tilling

I continue to mull over the word of the Lord about this year and what has been said. If you have not read my post “It’s Time to Plow Through in This New Year”, I implore you to check that out also. As I’ve been meditating further, I’ve heard confirming words being spoken by many other prophetic voices on the exact same thing. It has stirred within me something for the days and weeks ahead. As we move closer to February, there can be no doubt that many people will start to think about Valentine’s Day and the ones whom they love. This is a good thing because your heart is exactly the focus where God is calling many to focus their attention.

Your Heart is Soil:

If we are to be in a mode of preparation for a harvest of souls or any harvest that God would have for us, our hearts must be prepared. Jesus spoke to his followers about the power of a seed in Mark chapter 4. It speaks of a farmer who went out to sow seed, and the types of ground where the seed fell. He says that some fell upon rocky or stony ground. Some fell among thorns. Lastly, he mentions how some fell on good soil. Jesus’ emphasis on bringing this forth to his followers is to remind them of the heart that they need to have in receiving God’s word.

Our hearts are soil which must be pliable and ready to receive the word of God if we are to produce an expectant harvest. Our harvest is dependent upon the readiness of our hearts to receive what God is wanting to put in us so that we can manifest the harvest He desires to bring forth.

Tilling the Soil:

While plowing through into this year, I began to look at the method that a farmer uses to prepare the soil for what they planned to plant. What I discovered was that in modern agriculture, the farmer uses plows that dig deep straight rows, occasionally glancing back to be sure the rows are straight and that there is nothing that would block or knock them off track. The plowing of the soil serves a two-fold purpose. One, it loosens the soil so that it can be made into a seed bed. Two, it buries previous crop residue and weeds in the process.

As Christians, our hearts can periodically become tough or resistant to the “new” or the “now” thing that God is desiring to bring forth in our lives, because we’ve become accustomed to how things are. We’ve learned a particular way of God and make a tradition, doctrine, or habit out of it. God is always wanting to do a new thing – a fresh thing – a greater thing. If our hearts cannot receive the seed of God’s “now” word, our effectiveness will be no better than the sower who threw seed among the stony or thorny ground. Either we will invite the enemy of our soul to come and take away that powerful seed from us; or the word fails to take root because we dealt with it at a surface level. While it looked good in the beginning, the harvest is short-lived because the seed wasn’t deep enough within us to take root.

What Tilling Looks Like in Our Heart:

Whenever God is about to do something of great substance, He will often instruct His chosen vessel to consecrate themselves or tell the whole nation to consecrate themselves. The Strong’s Concordance says that the Hebrew word for consecration, “qadash”, essentially translates to “prepare, set apart, dedicate, honor, purify, or to treat as holy”. We are told by Paul the apostle that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that we are to be renewed to the things of God, not the carnal ways of this world. This comes through understanding God’s word, meditating upon it, allowing the Holy Spirit to cultivate God’s character and nature within us.

When we make our heart pliable for receiving what He wants to produce within us, we position ourselves for producing and manifesting what God desires to see come forth from us. Let this time be a time in which you are specifically focused on your heart, rooting out the weeds and the residue of the past harvests that might get in the way of what God wants for this “now season”. Let this be a time in which your heart begins to receive the seeds of faith for God’s character, evidenced through the fruit of the spirit; especially love. We are told the world will know us by the love we show, not just to one another, but the world as a whole.

A true harvest is awaiting the evidence of a love that knows no bounds. Love is ultimately a sacrifice of self. It is the giving up of what I want for what God wants. When our hearts become tender enough to receive this truth, pay close attention to what God is able bring forth from that love that is deeply rooted within.