Have You Checked Your Soil Lately???

  

The Lord has been dealing with me on the seed. In my last blog on this topic, I dealt with the seed when it is planted into the ground. And the importance of waiting for the fruit to come forth between the planting of the seed and the process it has to come through in order to bring forth plenty fruit. But  I want to focus on the soil. Have you ever felt like you are constantly sowing the seed, you are doing everything right, but you are getting nothing in return? Could it be that your soil is not right? How so?

Jesus talks about the parable of the sower in Luke chapter 8, who sowed his seeds in different soils and the results of the seeds being sown into those different environments. He deals with the motives and the dispositions of those who were listening to His messages. Luke 8 represents the different soils (conditions) of the human heart and the different receptions and results which the seed of the gospel meets with as it is sown through believers all over the world. Luke chapter 8 is very relevant to today’s church.

The soils represents us as believers and for everyone who attends church on a weekly basis. After this research, I am reminded that it is important that we pray as we enter the church, it should be our prayer that God will purify our hearts so that we are able to receive the word and that it will bring forth manifested results to expand and add to the Kingdom of God.

There are four different environments where these seeds were casted in Luke chapter 8 and I am going to focus on how these four different soils apply to the Christian life today. So firstly;

• The Wayside

Luke 8v 12 talks about the seed (the word of God) falling by the wayside represents the heart of those who hears the word but the enemy comes and takes the word of their hearts to stop them from believing the word and be saved. The wayside path is a public thoroughfare beaten smooth and hardened by the feet of travellers; so that the seed dropped there cannot sink in but is speedily picked up by the birds or trodden down by men.

The human heart can be seen as a wayside as this is where all of one’s thoughts travel. The heart is where all imaginations and sinful feelings, corrupt desires meet and exchange salutations. The heart of such a man is trodden down and made hard like a wayside, by overrunning thoughts and sins. Imagine if you enter the House of God with these overruling thoughts, your heart is filled with evil imaginations, when you bow to pray or when you start to sing the songs, it is not coming from your spirit. When the word of God is preached, it falls upon the affections and imaginations just like a wayside, and in return the word is trodden by negligence or allows the enemy to come in through distractions or life’s issues to snatch away the word that God has for you. The word only hits your ears but it does not penetrate your soul. On these wayside hearers, the word of God has no effect, there is no change and therefore there is no fruit of productivity in their lives.

Have you ever noticed after attending church, you have heard the word, it was powerful, right on point it was prophetic. But then you start to experience warfare, or random individuals even those who are close to you do everything in their power to upset or offend you. This is a plot of the enemy to steal your word. Be aware!!!

• Thorns

The seeds which fell among thorns, represents those who have heard the word, but they get caught up with life and the cares and riches and pleasures of this life chokes the word, which leads to the word laying dormant and bare no fruit. How many powerful words have you heard over the past few years? How many times did the Holy Spirit move in your church? Yet you may not have seen the manifestation of what you have heard? Could it be that you have allowed the cares and worries of this life to choke your word. 

As I was looking at verse 14 of Luke chapter 8, the word choked stood out to me so I took to the dictionary to look at the meaning of ‘choked’.

Choked- (1) when a person/animal has severe difficulty in breathing because of a constructed or obstructed throat or lack of air.

(2) To fill a space so as to make movement difficult or impossible.

I want to focus on the second meaning. 

 ‘Fills a space so as to make movement difficult or impossible’. 

 This is a tactic of the enemy, what he does is he will try to fill your life with stress, depression and disappointments to block you from moving on the prophetic word. I have experienced this personally. Every time I set to act on the prophetic word over my life, there is always something, whether it is my personal life or someone close to me.

What vision did God give you? What steps have you made to attain that goal for your vision? Is it that every time when you try to act on the word of God, something more urgent comes up- this is plot of the enemy to choke your word. This is a tactic of the enemy  to drift you from your purpose.

This is what leads you to not applying the word. This is another issue here, if you apply the word, that is how you start bearing forth fruit. 

This is an issue in the body, you hear the word but you do not apply it. You conquer the enemy in this area by acting on God’s word.

After looking at choked, I wanted to look at thorns and the part they play in choking the seeds. I looked at thorns and discovered that thorns are a natural defence mechanism. Plant thorns are used to prevent them from being eaten and increase their ephemeral lives for reproductive people.

At this point, it did not seem like thorns were such a bad thing. But keep reading

Thorny bushes overpower any plant near them. It is hard to pull the plants/seeds out because the thorns protect them, and will hurt anyone brave enough to grasp them. So as I was conducting my research, I notice that the thorns represents your social circles. The thorns represents your friends, colleagues and family who are bitter and angry, at first they don’t come across as bitter and angry, it will come across as if they have your best interest at heart. 

But be careful, every time God gives you a word and you bring it before these types of people, their negativity chokes your word, your ability to dream and move freely upon what God has told you.

People with a thorny character, they do not like to see anyone happy, anyone inspired by belief in something higher than themselves. They pour scorn on anyone who wants to be a better person, or build a better world. The only remedy is to leave them to their bitterness and move out of their orbit.  If you stay with this circle of people, sooner or later, their bitterness will rub off on you and choke out your inspiration.

I have personally been in relationships where every time I shared my dreams and visions and my passions with them, I would leave feeling drained and hopeless because they always had a problem for every solution. I had to make the brave decision to move on with my life. It was a painful decision because these were and are people that I have loved and respected over the years but the prophetic word (seed) was more important so I had to move on . No one could talk me out of it, I had to make a conscious decision to leave. Some of you are reading this and you can think of people who you relate to daily who are just like this. I want to encourage you to step out and do what God has told you to do. Every word spoken over you, I pray against every thorn-like relationship that the enemy is using to choke your word in Jesus Name. Amen

Cares/Pleasures/Riches

Be careful of the obsession with getting rich. There is nothing wrong with wealth, it is God’s will that we have life more abundantly (John 10:10). But there must be balance. Sometimes opportunities will present themselves to derail and drift you from your purpose. Not every success comes from God, Joshua 1:9 says “good success” so that tells me there is bad success as well. When you discover your purpose, blessings and provision will automatically locate you. The cares are the issues we face daily. The pleasures are earthly and carnal desires. What is that thorn that you are dealing with? I am talking about that weakness that you have struggled with and are still struggling with. Don’t suffer in silence, give it to God, His grace is sufficient for you (2Corinthians 12:9). If you are dealing with a personal struggle, find a trusted sister or brother in Christ and confide in the or a minister in your church. The enemy uses condemnation to choke out your word too. 

I pray you are blessed by what you have read so far. Stay tuned for the next blog where I will discuss the last two soils. 

God bless you and thank you for reading.