As ill.u.s.trated in my previous example from Isaiah 35 and 40, it"s important to know where verses are located in the Bible because it helps you understand them better and it makes you more able to share these truths with other people.
However, I will compromise on this point. You may not always know the exact place where a verse is located in scripture. You may not have the address memorized. You may have to sometimes go refresh your memory and look something up. But those truths- those revelations- ought to be yours if you will only seek them and claim them.
When you have symptoms of sickness in your body and you"re lying on your bed, ready to puke your guts out, it"s not sufficient to cry out to G.o.d saying, "I know that somewhere in the Bible it says that You want to heal me."That"s not the way the kingdom works. That"s like a person who hasn"t planted a garden but is praying for a harvest. It"s not going to happen.
The number one reason why people aren"t receiving from G.o.d is because they literally haven"t taken the truths of His Word and planted them in their heart. This is why people aren"t experiencing the victory they are praying for and desiring, and begging and pleading for G.o.d to give them. This is why the Lord used this kind of a parable of a sower and his seed. He wants us to understand how His kingdom works. The sower sows the Word of G.o.d. The seed He"s talking about is not a physical seed. Rather, the Word of G.o.d is like a seed.
If you want healing in your life, take the scriptures that talk about healing and meditate on them. Look up every scripture in the Bible on healing. Study the examples recorded where people were healed.
TIGHT, BUT RIGHT.
Proverbs 4:22 says that G.o.d"s words are: Life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
If you"ll take G.o.d"s Word like a seed, and begin to plant it in your heart, it will literally start releasing supernatural healing into your life.
Psalm 107:20 says that G.o.d: Sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
G.o.d"s Word will bring healing and deliverance to you.
I"m not scolding anyone. I"m just trying to be forceful with this truth because so many people are missing it big time. The kingdom of G.o.d works from this truth that the Word of G.o.d is a seed. Just like in the natural realm, you must plant seeds to produce a crop. You can"t have a forest without planting many seeds. You can"t have victory in your life without the Word of G.o.d being planted in your heart. That"s tight, but it"s right. It"s simple, but it"s true. This is how the kingdom of G.o.d works.
QUALITY AND QUANt.i.tY.
If you humble yourself and receive this truth, it will provide you with an answer to why you aren"t seeing any more victory in your life than you are. It will explain why you aren"t seeing more of the power of G.o.d at work. The average person isn"t meditating in the Word of G.o.d. They aren"t spending time-both quality and quant.i.ty amounts of time-in G.o.d"s Word. The average person doesn"t have a good understanding of the Word of G.o.d. of time-in G.o.d"s Word. The average person doesn"t have a good understanding of the Word of G.o.d.
I can attest to this because I deal with thousands of people on a regular basis. Nearly every person comes to me with their sad story. They come to me crying and complaining. And yet, you could take their knowledge of G.o.d"s Word and put it in a thimble, and it would be nearly empty. They don"t know what the Word of G.o.d says. They might say,"My pastor said.. ."or "I believe the Bible says this somewhere."That"s not going to get you healed! The Word of G.o.d must be revelation to you. It has to be alive in you. It never will be if you haven"t taken the promises like a seed, planted them in your heart, meditated on them, and seen the Word of G.o.d work.
You"re wondering, Why isn"t G.o.d answering my prayer? He"s given us these seeds but we haven"t planted them! That"s like someone praying over their ground and saying, "G.o.d, why haven"t You let this garden grow?"They didn"t plant the seeds!
G.o.d has established natural laws, and He"s not going to break them. He"s also established spiritual laws, and He won"t break them either. G.o.d"s Word tell us that the Lord has "sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions" (Psalm 107:20). All through the Word are promises revealing G.o.d as our Healer and Provider and attesting to how He wants to prosper us, but to see His healing and provision you must take G.o.d"s Word and start planting it in your life.
