Effortless Change Part 7

Chapter 16.

Choked!

Now we come to the third type of person who heard G.o.d's Word and how they responded to it.

And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the l.u.s.ts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Mark 4:18-19 In addition to the four different types of hearts that the Word of G.o.d was planted in, this parable also speaks about a progression. You first start out not having any desire for the Word of G.o.d at all. The Word is like water off a duck's back. It's in one ear, and out the other. That's the first person.

The second person liked the Word of G.o.d, and was excited about it, but they didn't have any root in themselves so no fruit was produced.

The third person is someone who has learned enough truths that they are excited about the Word and have meditated on it enough that it's beginning to take root. There's a real life and vibrancy coming out of them. The Word of G.o.d is starting to produce results in their life, but then they get occupied with the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the l.u.s.ts of other things, so fruit production ceases.

Personally, I feel that in my life I've come through periods of being like the first and second type of person. I believe that I'm moving out of being like the third type of person and into the fourth type, where I am beginning to be productive. However, I still deal with some of these same things I've battled before. I still get occupied with things other than what G.o.d has really called me to do. I believe that affects a lot of us.

CONSTANTLY BOMBARDED.

In our day and age, we have access to information that previous generations never had. Do you realize that most generations prior to the 1950s were basically isolated? It took a long time for news and information to get around. So people lived in these smaller communities, and they didn't have all of the pressures and cares of this world inundating them the way that we now do. Today, if something happens on the other side of the globe, we hear about it nearly instantaneously. We can turn our television on and watch live coverage of it. It is easier than ever for you to literally take the problems of this world into your life as they are presented in up-to-the-minute detail. Whereas, in previous generations, it would have taken weeks, or even a month, to find out what had happened and by that time, the situation would probably have been over so it didn't cause the same level of anxiety, worry, or care, today we live through crises after crises in real-time.

Today we are being constantly bombarded not only by news and the problems of this world, but also by all kinds of entertainment. We have an abundance of television, movies, and video games. Also, it seems that on the job, people are working harder than ever before. Americans are some of the biggest workaholics on the face of the earth. Individuals who work forty hours a week are the exception. Most workers put in more. People are just pouring themselves into all this information and activity, and it will choke the Word of G.o.d.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that G.o.d wants us all to leave life and enter a monastery so we can just sit there and study the Word twenty-four hours a day. That's not what I'm talking about. However, I am saying that meditating in the Word takes time. It takes quant.i.ty time, not just "quality" time, for the Word to take root on the inside of us. Many of our lifestyles today are not conducive to the Word of G.o.d taking root in our life.

Sadhu Sundar Singh was a powerful Christian who lived in India in the early 1900s. He saw great miracles, including multiple people raised from the dead in one day. This brother had a tremendous ministry.

Around 1910, Sundar traveled by boat from India to New York City. It took him a month or two to get there because of the mode of travel. Due to this, he had a year's worth of meetings lined up in the United States. He got off the boat in New York City, spent thirty minutes walking around town, and then decided to get right back on the boat to return to India. He remarked that there was no point in ministering to the people in America, that their lifestyle would not allow the Word of G.o.d to take root in their hearts. And this was a hundred years ago! Yet, it's the same truth we're talking about right here. The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the l.u.s.ts of other things enter in and choke the Word. (Mark 4:18-19.) TAKE DOWN TIME.

Busyness is not conducive to spirituality. There needs to be a balance to life, but most people aren't walking in it. Most of us are far too occupied with things other than G.o.d and His Word. If you were to ask the average person how they're doing, the majority of their responses would center around how busy they are. When I'm asked that question, I sometimes answer, "I'm busier than a onearmed wallpaper hanger!" Many people say, "I'm busier than I've ever been."That's pretty typical. Yet, according to Mark 4, it's busyness like this that will stop the Word of G.o.d from working in your life and producing fruit. You need time sitting and soaking in the Word of G.o.d for it to be able to release its power in your life.

Many people talk about having "devotion" times. To them, this means doing a little five minute devotion in the morning when they first get up. I admit, there is some benefit to that. However, if you're just trying to squeeze five or ten minutes of trying to hear the Lord's voice and stay your mind on the things of G.o.d, but the rest of the day you are running around at a frantic pace, you aren't going to have the Word of G.o.d produce fruit in your life. It takes some down time.

