A Fruitful Harvest : He prepares

Continuing the steps a gardener takes in making and tending a garden:

2. HE Prepares


Once the gardener has his plan, his next step is to prepare the soil.

Preparing has 2 parts:  Breaking down and Building up

In the parable of the sower, (Luke 8)  Jesus said that the soil represented our hearts and the seed was the Word of God.   Just as the soil is the foundation of the garden..so our hearts are the foundation of our relationship with God.  If the soil isn’t good.....the garden won’t be healthy.

~~~~Breaking down:

Hard, clay soil doesn’t soak up the rain water…it just runs off.  Seed sown on hard ground can’t take root and grow.  The gardener will have to break down the hard clay and compacted soil by digging or rototilling to turn it over and loosen it up.   And on some soil he might even have to use a pick to break it down!  The softened soil can then soak in the water and the plants can put down their roots and grow.

        Hosea 10:12   'Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the  
                        LORD.'

        Psalm 51:17  “You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”

What causes our hearts to become hard?

Our hearts can become hard from many different things: 

        ~ Sometimes it’s just life.  Life is not easy and it can be painful.  To protect ourselves  

           from the hurts and disappointments, we build up calluses, or hardness, in our hearts.

Prov. 4:23  Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

        ~ Sometimes it’s because of rebellion against God…wanting to be in control 

            of our own lives.

Heb. 3:15    "Today when you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did 

when they rebelled."

       ~ Sometimes it’s because of unbelief or disobedience to His Word.

Mark 3:5 “He looked around at them and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts.”

          Mark 16:14  “And He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.”

          ~Sometimes it’s because of bitterness, anger, resentment, jealousy, pride, 

          envy....self.   These are like rocks, weeds and invasive plants that have to be 
          removed.

Heb. 12:15  Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you.

~~~~Building up:

After breaking down the soil the gardener will begin to build it up by working amendments

into it…things he adds to keep it from becoming hard and compacted again. 

One of the best of these is compost.

     Compost is made up of grass clippings, dead plants, dead leaves, kitchen scraps, rotted, smelly fruit and vegetables…all the things we would normally throw away.  But put them all together, let them sit and heat up, stir them once in awhile and you have compost…



a wonderful, loose, life-giving mixture that builds up the soil. 
It is full of nutrients and its rich, loose texture gives the soil
exactly what it needs to be the foundation for growing, thriving

plants.  Compost is a wonderful, useful, living thing that is
made from unwanted, useless, dead things.

In the same way, God makes spiritual compost from the broken, rotten, smelly pieces of our lives.  He uses everything in our lives for good... even parts we thought were dead and useless.  

There is nothing that comes into our lives that He doesn’t use in part of His plan for us.  He mixes it all together, lets it sit and heat up, stirs it around and when it is all ready He uses it in our lives to make something beautiful and useful and alive…and He sits back and smiles as He watches His plants growing and thriving.

Psalm 23:3  “He restores my soul.”

           Rom. 8:28   “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the 
                               good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose  
                               for them.”

            Joel 2:25  "Then I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has
                              eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust.”

~So let the Lord do His preparing work on the soil of your heart. 

~Let Him break up the hardness and make it soft and pliable. 

~Give Him all the broken, spoiled parts of your life and let Him use 
   them to make something life-giving and good. 

~Let Him restore to you the years that have been wasted. 

 ~Let Him make you into a beautiful, thriving garden bringing joy and life to all around you.

2 Chron. 16:9  "For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.