One reason the Lord used this parable about a man sowing seed is because the process of germination is a natural system, not a social system. Social-man-made or man-operated-systems can be broken or manipulated. Most of us have been through school, and many of us didn"t really study for our tests the way we should. We goofed off with our friends and waited until the last minute to prepare. Then, the night before the exam, we stayed up all night and crammed for the final. We were able to pa.s.s the test, get a grade, and graduate, but we broke the system. We didn"t learn the material. It"s not retained in our long-term memory. We just circ.u.mvented things to skirt by. You can"t do that with a natural system. man-operated-systems can be broken or manipulated. Most of us have been through school, and many of us didn"t really study for our tests the way we should. We goofed off with our friends and waited until the last minute to prepare. Then, the night before the exam, we stayed up all night and crammed for the final. We were able to pa.s.s the test, get a grade, and graduate, but we broke the system. We didn"t learn the material. It"s not retained in our long-term memory. We just circ.u.mvented things to skirt by. You can"t do that with a natural system.
"I DON"T UNDERSTAND!"
A certain man who attended a Bible study I used to hold was probably one of the worst sinners in that whole county. He was a drunk and a womanizer. He did anything and everything. Then he was miraculously born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit. Just as much as he had served the devil, he turned around and now served G.o.d with all his heart. Everybody in the county was aware of what had happened to this man. He couldn"t go anywhere-the post office, grocery store, or gas station- without people recognizing the transformation. Because of this, he had many opportunities to be a witness. He started talking to everybody about the Lord. This man opened up his home and had me come in to teach the Word. Sixty or seventy people were coming to this Bible study just to see the change in this man.
This brother had tremendous zeal, but he made some serious mistakes because he didn"t have very much knowledge of the Word. He started traveling and giving his testimony in many different meetings on top of all he was doing in his church. Because of this busy schedule, he just didn"t have time to plant his crops the way he normally did. This guy owned so much land that he counted it in sections. Each section was 640 acres. Now, he didn"t have time to plant his wheat crop because he was too busy giving his testimony for the Lord and being a witness to people. Since his desire and heart was right- he was loving the Lord, and all these things were good- this fellow just supposed that G.o.d would supernaturally bless him with a crop even though he didn"t take time to sow it.
The wheat season progressed, and it was about three weeks or so before everybody else would harvest their crop. Their wheat was up, had already started turning golden in color, and they were getting ready to harvest. About that time, this man went out and borrowed $500,000 to buy wheat seed. (That will tell you how much land he had to plant!) He spent weeks planting half a million dollars worth of wheat just days before the harvest was supposed to come. He thought that G.o.d would grant him a supernatural harvest because he had been out doing "the Lord"s work."
Of course, this supernatural harvest didn"t happen. When his wheat didn"t grow up, and he didn"t harvest it, he lost all of this money. He was in jeopardy of going bankrupt. This man came to me wanting prayer. He was angry, saying, "I don"t understand why G.o.d didn"t give me this harvest!"
I had to tell him, "That isn"t the way the kingdom works. You have to plant your seed at a certain time, and give it time to grow and mature. These are just natural laws."
He countered, saying, "I know that"s the way it works. I"ve been doing this for years. But I thought that since I was in the Spirit that things would just work differently."
LEARN AND COOPERATE.
This man was just verbalizing what many people think. They think in the natural realm that you"re bound by these physical, natural laws, and certain things have to happen before expected results can come. But in the spiritual realm, they just think that if they"re sincere, really in need, and mean it with all of their heart, that they can expect positive results to come without preparation.
The parable of the sower says that in the same way that there are laws that govern how a physical, natural seed has to be planted and germinate, there are laws that govern the spiritual realm. One of these laws is that the Word of G.o.d is a seed. If you want results in your life, you must plant the Word of G.o.d in your heart. If you desire certain kingdom fruit in your marriage, relationships, finances, health, emotions-whatever it is-take the seeds (promises in G.o.d"s Word that speak about those specific things) and plant them in your life. If you will give this seed the proper nourishment and take care of it the way this parable tells you to, then it"s inevitable that you will reap the fruit you want. This is so simple that you have to have somebody help you to misunderstand it!
However, most people don"t follow this pattern. They wait until they"re already in a crisis situation, and then pray wanting G.o.d to pull them out by a miracle. They get offended, upset, and fall into disbelief if they don"t see the "right" results. Pardon me for being blunt, but that"s just as stupid as the farmer who waits to plant his crop a week before it"s due to harvest, failing to cooperate with natural law, who then gets upset with G.o.d because the crop didn"t come in.
There"s nothing wrong with the natural laws. You just have to cooperate with them. There"s nothing wrong with the spiritual laws, either. You just have to learn what they are and cooperate with them.
