Written by Mark Driskill:
Tuesday April 19, 2011
Read Micah 4:3
“and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks… neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Try to imagine a time of such peace that military weapons are transformed into farming tools. Tanks would be converted into tractors. Battleships and F-16′s would deliver seeds and crops. Soldiers would become farmers. I know this sounds like a line out of a John Lennon song, but this is the kind of image you see in Micah 4:3. The prophet predicts a time when weapons of war will become tools of planting and harvesting. In short, a shift is made from fighting to farming. Whatever your perspective on war and peace you have to admit there is something compelling about the idea of a day when the nations will plant crops instead of bombs, and load barns with food instead of ammunition. As believers we are to work and pray for such a day. I think revival brings with it a similar shift in the church.

When God brings revival to his church one of the things we see is a shift from fighting to farming. It seems kind of funny for Christians to talk of world peace when we spend so much time fighting among ourselves. We are often known more for what we oppose than who we love, and what we want to destroy than what we are planting. Too many of God’s people are fighting instead of farming. Instead of planting seeds of hope we are swinging our swords at one another. Instead of plowing up the fallow ground of our own souls we get caught up in battles over doctrine and skirmishes over power and position. All the while the harvest of souls goes neglected and the lost wither without hope. But I am hopeful. I see a day coming when something similar to Micah’s words takes place in our churches.

I foresee a day when we will be known more for the Bible burning in our hearts than for the Koran burning in a church parking lot. I see a day coming when church board meetings will be held to plan mission trips instead of bickering over personal agendas. I see a day when the sword of the spirit will be used as a plowshare in our hearts rather than a weapon used to drive away those who aren’t like us. I see a day when church business meetings become prayer meetings and prayer meetings become business meetings. Both are so intent on the work of the kingdom that it becomes difficult to distinguish one from the other.

I see a day when church youth cliques are turned into havens of hope, and church potlucks are held in the streets for the homeless and broken. This is what it may look like when God’s people make the shift from fighting to farming. Have you made the shift? Today will you plant seeds or landmines? Will you use your sword for cultivating a harvest for the kingdom? I hope so. I think the shift I’m talking about will not take place in my church until it takes place in me.

Let us stop fighting and get back to farming.

Pastor Mark Driskill
Web Minister of Begotten by the word web ministry
See our website at http://ourchurch.com/member/b/bbtw
and www.facebook.com (to group “begotten by the word”)
Begotten by the word is a ministry of Helping Hands Christian resources-Evangelism Outreach www.hhcr05.org
(Feel free to copy in any way that will bring glory to God and further his kingdom.)

Contact information:
Email: driskill@hilbillymail.com
Facebook: Mark Driskill
Address: PO Box 1159 Jackson KY.