To accomplish what God wants you to do in this world involves constant cultivating and keeping.

This goes all the way back to the beginning when God commissioned Adam to 'cultivate and keep' the Garden (Gen.2:15).

To cultivate is to work at and tend to for the sake of bringing about some God-honoring purpose.

And to keep has to do with guarding and protecting what you are working at accomplishing.

My favorite illustration of this is from Nehemiah who in building the wall of Jerusalem worked with one hand while holding a sword in the other (Neh.4:17).

Today, the tools of our trade may differ, as well as the nature of the threats we encounter.

But the call to develop and protect remains.

The great danger in this call is that in our reluctance to do the work or fear to face conflict we would retreat.

When this happens the good God has for us to accomplish goes undone... others suffer the loss of what we could contribute... and we fall short of our purpose.

And it's for this reason we must constantly draw near to God for His grace and help.

Get Dominion,