If I want results in my life, I must go to the Word of G.o.d. I must take seeds-promises that talk about the fruit I want to produce-and start meditating on them. Over time, what I have desired comes to pa.s.s and I receive the harvest. That"s one of the truths this parable of the sower teaches.
Chapter 12.
Understanding The seed produces the fruit, not the ground. It"s the Word that brings forth the results. This was one of the first truths G.o.d ministered to me out of this parable of the sower sowing the seed.
Now, the ground does have a part to play. It can either allow the seed to produce to its full potential, or it can hinder, choke, and stop the Word of G.o.d from working. However, it"s not the ground itself that produces the fruit; it"s the seed.
DIRT.
We are the ground. Our heart is where we either allow the Word of G.o.d to have its complete rule, or we can let the Word be choked by the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the l.u.s.t for other things. Our heart can become hardened towards G.o.d and not give His seed a place to germinate. Our heart can affect the growth, but it"s the seed-the Word of G.o.d-that brings forth fruit. All I am is the ground. (Genesis 2:7.) I"m just dirt-a place for the seed to germinate. I provide warmth and nutrients, but it"s the Word that produces the fruit.
I may not have all of the natural things that other people have going for them-the education, the talents, the personality, or good looks-but it"s the Word of G.o.d that will change my life and other people"s lives through my ministry. G.o.d revealed this truth to me through this parable, and it continues impacting me deeply to this day.
That"s why my radio and television programs are set up the way they are. We come on with a ten or twenty second tease in the beginning where I introduce the subject for the day. Then we have ten seconds of time where my wife and I are walking through the aspen trees while the announcer says, "Welcome to The Gospel Truth" And within thirty seconds, you"re getting the Word of G.o.d. I"m talking the Word, quoting scripture, and teaching what the Word of G.o.d says. I"ve taken this approach because the Lord has given me this revelation that it"s not who I am, what I look like, or any other natural thing that will impact the world for Him. It"s the Word of G.o.d that changes people"s lives.
The format is the same in my monthly letters, teaching articles, and books. Everything I put out is chock full of the Word of G.o.d. If you poke me, G.o.d"s Word comes out. Everything in my life is centered around the Word of G.o.d, and it"s working to produce fruit.
This is the att.i.tude this parable teaches. The Word of G.o.d has to be planted in your heart for you to effectively change. If you will follow the instruction of this parable, you will find that change is as normal and natural as when a seed is planted in the ground and grows up. If you would take the Word of G.o.d and meditate on it day and night, it would change you. The Word would transform your life.
HEARTS.
The four different types of ground the seed was sown in correspond to four different types of people"s hearts. The Word of G.o.d has to be sown in your heart. The ground is representative of your heart. Out of these four different types of ground, only one really began to produce fruit.
It"s estimated that in most churches, only about 25 percent of the people do all of the giving and serving that make the church work. Three-fourths of the people just come, watch, and partake of the ministry being given, but they aren"t actual players in the kingdom of G.o.d. This would correspond directly to what this parable is teaching. Only one in four types of people who had the Word sown in their heart actually begin to produce fruit.
I"ve observed the same thing happening in our Bible college. About 25 percent of the people really take the Word of G.o.d to heart and then go out and change their world with it. Now, many more people graduate and go out and affect the world to some degree, but it"s about one in four who have the experience and teaching received at Charis Bible College change their life, and then go out and change other people"s lives through G.o.d"s Word as well. I would venture to say that this is about the same in any organization. It"s about 25 percent of the people who really carry the load and make things work.
Although only 25 percent of the seed that was sown actually brought forth fruit, it wasn"t the seed that was the problem.
INCORRUPTIBLE.
G.o.d"s Word is an incorruptible seed.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of G.o.d, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1 Peter 1:23 If you sow seed in the ground, sometimes you just get bad seed. The seed has been tainted or became rotten. For one reason or another, it"s lost the life in it. In the natural realm, it"s possible to get seed, plant it, and not have it produce the desired results because the seed was bad. However, in the spiritual realm, G.o.d"s Word is the seed- and it"s incorruptible.