Be still, and know that I am G.o.d. Psalm 46:10 You have to be still and quiet yourself. If I get really involved, busy, and going at a frantic pace, it takes a period of time for me to sit down, slow myself down, before I can get to where I can hear G.o.d from my heart. It just takes me awhile. If I've been preoccupied with something for a longer period of time-perhaps days or weeks-and I haven't had time to be still and know that He is G.o.d, then it takes me awhile to penetrate and break through that barrier to where I'm listening and tuned in to the spirit realm. If I have been spending lots of time with the Lord and am very sensitive to Him, I could get occupied and busy with something for an hour, and just nearly step immediately out of that and go right back into the spirit realm. But if it has been days or weeks that I've been preoccupied with something else, it takes me some time-not just quality, but quant.i.ty time-to quiet myself, get still, and allow the Word of G.o.d to work in my life.

One night I saw in a dream, "Psalms 46:10." I didn't see the words of that scripture, I just saw the scripture reference. Even though I've ministered from that verse hundreds of times, when I woke up, I couldn't think of what that verse said for the life of me. So, I looked it up. Immediately I recognized the verse as an old familiar friend, but I felt like it must have something more to say to me. So, I meditated on that verse all morning.

I don't believe that verse is only speaking of physically being still. I think it speaks also of stilling our mind and emotions, and there are many other applications. But that afternoon, I decided I would literally sit still for one hour just to see what came of it. It was amazing. I didn't move anything but my eyes. I didn't rock in my chair or s.h.i.+ft positions. I was as still as a stone. I had a deer walk right up to me. A chipmunk crawled up on my shoe. I was still.

I noticed things all around me that I hadn't noticed before. I heard the wind blowing in the trees. It had been blowing all day but my business had distracted me so that I didn't notice it until I was totally still. I counted dozens of chipmunks that I hadn't noticed before. There were thousands of ants that, before I was still, I never noticed. There was so much happening all around me that I was just missing because I was busy.

The Lord used that instance to speak to me that the busyness of this natural world limits our perception of the spiritual world. Or as Jesus put it, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the l.u.s.t of other things, choke the Word.

A lifestyle where you are going fast and frantic all the time will stop G.o.d's Word from working in your life. Even Jesus took down time. He was in such demand ministering to the people that were coming to Him that He didn't even have time to eat. So He tried to separate Himself and His disciples by saying, "Let's go over into a desert place." (See Mark 6:30-32.) Yes, His goal was to reach people. Yes, He desired to touch as many people's lives as He could. Yet, after He and His disciples had been out on this missionary tour, He was telling the disciples to come apart, rest awhile, and to go over to this desert place. Do you know why the Lord wanted to do that? Jesus did this because He realized that the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the l.u.s.ts of other things will choke the Word of G.o.d.

SEPARATE YOURSELF.

You need some time when you can separate yourself from all the busy activities of daily life, and just spend some time focused on G.o.d. Now, you don't necessarily have to have your nose buried in the Bible. To a degree you will, because you can't meditate on scriptures that you don't know. But if you've already been reading the Bible, you might be able to just go sit on the porch for awhile and pray about what's been going on during that day. You could meditate on the scriptures G.o.d has been giving you and ask Him to show you things. about what's been going on during that day. You could meditate on the scriptures G.o.d has been giving you and ask Him to show you things.

I do that a lot. I built a trail on my property and I walk on it an hour or two a day. I spend that time just meditating on the things of G.o.d, thinking about what He's leading me to do, and meditating on scriptures. We have a little swing out on our patio I like to sit on. You can't see another house from my place, so I like to sit out there and look at the mountains. I just look around, meditate, and think on things. That's an important time.

One of the things that will stop G.o.d's Word from working in your life is just being busy. If Satan came in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork, most of us would resist him, saying, "No way am I giving in to you!" Likewise, most of us would reject X-rated, and even most R-rated material, or anything else that is just overtly of the devil. But there's nothing wrong with having a j ob, a career, and a family. Working your job and spending time with your family are good and right in their place, but it's not good when we cram so much into our life that we have very little or no time left for G.o.d and His Word. You may be occupying your life with decent things-things that aren't immoral in or of themselves-but if you have no time to sit and meditate on the things of the Lord, it will stop the Word of G.o.d from working in your life.

