break up your fallow ground [heart-soil].

 God is for His people.
He is passionate about His Bride.

and in His mercy and unrelenting love.. He is always speaking.
drawing His lover.
pursuing His beloved.
disciplining His children.
always calling them to Himself.

and this is what He has laid on my heart to share.

it's from Hosea 10:12.

"Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground,
for it is time to seek the Lord,
that He may come and rain
righteousness upon you."


[He's calling His people to break up the fallow ground of our hearts.]

the original meaning of the term fallow ground is land that is uncultivated, un-prepared for seed, un-plowed. it is hard. and it is fruitless.
>>and in most cases, it is referring to ground that was once sown and harvested,
but now lies useless.<<

the word fallow is also synonymous with
unused,
empty,
bare,
dormant.

I was so struck by the definition of the word dormant-- and i believe this describes exactly the state of the hearts of many that call themselves by His name..
"having normal physical functions suspended or slowed down for a period of time; in or as if in a deep sleep;
alive but not actively growing;
asleep."

and I hear His heart through that definition so clearly..
the ability, the IDENTITY, the giftings, the calling..
it's there.
it.just.lies. dormant.

the fullness of who we truly are in Him,
if we're honest,
is asleep in many..
a deep sleep even.

and for some, the rockiest, hardest, [fallow] ground in our hearts-- are areas that once were the most fruitful and cultivated. the places we've seen harvest in the past.
because we've forgotten that this cultivating, this plowing, this keeping of our heart-soil so that it can receive Seed and bear fruit in our lives and this world-- is an ongoing process. a daily toil.
a moment by moment holy work.

because really, we're always sowing.
either to the Spirit or to the flesh.
we're either cultivating the soils of our heart,
or allowing them to harden, grow dry and useless.

and just as the prophet Hosea says,
what you reap is what you will sow.
it's a promise.
a principle of the Kingdom.
for good or for bad.
and so we're called to "sow righteousness" so that we may reap steadfast love.. and ultimately, so that "He may come and rain righteousness upon [us]".
there's only one other place in scripture that the phrase "break up your fallow ground" is used, and it's by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 4:3.
both places are in times of the need for national repentance,
where the Lord is almost-pleading- with His people to return,
because in His righteousness and justice-- there must be judgment.

and when we don't break up our fallow ground ourselves,
in His mercy, and I say it again, in HIS MERCY, He allows what He must,
to then break up the fallow ground of our hearts Himself.


it is His call for His people to return.
it is the only way to bring revival.

prepare the way for the Lord in your own heart today, Beloved.

let what was once dry and useless become cultivated and fruitful.

we need a harvest in our own hearts before we will ever see a harvest in our nation.

[[awaken, Church.
the time is now, to come out of your dormant state. ]]