THE WISDOM OF FALLOWING THE GROUND
We can learn a lot from the farmers of old. God set the law of fallowing the ground in Exodus 23:11, “But the seventh year thou shalt let it [the ground] rest and lie still.” Six years the Israelites may work the ground to produce crops but the seventh year (Sabbath year) it must rest.
A thought came to me about fallowing the ground. During this time of the Covid pandemic, we’ve all had to stay home and be still. Unfortunately, not everyone survived, several were sick, and thankfully, many recovered. Some were confused, others angry. Personally, I appreciated my divine timeout and rest from travels. The question that came to me is this: Was the Lord causing His Church to be fallowed?
Fallowing the ground is when the ground is purposely left unsown, unreaped, and unharvested. God, in His great wisdom, knew that if the ground is worked over and over for years, the soil becomes depleted of essential nutrients, and is therefore less and less productive. Thus, the secret to producing plentiful crops is in letting the ground lay dormant for a season.
When a field lies fallow, it doesn’t look like much is happening. All the other fields are sprouting a vibrant kaleidoscope of crops; we can watch them change from day to day. But the fallow field is just an unsightly pile of dirt. It was a pile of dirt yesterday. It will appear to be the same pile of dirt tomorrow.
But the miraculous part is that within that defunct pile of dirt, a flurry of activity is happening. Worms burrow tunnels that nourish and aerate the soil. Organic matter decomposes into life-giving nutrients. Rainfall gathers into underground waterways. The health of next year’s harvest depends upon this rich, invisible dance beneath the surface.
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Allowing the soil to have a specific rest period gives it time to replenish nutrients, which have been leached from certain plants or regular irrigation. Crop fields benefit abundantly from fallowing and turning the soil into what farmers call, “black gold.” When the time is right, the field is awakened and prepared to bear its produce. The equipped tractor is fired up to plow, sow, and reap the harvest.
This is the same for our lives. The pandemic made us to be still and go nowhere. Shortly thereafter, we became aware that God was working a work in our lives. He was setting things up for greater revival. Yet, many became anxious and didn’t understand what the Lord was doing. We were so used to doing, pushing, and working that we could have missed His visitation.
The Lord desires that we wait on Him—it’s Him decomposing the dark things, yea, the hidden things of the heart. You might ask, “What is God doing here?” Frustration may well rise, but beneath the surface, the Holy Ghost is doing His finest work.
The negative things that happened are not as bad as you think, but they are the organic matter that God uses to enrich you. This is how He makes “all things work together” for your good (Romans 8:28). During the fallowing time, those things supernaturally decompose within your soul, and it increasingly turns into nourishment for a greater harvest of fruit that He can use: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30).
Every life had the opportunity to do some retrospection. Being restricted from going to the House of God made us to depend on the Word of God that was already sown inside us. That is what sustained us. The fallow ground is breaking up now; we are passionately seeking the Lord through prayer, fasting, and listening for His voice (Hosea 10:12).
If you are still in the fallow stage of life, just trust that God is doing a work. Recommit to regular Bible reading and study. Pray and listen. Get rid of the distractions that pull you away from not only doing God’s will, but finishing it. There is a harvest waiting.
Juli Jasinski
WNOP Administrative Team Member
WNOP Kids Prayer Coordinator
MA/RI District Prayer Coordinator
Apostolic Author
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SEEDS TO TREES
Scripture teaches us the life principle of sowing and reaping. From a seed comes plant, a tree, or a field big enough to harvest. What you sow, grows. The seed of a tree becomes buried, where you cannot see it. Little by little, it is nourished in the ground, and sprouts into view, growing into a large tree with deep root systems and branches that reach wide.
The principle of sowing and reaping doesn't change. If a seed can live, it will grow. In scripture, seeds were often an analogy for the Word of God. As we read His Word, it grows in our life, bringing forth faith and works of His Spirit. But a seed can also be things like bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and vengeance. These are all big issues in someone's life, but they all started as a seed.
It's not easy to cut down a tree when it's grown. If instead, we get rid of the seed when it's small, then we don't have to wrestle with it when it becomes a forest. It's your choice to leave a seed buried.
PRAY:
- That God would reveal to you any "seeds" in your life that lay buried and need to be removed. These may be things like bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, revenge, hate, envy, gossip, jealousy, discontent, and doubt.
- For forgiveness for allowing the seed to grow, contrary to His Word.
- That God would help you to remove those that have grown up into large obstacles to your faith, walk with God, and others.
- That God would help you find someone to be accountable to during your recovery.
- That God would make you aware when you are burying a seed in the future.
- That you would replace every sinful seed with a seed from His Word.
"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled" (Hebrews 12:15).
