I had never heard about seed faith giving to God before 2006. That year I had been unemployed for almost a year, I was 60 years old and no employer wanted to hire me, I was running out of money and about to lose a house my ex-wife was still living in about 35 miles north of me. I was depressed and didn't know where my next dollar was coming from...or if there'd even be any more dollars.
I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord that year as well. I had lived over 40 years without God and Jesus in my life. I was a sinner, but I returned to the God and Savior I accepted when I was a teenager. Still, I had no clue about how I was going to make it financially. Then, one night, while watching Richard Roberts' television program, "The Place for Miracles," Richard explained how seed faith giving works, and I began to believe it. The principle is that you sow a special seed unto the Lord, attaching your need or needs to that seed as you sow it, believing that God will use it for His glory and multiply it back to you in the form of a bountiful harvest.
A seed faith gift is different than a regular Sunday offering at your church. A seed faith gift is a special gift unto the Lord, and generally of a rather significant amount. As a young man I used to cringe at the thought of putting $5 in the offering plate on Sunday mornings. However, in 2006 the Lord laid on my heart to sow a nice monetary seed into the Oral Roberts Ministry, believing fully that God would multiply my seed gift back to me. I prayed, "Lord, I am broke, the unemployment money has run out, I am making it by selling stock that my father left me, I don't have a clue if I'll find another job at my age, I am going on interview after interview and no employer is offering me a job, and I can't make the old house payments up the road and I am very close to losing everything I've invested in that house. Father God, I am cheerfully sowing this special seed gift unto You in good fertile ground, believing You will bring me a bountiful financial harvest."
I remember taking the seed faith check to the post office that very night. Even though I was in a financial mess, I was so happy as I dropped the envelope containing the check into the outgoing mail slot at the post office. My special seed faith gift had been sown to the Lord, and I then started to believe for the harvest.
Exactly three weeks to the day after I sowed my seed, $1,400 was mysteriously deposited in my bank checking account. My first thought was that it was a bank error and that the bank had accidently deposited someone else's money into my checking account. Folks, it was no bank error. The deposit was actually made by someone, unknown to me, into my bank account. Let's think about it. Doesn't God know where I bank, and my account number as well? Yes He does. I fully believe God had someone, perhaps one of his Angels on this earth, drop by the branch bank and make that deposit in my account. I'll believe it until the day I die.
Then, would you believe, a couple weeks later a local company offered me a job as a salesman for their firm. Wow, not only had I received a bank deposit of a significant amount, but I got a job too. And, about three months after I was hired, I was promoted to store manager and the company paid all my moving expenses to relocate me to Northwest Arkansas. I got a huge raise, a company cell phone, and all sorts of perks. I was in a good financial position once again. And, about two months after that, the house that I was so fearful of losing, suddenly sold.
What a bountiful harvest Father God provided me! I couldn't have asked for anything more. The principle of seed faith giving does indeed work, and the financial harvest that God brought me is absolute proof of it. I'm not telling my story here to be boastful, but to simply point out how faithful God is when we trust and believe in Him.
Seed faith giving was instituted by God at the beginning of time. In Genesis 8:22, God says, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest shall not cease." In Malachi 3:10-11, God says, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house and try Me now in this. I will open for you the windows of Heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."
Any farmer knows that seed has to be planted every year in order to receive a harvest. The seed has to be watered, fertilized, and tilled to insure a maximum crop. Seed can't just be planted and not cultivated. If a farmer doesn't tend to his fields, weeds will spring up and choke out his crops. God really doesn't need any of our money. He is the creator and owner of all precious metals in the earth. God has all the riches He will ever need. But He expects us, as Christians, to plant our seeds in His Houses of the Lord so that he may return blessings to us many fold.
Sow a special seed faith gift with your House of the Lord, attaching your need to the seed as you sow it. See if it doesn't work for you just like it did for me. No matter what your needs are--physical healing, healing of finances, relationships, healing of addictions-- you can expect God to be your Lord of the Harvest.