Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Being Good Ground

We have been looking at Yeshua's teaching found in the Parable of the Sower. We learned that the type of ground determines the word's effectiveness. The ground is the "heart." The word in Hebrew is leb and it means life, vital principle, seat of feelings, affections, emotions, mode of thinking and acting. Again, we can see why repentance is essential to being good ground. If we are repenting, i.e. destroying our old houses or way of living, we are ready to receive the seed or word of God that brings the Kingdom of Elohim. Our heart must be ready to receive and the process goes back to Yeshua's first message, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Elohim has come."

The Hebrew word picture for heart is what controls the inside. The inside of a person will ultimately control what the person does. Again, we see the necessity of living a life of repentance. Do you weed the flower garden just once? No, it is something that needs to be done on a regular basis to insure that no weeds, stones, or thorns began to grow back. Have you ever seen a field that was not maintained? What does it look like? It has overgrown grass, trash, weeds, and rocks. Someone needs to prepare the field and maintain the field. That is what Yeshua is teaching us about our hearts in the Parable of the Sower. Everyone needs to be a gardener in their own life by taking care of their heart. We want to make sure that when we hear the word, it produces a good harvest in our lives for the benefit of others.

Today, do you have any stones or thorns that need to be uprooted from your garden? Is your field ready to receive a word from Elohim? If not, prepare your heart through repentance. Make every decision as if the entire world knew what you were going to do.