Breaking Up Fallow Ground

 As I have been praying for someone, I was lead to pray for their fallow ground to be unearthed. Why? This person needs to be restored, and only God can do it.

This person has fallen prey to the enemy scheme unaware. No one corrects this person and when confronted, no one is let in or believed. So thoroughly deceived by the enemy's tactics. 

These are days of much deception, we need to be grounded in the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

We need to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. We need to be in fellowship and we need a pastor who will guide us and speak truth into our lives.  We need correction.

We should realize that we need to be planted in a church and grow. One problem I had was when the enemy hit me, I did not have a pastor, just leadership, in my church.  This person in leadership,  kick me off church property, I was not acting right, I was being weird.

 I got no help, and because of that I left. Because of that, I was separated out from the flock.  I was easy prey for the enemy.

Don't be separated from the body of Christ. You need a church and a pastor. We are not meant to be alone as Christians. When Jesus sent them out he sent them out by two's. This was important then and is important today. We are not to stand alone.

 This understanding that we need others is very important,  we need people in our life to help keep us get cleaned up from the snare of the enemy. No one is special in the body of Christ, we are all the same straight across-the-board. We are all different and  with different gifting's, The anointing should come from the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of false information floating around. We need to understand our gifting's and anointing, what do they mean in our lives and how to operate in those gifting's. Being odd is not necessary being correct. We need help in understanding spiritual things.

Stay connected to the safe and healthy. No ones is  above reproach. We need to help each other to stay spiritually healthy and clean. If a person thinks they're special, they can mess up their life. No one is special, we're just human beings. So therefore,  don't separate yourself,  don't isolate yourself, it's not healthy especially for a Christian.

We have an enemy of our souls and he wants to see us separated and isolated. He wants our ground to go follow.  Undeveloped  ground, is ground that is hard and parched.

This kind of ground can be in secret, hidden from others by a smile and a hallelujah and praise God , bless you brother. But after a while you fool nobody (except yourself). You keep moving, You seem spiritual, yet unattached. Lord help this person, They need you to turn their life around, help them be on track with You again.

You see I stayed away for two years, I stayed home I didn't go to church. I was too ashamed, too messed up, who could help me? I did start looking for a Church, now understanding my need, I realized what my need was. I kept visiting Church looking for the right one and then God guided  me to where I could grow and get help.

So for some of you who are in the same  condition as I was, don't give up. Keep looking for that church, God will direct you. Keep seeking help,  keep praying don't give up. fight hard,  keep the faith, not everybody will turn their back on you. 

"BREAKING UP OUR FALLOW GROUND

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that He may come and rain righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12”

Many of us have heard of the concept of sowing and reaping both literally as in farming and spiritually as in evangelizing and spreading the gospel.  But as I reflect on this scripture, I see a much deeper meaning than a cursory reading might bring.

When I look at the words “fallow ground” I wanted clarification on exactly what the prophet Hosea meant.  I think many of us today are sufficiently removed from the agricultural lifestyle that was prevalent at the time of Hosea.  My rough definition is that it is ground that is left uncultivated and unused. And that is true, but it is much more than that.

My digging led me to a famous theologian and pastor in the early 1900s, A. W. Tozer. He did a sermon on this exact scripture.  In it he explains the significance of fallow ground in the biblical, spiritual sense and used the literal explanations as well. 

He illustrates that there were only two types of ground:  fallow field and the plowed field. But the important feature is that the fallow ground is a field that has fertile soil! It had been tilled, and productive but over time the owner gets lazy and lets it lie many years.  Soon enough it gets overgrown with weeds, dandelions, briar rose, etc. Because it’s unplowed, it becomes barren.  It is neglected, old, hard and produces nothing—no harvest, no contribution.

It takes a plow share which bites down into the ground which was pulled by horses or oxen with great difficulty to turn it over.  Surprisingly, once turned over the land was pretty good.  Then seeds are planted and nature goes to work “and the miracle of life becomes evident. Dorman powers are released. It becomes fruitful. “

Daniel Czippan, Unsplash

In the Christian life, we have two kinds of lives also.  The fallow life and the plowed life.  “The fallow life is content with himself and the fruit he once bore.”  He takes it easy – he may be religious and busy with activity but does not extend himself beyond his comfort zone. He may even become self-righteous.  So as he fences himself in the danger is that  he has fenced out God. They exhibit no plow into their souls and evidence no further growth and no fruit.

Dru Kelley, Unsplash

The plowed life on the other hand feels the urge and pressure of the Holy Spirit as it convicts his heart. In obedience he allows his soul to cry out as he recognizes his fruitless living. He becomes willing to allow God to break the barren soil and make it ready again for the seed.  And as always, fruit follows the plow.  Life and growth begin as God rains down righteousness.

Even in the biblical history of Israel and the Church we learn that God works as long as His people live daringly: He ceases when they no longer need Him. There are dynamic, heroic times and static, sluggish times.

As a WOW sister, I can testify to the hard work that so many of the women in our group do—extending themselves, desiring to be obedient and following God’s word.  The successes we have been privileged to participate in have always pointed to the glory of our Lord and His desire to bless others as we work, push, pursue, submit and pray.  

Hosea calls us to break up our fallow ground! But how do we do this? Our spiritual plow share is the act of contrition!  As we humbly seek God in truth we must examine and confess, asking for restitution.

Humbly bowing before the boundless, limitless God I ask for conviction of my self-focused ways.  Am I too taken by the things of this world -- too complacent, too comfortable with the world?  Am I seeking holiness in my life? Do I have an appropriate view of God?  Am I making him too small? Do I recognize that he is everything? Could my faith survive the loss of all things?

As I put these petitions before the Lord, and acknowledge my sins and shortcomings, I ask for his plow share. All the while, I believe that I will experience the joy of taking God at his word, following it in my daily life, and expecting that he will rain righteousness.

-- Lorraine Pruitt © February 2020"