March 28, 2024 - Hosea 10:12

“I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’” Hosea 10:12 NLT

Lord, thank you for the way that you so often speak to us in pictures that we can easily understand and apply to our lives. This is a beautiful picture of truth. When we plant seeds of righteousness, we will get a harvest of love. We want this, Lord. Help us draw near to you. Help us live a righteous life. We want to consciously make decisions that lead us to righteousness. Each time we do that, we plant a seed, and it moves us closer to you. Do your work in us and grow those seeds. Help us plant more and more of them. Be the perfect gardener that you are and grow our seeds into a flourishing garden of love that reflects your beauty to the world around us. Let it be the type of garden that draws people in. When we are around people, we want to exude love. We want people to feel fully accepted. Let being around us be like a safe haven where they can sit and be fully at rest in a beautiful, peaceful garden.

Lord, the more time we spend in your presence the more that will naturally happen. And in order for us to draw nearer and nearer to you, we must uproot the sinfulness in us that pulls us away from your presence. Help transform us into more righteous people. Plow up the ground of our hearts and remove the stones and weeds of sin. Take away anything that is not of you, uproot any lies that have been planted in our hearts. Let us seek you more and more. Increase our desire to make more time for you. Come and shower your righteousness over us. Grow your garden of love in us more every day.

In Jesus name, amen.