Hosea 10:12 breaking up the fallow ground
Here is God’s solution for a backslidden and lukewarm church.
Sow for yourselves in righteousness –Sowing; –live right before God-
Believe and practice God’s word- let it dwell in your heart richly- Ask the Holy Spirit to water the seed of the word-Pray fervently-share the gospel.
Sow only good seeds Do only good deeds
Reap in mercy; Reaping; when we sowed in righteousness, we reaped a harvest of the Lord’s loving-kindness (chesed)
Our God is Chasidic-full of loving kindness.
Our God multiplies the righteous seed we have sown way beyond the measure we sowed.
Our first cycles of sowing and reaping produced a good harvest.
But something crept up on us- the sin crouching at the door?
Or the worries and cares of this life? The pursuit of wealth?
And now whatever has happened, the soil of our hearts has become fallow ground.
Examine your heart..........................take the Tozer [1] test.
The fallow heart is smug and cannot be taught much.
The fallow heart is self-contented.
The fallow heart is protected from the shock of the plow.
Some hearts have lain fallow year by year, safe and undisturbed.
The fallow heart focuses on past fruit.
The fallow heart has two signs on it; ‘Do not disturb’ and ‘Past-master.’
The fear of the plough means there can be no present fruit.
The spirit of adventure is dead.
The fallow heart is fenced in, and God is fenced out.
The fallow heart smiles indulgently at fastings, revivals, self searching and the need to move on in God.
The fallow soil has been hardened and can only support weeds, thorns, and thistles.
The very seeds sown by the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The soil of our hearts lies fallow to varying degrees-what state is your heart in tonight?
Examine your own heart... and take the Plough [2] test.
The ploughed heart practices confession and repentance
We need to keep short accounts with God and each other.
The ploughed heart has a sign ‘not safety first.’
The ploughed heart is discontent in God.
The ploughed heart is yearning and full of godly sorrow.
The ploughed heart is courageously obedient and ready to bear fruit.
Break up the fallow ground; Breaking- humble yourself before the Lord.
Confess that your heart has become hard, fallow, and shallow.
Acknowledge it is your own responsibility to break up the fallow ground.
Ask for his help and guidance in the breaking – the Holy Spirit will assist us.
Confess all known sin-all the usual suspects- found in the Ten Commandments
Include unforgiveness, bitterness, grudges, and resentment- then forsake them.
Amen
Prayer
[1] A.W. Tozer
[2] Michael Catt The power of surrender; breaking through to the ploughed life.
In Part 4 we continue to examine our own hearts and deal with our lives.