Breaking Up Your Fallow Ground "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Jeremiah 4:3 In many modern dictionaries fallow ground means plowed, but left unseeded during the growing season. This is actually a modern definition of the word that changed from the days of Jeremiah. The original meaning of fallow ground meant un-cultivated, which means un-plowed (not broken up), un-prepared. It may be hard or stony soil, and it is often covered with weeds and thorns. Jeremiah was speaking to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, talking about their heart. In the parable of the sower Jesus also referred to the heart as it were earth, ground, or soil. . .

Matthew 13:3-8 3* And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4* And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5* Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6* And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7* And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8* But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

It is clear that again some of the soil was either not prepared to receive the seed (no understanding), or it was not prepared or maintained well enough so that it could take root and survive (no root in themselves), or the thorns choked it (cares of this world). It is

all speaking about the heart. Many today have hearts that are not able to receive the Word of God. Others receive it in the beginning, but because they have no root in themselves they can not endure, and they fall away. Yet others get caught up in the cares of the world and are caught away. We have taken a huge step towards the solution of our dilemma if we can recognize any of these things in ourselves. If we recognize that our own ground is fallow, un-cultivated, stony, or covered in thorns, it does not need to be a permanent condition! I recognized some of these things in my own life. Some seed sown in my life seemingly fell by the wayside. My heart has been stony, and I have had insufficient root in myself. Often the cares of the world choked the Word that was trying to bear fruit in me. The good news is that if you can recognize the problem, now you have information whereby you can take action to change it! What can you do? How do you change your heart? A lot the solution does have to do with you. You have to want to change. But you need help beyond your ability. Recognizing my issues and my failures I began to pray continually for God to break up my fallow ground, to get the stones out of my soil, to fertilize, to do a soil transplant. I needed to get rid of my sandy soil and put in some dark rich soil whereby the seed could take root, grow and bear fruit in my life. Keep in mind that God gives us free volition and free will. He does not create robots. You have to desire change. With prayer God can and will shape you, just as the potter forms the clay. But that clay has to be malleable.

I was reminded of the following verses . . . Luke 14:26-33 26* If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27* And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28* For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 29* Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30* Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 31* Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him

with twenty thousand? 32* Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 33* So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. 1 John 2:15-16 15* Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16* For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. Over time I began to notice changes in myself. I began to actually hate many of the things of the world that I used to enjoy. I praise God that I am no longer the person that I was. God is so good! My prayer is for God to continue to change me as He would have me to be, for Spiritual growth, and for wisdom. Hows your soil? Jesus changed water into wine, the dead into the living, the blind into the seeing, and caused the lame to walk. He set the stars in the universe, spoke a world into existence, and made every living creature. He formed man and breathed into his nostrils creating in him a living soul. If he did all that, He is able to bring about change in you, if it is your desire to conform to His image.