Today we continue our series entitled, “Expecting the Word to Work!” This is part 18.
We have been looking at the Parable of the Sower. For the past few messages we have been looking at the thorny ground in the passage. Let’s get back to it again today. Jesus said:
“Others are like the seed planted among the thorny weeds. They hear the teaching, but their lives become full of other things: the worries of this life, the love of money, and everything else they want. This keeps the teaching from growing, and it does not produce a crop in their lives.” (Mark 4)
I will continue to focus in on the line, “the worries of this life.” Other translations read, “the cares of this world.” Please take a moment to picture the visual Jesus gives in this parable. The sower takes it upon Himself to sow seed into the soil. Why? Because HE is looking for results. The process did not start in the soil. The desire for the results were birthed in the heart of the sower. The sower wants to see results so HE provides the same seed to four different types of soil. He gets varying results, based on the soil. In the case of the ground with thorny weeds, Jesus paints of the picture of weeds actually growing alongside the good seed. The problem is that the weeds are FED more than the seed. So the strength of the weeds eventually overpower the good seed and keep it from producing a harvest. This is exactly what happens when God starts a process in you — a process that was birthed in His heart and one designed to produce results in your life — and you allow the cares of this world to stifle and eventually stop God’s process from working in your life. This is a powerful picture and we should learn from it. Let’s seek to do that.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
- God not only went out of His way to pursue you to ensure His messengers presented you with the Gospel so you could be Born-Again, but God is actively pursuing you now, to sow His Word into your heart. God sows His Word as seed into the soil of your heart so it can produce a Godly harvest in your life – a harvest God planned from the foundations of the world. But when you give more attention to the cares of this world than you do the Word that is sown in your heart, you are hindering God and His Word from working in your life. Look at it this way: Picture your “focus” as feed. The soil of your heart has both the seed of God’s Word and the weeds of this world. Whatever you FOCUS on is whatever you are FEEDING. If you focus on the cares of this world, the love of money and selfish desires, you are literally FEEDING THE WEEDS. As a result, the weeds will grow up and choke-out the Word. However, if you FOCUS on God, His Word, and what he is saying to you in this season, you are FEEDING THE WORD. As a result, you will grow your faith and the Word will work in your life. So make no mistake, your focus is critically important. Good or bad, whatever you give your focus/attention to is what will produce in your life.
- When you give the cares of this world more attention than the Word of God you are working against what God wants to do in your life.
- You get to choose what you give your attention to. Jesus likened the cares of this world to weeds and He likened His Word to seed. Your focus can FEED either one. If you focus on the cares of this world, the love of money and your selfish desires, you will be feeding your weeds more than God’s seed and when people look at your life all they will see is weeds. The fruit of your life, what you are producing on the outside, is actually a testimony of what is happening in your life on the inside. Whatever you give your focus to internally is what will manifest externally.
- When you choose to meditate and medicate on God’s Word day and night, you are training yourself to think like God. Once your mind is aligned with God, your actions will follow. The inward transformation produces outward results. You will produce fruit, everyone will notice, and people will start to see God working IN you and THROUGH you. While most Christians want to produce fruit, many fail to realize that external fruit begins with internal transformation. You will never act like God in the earth until you start to think like Him in your mind.
- Make a decision to meditate God’s Word. Meditating and meditating on God’s Word day and night helps you to feed your faith and starve your doubts!
Closing Confession:
Father, this is a season of expectation for me. My expectation is tied to Your Word. I meditate and medicate Your Word day and night. You are working on something in me. You go out of Your way to sow Your Word in my heart, because You are attempting to produce fruit from my life. I want You to operate IN, WITH and THROUGH me, so I cooperate with You. Instead of giving my attention and focus to the cares of this world, I give my attention and laser-focus to Your Word. I feed my faith and starve my doubts daily! This way, when people look at me, they will see the fruit Your Word is producing! My inward transformation will lead to outward manifestation. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