In my own personal life, G.o.d has dealt with me about a number of things. They aren't sin, but He's told me that I cannot afford to become preoccupied with them. I don't need another hobby. I don't need anything else to do, especially with my personality. I have a compulsive type of personality, which means that everything I do, I do to an extreme. I've had some friends try to get me into doing certain things. They're enjoying it, and it's no problem for them, but I just don't have the time to devote to anything else. I have to keep the main thing, the main thing!

I wish I could somehow or another just make people understand this truth because Satan is really using this to hinder people's personal growth. He draws us into being so busy that we short-circuit G.o.d's provision for us to change. We just get so preoccupied that we don't take the time to spend in the Word and in fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d.

This hinders the change G.o.d wants to bring to pa.s.s.

FELLOWs.h.i.+PPING WITH G.o.d.

If you are going to see effective change-the Word of G.o.d producing fruit in your life-you must start spending some quant.i.ty time fellows.h.i.+pping with G.o.d through the Word. You have to take these truths, plant them, and keep them in your heart. Some people don't like that, but it's just the way the kingdom works. This isn't necessarily the way that we would have decided to have it done, but this is how the Lord told us His kingdom operates. Since He's the Lord, it's going to work the way that He says, not the way that you choose. This is something that I have to deal with all the time. I constantly have to make time and force myself not to get too busy.

Although I'm not tempted to go out and do any of those things that the church calls "sin," G.o.d has to deal with me often about getting so preoccupied with the ministry. It's the things concerning the ministry that crowd out my time to fellows.h.i.+p with G.o.d and study His Word. The Lord has had to deal with me over that. If I can become too preoccupied and busy with ministry-things that are good and are about helping other people-so that the Word of G.o.d is being choked and hindered in my life, what can happen in other people's lives who are being occupied with pursuing their careers and running their kids all over town all week long? are about helping other people-so that the Word of G.o.d is being choked and hindered in my life, what can happen in other people's lives who are being occupied with pursuing their careers and running their kids all over town all week long?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to tell you what you can or cannot do. However, you maybe one of these people who love G.o.d, place an importance on His Word, and want to see the fruit, but are so occupied with all kinds of "good" things that the seed of G.o.d's Word is being choked out in your life. Many Christians are simply involved in too much. They're constantly taxiing their kids here, there, and yonder, and they're involved in everything the church has to offer. If you're not careful, it will choke the Word of G.o.d and keep you from being productive. These things aren't bad-just natural.

STAY HOME.

While in Vietnam, I had a lot of time on my hands. I wasn't one of the "grunts," guys who were out in the field constantly hiking every day and engaging the enemy. I did see some action, and there was a lot of danger a.s.sociated with being on that fire support base. However, to a large degree, it was boring just sitting there on a hill. I was a chaplains a.s.sistant a.s.signed to brigade headquarters. I was on the battalion level. This meant that there was n.o.body directly over me because I reported back to people forty-five miles away. This was why I had such a huge amount of time on my hands.

With so much time to spare, I just started poring over the Word of G.o.d as much as fifteen or sixteen hours a day. I studied through the Bible all day long. I would go on bunker guard every single day and spend four hours praying and communicating with the Lord.

After over thirteen months of just constantly being in the Word and praying, I returned home to the USA ready to go to church and be with other Christians again. Since I had a car, I became the taxi driver for some younger friends as we drove all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We often stayed out as late as one or two o'clock in the morning attending prayer meetings, revival meetings, and even allnight prayer meetings.

Although that sounds good, after being back from Vietnam for about a month, I began to recognize my spiritual sensitivity to G.o.d was diminis.h.i.+ng. My heart wasn't as focused on Him as before. I wasn't doing anything sinful or wrong, but the Lord spoke to me saying, "This going to church every night is killing your relations.h.i.+p with Me."

