PREPARING YOUR SOIL

“But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it…”(Matthew 13:23)

As a young Christian, I often struggled with wanting to walk in victory.  I often remember thinking, “I’ll never have what they have.”  After years of seeking the Lord and the victorious Christian life, God revealed to me a very important aspect that was missing – my responsibility to respond to God’s Word.

The parable of the sower gives us four examples of a person hearing God’s Word.  This parable was responsible for waking me up and understanding that I have to prepare myself to receive what God would have for me.  Preparation, for me, begins with a personal inventory of my priorities.  What am I allowing to get in the way?  Am I hardening my heart with resentment, pride, or anger?  Am I being distracted by the cares of the world during devotions or Bible studies?

As I start to “put away” these things that corrupt, I can feel my heart being tilled to good soil and find that God can now plant His Word in a place where it can take root.  God speaks through Ezekiel in chapter 11:18, 19 and says once the people take away the detestable things and all it’s abominations He would replace their heart of stone with a new heart of flesh.  I am often convicted of areas of my life that can become distractions.  What may be, for some, harmless, for me begins a process of letting my guard down and, before long, weeds are gathering and the ground in becoming hard.  Salvation is a free gift and there is nothing we can do to earn it.  However, victory, as in any sport or battle, will only be won when we take responsibility and take action. Ezekiel continues in verse 20 by saying, “that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.”

The Apostle Paul has become a great teacher for me by helping me to know what not only to “put off,” “flee from,” etc., but also what to “put on,” “allow,” etc.  We all struggle with similar but also different areas that can put us into broken fellowship with the Lord Jesus.  Ask Him to search your heart and to show you where you might be allowing weeds to grow. Rob Russomano is a graduate and a member of the Keswick full-time staff. His devotional is from our daily devotional, Real Victory for Real Life

Team YOU: Psalm 60-62; Proverbs 2; Romans 5

Motivations: Many will charge that dragging up the past is fruitless and wastes time on things that are best forgotten…but emotional wounds are like physical ones: They do not heal if they are neglected; they only become infected and can become life damaging. The hurt must be brought into the light and treated. Albert Haase

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Philippians 2:16; Level 2: Philippians 2:19-24

Powered Up:  The marvelous and supernatural power of prayer consists not in bringing God’s will down to us, but in lifting up our will to Him. Robert Law