PREPARING THE GROUND YOU SOW SEEDS IN
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
When we deal with this earth we never know what kind of ground we have beneath our feet until we start to do some digging. In the early days when a homesteader looked upon a place to settle his family one of the first things he looked for was the kind of soil, he had to grow things. Many times it was upsetting to find that there were huge boulders just under the surface that had to be removed before a crop could be grown that would sustain his family. After that perhaps a long preparation of the soil would have to be made through tilling and cultivation before it would yield a good crop.
These very same conditions exist when we start to sow seeds of Good News into the lives of people all around us. Sometimes we have to put in a lot of work just to prepare them to receive that word. When we begin to work with the word of God it must be first of all directed toward our own growth instead of trying to reach others; there is an old saying " You cannot give to someone else what you do not have yourself" and that becomes critical in this sense. The older I get the more about that fact I learn. There is yet another part of this that is also important to remember, and that is we have to have the right tools for the job we are doing. Depending upon the kind of soil we are working with spiritually the tools that God will use may be different, and so we need to realize that we may not be the right tool for certain jobs, and if we are not then our job becomes in putting the right tools to work to get the job done. In some cases perhaps we are not able to be used to sow the kinds of seeds in someone's life that will grow to change their heart. God will not always use the same tool to do every work, but there are times when God will use the same tools to do a work that tool is not built for because it fits so well into His hand. Our willingness to be used of God's Spirit will go a long way, but still, we cannot do everything. The first part of all of this then is to know if we are prepared for the work that we see needed to be done. Once we have the question answered as to if we are in agreement with God's Spirit on our part of the sowing process then we can start with a lot of prayer on what the next move should be.
Even if we are the right tool for the job, and fit into the hand of the Spirit to do the work we need to be able to sow the right seed for the kind of soil we have. Each crop has different requirements of the soil they grow in and you need to know well the kinds of seeds that you are planting and what they are potentially growing in. Wheat has different requirements than watermelons. The ground has different needs, and the crop has different nutritional requirements. Each person is different in that way too, and if we plant the seeds and desire for ministry in a life we also need to help them discover the kinds of fruit they naturally bear so they can be successful. Working in the field for Christ should not be a chore for us, but rather a natural desire to see others grow in the faith. God is mostly interested in the fruit that we produce in our lives or the true useable grain from the crop we have sown. I heard someone say that if we want a crop of watermelons we cannot get it by sowing tomato seeds. The basic truth of this is that we must be careful what we plant within another's life because we don't know what kind of corruption that ground has and how it might affect the growth of the seed we plant. If we plant the wrong thing in the wrong place it will not grow, or if it does grow the chances of it dying out or being destroyed are very great. I guess that is why we don't see roses growing in a bog. The idea of what seeds we plant may be important for the next discussion. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
When we deal with this earth we never know what kind of ground we have beneath our feet until we start to do some digging. In the early days when a homesteader looked upon a place to settle his family one of the first things he looked for was the kind of soil, he had to grow things. Many times it was upsetting to find that there were huge boulders just under the surface that had to be removed before a crop could be grown that would sustain his family. After that perhaps a long preparation of the soil would have to be made through tilling and cultivation before it would yield a good crop.
These very same conditions exist when we start to sow seeds of Good News into the lives of people all around us. Sometimes we have to put in a lot of work just to prepare them to receive that word. When we begin to work with the word of God it must be first of all directed toward our own growth instead of trying to reach others; there is an old saying " You cannot give to someone else what you do not have yourself" and that becomes critical in this sense. The older I get the more about that fact I learn. There is yet another part of this that is also important to remember, and that is we have to have the right tools for the job we are doing. Depending upon the kind of soil we are working with spiritually the tools that God will use may be different, and so we need to realize that we may not be the right tool for certain jobs, and if we are not then our job becomes in putting the right tools to work to get the job done. In some cases perhaps we are not able to be used to sow the kinds of seeds in someone's life that will grow to change their heart. God will not always use the same tool to do every work, but there are times when God will use the same tools to do a work that tool is not built for because it fits so well into His hand. Our willingness to be used of God's Spirit will go a long way, but still, we cannot do everything. The first part of all of this then is to know if we are prepared for the work that we see needed to be done. Once we have the question answered as to if we are in agreement with God's Spirit on our part of the sowing process then we can start with a lot of prayer on what the next move should be.
Even if we are the right tool for the job, and fit into the hand of the Spirit to do the work we need to be able to sow the right seed for the kind of soil we have. Each crop has different requirements of the soil they grow in and you need to know well the kinds of seeds that you are planting and what they are potentially growing in. Wheat has different requirements than watermelons. The ground has different needs, and the crop has different nutritional requirements. Each person is different in that way too, and if we plant the seeds and desire for ministry in a life we also need to help them discover the kinds of fruit they naturally bear so they can be successful. Working in the field for Christ should not be a chore for us, but rather a natural desire to see others grow in the faith. God is mostly interested in the fruit that we produce in our lives or the true useable grain from the crop we have sown. I heard someone say that if we want a crop of watermelons we cannot get it by sowing tomato seeds. The basic truth of this is that we must be careful what we plant within another's life because we don't know what kind of corruption that ground has and how it might affect the growth of the seed we plant. If we plant the wrong thing in the wrong place it will not grow, or if it does grow the chances of it dying out or being destroyed are very great. I guess that is why we don't see roses growing in a bog. The idea of what seeds we plant may be important for the next discussion. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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