Break up your fallow ground

Jer 4:3  For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

These words were spoken by the prophet Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah (who had been the high priest in the days of King Josiah). Israel at that time was and still is an agricultural community. The term fallow round was one they could readily understand. Who among us here does gardening or farming? Have you left the garden or farm alone and unattended to for at least a farming season? That's fallow ground.

Jer 4:3  ISV

 For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, "Break up your unplowed ground, and don't sow among thorns.

What message is God passing to them, and to us? Indeed what message is God giving me? Jer 4:1-4  "Israel, if you return to me," declares the LORD, "Return to me, remove your detestable idols from my presence, and don't waver. If you swear, 'as surely as the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast." For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, "Break up your unplowed ground, and don't sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskin of your heart, you men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of your evil deeds." 

God is asking me to return to Him and by fallow ground He is asking me to return to things I have neglected. Lk 9:61  Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Plowing here refers to discipleship.

Rev 2:5  Therefore, remember how far you have fallen. Repent and go back to what you were doing at first. If you don't, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place—unless you repent.

By unplowed ground it includes things I had never done I am supposed to do.

What is your fallow ground? Notice there it is not our fallow ground but your fallow ground. Mt13:38 the field is the world. Are there areas of my world I have neglected in the harvest? My world consists in my family, my neighbourhood, business environment and region of activity.

Fallow ground is hard ground not soft easy ground. Think of a group of people reaching with the gospel is going to be tough but they are in your sphere of activity. To me the Muslims, prostitutes represent my fallow ground here. A people I can't just start sowing in but need to break up the round with. Form relationships with first. In saline process we recognise cultivating is the largest and most difficult aspect of getting people to come nearer Jesus. And is needed for those who have little regard for Bible. Atheists, agnostics, free thinkers, those adherents of other faiths. Breaking up fallow round is part , indeed the first part of cultivating

Ask your neighbour "Where is your own fallow round?" Which area is hard that needs attention? 1Ti 4:14  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy when the elders laid their hands on you. 

Let's read that together.

Is there a gift you've been neglecting? Perhaps when you manifested it there was a misunderstanding between you and the leadership or it's not a popular and sweet part. Kenneth Hagin shared he loved teaching and neglected the prophetic and God rebuked him for it. Indeed he had an elbow injury which never fully healed to remind him.

What area of service has God called me has God called us into that we have left off for a while? Look into your neighbour's eyes and say "Break up your fallow ground!"

What area of your marriage has been neglected? How about the one on one times with your spouse with the children? Pro 13:23  Unused fields could yield plenty of food for the poor, but unjust people keep them from being farmed. Is my fallow round some service to the poor? Fallow ground is a potential provision for the poor.

How do you break the ice? The word of God spoken into an area breaks it up Jer 23:29  Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? In prayer, training, speaking to it in the spirit. Begin to pray deliberately about that service, that people group that gift, and seek training on how to express it better, then wait for the right opportunity and courageously use each one.

Let us pray

Faulty foundations

“Is it right for a Christian to pay money to someone to get a job?”

What do you mean by that? Interview fees are quite normal and you get a receipt for that... why are you looking so uncomfortable? Tell me what’s going on.

“Actually I missed the job last year since I didn’t settle and the price has doubled.”

Doubled? In this institution? Doubled? The last time I checked the interview fees were slashed to very affordable rates. You are still not meeting my eyes. Talk to me.

“Actually the money is not for any interview. Last year I turned down an offer to be someone’s candidate for the job. The people who coughed out N0.5M have it. Now it’s being offered at N1M. The interview is a farce, everyone knows that. Pay and get the job. I’m tired of sitting at home and taking handouts. I didn’t spend 6 years in university and 2 years after to pick crumbs. If this is the new way to get jobs and everyone is doing it...”

Stop! Please stop this. This reasoning is evil and warped. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think Rom 12:2 (CEV). Does the money go to the government or to a private individual? Is he or she not abusing the office to corruptly enrich the pocket and make merchandise of you and you condone it? You tolerate anyone who makes you his slaves, devours what you have, takes what is yours, orders you around, or slaps your face! 2Cor 11:20(ISV)  Haba. You should be reporting this and not be a partaker of iniquity. Definitely unmistakeably ungodly behaviour.

