Are you desiring to draw nearer to God?
How close do you really want to get to Him?
These questions are worthy of your consideration.
PREPARING YOUR HEART
When I speak about drawing nearer to God, about going all the way with Him - understand one thing: a closer walk must begin with a preparation of the heart.
Jeremiah 4:3
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
The Lord is speaking about breaking up the hard ground in your heart, that part where the Word of God isn’t finding root and lodging, where it isn’t flourishing and growing, where it isn’t bearing fruit.
And sow not among the thorns. If there is a patch in your heart that is hard or thorny, that area has to be plowed up before planting. Get rid of those things in your heart which are contrary to the Word of God.
Then, when they have been removed, there will be room for a new planting of the Word.
Yes, you can try to sow the seed of God’s Word among thorns, but it won’t grow - instead, the Word will soon be choked out by the thorns.
Those thorns are the cares of this life, and other things, things which will choke out the Word and cause you to become unfruitful.
Hosea 10:12
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.
In the spring the farmer plows up the hard, fallow ground in his fields; then he discs it up, making the soil suitable for planting.
When he finally has the soil prepared, he sows the seed, and expects to bring forth a fruitful crop - all because he first took the time to prepare the soil before planting the seed.
This is the way it is with our hearts. Something has to happen deep within if we are going to draw closer to God.
If we really want God to give us something new, we must realize that it will only happen because we took time to prepare the soil of our heart.
There may be things in our heart which could prevent us from drawing closer to God.
Many times it’s that thing which we allow to remain, that thing which we refuse to put away.
That thing stands in the door to hinder us.
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