when all Israelites who were able, would make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, as commanded by the Torah.
This season is a very important time in personal preparation, because it is one of introspection, of self searching and examining our lives, and the motives of our hearts.
The disciples were told by Messiah to wait in Jerusalem during this period of time.Acts 1:12-26
They would have been counting from the Omer according to the instructions given in scripture.
During that time leading up to Shavuot/Pentecost, the disciples would have been praying reading Torah/ Old Testament and preparing themselves spiritually for the promise Messiah Jesus/Yeshua had given them.
Right on time, perfectly fulfilling the promise from the Father and Jesus/Yeshua, His Spirit of Holiness descended on these obedient, patient, faithful disciples.
These prepared vessels were not disappointed. Old Testament prophecies, (Joel), were fulfilled and the disciples who were ready, were totally submitted and committed to Him and they received the fullness of the equipping they would need, to do the will of the Father; and with it came the promise that He would be with them always. The spiritual seed they had planted and the obedient preparation time they had set aside was fully rewarded.
Messiah often used agricultural and farming references when teaching spiritual principles and in Hosea 10:12, 13, there is a similar agricultural reference.
Hosea 10:12 says, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” KJV
Amplified Bible
Sow with a view to righteousness [that righteousness, like seed, may germinate]; Reap in accordance with mercy and lovingkindness. Break up youruncultivated ground, For it is time to seek and search diligently for the LORD [and to long for His blessing] Until He comes to rain righteousness and His gift of salvation on you.
In the days before sowing any seed, there is a very critical work to be done. When Messiah spoke of the types of ground in Mark 4, He said some of the seedfell on rocks, well worn paths and hard ground.
So what kind of Farmer plants in hard, untilled ground? or asHoseasays fallow ground. Is this farmer evil and wicked, is he sinful and corrupt in his ways? It is this why he sows in untilled soil, in fallow ground? Is he just lazy or not a very well educated farmer?
Or maybe a combination of the above?
Hoseatells us that a farmer who has failed to break up the fallow ground has in fact lost His way.
Fallow is not a word often used today, however it’s familiar to a farmer. It is land that is not doing what God designed land to do. Fallow land is just sitting there, doing nothing but produce weeds. Although it may have potential, until the farmer does something with the land, it is simply fallow; hard, dry, unused ground, useless and not helping anyone.
At this time of year many folks are out in the garden, imagining the beautiful harvest from the tender seedlings they are planting. We should remember that untilled/ fallow ground can be soft and moist at the surface and look like it is ready to receive the plants. Even though it may look good and seeds may be sown at a healthy depth from the surface; not too shallow, and not too deep, for a while it may look that the planting is successful. However the future of the crop becomes clear and proves devastating when, in the hard and unbroken ground below, the seedlings do not have anywhere to let their roots grow down.
The tender crop is then also in danger of being overrun by weeds that have been lying in wait to take advantage of them.
To make a parallel with our spiritual walk, when we leave our fields fallow and untilled, they quickly become overtaken by unwanted weeds that proliferate in the shallow soil. These weeds soon silently slither like serpents across the surface and choke the life out of our crops.
Without good healthy roots, these seedlings will burn up and be destroyed as they have no means to take in the cool life-giving moisture hidden deep in the soil. Hosea says in such ground we can only plow wickedness and will reap only perversity.
Why?
Because we did not break up the fallow ground,
till the soil
and remove the weeds.
Instead we trusted in our own way, in the abundance of our might and understanding, trusting in self.
Self-sufficiency, self righteousness and our own opinions; it is the carnal natural thinking of the life lived in the flesh. We think we are right and know how to do everything in our own strength and abilities; and doing everything without God, walking as if we don’t need him, this is pride.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man… Matthew 15:18-20.
In Matthew 13:3-8,the Word of God is referred to as seeds for sowing, and our hearts are as the soil in various conditions.
Some hearts are stony, hard to breach and have no root, others are thorny, with many barbs entwined with the lusts desires of this world. However some hearts are soft and good, having fertile soil, they have been cleansed of weeds, refuse and trash and are prepared to receive the Word of God.
InMatthew 13:24-30,Messiahteaches that it’s not only our Heavenly Father who sows His Word into our hearts – the adversary is always trying to sow evil seeds into our hearts when we’re not paying attention. These seeds can be in the form of doubt and un-forgiveness in relationships, they can be seeds of coveting, lustful, unclean thoughts, or seeds of hate, cruelty and spite.
In Matthew 12:34-35; 15:18-20. Messiah said that everything we do and say is rooted in our hearts.
