- 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour.”
- You see there is an enemy of your soul is ever against you, ever warring against you.
“Satan wants to use our current satisfaction to keep us stagnant.”
- 1 Peter 2:11 AMP + NLT “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers [in this world] to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.”
- John 17:16 “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth.”
Here’s the REASON :
- Growing Spiritually is not something that happens by default, but rather by design.
- It doesn’t happen automatically, it is acquired through action.
- I can have the best of intentions, but without a plan and accurate execution … my best intentions still fall short (… and will be the best of me every time.”)
- Proverbs 4:23 NLT “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
- Mark 4:3-9 AMPC “A sower went out to sow. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed [of the same kind] fell on ground full of rocks, where it had not much soil; and at once it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil; And when the sun came up, it was scorched, and because it had not taken root, it withered away. Other seed [of the same kind] fell among thorn plants, and the thistles grew and pressed together and utterly choked and suffocated it, and it yielded no grain. And other seed [of the same kind] fell into good (well-adapted) soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing, and yielded up to thirty times as much, and sixty times as much, and even a hundred times as much as had been sown. And He said, He who has ears to hear, let him be hearing [and let him consider, and comprehend].”
- Mark 4:11 AMPC “And He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [of our circle] everything becomes a parable.”
- Matthew 5:6 NKJV “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”
- Matthew 7:7–8 AMP “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. [Luke 11:9-13] For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.”
- Mark 4:13 AMPC “And He said to them, Do you not discern and understand this parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the parables?”
- Mark 4:14 AMPC “The sower sows the Word.”
SOIL # 1 | “The Lost Heart”
- Mark 4:15 AMPC “The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown [in their hearts], but when they hear, Satan comes at once and [by force] takes away the message which is sown in them.”
- Matthew 13:19 AMPC “While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside.”
- Proverbs 4:5, 7 TPT “So make wisdom your quest— Wisdom is the most valuable commodity—so buy it! Revelation-knowledge is what you need—so invest in it!”
- Proverbs 4:23 KJV “Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.”
- Genesis 2:15 KJV “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
- John 10:10 “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.”
SOIL #2 | “The Shallow & Stony Heart”
- Mark 4:16–17 MSG “And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.”
SOIL #3 | “The Distracted & Divided Heart”
- Mark 4:18–19 AMPC “And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word; Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.”
- James 4:4 AMPC “You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God.”
- 1 John 2:15 AMPC “Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.”
- Proverbs 4:23 TPT “So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life.”
SOIL #4 | “The Healthy Heart”
- Mark 4:20 AMPC “And those sown on the good (well-adapted) soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit–some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some [even] a hundred times as much.”
THE CURE
- The Cure/Solution for Soil # 1: understanding, value/honor, protection
- The Cure/Solution for Soil # 2: forgiveness
- The Cure/Solution for Soil # 3: focus, singularity of purpose, singularity of heart, undivided
Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Ezekiel 36:26–27 NKJV “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC “Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!”