Part 5 (1/2)

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, relations.h.i.+ps, 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.