Why do I have to do it every. single. day???

The other day I brought a pot of dirt inside the house. It had been outside for months and I wanted to plant my basil in it to keep inside. The problem is that the dirt was bone dry. I set it in my sink and soaked it with water and let it drain. I did this at least 4 or 5 times so that it would get all the dirt wet. I wanted the basil roots to really flourish once I planted them.

I grabbed a spoon and started to dig in the dirt to get it moved some for the plant. I was surprised to find that it still had so much dry dirt in it. I had soaked it sooo much and yet, it still had major areas of dryness.

It was only when I dug deep and up rooted the dry dirt, bringing it to the surface, and than soaked it, was it able to fully get wet. I had to dig, soak, dig, soak, dig, and soak to fully saturated the soil.

As I was doing this I thought of how this is such a good analogy to so many Christians walk with God. We go to church on sunday. We get soaked. We come home, go about our week, and never water ourselves. We go to church again on sunday and we get soaked in God's presence with scripture and worship. We come home and live another week with a lack of victory in our lives. We do this week after week. We feel that this soaking on sunday was enough to get to all our dry places but just like this pot of dirt, we have to dig deep and uproot all the areas of our life to get it full saturated. We have to dig, soak, dig, soak, dig, and soak to have long lasting change.

If you hear a great msg and want change and you go home and make changes and than wonder why it doesn't seem to stick....you may have some dry places in your heart that are killing these newly planted roots.

 How do I practically soak those dry places you ask?

I am so glad you did.  Find someone who can walk with you, who can ask the questions about how you are doing. Read your bible daily and then talk with someone about what you are learning. Pray daily. You dont have to be weird, you can talk to God throughout your day as if he is your best friend sitting right next to you. Worship God. Make choices to listen to music that is uplifting.

To get this pot of dirt fully saturated it took me many times of watering.
Do not think that one time at church or a conference, or revival is enough.
Do not think that one week of daily bible reading is enough.
It is an amazing start but imagine if I got the dirt fully soaked, planted my basil, and than never watered it again.
The basil would dry up.

We need to stay watered, stay in God's word, stay in his presence, and dig up those dry places in our heart so that we can heal and live a life of victory.