Now, you may not understand that. In fact, you may be tempted right now to think I'm anti-church. Let me a.s.sure you, that's not the case. However, I was going to church every single night-seven nights a week. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, there was always someplace you could go. Plus, we had prayer meetings in the morning and other meetings during the day. I was so involved in doing all of these things-G.o.dly things-that it was choking the Word of G.o.d out of my life. So one of the things the Lord told me to do was to stay home at least two nights a week. He specifically instructed me NOT to go out with my friends to a revival meeting, convention, or prayer meeting, but to stay home studying the Word and fellows.h.i.+pping with Him. I needed to get back into the flow of a personal relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d.

WEEDS.

All this busyness is like weeds sprouting up all around the stalk of corn you planted. The soil only has so much nourishment. Those weeds will suck much of the moisture and nutrients out of the ground, which will keep the seed that you want to grow from really producing and bearing fruit. This is what happens to us when we get so occupied doing other things. They don't have to be bad things, it's just that we're so occupied with them that it saps our attention and energy. We don't really have any time to be able to focus on and fellows.h.i.+p with the Lord.

Honestly, do you fall asleep every time you try to get quiet and study the Word of G.o.d? Are you so busy that you aren't even getting a full night's sleep? Many of us are cramming so much into our lives, and it's not improving the quality of it. We've just become busy. That lifestyle needs to change.

Are you seeing the change in your life that you desire?

Are you bearing the fruit that you know G.o.d wants you to bear? If not, I challenge you to start spending some quant.i.ty time just focused on the things of the Lord. I'm not going to put certain requirements on this time because it may vary from person to person. If you go from spending no time to spending thirty minutes a day focused on G.o.d-with everything else out of your mind- you'll see tremendous benefits. Perhaps you've already been spending thirty minutes a day, but the Lord is drawing you in deeper. You just need to make a decision that you are going to start taking away all of the things that choke the Word of G.o.d in your life.

Chapter 17.

Less There was only one soil that really produced the intended fruit. It's this last type of heart that the Word of G.o.d was sown in.

And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

Mark 4:20 We all want to be this last type of ground. We all want to produce an abundant crop of good fruit. However, the best type of ground didn't have more. It had less.

FIRST PLACE.

When the Lord showed this truth to me, I was just starting out in ministry. It impacted me deeply because I was acutely aware that I was just a hick from Texas. My voice is not what you would call a voice for radio and television. G.o.d chooses the weak things of this world to confound the wise. (1 Corinthians 1:26-28.) If I were picking people to be on radio and television, I wouldn't have picked me. That's for sure! So I was acutely aware of all these liabilities-my voice, the way I look, that I'm a hick from Texas, and that I don't have the "charisma" that a lot of other people do. Because of this, I honestly doubted that G.o.d could use me. But the Lord really encouraged me through this parable.

He showed me that it was the seed-the Word-that produced the fruit. And the ground that produced the best fruit wasn't the ground that had more, it was the ground that had less-less stones, less thorns, and less weeds. The real productive soil wasn't soil that had more than everything else; it was the soil that had less.

This told me that I didn't necessarily need all of these external talents that people normally put emphasis on in order to be fruitful. It's really just a matter of the heart. If I would rid myself of the stones, thorns, and weeds, I could bear much fruit. I just needed to eliminate the things that occupy my attention and devote myself completely to G.o.d. If I put the Word of G.o.d first place in my heart, then that Word would produce an abundant harvest in my life.

This really encouraged me. I prayed, "G.o.d, if what really makes Your Word become fruitful is being less, then I can certainly be less. I may not be able to be more, but I can definitely be less. I can get rid of these things that hinder me."

You may not feel like you're the sharpest knife in the drawer. You may be acutely aware that you have all kinds of liabilities that other people don't have. Yet, you can commit yourself to the Word of G.o.d and meditate on it until G.o.d's Word takes deep root in your heart. You can refuse to allow anything else to divert your attention or sap the strength of your heart that could be going toward the Lord. If you devote yourself completely to the Lord and His Word, G.o.d's Word will make you a success. It will cause fruit to come in whatever area He has called and anointed you to minister.

AN a.s.sET.

Luke's account says: But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Luke 8:15 If you stop and think about it, this whole parable has been about patience. It's been about a seed being planted and then reaping a harvest. Everyone who has ever dealt with seeds knows that you have to give that seed time to work. Time is actually an a.s.set. It's a benefit to a farmer. It's not a negative, but a positive.

