The Applied Word of God - Part 29

It is when we apply the Word of God in our lives that we can transform and experience its blessings.

Matthew 13:3-12 talks about the Parable of the Sower.
Here, a sower scatters his seeds and they all fall in different places. 
Verses 4: “4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

Here, the sower and the seed are good. But the harvest and fruitfulness depends on the goodness of the soil in which it is sown!
The seed that fell along the path was eaten up by birds. The wayside path is hard soil trampled by walkers. Not one of the seeds sprouted. These seeds weren’t cared for and they weren’t buried or watered. Only a seed that dies and is buried can sprout and bear fruit. 

John 12:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Here, the birds refer to Satan and his demons. Their main duty is to  keep us from receiving  the Word of God in our hearts and we return empty instead. They did not have an environment to  receive and respond to the word of God.

5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,(F) sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

The next soil we see is rocky soil. Here there was very little soil and it was so shallow that the seed couldn’t be buried deep inside. The seed grew very fast, and sprang up quickly because of the shallow soil. They were immediate results but it was not rooted strongly. Therefore, when trials and hard times came, the plant was destroyed and it withered away.
 
Even though the result was instant and quick, it did not have a strong foundation and couldn’t last! The Word did not go deep into their mind and soul. These are the people that receive the word with great joy but when trials and persecution come along because of the Word, they dry up just as quick. Their spiritual life is not strong and they have a great tendency to backslide. 

Verses 18-21 explain the parable: “18 Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

The two types of believers we have seen here are those that hear but do not receive the Word as the evil one immediately uses different methods to steal it away, and the other type that receives the Word with joy temporarily but does not get rooted in the Word, leading them to quickly fall away in tough times when trouble and persecutions come their way.  

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