The Plumbline

  50  Your promise revives me;       it comforts me in all my troubles. (Psalm 119:50) We have spent several days looking at the topic of revival - the process of being renewed in our inner man.  We will continue today along that line, looking at what it is that helps us to experience revival in our minds, souls, and emotions.  The most important thing we can see is that revival involves putting into practice what we have received.  We are constantly getting input into our minds - through what we see, hear, and sense around us.  This input is run through filters we have created over the years - sets of values we have formed, beliefs we adhere to, knowledge we have amassed.  In turn, we either reject or accept that input as good, bad, or indifferent. God often brings things into our lives that will lead us into times of revival (refreshing) that are not immediately interpreted as "good" or "enjoyable".  In fact, we ...

7  When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. (Hebrews 6:7) We have previously studied the various types of soil that a farmer might come across in his journey to bring forth a crop.  There might be rocky soil that is able to bear some crop, but then it soon withers because of the lack of both nutrients and the heat of the day scorching its tender roots.  The soil could be hard, unyielding to the seed sown, easily snatched away by scavenging birds or carried on the wind.  Regardless of the type of soil, it has to be "tended" in order to bring forth a crop.   Yesterday, we looked at the idea of renewal - the process of something being made new or refreshed.  The process of renewal for the one who farms is often a process of plowing the earth - turning over the soil time and time again until it is "fit" for the reception of the seed.  In the plowing process, renewal occurs because that soil is...