When you put a seed in the ground, you don't know what's happening. But if you'll leave that seed in the ground, keeping it watered and weeded, G.o.d has made it so that over time, it'll germinate and take root. The crop will come up and the fruit will mature. Time is actually a benefit. Instead of looking at time negatively, you need to see it as a friend.

After speaking along these lines about the growth process and it taking time, I remember one of our Bible college students getting mad and saying, "I don't have ten years to mature. G.o.d has told me that I'm supposed to lead a million people to the Lord. Jesus is coming back soon!" So in spite of all the scriptures that talk about not putting a novice in a position of authority, all the scriptures that speak of growth over time, this guy just determined that he was going to violate all of that, and that he was going to get it done on his own. He actually quit school so he could go ahead and change the world in a short period of time.

This was years ago, and it hasn't come to pa.s.s yet. He saw time as a negative, and had the att.i.tude, "I can't afford to wait!"

Now that I've been in the ministry for over forty years, I look at time as an a.s.set. I've been sowing the Word of G.o.d in my life for decades. I've been meditating on these truths for years. I'm still reaping today because of the time that I've invested in the kingdom of G.o.d decades ago.

REPRODUCTION AND MULTIPLICATION.

Once a seed is sown, it'll grow and multiply over time. Consider the dandelion. If you were to sow a dandelion seed in your yard, over time that dandelion would reproduce itself and completely fill your yard. That's how seeds work. Time is actually a friend to a seed because it allows reproduction and multiplication.

Don't think, Oh man, I have to spend time growing, maturing, and letting the Word take root on the inside of me. View time positively. Every second you spend meditating in the Word of G.o.d and planting these seeds in your heart, you're starting in motion a process that cannot be stopped. Seeds are powerful.

It's been over twenty years since Mount St. Helens erupted. Because of the devastation, all the scientists back then were predicting that it would take hundreds of years for the area to reforest itself, for the animals to come back, and for the flowers to return. Now they're just shocked that things are so regenerated after only a little more than twenty years' time. It's far beyond everyone's expectations. They didn't understand the power that's in seeds. There was so much heat and so many mudslides, yet those seeds were doing what G.o.d created them to do. They started producing, and by the very next year there were already signs of regeneration sprouting up here and there.

G.o.d has put seeds in His Word. We need to take these seeds, plant them in our heart, and just leave them there. If we keep the Word of G.o.d fresh and alive on the inside of us, it'll continue benefiting us twenty, thirty, even fifty years from now, should the Lord tarry.

This is how the kingdom of G.o.d works. Once you understand this principle, you can take the Word of G.o.d, sow it in your life, and keep it there. Instead of being discouraged that it takes time to grow, you can be encouraged. Once you get this system going, and you've invested that time, the Word of G.o.d will just supernaturally change you. You'll be changed effortlessly by the Word of G.o.d. It'll just spring forth and grow up in your life. You'll be transformed.

I live in the mountains of Colorado. There is a 250 foot vertical rise from the road that runs in front of our house up to our house. Our property is so steep, it's hard to walk on it, especially in winter with the snow. Add to that the fact that our alt.i.tude is 9000 feet and it really taxes your breathing to climb these hills. Therefore, I decided to build a trail that "switched back" across my property so I could walk up and down without losing my breath.

I started building that trail by just using hand tools in 1994. Most of my property is decomposed granite and I averaged only ten feet per hour. My trail is 2.5 miles round trip. So, it looked like it was going to take me forever to finish that trail. I worked on it until it was completed in 2000 and still maintain it today.

I tell you this story to make a point. Now, every time I go walking on my trail, I am reaping the benefits of the labor I did back in '94-2000. Yes, it took me six years to build that trail, but I've been using it for many years now. That wasn't wasted time. I'm reaping benefits from that investment of time every day. Likewise, the time you take getting G.o.d's Word rooted and grounded in you isn't wasted time. You will reap its rewards for the rest of your life.

Chapter 18.

The Growth Process On the same day that Jesus taught the parable of the sower sowing the seed, He also said: So is the kingdom of G.o.d, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself;first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.

Mark 4:26-29 Although this is a simple pa.s.sage of scripture, it's very profound. It's packed with meaning. First of all, it says that the kingdom of G.o.d is as if a man should cast seed into the ground. This is the same principle as in the parable of the sower sowing the seed. G.o.d's Word is like a seed planted in the ground of our heart.