The Word of G.o.d will work the same for anyone. The seed wasn"t the variable in any of these four instances. It was the ground. Now that fact is very, very important. Sometimes, I"ll hear people say, "I took the Word of G.o.d and meditated on it. I confessed the Word, but it just didn"t work for me." What they"re saying is that the seed was corruptible-that the seed doesn"t work the same for everybody. This parable teaches exactly the opposite.
G.o.d"s Word is an incorruptible seed. It"s never the Word that fails to work. It"s the people who fail to work it. It"s the people"s hearts which don"t allow the Word to germinate and release its full potential. As we continue going through this parable, you"ll see some of the things that can hinder the Word of G.o.d from working in your life, but right now, you need to take this truth, establish it in your heart, and never deviate from it. It"s non-negotiable. Never question it. This is just an actual fact: G.o.d"s Word is incorruptible. It always works. G.o.d"s Word never fails. We may fail to understand and properly apply it. We may fail to take the corresponding actions it tells us to. But G.o.d"s Word never fails.
IMMEDIATELY.
As a very young Christian just getting started, this truth came alive in my heart and ignited my faith. As I meditated on this parable, I saw and believed with all of my heart that G.o.d"s Word would change my life. All I had to do was take the Word of G.o.d and meditate on it, and the Word would do the rest because I believed the Word was an incorruptible seed. Through this, my life has totally transformed. In my finances, I"m a totally different person than I used to be. I"m walking in health in my physical body, and I"ve seen other people miraculously healed because of the Word I"ve meditated on. In my emotions, I"m a different person because of G.o.d"s Word. It"s changed my relationships with people. I can trace anything that G.o.d has done in my life back to His Word. That"s powerful, and it"s what this parable is teaching. alive in my heart and ignited my faith. As I meditated on this parable, I saw and believed with all of my heart that G.o.d"s Word would change my life. All I had to do was take the Word of G.o.d and meditate on it, and the Word would do the rest because I believed the Word was an incorruptible seed. Through this, my life has totally transformed. In my finances, I"m a totally different person than I used to be. I"m walking in health in my physical body, and I"ve seen other people miraculously healed because of the Word I"ve meditated on. In my emotions, I"m a different person because of G.o.d"s Word. It"s changed my relationships with people. I can trace anything that G.o.d has done in my life back to His Word. That"s powerful, and it"s what this parable is teaching.
The Lord describes the first type of soil in Mark 4:15, saying: These are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Once the Word is sown on this type of soil, the devil comes immediately to steal the seed that was planted in your heart.
When some people hear that the Word of G.o.d is a seed and that if they will just take the Word and plant it in their heart they will see miraculous results, they think, This is the answer! All I have to do is take the Word of G.o.d and all my problems will be over. Not exactly. It"s actually more accurate to say that once you take the Word, commit yourself to it, and start meditating on it and getting to know the Word of G.o.d for yourself, then all of your problems have just begun. You may not like what I"m saying, but it"s true.
Satan isn"t really against you personally. He knows that on your own, you"re a zero. You aren"t going to be a threat to him or anybody else. It doesn"t matter who you think you are or what you think you have, apart from the Lord and His Word you are never going to truly change this world and have a powerful impact for G.o.d"s kingdom. But if the Word of G.o.d ever starts taking root on the inside of you and growing up and producing, the devil has had it. Satan is petrified of the Word! He"s going to come against the Word of G.o.d immediately and try to steal it out of your heart.
NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT.
You may be tempted to say, "Well, if that"s true, then I won"t even get into the Word of G.o.d. I don"t want to be a target for the devil." I"m not saying that you"re going to lose. I"m winning, but it"s not without a fight. Once you make a commitment to stand on the Word of G.o.d-when you determine that the Word is going to be number one in your life-don"t be deceived into thinking that all of your problems are over. They"ve only just begun. However, if you will continue to stand on the Word of G.o.d and not give in, you"ll be victorious. You"ll be a winner, but it won"t be without a fight. (1 Timothy 6:12; Hebrews 10:32.) Matthew 13:18-19 says: Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is Matthew stated this just a little differently than Mark. The wayside refers to a place where many people have walked. In other words, the dirt has been packed down and compacted. Instead of being able to sink into the ground, germinate, and take root, the seed just laid on the surface. Just like a bird will come and eat seeds thrown on hard-packed ground, so Satan immediately steals the Word from people who don"t get G.o.d"s Word down on the inside of them. If the Word doesn"t penetrate and get down inside a person"s heart, the devil comes immediately and steals that Word from them. Out of the four different types of people that the Lord described in this parable, this is the only group that Satan had total access to. The devil could just steal the Word away from this first type of person.
