ANCHOR SCRIPTURE – HOSEA 10:12 – Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
SUPPORTING SCRIPTURES – PSALM 1:3 – And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper
Welcome back to the series on breaking your fallow ground.
To recap this series, the previous recommended seeking God as the first step in allowing God to change your heart and break your fallow ground. The second step in breaking your fallow ground is to Hear His Voice and Obey His Instructions. Let’s break it down.
Hear His Voice
First, we need the ability to hear God and then we need to be obedient in following his instructions. A common concern for people is how to hear the voice of God. How do you hear God? How do you know God is speaking to you? How do you identify God’s voice? Well, the answer is quite simple, refer back to our first step, Seeking God. When you seek the Lord with all your heart, strength, and might(Jeremiah 29:13) through praying, reading, studying his word, and listening to godly counsel, you’ll hear God. In biblical times, a select few were privileged to hear God. Some may have heard God audibly, others through angelic encounters and instructions, visions, mountain retreats and many more. Now, everyone can hear God if they choose to listen. How lucky are we to have the holy spirit? To host the spirit of the living God who raised Jesus from the dead in our mortal bodies? (Romans 8:11) How blessed are we to have the bible, the literal thoughts of God, to have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the mind of our creator? How blessed are we to live in a dispensation of grace where the veil has been torn, where we have access to the throne room of grace?
Scriptures say, “ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful” (Joshua 1:8). To hear God we must not only read but after reading mediate and after meditating obey.
Obey his Instructions
God Promise to the children of Israel He’ll take them to a land flowing with milk and honey. When God makes a promise for our future, He has a plan for it.
God told the Israelites to “Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and their descendants after them.” Our prayer as Christians should be, “Oh Lord Guide me to where you have prepared my destiny. Guide me to people that will help. Direct me on what to do and where to go in this year. You cannot possess the land God has for you if you do not obey his instructions. Obedience is a principle in breaking your fallow ground.
A great example of a man who broke his fallow Ground in the bible was Gideon. When the Israelites disobeyed God and worshiped other idols, God handed them over to the Midianites. In a time of great misery and suffering the Israelites hid to enjoy basic necessities. One day, Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites and the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said,
“The Lord is with you, mighty warrior (Judges 6:12)” and Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”. 16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”
From threshing wheat in a wine press to becoming the warrior that delivered Israel from the Midianites, Gideon was able to prosper Gideon because he believed and accepted God’s word concerning his destiny. He chose to believe the label God had given him. In a time
The presence of God’s voice is not without battles and hurdles but he promises to direct us in the process. The Holy Spirit is our teacher. We are promised a victorious life with the obedience of God’s word. The word of God is essential to navigating our lives. Whether it is the word of God or the ministration from the spirit of God, obedience is and will always be the best path to take.
With a continuous attitude of seeking the lord, hungering after his word and trusting and obeying him, the fallow ground of our hearts and our lives continues to grow softer and softer.
- Thoughts of God, Dr. Joseph Siju