COOPERATE AND REAP.

Notice verse 27 says: And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

Mark 4:27 In the same way that you plant a seed in the ground and don't really know what's happening to make it grow, so it is with the Word. Mankind, with all our knowledge, has put satellites in orbit, people on the moon, and sent s.p.a.cecraft to other planets. For all that mankind has accomplished and all of our c.u.mulative knowledge, we cannot manufacture a seed. Oh, we can make something that looks like a seed, with the same size, color, and chemicals. It could look like an exact replica and fool people, but if you take a man made seed and plant it in the ground, it won't germinate or reproduce itself. Why? There isn't any life in it.

Despite all our knowledge, mankind has not been able to figure out why a seed does what it does. It does what it does just because G.o.d created it that way. However, even though we don't understand all of the specifics, that doesn't keep us from taking seeds and planting them in the ground. We've learned a few things about how long it takes for that seed to germinate and produce a harvest. We've learned about what weeds to keep out. We've learned about what kind of temperature and how much water the seed needs to produce fruit. We've learned enough about a seed to be able to cooperate with it, but we still don't understand it. Yet it works. Every one of us benefit from seeds sown around the world when we eat our bread, fruit, and vegetables. We don't understand it, but we still benefit from it.

This is a tremendous comfort to me. I don't have to understand everything about how the Word works. I don't have to understand why just shutting myself in with the Lord, studying His Word, and listening to Him speak to me does what it does. The fact that I can't totally explain it doesn't keep me from cooperating and reaping the benefits of it.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist, or the sharpest person around. You don't have to understand everything to get G.o.d's Word working in your life. Just start sowing the Word into your heart. Begin meditating on it day and night. The Word of G.o.d will germinate, take root, spring forth, and grow up of itself.

EVERYTHING JESUS PROVIDED.

G.o.d put life in those seeds. Man cannot figure it out, but G.o.d spoke life into physical seeds. He's also spoken life into the spiritual seed of His Word.

Proverbs 4:20-22 says: My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

G.o.d's Word contains His life in it. If you would take His words, His sayings, and put them on the inside of you, then G.o.d's kind of life would start flowing through you. You would find that healing, prosperity, joy, peace- everything Jesus provided-are contained in G.o.d's Word. The Bible isn't like any other book. It's different. It's alive.

For the word of G.o.d is quick [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword.

Hebrews 4:12, [brackets mine]

G.o.d's Word is alive. It's different than reading any other book-even books about the Bible. The Word of G.o.d is different. There's life in it. If you take it, the Word will give you life where there's been death. It gives light where there was darkness. It's that simple.

PATIENCE.

In light of this truth, I don't know why people don't spend more time studying the Word of G.o.d. I don't know why we spend so much time occupied with all these other things. The only explanation I can think of is that we really don't believe. We really don't believe the power and authority that's in G.o.d's Word. If you understand what I'm saying, then you'll realize that the most important thing you could ever do is just take G.o.d's Word and begin planting it in your life.

G.o.d has created His Word just like a physical seed. It brings forth fruit of itself. Yet, the Word doesn't work until it's sown in your heart just like a seed doesn't work until it's sown into the ground.

They've found seeds in pyramids that had been lying there for four thousand years. They were dormant, never sprouting, because they weren't in the ground. But once they were planted with the right temperature, nutrients, and water, they started sprouting and producing plants. All of a sudden the life that was in them came forth. That's a miracle!

G.o.d's Word has been recorded for thousands of years. If you will take it and sow it into your heart, it will begin to produce.

But the seed has to be in the ground. The Word has to be in your heart for it to begin to release that life. You can't just read it with your eyes and take a little truth into your brain. You have to put it down deep on the inside of you. You must meditate on the Word until it literally takes root on the inside of you. That's when it will just start supernaturally producing. read it with your eyes and take a little truth into your brain. You have to put it down deep on the inside of you. You must meditate on the Word until it literally takes root on the inside of you. That's when it will just start supernaturally producing.

In this parable, Jesus was saying that the kingdom of G.o.d is like a man that takes a seed and puts it in the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day. This implies time. You have to exercise patience.