Break Up The Fallow Ground • Daily Devo 181

The harvest is here. Word Count: 1,145

Her Morning Prayer Audibles are free to listen for all free and paid subscribers: Prayer For All Things New

Today’s Devotional Scripture: ¹² Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. - Hosea 10:12 KJV

The Message For Today (October 7, 2024):

Audio Version Of This Devotional: Break Up The Fallow Ground Audio

When God says to break up the fallow ground, he's saying that there are places in our hearts and in our minds and in our souls that we have not prepared for a new seed and a new harvest. The fallow ground, biblically, was ground that was not really being used. This ground, if it was not prepared ahead of time, could not take the seed.

So leaving this ground unplowed in rotation, yes, it's just ripe for something new, but when left unplowed and left unmoved, the ground can get hard. The ground can get difficult. When it's not being used and when it's not being plowed, when it's not in rotation, we'll often have no fruit and be unproductive. When God begins to bless and shift your life, having that fallow ground be prepared is important.

In this scripture, in particular, in Hosea chapter 10, we see that the people of God are going into the earth without instruction. They're going into the earth and they are growing and they are wanting to expand, but they are not doing it with the Lord. They're not doing it with God. They have made other things their God. They are focused on other institutions and organizations in order to be able to prosper. They've depended more on the systems than on their God.

So there are indeed parts of their heart which are unproductive, which are not being used, and which need to be prepared for something new. It goes further when you consider the scripture that the fallow ground, if it's not used, things can begin to creep in. Thorns can begin to creep in. Other things can begin to creep in. So putting your hands to the plow and breaking up the fallow ground in this season means to prepare your heart for something new.

It means to come into agreement with the word of the Lord and prepare the parts of your heart that have been unproductive, the parts that God really has not had access to, to prepare that for a new season, to open your heart and be ready for something new. To break up the fallow ground is to be prepared for a new harvest, a new harvest of God's goodness in you, so that the word of the Lord can take root and can be planted.

When the word of the Lord is allowed to take root and be planted, your life begins to shift even more. Where maybe things feel a little bit stagnant, it feels like you're doing things but not seeing a lot of progress, and you've been wondering about the next steps, breaking up the fallow ground becomes the solution. Getting before God in prayer, fasting, and worship becomes an answer. Softening your heart becomes a key. This is a correction to the people in Hosea chapter 10, to do something different, to prepare for something different. It is a warning.

That warning is to prepare, get ready, don't miss what God is doing in this season, come back to him, and come back to his grace. When we look at the scripture, and we look at Matthew chapter 13, we see a descriptor of God calling forth a new heart and a fresh season. So in the scripture, in Matthew chapter 13:1 - 23, we see it, where Jesus goes out and he teaches. One of the parables that he teaches is on the stony ground. When we go to verses 5, 6, 7, and 8, we begin to see more clearly what it means to break up the fallow ground and to get ready for something new. It says:

⁵ Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

⁶ And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷ And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

⁸ But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. - Matthew 13:5-8 KJV

The different descriptors that Jesus gives in this parable make it clear that good ground that has been prepared can bring forth fruit. That when seed falls on either stony ground, or falls into thorns, those seeds never really get planted. Those seeds never really come forth with fruit. But when it falls on good ground, we see a one hundred, a sixtyfold, or a thirtyfold return on that seed.

In order for you to prepare for what God is doing and to come into the new harvest that is going forth, your heart must be prepared and made clear for the Lord to come in and for the word of the Lord to take root. Not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit. Through prayer and fasting, God can begin to open your heart again. He can begin to show you something new. He can begin to break the stony ground up in a way that allows his word to take root, that there may be a springing up in this new season of his love and of his word may manifest in your life.

Take this time in this season to get before the Lord in prayer and fasting and break up the fallow ground of your heart. Get ready for something new.

Closing Devotional Prayer

My prayer for you: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you. I thank you, O God, for surely your word never fails us. The word, O God, prepares and paves the way for us to walk this thing out. And Lord, we thank you for being the author and the finisher of our faith.

You've demonstrated to us what's possible when we have been submitted to our Father and begin to operate in the assurance that he is able. You said in your word, greater works than these will we do because you went to our Father. I thank you, Lord God, for those greater works today. I thank you, O God, that we are removing the thorns.

We're removing the stagnation. We're breaking up the fallow ground of our hearts so that there could be a new seed, a new word. We're hardening not our hearts, O God. We're opening our hearts to what you have called us to in this season, to receive the word of the Lord, to receive a freshness, to be prepared by you. I thank you, Lord. And I pray in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

** All devotionals are free going forward. If this has blessed you, you can support the work with a one-off payment here:

One-Off Daily Devotional Support

You can give monthly here through Substack: $14 Monthly Devotional Support

Last, you can join our Live Power Sessions Each Week Here: She Comes Alive