This morning, we continue our series on “The Parables of Jesus.” We will seek to glean “Pearls from the Parables.”
Before we get to the parable, let’s look at a scripture we have been looking at all year. This is something I believe the Lord wants us to meditate on.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us.
We have been looking at “The Mother of All Parables.” Let’s get back to it today. 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.
For the past few messages, I have been talking about the varying degrees of harvest associated with the “good ground” in this parable. I will continue to flow in this vein today.
Solomon said, “The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings” (Prov 18:21). Good or bad, you will have what you say. What are you saying about 2023? What are you saying about this season? What are you saying about your future? What are you saying about your marriage? Your business (or career)? Your children and family? If you want God’s best, and the 100-fold is symbolic of just that, then you must learn to believe God and speak the language of faith.
So what does this mean for you today? I will give you a faith refresher within the context of this parable.
1. Faith begins where the will of God is known.
— Faith is not about God granting YOU your selfish desires. Faith is about YOU aligning with God’s desires for your life.
— Faith is not about YOU trying to get God to put a “YES” on your plans. Faith is about GOD trying to get you to put a “YES” on His plans.
— Faith is not what happens when you convince God to give you what you came up with. Faith is what happens when God convinces you! When you are fully persuaded of God.
— If you look at the prayer the Apostle Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus, you will see a good example of what I am talking about. In Ephesians 1, Paul did not pray for God to grant them whatever they wanted. Paul was not praying, “I want God to answer the request of your heart.” No, Paul was praying for God to OPEN their eyes, or flood their eyes with LIGHT, so they could know what God already planned for them to be and do. That’s faith. Faith is not about us and what we want. Faith is about God and what He already planned!
— In many regards, faith is something that happens TO you. As you walk with God and He speaks to you — or in the case of the parable of the sower, He sows seed (Word) in your heart — faith is what happens when you believe it. When you are so convinced of what God planned, you are willing to believe it, ANNOUNCE IT, and perform corresponding actions to receive it, even when everything you see in this world shows you evidence against it!
— Faith is about God’s will. Faith begins when you know what God said (either in His written Word or to you directly). In the parable, the soil doesn’t decide what to produce. The soil only produces the seed that is sown in it. Therefore, faith is based on something you come up with in your heart. Faith is based on what God revealed to you that was birthed in His heart.
— Revelation is actually the authorization of your faith. If you don’t know what the will of God is in any given situation, you can’t exercise faith. You can hope, wish, and pray. But it is not faith until you can stand on a Word from God.
— The soil can have confidence that the seed will produce because the seed came from the sower. The sower knew what He was doing when he sowed the seed. Likewise, when you know you have a Word from God, and you know you are not pursuing something you came up with on your own, you can have confidence that our God, who is both the sower and the Lord of the Harvest, will see to it that the seed (Word) He placed in your heart shall come to pass. If He said it, He will perform it. If He declared it, He will make His Word good (Numbers 23:19).
2. Faith believes what God says (or reveals), no matter how impossible it seems.
— Faith believes the IMPOSSIBLE. If God said it, and you know what He said is clearly impossible, then guess what? The impossible just became possible for you! Because no Word from God ever comes without the power to perform it!
— Faith puts the emphasis on God’s power and not your lack of it. Faith says, “If God said it, then I can do it. Not by my power, but by His!” This is the mindset required to walk and live by faith.
— The fact that God said it is His invitation for you to experience it. This is how Jesus lived. Jesus only said what He heard the Father say, and He only did what He saw the Father do. Hearing and seeing in the Spirit is critical to living by faith.
— When Jesus said that He only did what He “saw” the Father do, He was saying, “The Father shows me things. He shows me what He is doing on earth. And this revelation becomes my invitation for participation. I am not walking around the earth, asking the Father to get involved in what I am doing. The Father is inviting me to get involved in what He is doing.” This mindset keeps the emphasis on God and not us. This is the life of faith!
— This mindset is critical because many believers succumb to the pressure to perform without it. If you believe that YOU have to make it happen, then you rely on YOU, not God. Depending on YOU makes you susceptible to distressing anxiety and can open the door to depression. There are many believers right now who love God and are totally stressed out because they are trying to live the dream God gave them, but they are putting pressure on themselves to perform. God calls you to do things YOU cannot do to force you to RELY on Him. But if you put pressure on yourself to do it, you will open your heart to undue stress. In the parable, the soil could not come up with the seed, and honestly, the soil could not MAKE the seed produce. The seed came from God, and the harvest had to come from Him too!
