Farming to hit the target
Greetings in the Lord!
This summer my father asked me to help him with the planting of his garden since he was recuperating from surgery. I groaned. "Ah, come on Dad, gardening's not my thing. It's your thing. Besides, I'm crippled too, I hurt my knee."
"But if we don't do it now, it will be too late. The growing season is short enough as it is." Feeling like the ungrateful daughter, I relented. "OK, I'll plant beans; you can cover them over."
So, together we started planting the green beans. I carefully dropped them into the shallow furrow, spacing them out just right and not clumping the seeds together. Still, no matter how careful I was some of the seeds rolled next to rocks in the soil or clumped together anyway, and I started to calculate just how fruitful or not this planting would be. Really dry, somewhat rocky soil, middle of hot July, rabbits, birds and bugs...maybe not so many beans this year.
Hmm, farming was not quite my mentality. I was more of a marksman at heart: ready, aim and shoot to hit the target! Even in ministry I was used to giving specific words to certain people, not just randomly speaking and seeing what stuck. Then it occurred to me, I wonder if God is preparing me for a different type of season of ministry? I recalled the summer when I felt led to make camp fires everyday---even when it was damp outside. That summer was preparation for a season of starting "fires of revival" everywhere I went. Literally, the Lord had sent me all over the United States to speak to so many different types of congregations---hungry people, that were all praying for revival and bringing the Word to them to get it started there. Incredible and humbling how God allows us to be a part of what He is doing!
In Mark 4 Jesus tells the parable of the sower and of how many of his own seeds were either choked out by weeds, withered from the sun, had weak root systems in shallow ground, or were eaten by feeding birds. Only the ones that were sown in good soil produced fruit---but thirty, sixty, or hundred times as much! It really is the season to 'go for broke' so to speak, and sow, sow, sow, seeds of the Gospel wherever you find yourself. But know this---Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that he talks to the people in parables so that,
"They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!" Mark 4:11 In other words, there is lots of bad soil out there these days---stubborn, hardened hearts that are dry and rocky, or full of weeds, and the birds are very active as well, swooping in and eating freshly planted seeds. And Lord knows that many of His planters are weary, wounded, and struggling to find the energy in the hot sun to get the job done...do it together! The growing season is short people---you cannot be lazy these days or there won't be a crop at harvest time, and it's just around the corner.
I feel the urging of the Holy Spirit so much these days and I know that He who began a good work in us is well able to bring it to completion! So, my farmers---get to work now planting seed and in a short time what you've done this season will bear much fruit!
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
This summer my father asked me to help him with the planting of his garden since he was recuperating from surgery. I groaned. "Ah, come on Dad, gardening's not my thing. It's your thing. Besides, I'm crippled too, I hurt my knee."
"But if we don't do it now, it will be too late. The growing season is short enough as it is." Feeling like the ungrateful daughter, I relented. "OK, I'll plant beans; you can cover them over."
So, together we started planting the green beans. I carefully dropped them into the shallow furrow, spacing them out just right and not clumping the seeds together. Still, no matter how careful I was some of the seeds rolled next to rocks in the soil or clumped together anyway, and I started to calculate just how fruitful or not this planting would be. Really dry, somewhat rocky soil, middle of hot July, rabbits, birds and bugs...maybe not so many beans this year.
Hmm, farming was not quite my mentality. I was more of a marksman at heart: ready, aim and shoot to hit the target! Even in ministry I was used to giving specific words to certain people, not just randomly speaking and seeing what stuck. Then it occurred to me, I wonder if God is preparing me for a different type of season of ministry? I recalled the summer when I felt led to make camp fires everyday---even when it was damp outside. That summer was preparation for a season of starting "fires of revival" everywhere I went. Literally, the Lord had sent me all over the United States to speak to so many different types of congregations---hungry people, that were all praying for revival and bringing the Word to them to get it started there. Incredible and humbling how God allows us to be a part of what He is doing!
In Mark 4 Jesus tells the parable of the sower and of how many of his own seeds were either choked out by weeds, withered from the sun, had weak root systems in shallow ground, or were eaten by feeding birds. Only the ones that were sown in good soil produced fruit---but thirty, sixty, or hundred times as much! It really is the season to 'go for broke' so to speak, and sow, sow, sow, seeds of the Gospel wherever you find yourself. But know this---Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that he talks to the people in parables so that,
"They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!" Mark 4:11 In other words, there is lots of bad soil out there these days---stubborn, hardened hearts that are dry and rocky, or full of weeds, and the birds are very active as well, swooping in and eating freshly planted seeds. And Lord knows that many of His planters are weary, wounded, and struggling to find the energy in the hot sun to get the job done...do it together! The growing season is short people---you cannot be lazy these days or there won't be a crop at harvest time, and it's just around the corner.
I feel the urging of the Holy Spirit so much these days and I know that He who began a good work in us is well able to bring it to completion! So, my farmers---get to work now planting seed and in a short time what you've done this season will bear much fruit!
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
Comments