Our hearts are vulnerable too if we do not guard them.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence with the utmost care; for out of it are the issues of life. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
We tend to pray, or even go into fasting, with a deep desire for our Heavenly Father’s intervention in our lives and situations, yet we often overlook this important aspect of our lives, and it is one that can either help or hinder our answered prayers, it can enhance or diminish our good works before our Father, and this is always before Him.
We do well in the areas of offering our praise, worship, time, tithes, and our sacrifices, however it’s time that we make certain we offer up our whole heart to the Lord. It doesn’t matter if we are newly born again, or are mature discipled believers, we cannot play with our salvation, nor can we afford to be near to God with our lips yet having our hearts far from Him.
We are in the end times and now more than ever, we cannot afford to lose our place in eternity because of hard, stony hearts. AsHosea 10:12 says, “break up your fallow ground, for it’s time to seek the Lord…”
Sometimes we can mistake our relationship with our Heavenly Father and the work we do for His kingdom as the same thing, when really, they are separate.
Taking our relationships with people as an example, we may be doing things for them without actually knowing, or wanting to know them on a deeper level. Sometimes we may not be doing these things from our hearts, but only as a means to get something in return or to further our own interests. On the other hand, when we have a close friendship/relationship with an individual, it goes beyond what you do for each other; a level of intimacy is established with that person, and we find we want to spend quality time with them. This is the same with our Heavenly Father, He wants us to know Him beyond us doing works and seeking/receiving the blessings, through Messiah. The key for us in developing a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father is only gained through a heart that has been regenerated by His Spirit and by the Truth of His Word.John 4:24.
This is why the scripture says to obey is better than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 15:22!
It’s about our hearts.
Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26. tells us that the regeneration of the heart is a precise moment when the Holy Spirit of the Living God touches us, takes away our stony heart, and gives us a heart of flesh.This heart He gives us is tender, willing to hear and obey His voice, and is a productive ground for His Word to grow. Only when we have a heart of flesh can we truly forgive and forget.
Ezekiel 11:19shows that the heart is the seat of our relationship with our Father and it links the body, soul, and spirit together and it’s only through a regenerated heart that we can worship Him in spirit and in truth, and fulfill His commandmentsRomans 2:28-29. This clearly shows us why God is so interested in our hearts.
Again, this is why Proverbs 4:23 tells us to “keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”
It takes a heart that is mature, to not forget Him along the way, as we handle the abundant blessings that our Father has prepared for us. Deuteronomy 8:16-18.
Concerning the area of spiritual warfare in prayer, the need for our hearts to be right before the Lord, cannot be stressed enough. We need to ask for His mercy every day, and for Him to cleanse our hearts from every emotional burden before we begin to intercede. This is because according to2 Timothy 2:3-4,we are not to intercede in prayer based on our emotions, anger, hatred, anxiety or fear. All negative emotions are based in the natural carnal part of us, but the fight we are fighting is not a natural carnal one, it is spiritual in nature.2Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:12. In the same way that soldiers fighting in the natural become exhausted mentally and emotionally and are prone to make mistakes, when we fight based on our emotions, it can leave us exposed to demonic attacks.
When we are not breaking up the fallow, hard areas of our hearts by spending time with God, reading His Word and in prayer, it becomes dry, cold, hard, and unproductive. When we are aware of these dry, cold, hard, unproductive places, we are to make some changes. If we don’t, and we leave those fallow parts of our lives untouched, they become hard to our Heavenly Father, His Word and hard towards other people.
It would be easier if God said,
“Let me break up the fallow ground of your life”
but he didn’t. He told us to do it.
So if we care at all about personal growth, being of value to His Kingdom, and making a difference both in the world and in eternity it means we have to start digging!
We have to get out the plow by applying His Word to our lives, we must look for and identify those hard, dry places in our lives and then break up that soil with His Word and by spending time with our Heavenly Father in prayer. We have to break up that dry ground, and by seeding His Word in those places we find then digging out the spiritual weeds that have no doubt grown up while we were ignoring those areas.
If we ask Him to reveal the state and content of our hearts searching deep within ourselves, we will maybe have a shock when we see what is in there. Our Heavenly Father desires that we “rend our hearts, and not our garments, and turn unto the Lord our God” Joel 2:12-13.
This is the time more now than ever, for us to be sincere, open and honest with our Father. It doesn’t matter if we are mature or babes in the Lord, we still need to ask Him for an ongoing heart transformation.
Matthew 5:8, assures us that with a pure heart will we eventually see God and with a heart that is clean we may according to
1 John 3:20-21; 4:17.
have confidence before the judgment seat of Christ.
We always have a choice because our Heavenly Father has given us free will to choose. He sayschoose this day and choose life.
