Working the Ground

Why do some places experience great revival with many souls saved and other places seem to be hopeless with very little fruit? Some areas have churches that are overflowing with new converts seeking God's face and other areas seem to labor in vain. This experience is not new but has perplexed the church for centuries. Christ himself spoke of areas where the Word of God did not prosper in the Parable of the Sower.

It is the same sun (God), the same seed (Word), and the same water (Holy Spirit) that is preached in every region of the world. Yet some cities or neighborhoods do not experience the revival that they desperately need and the church longs to receive. The answer is in the ground. It is in the soil that the seed must take root. The sun can bake the clay but good soil will be broken and thirsty so that the water can penetrate and bring life. It is in the hearts of men that revival must grow. Cities and neighborhoods that are not spiritually prepared will reject the Word of God like the seed that fell on the roadside in Christ's parable found in Matthew 13:3-23.

In other places the Word falls on stony ground that is covered by only a few inches of soil and though the Word is received with great joy it does not take root and quickly dies. Today many preachers want to count numbers that raise their hands or run to the altar but that is not always the best measure of true revival. I have heard ministers brag about the thousands of souls they won to the Lord in a given year. But when asked where those souls are now they have no idea. True revival brings about sincere repentance that will not be short lived, and that is only possible when the hearts of men have been prepared spiritually to receive the Word.

Jesus went on to teach that not only the roadside and stony ground were not productive but the thorny ground would not bring revival. The thorns were representative of the cares of this life. Pleasure, work, the delights of the eye and flesh will soon over take the Word of God and choke out the spiritual reproduction that is needed for the seed to bring forth fruit. We are too busy and too distracted to read God's Word or to meditate on the sermon we heard on Sunday. We can't find time for Bible Study because there always seems to be something that is pressing us for time. It is through our carelessness that the birds (representative of Satan) come and snatch away the seed of God's Word from our hearts and we wither and die.

BUT GLORY TO GOD it is in the GOOD GROUND that revival is nurtured and begins to grow. When the heart is prepared for the Word amazing things happen in the lives of God's people and they begin to pray. Prayer is the active agent that will begin to till the ground in our communities and cause the Spirit of God to move on men's hearts. Then we will see the harvest that comes forth because when God's people humble themselves and pray He will hear from Heaven and heal their land (ground).