This morning we continue our series entitled “Leveling Up with the Word!” We have been looking at the parable of the sower. Let’s get back to it today.
Setting the stage:
Jesus said:
(Mark 4:13-20 ERV)
“The farmer is like someone who plants God’s teaching in people. Sometimes the teaching falls on the path. That is like some people who hear the teaching of God. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the teaching that was planted in them.
Other people are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching, and they quickly and gladly accept it. But they don’t allow it to go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. As soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they give up.
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.
And others are like the seed planted on the good ground. They hear the teaching and accept it. Then they grow and produce a good crop—sometimes 30 times more, sometimes 60 times more, and sometimes 100 times more.”
We have been walking our way through this passage for weeks. So far, we have covered the first two types of soil. This morning we begin to look at the third: thorny weeds. Jesus likened this type of ground to believers who “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.”
This type of person is a perfect example of why a series like this is so important. God wants your focus. God wants to be your highest priority. God wants to produce a 100 fold harvest in and through your life. God wants to use you to change the world. But this will not happen when we are distracted or simply focused on selfish desires. Over the next few days, we will seek to apply what Jesus said about this type of soil to our lives.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The key to being used by God mightily in the earth is simply living in synch with Him. When you are in synch with heaven and yield to what heaven is leading you to do, heaven gets to influence this planet through you, and you get to experience heaven on earth. This is God’s desire, and it should be your focus.
2. Operating in the supernatural is actually not hard. It simply comes down to yielding to the Holy Spirit. For God to fully operate in your life, He just needs you to cooperate with Him. God won’t operate if you don’t cooperate because He will never force his will upon you. In the system God set up, His involvement in and through your life must be an act of your free will.
3. The goal of every believer should be to live in harmony with the Holy Spirit. When you do, you will receive downloads from heaven. You will know what to say and how to say it in any given situation. You will know where to go and what to do when you get there. This is not hard work. It is not a matter of trying. It comes down to a matter of dying. The more you die to self, the more the Holy Spirit is able to live through you.
4. The key to being used by God is simply getting out of the way. The less flesh (or carnality) you have in the way, the more God can speak through your vocal cords, think through your mind and operate through your limbs.
5. God has boundless power and unsearchable wisdom. There are literally no limits in God. There is nothing God cannot do. This powerful, limitless, and all-knowing God wants to work through you to do things you could never accomplish on your own. However, you hinder God from moving through you when you fail to yield to Him and when you give other things priority over Him. When you fail to make God and His Word your priority, you are telling God (with your actions) that other things are more important. As a result, He will sit on the sidelines and watch as you attempt to DO LIFE on your own. When you get tired, He will still be there, waiting for you, and ready to operate in and through your life.
6. Wouldn’t be a shame to live with a God who has all power and all wisdom, living on the inside of you for decades, only to get to heaven to realize that you never let Him do what He wanted to do in your life? Simply because you made your life about your selfish desires and not God’s preordained plans. Don’t let this be you!
7. God will not compete with you. If you want to run your own life, make your own decisions, and pursue your own idea of success with your own strength, He will stand by and wait ‘till you get tired. When you are tired of living life with human ability alone, He will be ready to step in, but He will only do so at your invitation. If you want to be the lord of your own life, God will let you. But when you are ready to make Him Lord, He will use you. In this way, being used by God is not hard. It is simply about submission. Your life will become supernatural the day you yield to the Holy Spirit. You must give God and His Word first place in your life!
8. The person Jesus describes as the thorny ground cannot be used by God because he/she is focused on other things. This person allows the cares of this world, the love of money, and selfish desires to trump God’s purpose and plans. As a result, they live life on their own terms. Even when they do receive a Word from God, the seed of the Word cannot produce a harvest because the seed is competing with far too many weeds. The weeds, then, as Jesus described, grow up and CHOKE OUT the Word of God. The weeds (the cares of this world, the love of money, and the pursuit of selfish desires), keep the Word from working! Don’t let this be you. Make Jesus Your Lord. Give Him first place. Rid yourself of all distractions. Prioritize God and His Word over everything else. This way God’s Word will produce a harvest in your life, and you will become the man/woman God called you to be.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of LEVELING UP for me! I LEVEL UP in 2021 by giving You priority over everything else in my life. I don’t have anything that is more important than You. I prioritize You over my marriage, my children, my career, and my desires. I see to it that You don’t have to compete with any other priorities. I also see to it that the seed of Your Word does not have to compete with selfish weeds in my heart. I want Your Word to produce a harvest in me, so I clear my mind, I give You my focus, I make You my Lord, I submit to You in all my ways, I meditate and medicate Your Word day and night, and I give myself over to You daily, to be used of You for Your glory. Living this way, I become a yielded vessel in the hands of my mighty God. I recommit myself to You and Your Word today! As a result, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