Deuteronomy 30:11 – 20 19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!We can make this choice by loving the Lord our God, obeying Him, and committing ourselves firmly to Him.
Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
3 For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [[a]the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [[b]subdued, overcame, [c]deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],
4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
5 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and [d]pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and [e]seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that [f]comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.
8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
9 But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].
10 But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
11 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
A farmer takes a plow to that ground, turns it over, breaks it up and plants his seed. Then a month or so later he returns to see what has grown.
If we choose to not allow our hearts to remain cold, hard, dry and fallow then even hard hearts and fallow ground can become places of great blessing.
Two passages of Scripture challenge us to grow, mature and change and both are from prophets in the Old Testament warning the people of Israel, because in their service of the Lord they had become lazy and disobedient.
“Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem..
Jeremiah 4:3-4a
Jeremiah 4:3 HEB: יְהוּדָה֙ וְלִיר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם נִ֥ירוּ לָכֶ֖ם נִ֑יר NAS: and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, KJV: and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground,
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12)
Hosea 10:12 HEB: נִ֥ירוּ לָכֶ֖ם נִ֑יר וְעֵת֙ לִדְר֣וֹשׁ NAS: Break up your fallow ground, For it is time KJV: break up your fallow ground: for [it is] time INT: kindness Break your fallow is time to seek
Just what does it mean for me and you to do that?
The phrase unplowed ground or fallow ground
is the Hebrew noun:
nîr,
the tillable, untilled, or fallow ground.
Strongs 5213b nir: to break up, freshly till
Original Word: נִיר
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: nir
Phonetic Spelling: (neer)
Definition: to break up, freshly till
Strong’s Concordance 5215
niyr: ground
Original Word: נִיר
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: niyr
Phonetic Spelling: (neer)
Definition: a lamp
נִיר noun [masculine] the tillable, untilled or fallow ground;
Hosea 10:12; Jeremiah 4:3 till you the untilled ground (figurative of unaccustomed moral action)
It’s land that could be productive, but has not been broken up, tilled, plowed, and prepared for planting. The prophets speaking from the Lord are commanding the people to break up that land and (spiritually) to plow the land that they have.
The two things the prophets spoke about fallow ground were:
one, the Fallow ground is unusable, and two, Fallow ground is unused.
A crop cannot grow in unplowed ground because it’s rock hard, and it prevents seeds from pushing into the earth, germinating, putting down roots and growing to maturity. Every gardener knows that when it’s time to put in the plants the soil must be broken up to enable the seeds to grow into it and let their roots go down deep where moisture can be found.
They were sowing seed, but because they didn’t bother to prepare the soil and pull out the thorns and weeds, the seeds planted did not produce.
By applying this farming comparison to spiritual things, the question is: What must be done so the soil is ready to receive the seed of God’s word?
For us, as we stand before the planting fields of our lives, there is a choice we have to make. Are we going to plant in the hard, unbroken, unyielding, fallow soil with a pointless and ineffective future without any promise of a harvest? Or are we now prepared and ready to break up that fallow ground in our hearts and lives? Are we ready to dig it, to lift it up, turn it over and do it again, and do it deep, really deep?
We need to ask ourselves,
What type of heart do I really have?
What has been growing in my heart up to today?
Hatred, bitterness, lust, greed, worldliness? These must be removed by their roots so a new crop can be planted. Grain crops do not flourish under the shade of trees. They must be removed so the new crop can grow in the light.
Hardness must be broken up. A plow does the hard work of opening up the ground. It is true we can dig it one shovelful at a time, but that is too slow a process. Farmers can harness some cattle or horses or use other equipment, however there are farmers without animals who have harnessed themselves and pulled their own plow while his wife or son guided the plow. It takes energy to pull the plow and guide the plow, keeping the furrows straight so the field can be plowed to it best advantage.
Is there hardness in our hearts?
Is there unbelief that is hiding in our souls?
Those who have been hurt in relationships or by a parent or guardian, they may have sealed off an area of their lives because it’s just too painful to return to it. We need to let our loving Heavenly Father break up those old simmering resentments and heal all those past hurts. He will take the strain and pull the plow, but we must point it toward those hard places in our hearts that we know we must deal with.
Sometimes our hearts have been hardened by unbelief which must be faced head on and broken up, then our Father can plant something new and fruitful in there. One way of plowing deep is by confession and heartfelt repentance.
How many of us remember the last time we were broken and humbly knelt before the Lord?
Larger rocks must be dislodged and completely removed and sometimes during the plowing process we find large, immovable rocks. If we are serious about making this field produce a harvest, it will require extensive digging along with power to lift them and move them from the field.
