DUSTING, WEEDING, AND ROTOTILLING

Autumn and winter have passed, and now it’s early spring.  Time for spring cleaning and readying those garden beds!  Maybe you’ll need to rototill to loosen soil that’s compacted over the earlier seasons, and certainly it is time to weed and add soil nutrients.  All this preparation will help ensure a quality and quantity crop.

God has a lot to teach us about spring cleaning and properly prepared soil to plant seeds there.   Take the parable of the man who sowed grain.  When he threw it out, some landed on a path, only to be eaten by birds.  Some fell on rocky ground, and without any fertile soil, quickly withered.  Some fell among weeds—thorn bushes, in fact—and were choked out. It’s not hard to imagine that!  However, the seed that landed in good soil produced a wonderful crop, one that was a hundred times more than had been planted.  (Luke 8:8)

Each day presents opportunities for us to allow God to prepare the soil of our hearts, spirits, and souls.  He created us in love for a purpose and desires our soil to be excellent, filled with rich nutrients to produce a tremendous crop that would feed many others.  “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” Matthew 28:19-20a

Today, then, is a great day to examine ourselves and prepare our garden soil.  Let’s do some spring cleaning!  Is there anything that needs dusted?  Weeded and thrown out?  Deep cleaned and rototilled?   Fertilized?   Do I have any unrecognized or unconfessed sin in my life?  Have I hurt someone and need to ask their forgiveness?  Is there something, You, God, have asked me to do or obey that I have not?  Do I need to fertilize my spirit better by spending more time in Your Word, in prayer, or in worship?  Am I walking in righteousness as best I know how?

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”  Psalm 139:23-24  Yes, Father, open my eyes and remove any logs I may have.  “How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:4-5 

Father, help me see myself clearly!  Prune me and fertilize me, however You see fit, no matter what that takes.  In the end, may my soil be made rich and fruitful, multiplying itself many times over, to better serve and glorify You. 

VERSES: 

Hosea 10:12  “I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love.  Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ ” 
 
Luke 8:8    “ ’Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!’  When He had said this, He called out, ‘Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.’ ”

Luke 8:15  “And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.”

PRAYER:  Father, I pray with all my heart that my life may not remain a small seed, but that through Your Word and my growing relationship with Your Son, Jesus, a full crop will be produced for You.  Help me to be a living testimony of a life changed because of Your Son, bringing hope to others through salvation in Jesus.  Thank you, Father God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit! 

DISCLAIMER:  I am just an ordinary woman who loves Jesus, accepting Him as Savior at the age of thirty-two and digging into the Bible ever since.  How could I possibly hope to develop a heart relationship with God and trust Him with my life if I didn't know who He is?!

These devotionals are written to help you journey with Christ and grow in your heart relationship with Him.  However, it is essential that you examine my words, and those of all other "teachers," with God's Holy Word.  Therein lies the source of all truth!