“Report to whom? You don’t live on this planet! I have researched and found if you need a job you pay. It was 3 months’ salary before, now the price is up. And if you are a babe automatically you are the girlfriend if you can’t cough up the dough. Report to who? Will you give me a job, will you?”

If I were you, I would turn to God and present my case to him Job 5:8 (GNB). Please return to God. Your speech makes me wonder if you have forgotten you were cleansed from sin before. If you do this know it is a faulty foundation you lay throughout the duration of the job.

“I am tired, I need to fend for myself. That’s God’s will for me, not this. ”

Of course you need to. But you must be strong and prove to the principalities your commitment to Jesus no matter the outcome. Take no part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure1Tm 5:22(GNB).You are desperate now, and it is putting pressure on you. Relax in Him. Whatever happened to the man of faith you proved to be on campus?

“My dear in those days when I push something happens. Now I just wonder.”

Don’t wander now. The stakes are higher, and you must not be as the seed on stony ground falling away because of persecution and trouble. Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you. But if not, rest assured, your majesty, that we won't serve your gods... Dan 3:17, 18(ISV).

Timely beauty Week 28, 2017

I hadn’t understood that truth at a time, in fact the connection between the two bits of scripture were initially lost on me, but they are a great comfort. It is stark reality.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain has the worker from his toil?   I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end Eccl 3:1-11(ESV).

There is a time for everything, and everything is beautiful in its right time. Now when anything happens outside of its time, like rain during the dry season, it is not beautiful. Tears at the death of a loved one are beautiful. Screams of joy at the birth of a long awaited baby are equally beautiful. What matters is the timeliness. It is also the good Lord that determines seasons and times, ours is to prepare for those times and seasons and make good use of them. For each season has a purpose. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me ... unto the uttermost part of the earth Act 1:7, 8(ISV).

How must we respond to changing seasons and times? We must press on with the work of the kingdom no matter how the season appears in our understanding. Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes Eccl 11:5 (ISV). No matter whether we interpret it as favourable or unfavourable, we must joyfully work. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season 2Tim 4:2(ESV). But actually no season is unfavourable when it comes in its God-sent time; each season is beautiful, and a season for focused, though differing, labour. Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well Eccl 11:6(ISV) 

Exercise unto fitness week 27, 2017

I realised I was panting with a little exertion. Was it illness? Was the heart failing? Those were the symptoms of lack of fitness. If you’ve ever exercised after a long layoff you’ll agree it’s not easy. The heart pounds, the pains come, and the desire to stop keeps calling. Fitness does not come by birth but by a combination of good food and exercise. You have to exercise to be physically fit. After more than a week of steady exercise the panting stopped, a feeling of wellness washed over me. Relief! There are diseases which come because one is not physically fit, and diseases fought (at least in part) by staying fit and improving fitness. The good thing is that everyone with normal faculties can become physically fit.

Have you noticed godliness is akin to fitness, something attained (not bequeathed)? Hear this: But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come1Tim 4:7, 8(KJV). This indicates that like we exercise the body, train the body unto fitness so we train, we exercise our souls and spirit to its own fitness called godliness. Instead, train yourself to be godly1Tim 4:7(ISV). So righteousness is given you as a gift at new birth but godliness is what happens when you work out. And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling Php 2:12(ISV).

In physical training you work against resistance, repetitively and gradually increasing the resistance, distance, speed etc. How do you exercise spiritually? How do you train yourself to be godly? The above verse tells us: just as you have always obeyed. It is by obedience. Repetitive obedience to what the spirit of God says that we do the spiritual workout. It becomes easier and easier to obey God and live the Christ like life. Gradually those things which God says “do” that seemed impossible become possible and habitual! The thing about fitness is that we work to get fit, and keep working to keep fit. No matter how physically fit one is, should exercise stop the fitness is gradually lost. Then you have to start again. Fitness is not just a matter of age; it is very much a question of exercise.

Physical fitness it a matter of practice; ever heard someone say “I’m going to the field to practice”? Practice what you believe God has told you, practice what you hear from His word and you grow in the faith. But solid food is for mature people, whose minds are trained by practice to distinguish good from evil Heb 5:14(ISV). Child of God a life of continuous godliness is possible. Yes every born again child of God can be godly. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence2Pt 1:3(ISV).

How spiritually fit are you?