— If you want to see the supernatural manifested in your marriage, relationships, health, career, finances, and etc., then you must seek God concerning these things. Find out what He said in His written Word about it. That’s the seed! Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you concerning it. When He speaks to you, that’s the seed! The written Word of God and the spoken Word of God is the seed that comes from God. Once you know what God said (or revealed), you must believe it, no matter how impossible it seems. If you can believe it, God can do it in your life! You are only limited by your capacity to believe what God speaks to you!
3. Faith is about having so much confidence in God that you will SAY what you SAW (what He revealed).
(2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV)
And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.
— The spirit of faith speaks the language of faith. It speaks words of faith from a believing heart.
— Faith has to audacity to SAY what God has SAID, no matter how impossible or crazy it seems. When you do this, you are taking God public; at the risk of looking foolish!
— It’s easy to believe God in your heart. No one knows what is going on in your heart. Your heart is where you meditate, medicate, and let the Word of God ruminate. But when you open up your mouth and say, OUT LOUD, what is going on in your heart, you are taking God public. You are exposing externally what is going on in your heart internally. This takes your faith to another level because you are speaking the language of faith. You have mustered up the faith to say publicly what you believe privately. This type of faith is required because God has set up a system in this world where you will have what you say from a believing heart.
— The power of life and death are in your tongue (Prov 18:21). Whichever you speak is what you will experience. Good or bad, you will have what you SAY!
I recently shared a message with some of the people that I mentor (on Patreon) about not taking “ownership” of failure. I used a couple of examples. In one example, a person I mentor was saying, “I am not good at X thing… I hate X thing… I cannot stand doing X thing… I had a hard day today becuase I had to do it. I need you to pray for me.” I can pray for that person, but my prayers are not going to override their confession. The person I was speaking to had to do this “X thing” once a week, and if they did not change their mentality and their confession about it, then all the prayer in the world, from other people, would never override what they are believing and saying. This person was “owning” failure.
Another person I was talking to kept saying, “I am having a hard time with this… this is just so hard for me… it’s hard and I am having a hard time.” They were “owning” the hard time. I was about to pray for them, but my prayers would not override their confession.
Let’s go back to the parable. If a person living like one of the first three types of soil (wayside, rocky, or thorny), says, “Pray for me. This “God thing” not working.” We can pray, but our prayers are not going to override their faith or lack of faith. And our prayers are certainly not going to override their confession.
If you want to experience God’s best, if you want the 100-fold, you are going to have to learn to believe what God said and declare what He said over your life. Good or bad, you will have whatsoever you say!
4. Speaking the language of faith is an expression of your confidence in God.
God reveals your TO BE stage from your RIGHT NOW stage. When He does, He often requires you to ANNOUNCE what He revealed. God loves it when you have enough confidence in Him to say what He revealed, AT THE RISK OF LOOKING FOOLISH, because, at that point, God knows your confidence is in Him and Him alone! I can’t tell you how many times I have done this and then said, “Okay God, I said it. I put myself out there. I released my faith. All my confidence is in you. I can’t make this thing happen. I believe You will make it happen. If you don’t do it, it won’t get done. Please don’t let me look stupid!”
Say what God said, so you can see what God said manifested in your life. Faith is VOICE-ACTIVATED!
That is enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me! I boldly declare:
I align with Your desires for my life, not selfish ambitions.
It’s Your plans that matter, not mine. I say “YES” to You.
I’m fully persuaded by You, not trying to persuade You.
Your light floods my eyes, revealing Your purpose for me. As You do, I embrace what You’ve planned; my faith rests in You.
Faith believes the impossible through Your power. I can do what You say, not by my might, but Yours.
Your Word is an invitation to experience the extraordinary. You are calling me into a realm that exceed my power and I walk into it by Your grace.
I rely on You, not stressing over what I can’t do.
Your Word is the seed; my faith grows from it.
The language of faith speaks boldly what You’ve revealed.
I declare Your promises, even if they seem crazy.
I take You public, risking worldly judgments.
You reveal my “TO BE” from my “RIGHT NOW,” and I announce what You say, even if it seems foolish.
Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
