Section 03 - Step 3: Prepare Your Ground

"I'm ready now to start my garden, to go and plant some seeds and get a harvest."

No you're not ready yet, because you still have to prepare the ground.

When Jesus told us the parable of the sower He said,

A sower went out to sow seed, and some seed fell by the wayside.

The wayside is like a path; the place where everybody walks. It is the well-travelled ground. If you have ever been in a farmland you can see the field that has been ploughed for the planting. But then there is the track that you run on to get there.

It is hard ground and you don't go planting seeds on hard ground. Jesus said that the birds of the air came to take the seeds, or they just shriveled up in the heat of the sun. They were gone.

So then what is the first stage? It is to prepare your ground.

Perhaps you come to a new field that you have bought. It has never been ploughed or churned up. You might say,

"This is a beautiful, fertile looking piece of ground. Let's go ahead, scatter our seeds and start watering."

It is not going to happen. You must prepare the ground first.

Three Types of Soil

Jesus spoke in His parable about three main kinds of soil, apart from the soil that was good. He spoke about three soils that needed to be dealt with. These were:

1. Hard soil

2. Soil with stones in it

3. Soil that had weeds that grew up in it

All of these things will prevent a successful harvest of your plants. So let's look at the three very quickly and see how we can apply them spiritually.

You need to see how this applies to your heart. You see your heart is like the soil, and Jesus said the sower sows the word.

We will look at that in a bit more detail when we look at the next step on sowing and watering. But for now let's look at how to prepare the ground.

Hard Soil

If you have a hard heart you cannot plant any seed in it. It is not going to grow. What is a hard heart?

You might say to me,

"I'm not a hard-hearted person who is cruel and callous. I'm quite a loving, nice guy actually."

No, that is not what I am talking about.

What is a hard heart? It is like soil that has become compacted. It has been pushed and run over again and again until it has become hard.

It wasn't that way originally, but it became hard because of what happened to it. Hardness of heart is caused by the things that happened to you in life.

Caused by Failures and Hurts

What is it that makes your heart hard?

Firstly repeated failure can cause it to happen. Now you are coming to the Lord to ask Him for something specific. Perhaps you say,

"Lord, I would like to get rid of poverty that I have had all my life. I would like to now become wealthy."

Or you say, "Lord, I would like to stop being a weak, insignificant believer who has no power. I would like to have your power, so that when I pray things happen."

"I would like to move in the gifts of the Spirit and to see the power of God. I would like to be able to use gifts of revelation and give prophetic words."

Or, "I would like to pray for the sick and get them healed. I want to see signs and wonders being done."

Well let me ask you this question: How many times have you tried this? And how many times have you failed?

Every time that happened, a cart ran over your soil and made it a bit harder. The cart then came back again and again, and your soil is now extremely hard.

Somebody may then say to you,

"Why don't you believe God for your desire?"

The first thing you are going to reply is,

"I tried so many times but it doesn't work."

You have a hard heart. It has become hardened through the experiences of life.

You say, "You know every time I've tried that, people have rejected me and want nothing to do with me. I have experienced such pain and hurt in my life from all the things that have happened, the things that went wrong and the way people have treated me."

What happened when that took place? Each time that happened, somebody took a great big stamper and stamped on your soil and made it hard.

Why did it happen? It is because you said,

"I don't like this pain."

Then you formed a shell around your heart and it caused you to be hard-hearted.

You are trying to believe God, but you are afraid to in case someone rejects you when you try it. You may speak about what you are going to do but people will say,

"You're mad. It's impossible; you couldn't do that."

This makes you stop talking about it. But that is one of the things that I said you should be doing.

You stop talking about it because you are afraid you will be rejected. You are once again afraid of the pain of people not wanting anything to do with you, because of what you are talking about and desiring.

You might say,

"I really believe that God is going to use me in signs and wonders."

But people may respond to you and say,

"Who do you think you are? You are just an ordinary little person."

Rejected for My Dreams

I remember a time when God filled me with such passion for His work. I could see myself going as the Apostle Paul and doing awesome things. When I shared it with some relatives they said,

"But how can you do that?"

I said, "Well Paul did."

They responded,

"But you are not Paul, are you? You could never be a Paul."

They tried to smash that dream, but I didn't allow my soil to get hard there. I am an expressive, and when you challenge an expressive and tell them they can't do it, they have to prove to you they can do it.

So thank the Lord that it didn't harden my heart. It simply made my core desire even stronger.

I thank the Lord for that otherwise I would not stand in the ministry office that I do today. I wouldn't have accomplished what God has called me to do, because I would have allowed people to harden my heart.

Inner Vows

What happens when things go wrong in your life? You have failed again and again and you've been rejected and had pain.

What do you do? You make a decision or a vow that goes something like this:

"I will never ever do that again. I will never try that again."

"I will not allow this to happen in my life again."

When you do that, it is the ultimate hard heart. It is like dropping concrete on it and making it extra solid. If this is the way you are, what chance is there of planting any seed?

Overcoming the Failures

You will need to deal with your hardness of heart. You will have to realize that failure is only one of the steps to success. And everybody in this world who has succeeded has been through failure first.

You are going to have to even go beyond that. You need to realize that perhaps God had to take you through that failure as part of your life purpose.

You must come to the place where you let go of the hurts of the past and your bitternesses. You must give up those inner vows and say,

"I know that I said I would never do that again. But if God wants me to do it I am ready to do it."

Let go of those things that have made your heart hard.

You say, "I have really been believing God. I have been exercising my faith and standing on the Word. I've been confessing the Scripture and doing everything, but it is not happening."

Have a look at your ground. Maybe you are trying to plant in hard ground.

Soil With Stones in it

The next thing Jesus spoke about was ground that was generally soft, but it had stones in it.

What are stones a picture of?

Stones are an inner resistance. This kind of leads on from the last one. It means that there are little parts within that don't want to yield.

Giving Yes-Buts

Generally you are okay and you are ready to do things. You are ready to go and plant your seed. There is a lot of soil there, but there is a certain part that makes you say,

"I'm not sure that I want to do that. I'm not sure if I'm prepared to do that. I'm just going to hold onto that little something."

It is what I call a 'yes-but'. When you give a yes-but you say,

"Yes Lord I'll do what you want, but.."

It is like the missionary who prayed and said,

"Lord I will go to any nation, except China."

Well what is God going to say to you?

"I want you to go to China."

"Oh Lord please; anywhere but China."

"I want you to go to China!"

You may finally get to the point where you say,

"Okay Lord, I'll go to China."

When you reach that point He will likely say,

"I didn't want you to go to China anyway; go to Africa."

It is a stone; a yes-but. Some of it is caused by bitternesses. And again it is caused by the experiences of life. It is caused by inner fears and insecurities.

The idea of standing up before a crowd of people and preaching terrifies some people. You might say,

"Lord I don't mind you using me. Just don't ever call me to stand up and preach."

You see that is a yes-but. It's a stone in your soil.

You may start planting your seed, and Jesus shared in the parable of the sower that the seed sprang up wonderfully. But as soon as the pressure came, it had no root in itself and died away. There are stones in the soil and you must get rid of them.

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