Notice what verse 19 reveals: When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.
In other words, understanding is what allows the seed to sink down inside you. Understanding allows the Word to penetrate your heart. It"s the door that permits the Word to come into your life. If there isn"t understanding, then the Word is never going to germinate. So the Word of G.o.d must be spoken in such a way that it"s easy to understand.
THE DOORWAY.
I"m amazed how some people have tried to make the Word so difficult. I"ve actually heard of some preachers who think it helps their delivery to chase after all kinds of tangents, and dig deep into the Hebrew and Greek. Of course, there"s a place for these kinds of things. I use them myself at times. But some people have made the Word so complicated and intellectual that the average person can"t understand it.
Jesus did just the opposite. In this very parable we"re looking at, He spoke of something that was easily understood by everyone. They were an agricultural society. Every one of them had sown seeds. They lived in this realm. Jesus took something very simple that people could relate to and used it to teach the Word.
Yet I see people all the time who think it"s a sign of their intelligence if they can use words that n.o.body understands. They talk in such a way that you have to go check a dictionary or believe G.o.d for an interpretation to be able to understand what they"ve said. Some people actually think that this is great ministry. I believe it"s just the opposite. If you really understand something properly, then you should be able to explain it in a way that anybody can understand.
I don"t know if I achieve that, but it"s certainly one of my goals. Many people have written in and said that I make the Word of G.o.d so simple that they"re able to understand it. They also mentioned that there are some other folks they can"t understand. We need to present G.o.d"s Word to people in a way they can understand.
Understanding is the doorway that allows the Word to get into your heart. If there isn"t understanding on your part, then the Word will be stolen from you immediately. Satan will come and take it away. The only people the devil can steal the Word from without any effort are the people who don"t understand. You must understand the Word in order to receive it.
DIGEST YOUR FOOD.
As a minister of G.o.d"s Word, the Apostle Paul also understood this. He said: To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22 I try to do the same thing Paul speaks of, especially when I"m ministering in another country or culture. I"ve been all over Europe, down to Central America, and to certain countries in Africa and Asia. When I go into a different culture, I try to use ill.u.s.trations that are specific to their situation. I do whatever I can in an attempt to get people to understand.
Not understanding the Word is like me putting food in your mouth, but you not being able to chew or swallow it. It just stays in your mouth, never getting down on the inside where you can begin to digest it. You could literally starve to death with food in your mouth if somehow or another you never get it down on the inside of you.
There are many people who have heard the Word of G.o.d, but they don"t understand it. They hear scriptures, but they don"t have a clue what they mean. There"s no spiritual understanding on the inside. Therefore, the Word doesn"t release any of its life-any of its nourishment into their life.
Wisdom is the princ.i.p.al thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Proverbs 4:7 You not only have to have the right information, but you have to have enough understanding to be able to apply and put it into practice in your life.
SATAN STEALS.
This is where many people miss it. Are you someone who can hear somebody minister and it sounds good to you, but within thirty minutes or an hour later, you can"t even tell someone else what the person was talking about? You didn"t get a thing out of it. One of two things happened: Either the minister isn"t ministering properly, or you don"t have the understanding to be able to take those truths and put them into your life. Satan steals the Word from you by the time you get out the back door of the church. That"s not a good situation.
You need to get to where you have understanding of the Word of G.o.d in your life. This doesn"t happen through just a casual reading of the Bible, or merely listening to someone"s message. You have to focus on it.
A month or so ago, I was teaching on these exact same truths in a devotion time with my employees. I was emphasizing how important the Word of G.o.d is. Due to that, some people said that they would like a Bible reading program. So we now have a Bible reading program that our employees are going through. This past week, they"ve been reading through some scriptures in the neighborhood of Exodus 30. The scriptures talk about the priests" garments, the way the tabernacle was to be built, colors of this and that, and all kinds of things that most people don"t really find that interesting. As I was reading through this, I couldn"t help but think that some of my employees are probably going to get bored reading this because it doesn"t seem exciting to them. They"ll just read through it without thinking about it, and probably won"t understand it. When we don"t understand the Word, Satan just steals that truth out of our life.
