Hosea 10:12 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.
“Break up your fallow ground.” In this context, the Lord is referring to breaking up the ground overrun with weeds and thorns creating a hardness to produce righteous fruit.
A hard heart cannot love, and often cannot even receive it. A hard heart will block relationship with God and with others. Whatever the cause; anger, woundedness, bitterness, unforgiveness, the result will be a superficiality in relationship, an inability to empathize, and a corruption of your motivations. You will become manipulative, deceitful, proud, and unresponsive. God’s message, His word to you will be difficult to hear and you will resist it. Like a layer of rock under the shallow soil, where the rain cannot penetrate, love and truth will fail to penetrate your heart and affect your actions. Thus, a hard heart is deadly, because sin is petrified there, and the wages of sin is death.
How do you break up fallow ground? How do you change a hardened heart? You start with your will. You make a choice. You decide. Your decision is to soften, in spite of the way you feel, the things you remember, or have chosen to forget. Your decision is called “repentance”, a changing of the mind, a turning of the will, in the opposite direction. The power of the will to repent is astounding because it opens the door for God to heal and transform your heart; to rain His love upon you and remove bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and hatred or any other sin that is hardening your heart. Do you want to love? Do you want to be loved? But your heart is hard? Try repentance. Test God’s power and will to heal and change you. But you must be willing to mourn. ” Blessed are them that mourn.” Repentance will open you to the rain of tears so that the pain and bitterness can pour out of you. But you will be amazed at what happens with your relationships. Love will enter and remain in your life; God’s love and love with others too.
Millions have tried it; repentance works. Make it a lifestyle, and you will live and walk in love.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]We’ve been serving in full-time ministry for over 25 years now, and throughout that journey, we’ve certainly experienced our share of trials and tribulations. Sometimes in life, we ask, “Lord, will this ever end?” And if you haven’t noticed, the challenges often don’t stop. But here’s the encouraging part: with every faith-testing moment, our spiritual endurance grows, our character is refined, and our trust in God deepens.
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