People talk about their marriages, "My marriage is not working. I wonder why...." Shouting and screaming at each other every day is not going to produce a good marriage.
Beating your husband or wife up is not going to help you. People need to be prepared to put 100 percent into their marriage—not just fifty-fifty. A marriage requires a commitment that gives everything to it.
When you love Jesus, you commit 100 percent to Him. He has control of every area of your life, including your finances. If He's not the Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. He has to be Lord of every area—your finances, your home, your children, your husband, wife and every decision you make.
It is the little things that we do in life that produce the greatest harvest. In a marriage, it is not so much the once-a-year big splash on the town. It's the small things you do every day—the goodbye kiss when you leave the house in the morning, the one flower that you might bring her or a thoughtful comment.
This principle is also applicable in the relationship you have with your children. It's so important to plant in your children a seed of love. They need to hear every day how much you love them. I do that with my kids all the time.
When I have to discipline them, I first tell them that I love them. When they were babies, I used to smother them with kisses. I always cuddled them.
Now that they are older, they come running to me in the morning. They so desire to love me. I tell my wife, "I'm reaping for every one of those kisses I've sown."
It's the constant sowing of seed that produces the harvest. The harvest doesn't come from the one-time gift that you sowed. If you cast your bread upon the waters at all times, it's going to come back to you on every wave (Eccl. 11:1).
When I was about six years old, we lived in a coastal town right on the bank of a river which runs into the Indian Ocean. It was a large river and the tides were very high and would come up to the back wall of the property. So you could just cast a line in and fish.
To get me out of the house, my mother used to tell me, "Go out there and wait until my ship comes in." I would sit there, hours going by, waiting for the ship to come in. Well, one day the revelation came to me. There was no ship coming in because she hadn't sent one out. I was waiting for something she never sent.
If you don't give anything, you are not going to receive anything. The Bible says, "And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). This is an attitude that has to be burning deep down in your heart.
When you sow daily in every area of your life, you maintain an attitude of expectancy. You expect the blessings of God so you can bless others on a daily basis. Let your prayer be, "Lord, make me a blessing, allow me to meet other people's needs in every area."
by Rodney Howard-Browne
Excerpt permission granted by R.H.E.B.A. Publishers