(no subject)
lets face it. i get around. ive been to like every church in gainesville. (yall thought i mean i have sex with lots of people- silly bitches)...
anyway. so ive heard a lot of different pastors sermons and its not often that i remember them. even if they were really good ones. but today i was praying and i suddenly remembered this sermon that pastor phil gave at Abundant Grace about fallow ground. and since i love plant imagery in the bible, im gonna talk about it.
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
I remembered "fallow ground" is land that could be productive, but for whatever reason has not been broken up, tilled, plowed, or prepared for planting. it is not yielding a harvest. that ground is not going to be productive untill you remove the filth, or stumps, roots, etc. that are keeping it from being fertile and abundant. Spiritually, these "stumps" can be things like hatred, bitterness, lust, greed, idols, etc. Those obstacles are hard to break up, and it usually is kind of painful to face those things. But heres the kewl thing that God revealed to me- you cant pick at the stump/hardness with a tiny shovel and expect it to go away.If you're serious about putting this field into production, it will require considerable digging, strength, and horsepower to move the rocks from the field.
Whatever has been growing in your heart that has been separeating you from God must be rooted out so a new crop can be planted. Grain doesn't flourish under the shade of trees... the roots, and stumps must be removed so the new crop can grow in the light.
The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:19
--> we get so caught up in worrying about what we dont have and what we are striving for that we forget that we have a God who is holy and a life that is eternal. what is there to freaking worry about? i can say
for once that there are things in my life that i have peace about now that i never did before. i cant say that those things will never come back and try and bring me down, but i battled them once, and ive learned.
BUt if you are feeling "fallow" and unused by God and unfruitful, think about somethign that may be keeping you from God-an obstacle in the way of the farmers plow. Things take root and hold on.
Have you ever tried to effing kill weeds in the yard? me and my sister always had to pull weeds in our yard when we were little... they freaking grew back every week. One thing i learned in Peru while i was pulling weeds with Tara was to "get the root". if your root is large and more of a stump, get an axe. and if your axe isnt cutting, SWING HARDER.
My walk with God isn't always good, and obviously isnt perfect. Its discouraging a lot. But i know from experience that turning to the word and spending time with God is always beneficial. And God is SOOOO faithful when you are obedient. even our half hearted prayers are heard by God.
anyway i have cheerleading today.. in 20 mins.. on the other side of town...
Last week the devotion for practice was basically presenting the Gospel... it took of most of practice and i talked about it alot to these little girls and they are so smart and ask so many good questions and i jsut get excited for them... but not many have been there lately... jsut the 3 korean girls have been coming regularly. they freakin rock too. but i have tried calling the others... idk whats going on.. its wierd.
T, you will get an email later... today has been very busy.. but not the asshole kind.
anyway. so ive heard a lot of different pastors sermons and its not often that i remember them. even if they were really good ones. but today i was praying and i suddenly remembered this sermon that pastor phil gave at Abundant Grace about fallow ground. and since i love plant imagery in the bible, im gonna talk about it.
Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
I remembered "fallow ground" is land that could be productive, but for whatever reason has not been broken up, tilled, plowed, or prepared for planting. it is not yielding a harvest. that ground is not going to be productive untill you remove the filth, or stumps, roots, etc. that are keeping it from being fertile and abundant. Spiritually, these "stumps" can be things like hatred, bitterness, lust, greed, idols, etc. Those obstacles are hard to break up, and it usually is kind of painful to face those things. But heres the kewl thing that God revealed to me- you cant pick at the stump/hardness with a tiny shovel and expect it to go away.If you're serious about putting this field into production, it will require considerable digging, strength, and horsepower to move the rocks from the field.
Whatever has been growing in your heart that has been separeating you from God must be rooted out so a new crop can be planted. Grain doesn't flourish under the shade of trees... the roots, and stumps must be removed so the new crop can grow in the light.
The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:19
--> we get so caught up in worrying about what we dont have and what we are striving for that we forget that we have a God who is holy and a life that is eternal. what is there to freaking worry about? i can say
for once that there are things in my life that i have peace about now that i never did before. i cant say that those things will never come back and try and bring me down, but i battled them once, and ive learned.
BUt if you are feeling "fallow" and unused by God and unfruitful, think about somethign that may be keeping you from God-an obstacle in the way of the farmers plow. Things take root and hold on.
Have you ever tried to effing kill weeds in the yard? me and my sister always had to pull weeds in our yard when we were little... they freaking grew back every week. One thing i learned in Peru while i was pulling weeds with Tara was to "get the root". if your root is large and more of a stump, get an axe. and if your axe isnt cutting, SWING HARDER.
My walk with God isn't always good, and obviously isnt perfect. Its discouraging a lot. But i know from experience that turning to the word and spending time with God is always beneficial. And God is SOOOO faithful when you are obedient. even our half hearted prayers are heard by God.
anyway i have cheerleading today.. in 20 mins.. on the other side of town...
Last week the devotion for practice was basically presenting the Gospel... it took of most of practice and i talked about it alot to these little girls and they are so smart and ask so many good questions and i jsut get excited for them... but not many have been there lately... jsut the 3 korean girls have been coming regularly. they freakin rock too. but i have tried calling the others... idk whats going on.. its wierd.
T, you will get an email later... today has been very busy.. but not the asshole kind.