Most often we hear more about seed planting and less often about the ground the seed is planted in. In Matthew 13, we read about the different soils and their effect on the seed’s reproduction. In this parable, most of the seeds didn’t survive to produce a harvest. How sad to think of all the time and effort taken to plant a seed that would never produce anything. I believe in the past, too much seed has been stolen or destroyed before it can produce the great harvest God promised. I also believe that in this next season, God is calling us to be diligent with the ground we plant in, so that our yield is great; specifically, the ground of our hearts. I hear the Lord saying in this next season that we must prepare the ground of our hearts, because the seeds planted will produce a destiny making and earth shaking Harvest!
Last Sunday, I received and shared this prophetic word in church.
Break up the fallow ground of your hearts. The little foxes have slipped in. Indifference, unforgiveness…hardness… has overtaken your hearts… What used to grieve you no longer does. Your passion for me has waned. Search your heart today and break up it’s fallow ground. Repent. Return to me and make your heart pliable in my hand. I will give you a new heart. I will restore you and will increase your passion. I’m calling you higher, because I want to take you places you’ve never been before. All I need is your heart, and I will do the rest.
Hosea 10:12 is the scripture quoted in the word the Lord gave me.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Fallow ground is untilled soil and is hard and unable to carry the seed to fruition. For actual seeds to be able to be planted, this ground has to be broken up, the hard crust being removed and the soft, fertile part becoming exposed. How does this apply to our hearts? We break up the hard ground of our hearts and expose fertile hearts through repentance.
REPENTANCE is key to plowing the ground or breaking up the fallow ground of our hearts. Unfortunately, repentance is often misunderstood and neglected in the body of Christ these days. Yet, it’s a foundational truth that is vital to our walk with God. Repentance (the greek word metanoia) while includes sorrow and regret, is much more than that. It requires action. True repentance is making a complete change of direction – a 180° turn. We turn from our sin and turn towards God.
Joel 2:23 expresses this,
“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”
The Hebrew word for “rend” literally means to tear or cut to pieces. The Hebrew custom was to tear one’s clothes when feeling grief. It was an outward expression; however, the prophet was calling God’s people to a true repentance of the heart. This is why he said rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord.
Repentance is something we do of our own free will. Only we can come broken before the Lord. Only we can submit our hearts to Him. God is a gentleman. He gave us free will and He’ll never force us to repent or submit. It’s an act of humility on our parts to come broken before the Lord (James 4:8-10).
Repentance is very powerful. God is drawn to a repentant, humble heart. We see God’s response to repentance expressed in 2 Chronicles 7:14:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Repentance places us in the position for miracles to take place, and for God’s glory to be revealed in and through us. Why? Because we have crucified our flesh and get out of the way for the Spirit to move. The Bible says, “No flesh can glory in the Presence of God (1 Corinthians 1:29).” In our humbled condition, we become conduits for the glory of God. God loves a broken and contrite heart; one that is pliable in His hands (Ps. 51:17). One that says, “You alone are God and I worship you.”
Another beautiful part of repentance is the supernatural heart change God works in us. Ezekiel 36:26-27 says:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
This heart surgery began the very day we accepted Christ, but is a continual process as we continue to make Jesus absolute Lord over our lives. We need God’s heart more than ever in this season to accomplish His will on the face of the earth. People of God, lets be diligent to perform regular heart checks (Psalm 139:23-24). Let’s not allow our hearts to get hard and unpliable in God’s hand. Let’s turn from the things that draw us away from God, and return to God wholeheartedly.
I’ve shared in my recent blog posts, the excitement I feel regarding this new year for the body of Christ as a whole. I told my husband I believe we have entered the age of the Glorious Church. God’s people haven’t seen anything yet! But it’s coming. We must prepare the ground our hearts so that we can be the very vessels that birth forth this Harvest of glory to come. This is our very purpose as Gods people.
Get ready, get ready, get ready! Can you hear it? The earth is groaning and it’s time for the sons of God to be revealed!
