"It always amazes me that when we preach on a subject the it pops up in our life. We have often joked about getting sick when we are preaching about healing. I remember I preached a message on spiritual warfare and my son was admitted to the hospital with croup while I was preaching. Tonight was one of those times that this was evident. Pastor's message was about the protection of God and while he was telling a story before the message a guy comes walking right up to the front of the chairs and is stopped by our security before he can continue. He had missed his aisle and then when he was told that he couldn't go around the front he got angry and left. Then, right as we were ready to sit down one of our ushers had a heart attack. May we be loyal in our hearts and rest under his wings!"
Jesus beautifully illustrated this concept in the parable of the sower. He pointed out four types of soil and four ways that the Word is received. Three out of the four don't make it. I believe that even though Jesus spoke in terms of four types of soil all four can apply to our own hearts.
When we say we believe something the devil immediately comes to test the Word we believe. "Did God say...?" will be his deceptive lie to get us off the Word as he deceived Eve in the Garden. Only by professing the truth can we fend off his advances.
Then comes the persecution for the sake of the Word. It comes daily like the rising of the sun. If we are deeply rooted in God's Word then the same sun that scorches will be the sun that nourishes.
Finally the weeds will try to grow and choke the Word. We have to focus our hearts on the Word. Otherwise the cares of this life, deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things will distract us to a place of unfruitfulness.
If we have passed through all these tests then we can know for sure that we will be fruitful. That night that I referred to ended up being a night where 25 people came forward for the altar call. Also, our usher who had the heart attack was just fine. He still serves faithfully to this day.
Have you experienced these types of trials when you got a hold of the Word? What scriptures helped you through?
No comments:
Post a Comment