Colleen Clabaugh
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The World Network of Prayer Presents
24/7 WATCH: A Year-Round Initiative for 24/7 Prayer
As of January 1, 2022, WNOP launched an annual 24/7 prayer and fasting chain worldwide in coordination with our existing “Year of Prayer.” Each week WNOP is posting a prayer focus as daily prayer for the entire week. Also weekly, a video is posted on the WNOP Facebook Page of a prayer leader and/or minister leading in periodic prayer. We encourage your participation by joining in prayer.
Will you commit and join with others throughout the world in united prayer and fasting? Sign up by committing in your heart unto God that you will consistently set aside a day each week to do some prayer and fasting. WNOP also has partnered with those in local churches who are already a part of a current 24-hour prayer chain. All of these hours of consecration are culminating to help provide a complete mass prayer covering over the entire Church body and to help bring greater success in all that we do in Christ! Together, let’s “watch and pray” and behold great and mighty things in the kingdom of God! Let’s prevail over the enemy with victory and declare, “Not on My Watch!”
Flo Shaw
WNOP Director
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FEBRUARY 24/7 WATCH (WEEK 1)
Healing: Forgiving Others
Following is the “24/7 Watch” daily prayer focus for this week. Join with us in consistent prayer & fasting.
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World Needs:
- Pray for Madagascar and recovery efforts as tropical storm Ana has killed at least 88 people.
- Pray for God’s will to be accomplished after thousands protest Covid mandates and restrictions in Ottawa, Canada.
- Pray for the Lord to come quickly and our world during this time of political, military, and technological challenges and disruption. There are wars and rumors of wars. North Korea is testing missiles and tension is building over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China is joining forces with Russia, while America is vowing to defend and protect the Ukraine. Cyber experts predict possible cyber attacks on America from Russia and China.
- Pray for the Northeast as a major storm called bomb cyclone has dumped large amounts of snow and ice across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend as 3,500 flights were canceled and thousands remain without power.
- Continue to pray for the Lord to strengthen the body of Christ and protection of the harvest field during the Covid-19 season as the U.S. grapples with the unprecedented surge of Covid-19 due to the Omicron variant.
- Continue to pray for the peace of Israel and the return of their land.
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Small Group Video Series: Rev. John Hanson, Bishop of Acts II Ministries, has produced some in-house video series for prayer groups and made these available online as free resources for churches with limited budgets. Please visit www.ActsII.org to access these remarkable resources, as applicable.
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Access Challenged Nations
Join the World Network of Prayer and Global Missions in praying for the nations that currently do not have an apostolic work. We will focus on one nation each week.
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2022 WNOP Events
- 24/7 WATCH: WNOP Facebook Worldwide Prayer Initiative (January 1 - December 31)
- South Carolina District Summons - Regional (February 24-26). World Harvest Church, SC
- *Arkansas District Summons (March 11-12). First Pentecostals of Benton, Benton, AR
- UPCI Fivefold Ministry Discovery Conference (March 30-April 2). South Bay Pentecostal, Chula Vista, CA
- WNOP Leadership Retreat (April 6-8). UPCI World Headquarters, Weldon Spring, MO
- Washington District Summons (April 21-23). Location: TBA
- National Day of Prayer (May 5)
- National Apostolic Day of Prayer (Date TBA). Apostolic Fellowship Summit
- WNOP International Summons (June 2-4). New Life St. Louis, Bridgeton, MO
- World Day of Prayer/Pentecost Sunday (June 5).
- New England Territory Summons (NETS) - Regional (August 18-20). Christ Temple, Tiverton, RI
- UPCI Day of Prayer (September 28)
- International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (November 6)
- *South Texas District Summons (Dates TBD) Houston, Texas
- *Ontario District Blitz (November 4-13). Location: Various Sections in Ontario, Canada.
- YM + WNOP Summons (Rescheduled Dates TBD). Location: TBA
- WNOP “Operation Prayer Evangelism: “Switzerland” (Rescheduled Dates TBD)
- WNOP “Operation Prayer Evangelism: “Operation Turkey” (Rescheduled Dates TBD)
- WNOP “Operation Prayer Evangelism: “Operation Jamaica” (Rescheduled Dates TBD)
*Pending Board approval. Note: Events and schedule subject to the restrictions and impact of the ongoing pandemic.
Also, more 2022 event dates to be added to the WNOP Calendar later as approved by the Board throughout the year.
(For more info on these specific listings, please contact WNOP at 636-229-7986)
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Consider supporting WNOP with a tax-deductible donation. Give the gift that keeps on giving:
PRAYER!
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WNOP Personal Prayer List
To join WNOP in praying for the personal needs submitted by email, phone and website, please click the button below.
You may submit requests by email at pray@wnop.org.
"If you received an answer to prayer or have a victory report, post it on WNOP's Facebook page. We would like to hear from you."
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World Network of Prayer | United Pentecostal Church International
36 Research Park Court, Weldon Spring, Missouri 63304
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