EVERY SCRIPTURE PROFITABLE.
As I was reading through this portion of scripture, Exodus 30:12 stood out to me: When thou takes t the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
Now, that verse might not seem significant to you, but there are no insignificant verses in the Bible. Second Timothy 3:16 says: All scripture is given by inspiration of G.o.d, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Every scripture can benefit us. We just need to slow down - maybe even stop-and think about what we"re reading.
As I meditated on Exodus 30:12, I realized that this was the key that unlocks 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.
David had numbered the people without meeting the requirements of Exodus 30:12 and a plague came from G.o.d. If you don"t understand this truth from Exodus 30:12, you"ll read through those other two chapters and wonder, G.o.d, why did You send a plague upon the people?Then you"ll think, G.o.d is so hard to understand. That"s because you don"t take the scriptures and meditate on them until you understand.
You can read the Bible, yet because it"s not something you"re truly interested in at the moment, you can just let it go in one ear and out the other. If you do this, Satan will come and steal the benefit. Or you can declare by faith, "All scripture... is profitable for doctrine (and) reproof (2 Timothy 3:16). There"s something for me to learn in every single verse."You can take that scripture, open up your heart, meditate on it, and let understanding come. Once you fit the pieces together, then Satan can"t steal it from you.
Spiritual understanding enables you to connect the dots. You don"t just have disjointed pieces of information, but you"re able to put them together in such a way that it begins to make sense and it starts working in your life. Understanding comes from within. It"s something that comes up from your spirit. The Spirit of G.o.d quickens it to us.
This principle is true through all ages. Take, for instance, children"s ministries. The truth is the truth. You don"t teach children different truths than you teach adults, but you do have to reach them at a different level of understanding. You could say the most profound things but if the children don"t understand what you are telling them, then Satan will steal those truths away from them immediately. I cannot overemphasize how important understanding is for people of all ages. immediately. I cannot overemphasize how important understanding is for people of all ages.
Chapter 13.
Rooted And Established When I first started in ministry, I thought that the results were all dependent on me. I thought that if I just ministered the Word properly, every person who sat under my ministry would be totally changed. So I put a tremendous amount of effort into seeking the Lord, making sure I understood the truth correctly, and was clear and anointed in saying it.
Then during the late 1970s, I did a circuit of six Bible studies a week in three different states (Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado). I would teach the exact same truth in each one of these Bible studies, trying to keep the people growing at the same rate and on the same page spiritually. I"d preach my heart out and see one person with an incurable disease receive the Word and be totally healed and set free. Yet, the person sitting next to them would fall asleep in the study and not get a thing out of it. One person would look bored to death, while the next would be getting their life changed by the revelation they were receiving.
After awhile, my lightning-fast mind began to figure out that it couldn"t be my efforts producing these different results. These people were all sitting in the same service and hearing the exact same words. Everything from me was the same, yet one person was transformed while another fell asleep. One was healed while the other was bored. How could all of these things be happening from the same ministry of the Word? Then I began to realize that it"s not the Word that I speak, but it"s the condition of people"s hearts that makes the difference.
I"ve personally witnessed this first type of person that Jesus described. I"ve preached my heart out, but the Word of G.o.d goes in one ear and out the other. It"s like this type of person has no heart for or understanding of the Word whatsoever. I quit taking that personally. I"ve realized that it"s not the way I speak-it"s just the way people hear.
WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?.
Are you one of those folks who say, "I never get anything out of the messages at church."This may not be the fault of the person who"s speaking. It could be the way you"re hearing, or should I say, not hearing. It might have to do with whether or not you"re opening up your heart and really desiring to know those truths.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6 Does this describe the way you view G.o.d"s Word: More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Psalm 19:10 If you get to where you want to know the truth of G.o.d"s Word more than you crave food, more than you desire wealth, you"ll get it. The problem is that most of us only want this every once in a while. Maybe once a week or once a month we have a little twinge of desire for five or ten minutes where we"d like to understand and be operating in more spiritually, but then we get occupied with everything else in life and that desire fades. If that"s the way you are, you aren"t ever going to have this understanding. G.o.d isn"t the one who determines the condition of your heart-you are.