These can be rocks of un-forgiveness, stones of stubbornness, deep twisted roots of bitterness and jealousy that need to be severed and pulled out. Rotting remnants and dormant seeds of rejection, pride and rebellion from previous years that wait, patiently, for the perfect climate and the environment to sprout and rear their ugly heads when favorable conditions, circumstances and situations present themselves. The list is endless, yet these are the hidden things that prevent our spiritual growth into maturity and stunt the harvest that would otherwise be seen in a fruitful life.
If we have been plowing our heart, have we found some big rocks that need to be removed, but we are not able to move them by ourselves? Maybe it’s time to talk with our pastors about the rocks and stones? They will have had some experience moving rocks out of their own life because every field has rocks and stones in them.
When a field goes unplanted for several years it often become covered with thorns or other weeds the thorns must be gathered up and burned; let the purifying fire of His Holy Spirit cleanse away all that is not of the Father.
As this is also a season when we are planting for a future harvest, we are reminded again of Messiah Jesus’s parables of the sower and his seed.
In the parable of the sower, Messiah uses thorns in a field to describe obstacles in the human heart; but what kinds of thorns make the fields of our hearts unproductive?
“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” Matthew 13:22
“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
“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Luke 8:14
Depending on the type of land, the thorns may represent temptations and lust toward other people, self-indulgence, pride, anger, selfishness, a love of entertainment and recreation, addictions, greed, and many other thorns. It is important to know that any and each of these thorns can choke the Word of God; and each one has a devastating effect on the crop and subsequent harvest that God wants to produce in His children, so we must show them no mercy just get them out!
Fallow ground, unplowed, unprepared soil is unusable for any serious crop, we must “break up” our fallow ground so that it is usable.
We may have much of our lives surrendered to the Lord and they may be being nurtured and refined to produce a crop of righteousness and the fruit of His Spirit, which is great! But just maybe there’s a piece of ground, an area of our life that we’ve never quite got around to dealing with, no digging, no planting, and no harvesting, there, but it is going to waste. Just maybe we’ve put off plowing this area of ground because it’s too painful or difficult to deal with.
If we’ll break up the additional fallow ground in our lives, He will extend and enlarge our fruitfulness.
For it is the time [destined] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not respect or believe or obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17
The axe is laid to the root of the trees
Luke 3:9 and
Matt 3:10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Deliverance, freedom from oppressing evil spirits is not as popular a message as prosperity teaching. Yet true biblical prosperity is of the spiritual life and it cannot be lived in fullness without being set free from the bondage of sin, death and the consequences of a life lived without God.
Prov. 5:22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
These cords are the same as the rocks and stones and if we have been at the same place in our walk with the Lord for some years and are not moving forward, or desiring to go higher and dig deeper with Him, there maybe some rocks,roots and cords holding us back. These prevent our growth to maturity and it’s time to allow His spirit to not only identify them but remove them once and for all and do it deep. Only then will we become a field ready to receive the implantation of His righteousness and yield an abundance of the fruits of His grace through/by delivering freedom and healing.
While there is still time today, which is the day of salvation, let us break up the fallow ground for ourselves by yielding to Him and seeking His face. Don’t hold back any longer but let’s submit our lives completely to His Will, plan and purpose for us.
As a true disciple, willing and obedient, we must lay down our lives becauseit’s time to seek the Lord until he comes and rains righteousness upon you.
and He promises that
Is 1:19 If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
NOW
is the time
to break up
these unplowed fields in our lives
and
yield them to Him and allow His growth in us.
Let our Heavenly Father expose every evil seed that the enemy may have planted in our hearts, then He can touch, cleanse, and regenerate them.
Why?
So that we may truly know Him and the power of His resurrection, obey Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Clean, stable, properly prepared vessels, are those which the Father can fill with His power.
Thank you Father for your loving kindness and goodness today; show me the fallow ground in my life. Teach me by your spirit how to break up the fallow ground of my stubborn and prideful ways and to continually seek you until you come on rain your righteousness on me. Take the seed of your words of truth and plant Your ways deep inside me so that the fruit I bear is worthy of your Name.
Break up the dry lumps in my life Father, lift me up, turn me over and then do it again and do it deep, pulling out all those hidden roots by Your Spirit of Holy Fire and cleanse me from the inside out; burn away all that is not of You. I know Your Word says that judgment begins in the house of the Lord, therefore let the shaking and sifting begin with me so that the Bride you are returning for is without spot and wrinkle; and we will be accounted and found worthy to stand before you, cleansed by your blood, separated from everything that would keep us from your presence.
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם,
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,
SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
Isaiah 45:8 Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
2 Corinthians 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Proverbs 11:18 The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
Proverbs 11:18 The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
Galatians 6:7,8 Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
