What ground in your heart is hard and weedy? What area is God asking you to steward the thorny ground and take possession of to make it a fruitful space? A lot of times we complain we don’t have enough yet God has already given us every good thing to accomplish every good work.
The question is are we willing to WORK, get dirty, and hurt? Are we willing to invest into what we already have and make that area fruitful before we beg God to give us more? Or do we invest in the flesh…in our movies and games and chips and fireworks that are enjoyable but don’t produce a harvest?
What would happen if we commit 30 minutes a day to digging out the weeds and being intentional to amend the soil of our hearts, and start sowing heirloom heritage seeds in that space? In a mere 30 days what would that ground look like?
The thing about these thorny thistles is that they thrive in hard dry miry clay and kill everything around it, even grass. They produce painful thorns that declare, “Don’t touch me. I’ll hurt you if you try to get rid of me!” It requires intentional preparation and determination. You can’t simply weed whack the leaves off. You need to manhandle that thorny weed and dig the root out. It’s time consuming, back grieving work but failing to do so will continue to destroy life anywhere near it.
You can’t stop there. You can’t simply dig the thistles out and think you’re done. You need to change the soil to make it less hospitable to thistles AND fill that land with fruitful plants that will possess that land and bring you a harvest. You cannot leave it barren or else all that hard work will be wasted. Sure, you could plant flowers or space takers but why not plant something that is both beautiful and edible? Instead of planting hostas, plant rhubarb. Instead of a coleus, plant sorrel. Instead of the red wooded dog-wood, plant Huauzontle-Red Aztec Spinach. Instead of a narrow cedar tree, plant a persimmon tree. Instead of watching TV for 30 minutes, play a family game. Instead of spending money on a drive-through work lunch, enjoy your wife’s supper leftovers (or invest in cooking magazines for her until you enjoy it like my husband did!). Instead of everyone having their heads buried in their individual screens, identify a family goal that will produce a harvest – be it decluttering your house and having a garage sale or spending time in family worship.
Identify what your thorns are. Is it spiritual apathy? Is it slothfulness and laziness? Is it distraction? Is it being emotionally disconnection? Is it passivity, thinking you’ll have time later? Is it getting busy skating circles in front of the home net but never taking the risk to score on the offensive net? Is it addictions? Is it fear/bitterness/anger/rejection/avoidance?
What is the fruitful plants that can fill that soil? What can you steward wisely? If you are working a corporate job, are you working on your character to be an employee of excellence? Are you investing time into learning leadership and stewardship skills? (Life Leadership resources are great for that) If you are a self-employed person, are you hire you? Are you diligent with your time management? Is your skill showcasing the character of Christ in everything you put your hand to? Are you demonstrating obedience to God’s commandments in everything you put your hand and tongue and thought to? Are you stewarding your spiritual gifts in your day to day lives, as you walk through check-out line or sharing a meal with someone or chatting on FaceBook with friends and investing in growing in your identified giftings? If God has given you a prophetic anointing, have you chased after prophetic training to mature that gifting? (http://ami-campus.com/ is the best ministry I’ve found for intentional training instead of simply stuffing your head full of facts without any application.) If you discover you actually don’t know HOW to hear God’s voice, then invest the time to learn and turn it into a family or small group so that there’s accountability and a lot more fun! (https://www.cwgministries.org/Four-Keys-to-Hearing-Gods-Voice is the resource that woke me up to God’s voice back in 2015) Teaching my now 4, 7, and 10 yr old children to hear/see God’s voice has been so rewarding because now we have 5 of us all seeking God’s face and getting a clearer picture of what God wants to share with our family.
As I was chatting my above thoughts to some close friends, a notification that Kay Nash had just released a prophetic word popped up. Beware of Thorns! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-0vam5lXCM )
We went out to the thistle patch in the picture above and w combined family effort, we dug up a surprising 24 gallons worth of thistle weeds in a mere 25 min. In the time it took to watch a single cartoon episode, as a united family working together we thoroughly deweeded 1 square meter and spot-weeded the rest and the children had so much fun! We also discovered that not all the dirt back there was bad dehydrated clay. Some of it was sandy clay loam that wild flowers are growing in which means veggies can grow in it, too! Sometimes we don’t discover the blessing that was always there until we dig out the weeds that were devouring our fruitful land. Because of obeying the LORD’s prompting this morning to “Go spy out the land.” And then following God’s leading to start digging out those thistles, which lead to this blog post, we just saved ourselves $50 worth of dirt that meets a current need, that I can mix into my square foot garden plots to fill them back up. My children had a blast, too!
I bless you to receive a glimpse of the abundant fruit that is produced in your Promised Land.
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