The Seed Abiding; Therefore Growth And Fruit

Luke 8:11-15

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Ps 126:5-6

Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.

John 15:4-9

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Hebrews 5:11-6:3

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, [ the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

God has spoken this very clearly to my heart the last two days! Deanna, you must plant the word I give you as you would plant a seed in the ground, you must be patient with it and depend on me to make it sprout, grow and bear fruit….. So I would like to dig in and discover this with all of you!

First thing, read the above Luke passage…

I am going to attempt to break this up as I believe God has broken it up for me and hopefully we will all be blessed by it.

Verse 11 states that the seed is the word of God.

I was raised in church. In fact, in a pastors home so the word was implanted in me at a very early age…however, you can take a seed and plant it, and not see real growth for some time….

Verse12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

It took me, even being raised this way, until I was 13 to experience salvation. The word, was taken away over and over from my heart…. But I believe this passage also talks of much more than a salvation experience. Many times over the past 18 years that I have known the Lord, there has been much Word given me that the enemy has come and stolen so that I may not believe the Lord and be saved from whatever situation I was in! Looking back over the years, I can see many times that unbelief hindered my spiritual growth.

Verse 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.

This one really hurts me! I know of MANY times that I have heard, and received it with much joy because I could feel and know the truth that was there, but when this word was tested, which by the way, it always is, it had no root so it fell away!

Verse 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

Every time I read this, I cannot help but think of John Piper saying that we must break away from the Disney Land of America and be who we are called to be! In my life, I am not pulled by the last two in this but, I have felt the cares of the world in my life a lot and let them overtake me, therefore choking out what healthy fruit God wanted to bear in my life, and having some pretty sick looking fruit on my vines.

BUT, here is hope!

Verse 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Wow! Lets look at what it is that makes this seed bear healthy fruit!

Fist off, how can I have good soil? Well I believe it comes from abiding in Christ! Abiding in Him, daily, trusting Him, but also, constantly cultivating this soil, with the Word, putting it in, letting others speak into our lives but most of all meeting with Christ daily and letting HIM speak into our lives and even though it hurts to have the soil of our hearts broken up, yet learning by trusting His heart.

Then, during this time of suffering, holding fast to the Word as it is our very life, our very HOPE!

The next has become SO important to me! To be honest with God about everything! You know this if you have read my blog for very long! I am pretty much very raw with my Lord and He has built so much trust in Him, because of this!

Then, we look at this “good heart” thing….. Let me tell you, unless the power of the cross is active in my life this is impossible! My heart is completely wicked without the blood of Jesus covering and the Spirit sanctifying it!

I love how this closes! Bearing fruit in patience…. Let me say that “WAIT” is not my favorite word! Patience is a virtue that Deanna lacks in! but, this is the ONLY way that we can sprout a young plant. watch it grow and most excitedly bear fruit! Healthy fruit that not only feeds us but the body!

May we bear MUCH fruit!