Meditate: Acts 2:38

In nature, nothing “just grows.”  Autumn death plants the seeds that bring spring.  Some plants won’t even blossom unless they experience winter’s freeze.  Still others require a blistering fire to pass over them to awaken them to life.  

None of the plants we count on to feed us flourish unless the plow disrupts everything.  In each case, brokenness, pain, and death result in growth, fruit and new life.  

Having been broken in repentance and death to my self, God sows His Spirit in me, raising me to new life.  Just like the buds in the spring, forgiveness is the first sign that God’s new life has come.  

But what if I resist the breaking and hang on to my old life?  

What if I quench the Spirit’s fire sent to burn away the accumulated sin debris?  How can I hope for new life?  

What desirable thing ever grows in an unplowed field?

• Is there anything that I am refusing to yield to God?
• Any areas where I’m quenching God’s Spirit?
• What’s the “unplowed ground” in my life?

Pray
Praise: You are the Transforming God - You bring Life from death.

Confess: I don’t like facing my sin, so I have chosen the short term false comfort of ignoring You; I refuse the fruitfulness You offer.

Thank: You are always more willing to plant than I am willing to yield.  Your plans have always been to give me hope and a future.

Ask: Break me, Lord.  Take all of me; sow into my life as You see fit.

Digging Deeper: Jeremiah 4:1-4; Hosea 10:12