Becoming "Good Soil" and Helping Become That ...

Mark 4:1-20 gives us a familiar parable on the Sower and different soils …

As we look at this parable that Jesus describes as basic and essential to understanding all the others, note the warnings.  We are shown three negative results of His Word being shared. These are three things we must be guarding from in our lives and if we are sharing God's Word with others, we must be guarding them also.

First, we must not allow satan to come and steal God's Word away from people. This is only be prevented through the power of prayer. Have we laid the proper prayer foundation in our lives and the lives of those we are witnessing to. With the proper relationship with God developed through prayer, we will know when to present the Gospel so that it wont be taken away by satan.

Second, do we honestly present the whole Gospel. Often people will say that God will fix your problems and make life better. Yet here we are reminded that if we accept and live by God's Word, trouble and persecution will come. We need to be prepared for this and prepare others for it. When the tough times come we need to stop and evaluate why it's happening. If it is because of our stupidity that's on us. However, if it is because we are living by the Word of God then stand firm and count yourself blessed because you have been found worthy of suffering for the sake of the Gospel. We must be honest when witnessing and tell people that if they live for God others will not be happy with them and persecute them.

Finally, we need to make sure that we and those who respond to God's Word stay focused on the right thing. This last area that distracts people making them unfruitful are the concerns of life and the false promises of things. Now any detail of life can fall into this category if we let it captivate our attention and focus. We need to do what Scripture admonishes, "Keep our eyes firmly on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ."  When we stay focused on Him, He will help us deal with life and it will all work out.

Do we take these warnings and apply them to ourselves? Do we communicate them clearly to others so that we all become and stay the "good soil?" May we always be found faithful in presenting all of Scripture to others.

Praying God's Way Gets His Answers

When it comes to prayer, Matthew 7:7-8 provides us with one of the most concise and yet misunderstood set of instructions: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

As we consider this very familiar passage there are a few things we need to note. First are the three ways we are to approach God in prayer...Ask, Seek, Knock. These three things are to be done in connection with each other. We shouldn't be able to do one without doing the others. It's a progression that should not be broken up.

Let's quickly examine each of these steps of prayer. First is the asking. So often I think we misunderstand this important starting point. When we ask we tend to know the general issue at hand. It is during this step that the requests become clarified, as we seek God's will regarding it. Do we take time to ask God what He wants us to pray regarding different issues or do we assume we know what's best and ask God to bless our ideas. One is praying God's will the other is praying our will. God will only answer one type of prayer. He will not become our puppet, doing whatever we want. He will however, answer any prayer that is according to His will.

Second, once we have asked and know what God's will is regarding an issue, then we are to seek it out. There is a vast difference between knowing God's will and doing something about it. Once we know it, we should then pursue it with all that we are and have. This is where we are actively going after God's will and continuing to do so until we have it. When we know the specific will of God regarding an issue we are praying for, nothing should ever make us stop praying for it. Nothing but seeing God's will happen. This seeking is where we put all of our effort and energy into seeing it happen. Is this how we pray?

Third, we need to actually finish the prayer process by receiving the answer. Remember, our asking shows us what we should be praying for. Our seeking is the passionate pursuit of that goal. Now, when the prize is at hand we need to finish strong. So often we get to this point, the answer is right there, and we don't think we deserve it so we pull back. This knocking is where we are asking to receive the answer. We know it is right there and we just need to step up and receive it. Don't stop short, keep praying and when you see the answer just before you, ask God to open the opportunity and give you the strength to grasp it.

Many people come so close to the answers they are seeking because they skip one of these step. May we be faithful and do all of them when in comes to our prayer time with God.

Do You See What I See ... ?

Jesus is teaching in the sermon on the mount when He says the following that is found in Matthew 6:22-23 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

So what do our eyes tell others about us? Here we see that they tell volumes about us and our soul's condition. So how do our eyes become good our bad? Well, here we find that they are windows to our soul. So they let things directly into our souls. What you look at, watch and read will impact your souls condition. After this stuff is in there then others can see it as clearly as looking into a window. Just a note about windows back then, they were usually just opening with no glass. If you could see in the window then you could see everything. Often times people think that they can hide their 'secret' sin, yet anyone looking at them can see that something is wrong.

We need to guard our eyes/souls protecting them from the evils of the world ... 'be careful little eyes what you see.' Now the best way to guard what we let in our eyes is not by have barriers and blinders up that prevent us from seeing. They best way to guard our eyes is by making sure that they are focused on the right things. The right things are God and His Word. Is this where you re focusing?

Are You Salty Enough?

In Matthew 5:13 we find the following statement from Jesus, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

Here we are reminded of what God has made us to be. We are to be salt which has three major applications in life. First, it is used for purification (least common); second it adds flavor and enhances the flavors around it; third it is a preservative. This is what God has designed all who follow after Him to be.

So are we living up to God's design or are we letting circumstances and people rob us of these properties? Everyone will run out of the ability to 'the salt of the earth' unless we stay connected to the Source. It is only by staying in constant connection with God, allowing that relationship to grow on a daily basis, that we will be able to stay effective. So, how is your relationship with God these days? If you are wondering just look at the lives of those around you and see if you are adding flavor, helping preserve and bringing purity. If you don't see these things happening because of your influence then you know that you need to work on your relationship with Him.

What is it that you want from life and God?

Hosea 10:12 give us an amazing promise regarding what we want in life: "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you."

What is it that you want from life and God? What we really want is seen in what we are doing right now. If we want the fruit of unfailing or God's love, then we must put in the effort to live according to God's standards of what is right and wrong. Now this is done as He teaches us and we conform our actions to His desires, making Him Lord of all. It is then that we will see the fruit, evidence or reminders of His unfailing love.

Now knowing and acting according to His standards isn't done by pursuing knowledge about the standard ... it is only found in pursuing the One who sets the standard. We are to start seeking God now, and we are to continue until He comes. It's not enough to start and get enough of Him to make us feel good. We are to seek Him continually, knowing Him more and more until we know Him face to face after He has come again.

Are you willing to do this? Are you willing to put in the effort on starting and building a growing relationship with God. A relationship that will last the rest of eternity, changing everything for the better. God has promised this if we are willing to do our part.