false promises and hopes and be consistent. Don't be moved by either success or failure. Just keep at it and look out for the pests that will come and start to eat your plants.

The first ones that appear are the little bugs that you can't see. Sometimes they start attacking the roots under the ground. Here your plant starts out so wonderful, but the next moment it shrivels away.

You say, "I can't understand that. What happened there? It was growing fine, but suddenly it is dead. Maybe some rodent came and ate the roots."

Something attacked your plants, so try and protect them. Don't assume that everything is just going to go smoothly. Even though it may have started out well, protect your plants where possible.

That means you need to do spiritual warfare. That means taking your stand against the enemy and using the authority of the name of Jesus. When you see these things appear you take your stand and say,

"Oh no, don't you dare Satan!"

The plant started out great, the money started to come in and then it stopped. Why did it stop? It is because there is an open door to a curse somewhere.

The enemy has attacked. Look for a curse and deal with it. I have covered that all in The New Way of Blessing so I am not going to cover it here.

Deal with the curse and take authority over the forces of darkness. You are in spiritual warfare and you must overcome these things. Do not let your garden go to ruin.

This is one of the most important of the seven stages. You may have done everything perfect up until then. But until this problem comes and until it has been overcome, you are not going to see your harvest.

You may have developed your core desire. You may know your rights and have prepared your ground nicely.

You may have sowed your seeds and watered them faithfully. But until you deal with the opposition that will come, you can't get to the final two stages. These are the most important stages of all, because they are going to put in your hands the thing that you desire.

Step 6: Grow Your Harvest

The next stage is to grow the harvest. Do not be impatient. It takes time to grow. If you have planted a natural garden, you will know that it is not going to happen overnight.

Some plants take even longer than others, and usually it comes in stages. You have the little stalk that pops out of the ground first. Then there are a few leaves that begin to form.

If it is a fruit that is going to form, either on the plant or underground, that will have its stage. You may see the first buds coming out and then you see the fruit appear.

Follow Through

There are going to be stages, and all of those stages must be followed through. When you see the first sign of a little fruit forming you may say,

"That's so exciting. It's a nice tiny tomato; let's pick it."

You have one little mouthful and there goes your tomato.

You say, "But I planted big tomatoes. According to what they showed me these tomatoes should grow huge. I can't understand why I have a small tomato."

It is because you are too impatient to wait for your plant to mature. You have to grow your harvest before you reap it. It must mature first. Spiritually you say,

"Well I believed. I trusted God and now I can stand back and wait for it to happen."

No, don't take your faith out of the field. Keep your faith out there and keep speaking. Keep watering and standing against the enemy.

Maintain and let your crop grow. Protect it all along the way, because right at the last minute something could come and destroy it. You must be careful.

Keep it in His Presence

Here though is the most important thing that your plant needs now that it has grown. It needs the sunshine. And especially as fruit begins to form it needs the sunshine to ripen. That beautiful green tomato that formed needs the sun to turn it red.

You need sunshine, but what is it a picture of? It is the Son of God; the presence of God. The presence of God is the radiance of glory. You need to keep your whole goal and vision in His presence.

How do you do that? You need to get into His presence and stay there.

You say, "I did all the right things. I planted the seed, got into the Word, built my faith and really believed God. I took all the actions. Can't I just wait now for it to happen?"

No you can't do that, unless you keep the sun shining.

Spend Time in Prayer

How do you do that?

Here is a very simple way that actually is not so simple because it requires work. But here is what it is; you need to pray daily. You might say,

"I don't have time to pray daily. I have a job and I'm busy. I have to get up early and go to work. Where do I have time to pray then?

"I get home, have some supper, and before I know it, it is time to go to bed. Where do I get time to pray? I have a busy life."

Well where do you get time to reap a harvest? Is there a core desire? Is this as important to you as getting your breath under the water? If it is, you will find the time to pray.

And during your prayer time make sure you spend time in His presence. Don't come and rattle off your whole list. If this was so important I would have made it Step 1. I would have said,

"If you want something from the Lord, nag Him for it."

Praise Him

No, your first step is praise. You praise Him, lift Him up and thank Him and say,

"Lord I thank you that you have given me this thing."

That is the confession of faith.

"Lord I thank you that my needs are provided. I thank you that you have given me the desire of my heart. I thank you and I praise you, and I give you glory and honor."

You should in fact spend a good part of your prayer time doing that.

You might say,

"But I don't have it yet."

Well if you don't praise Him, you probably never will, because you have shut off the sunlight. You covered your plants and they will die and turn yellow.

After you have spent a bit of time praising Him, then get into His presence. You started thanking Him; now start loving Him because He is so wonderful that He loved you enough to provide all of that for you.

Worship Him, and as you do that you will see the sun begin to shine. The glory of His presence will begin to radiate upon you, and then all you need to do is enjoy Him.

Enjoy His Presence

Thank Him first, then worship Him and just enjoy His presence. The Scripture says,

In the presence of the Lord there is joy that fully satisfies; at His right hand there are pleasures that last forever.

Let the sun shine on your plants. Get into the glory of His presence.

You know that could take you a good hour of prayer; well at least a half an hour.

You say, "What - a half an hour of prayer?"

An hour is actually better. If you can at least do half an hour of prayer that is okay, but an hour is better.

"What? I can't pray for an hour."

Well perhaps you can't reap your harvest either. Perhaps what you are asking for is something you don't really desire. You really were not panting for breath when you were under the water. You were just trying to look for the fish.

Breathing wasn't so important, but you said,

"If I drown it is okay, at least I got some fish."

You must grow your harvest by staying in His presence as it grows up and comes to maturity.

You must develop your core desire. You must know that you have the right to ask for this. You must prepare your heart and the ground in which you are going to plant the seed.

You must plant your seed and water it continuously. You must deal with the enemies that would try and steal and oppose you. And you must keep your harvest growing in His presence.

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