I've Plowed, Now What?

An absolute essential to spiritual renewal is breaking up of fallow, or hardened, ground. This is typically a process that the Lord takes us through as we set ourselves to seek Him.

After this is accomplished, and we know that our heart is tender towards Him, we have to plant seeds of renewal. We know that the word of God is referred to as seed in the Gospels.

This is a point that is taken all too lightly by most in the Church today. It amazes me that adherents of false religions will become genuine students of their "scriptures", actually learning what they profess to believe, while Christians seemingly are content to go along year after year without growing in their knowledge of the Lord throughout His word; thus leading to a "feelings" oriented religion.

When the people of the Lord were on the verge of entering into the promised land, as recorded in the Book of Joshua, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Josh. 1:8).

And, then, in John 15:7 we find the New Testament equivalent of this, as Jesus says: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done."

The seed determines the harvest! If the word of Christ is dwelling richly in our hearts, we will enjoy a harvest of His grace. If, on the other hand, we are filling our hearts with things of the world, then we will not know the close relationship with the Lord what He has called us unto.

Romans chapter plainly tells us that if we sow to the flesh we will reap corruption; however, if we sow to the spirit, will will have a harvest of life and peace!

The choice is pretty clear as we consider it from an eternal perspective. May we, by God's grace, continually sow the seeds of His divine purpose into our lives!