What are you growing?

God loves agriculture and teaches us much through it.

Seasons - Knowing which one for: Planing, watering, weeding, pruning, growing, and harvesting.

We are a field

A field must be prepared for seeds. The fallow ground, once abandoned, overtaken (overwhelmed) by the cares of life, must be broken up. (Hosea 10:12)

Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

Jeremiah 4:3 For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.

We all have heard these messages before, but it is good to remind ourselves of these concepts. It helps us identify what God is doing in our life.

Psalm 51:17 (CJB) My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God, you won’t spurn a broken, chastened heart.

Psalm 51:17 (CEB) A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed.

A broken and contrite heart is a field that has been prepared. It has been made ready to receive seed.

Then we go to the time to water….

The Bible tells us that one will plant and another will water, but Yaweh bring s the increase.

Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives growth. he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

2 Corinthians 9:6 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

Proverbs 11:18 “A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the oe who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.

Proverbs 14:14 “The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good rewarded for theirs.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into you lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Hosea 10:12 “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers deliverance to you.”

Malachi 3:10 “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

You sow what you reap

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Luke 8:4-18 “And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it has no moisture. And some fell among thorns,a nd the thorns grew up and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

So we need to pay attention to what is being sown in us. Be deliberate about what we plant. We have to weed and prune to keep the good fruit. That is called introspection, confession and repentance.

We have a time of pruning also - after some growth before the fruit is ready.

John 15:2-6 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

Isaiah 18:5

For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms and the flower becomes a ripening grape, then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives and remove and cut away the spreading branches.

Pruning is hard to do. It’s physically a lot of work, it makes a mess and can be painful spiritually.

As we come to the harvest season, what will we find growing in our fields? I like to call it EVIDENCE. Evidence of what has been sown.

But what does that look like?

Are we sowing anger, anxiety, impatience, ridicule, mockery,manipulation, stubbornness, self will? Many are.

What does the harvest look like? To me, it is when you need a piece of fruit from the tree. What will be there for you to pick? Whatever you planted.

So let us plant

Joy, Hope, Trust, Peace, Humility, Love, Faith, Forgiveness