Pastor Mac Hammond | August 1, 2021

Recap:
God wants you to have a life that is filled with peace and comfort. That doesn’t mean it will be easy or without adversity. God will bring you peace in the middle of the storm and despite the difficulty that life brings. One way you can ensure you have God’s peace in your life is through cultivating the garden of your heart. Pray for hard areas to be softened, and then meditate on the Word of God. Picture the Word of God becoming a reality in your life. Picture the Scriptures becoming alive in you. Break up the fallow ground in your heart, and you’ll prepare your heart for a good harvest.

Dive Deeper:
The Bible is filled with a lot of wonderful promises, and God intends for His promises to be a source of comfort in our lives. However, many people focus on the promises of God to such a degree that they forget they need to first cultivate their own hearts in order to receive from heaven the gift of God’s promises.

When you know the Word, you can be at peace. You can know that God is for you, not against you. You can rest assured that He is on your side. You can be a source of peace in other people’s lives because you are at peace.

This won’t happen overnight. In order for the seed of God’s Word to bloom, it needs to be planted on soft ground. Many people have hard ground, which makes it easy for Satan to come and steal the Word that people have heard. The soil is packed so hard that no God idea can be planted. In order to soften the soil of your life, it starts with prayer. Ask God to soften your heart.

The second thing you can do is make sure that the rocks are out of your soil. Break up the stony ground of your life by using your imagination. Envision future experiences aligning with the Word of God. This process of imagining God’s Word becoming a reality breaks up the stony ground. It puts down deep roots that allow the seed of God’s Word to be planted.

Read More:
Mark 4:3-20 KJV
“Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: and it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: but when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

“And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

“And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.”

Galatians 6:7 KJV
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Galatians 5:22-23 KJV
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23 Amp.
“But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].”

2 Corinthians 13:5 Amp.
“Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?”

James 3:18 KJV
“And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

James 3:17-18 Amp.
“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity). And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God’s will in thought and deed) is [the fruit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace [in themselves and in others, that peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].”

Hosea 10:12 KJV
“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.”

Psalm 1:1-3 KJV
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you see areas in your life where the soil of your heart is soft? Hard? Rocky?

2. What’s one thing you can do today that will break up the hard or stony ground in your life?

3. What Scriptures have you memorized? Pick one that you can memorize this week. If you don’t know where to start, start with Proverbs 3:5-6 or Psalm 119:11 or Isaiah 26:3.

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