Rock it (or not)!

Welcome to 2020! I pray you will more deeply experience the love of Jesus and more passionately pursue the Kingdom of God than ever before.

As we start the year,  I like to think about where I have come from over the last year, where I am and where I want to be.  As I thought about this, I was thinking about what hinders me in being all God made me to be.

In 2 Kings, chapter 3 several kings get together to go up against the Moabites in battle.  The Moabites look out across a river where they Israelites are all camped and see what they think is blood.  They decided that the kings clearly all attacked each other allowing them to simply go in and take the spoils.  When they get there, however, that's not the case and they turn tail and run.  The Israelites chase them and they fight in an interesting way. They set the SLINGERS on the city of the Moabites.

The slingers (v25) take stones and throw them on every good piece of land and down every well. They won the battle in part, by covering the land with stones and blocking the wells.  This meant that crops were destroyed and life-giving water was blocked off.

In Mark Chapter 4, Jesus tells the familiar parable of the sower. He goes on to explain the parable and in verses 16-17 (NKJV) it says
"These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble."

When rocks are present in the ground or in the well, we can't plant or draw from them.   Stoney ground prevents roots and a blocked well stops you getting a necessity of life. It doesn't mean you're not saved, clearly in the verses above, the people hear God's word with gladness, but it can't come to it's full potential.

What are the rocks?  I think they are all the things that go against God's word: fear, doubt, unbelief, emotions, feelings, experiences, pride.

We each decide what we allow to stay in the ground of our own hearts.  We can allow the rocks we place there or that others throw at us to stay put and block off the good seed of God's word, or that prevent us from drawing from God's spiritual truth or we can reject these lies, and clear them out of the way and keep our ground or well clear.

2 Cor 10:5 says that we are to take every thought captive. We do that.  That's not God's job it's yours.   You have the choice what you allow in to your heart.

This year, I encourage you to have a look at whether your ground is fruitful. If it's not, don't panic, God is good and we can begin to cast out these rocks, and clear the ground.   Get back to being in the word, praying, worshipping, going to church and asking the Master Gardener to help you clear away the stuff that you have allowed in that doesn't need to be there.

Have a great year!