In the beginning God established the seasonal principle of seed time and harvest in the natural world. This brings us to our next principle of spiritual harvest:

You do not harvest in the same season you sow: Sowing is necessary in order to have a harvest, but the harvest does not come in seed time. Many who try to enter into this cycle of financial harvest become discouraged because they do not understand this principle. They give sacrificially, but don't see immediate results.

After sowing, you must wait for the seed to germinate, just as a natural seed germinates when it is put into the ground. Psalms l speaks of this process in the life of believers:

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season… (Psalm 1:3)

If there are fruitful seasons of life, then this means there are also periods which seem unfruitful. These are periods of preparing the ground, sowing, cultivating, and waiting for the crop to grow and the harvest to come in. But these seasons are not wasted. They are important and necessary to bring in the harvest.

The Apostle Paul admonished:

Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

You will reap if you are patient: One vital key to your financial harvest — your spiritual breakthrough — is timing. Timing is the hidden, mysterious ingredient to a supernatural harvest. Timing requires patience. Patience is the forgotten, but powerful season, between sowing and reaping. Patient waiting reveals your trust in God:

The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:25-26 )

Sometimes waiting may be painful, but our spiritual walk is a life-long journey — it is one long continual cycle of spiritual harvest, sowing and reaping, seed time and harvest.

Some of you have lost your harvest because of the pain of waiting, but if you will just hold on, the joy of harvest will surely come:

…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

Waiting is burdensome and has a tendency to breed frustration, doubt, unbelief, anger, and criticism. All of these can abort your harvest. You may not have the resources at hand immediately, but you must learn to trust God, just like the farmer who waits patiently for the seed to sprout.

I am not weary in well doing because I know I will reap if I am patient. I am like a tree planted by the river and whatever I do will prosper.