Many things go on in our life on a daily basis. There are times when we experience great joy and we see God move so mightily and then the next thing we know we are having doubts and unbelief go through our minds. This is the time to recognize the attacks of the enemy and what He is trying to do in your heart and in your life. I understand that there are some who believe that not everything is the enemy's fault but this parable tells us clearly that he is at work all the time to steal the Word of God from us. Our Father said in the Old Testament,

"I give you life and I give you death, choose life, I give you good and I give you evil."

      He didn't say there was a third option, it is either good or evil and we know that satan himself is the evil one who comes to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus comes into our lives to bring us life and life more abundantly.

     What we need to do is recognize the enemy and to put a stop to his lies, for he is the father of lies and to allow God's word to take root on good ground in us and to bring forth the fruit in our lives. Jesus is the Word of God, He is the Living Word and He is closer to us than our breath. He desires to have us grounded in Him, He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks, and says

"if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

      Oh how glorious that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords wants to dine with us. He wants to be with us and to feast on the Father's Word to us. We are blessed my friends for who ever would have thought we could have a relationship with God Almighty that would be the greatest relationship of our lives.

      Satan on the other hand is out to steal this from us and this is where we come in. We can choose to rebuke his lies and believe God's truth or we can give him the power to bring doubt and unbelief to us. For this reason it is so important to get the Word of God in you, read it, feast on it, let it fall on good ground in You that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the enemy. In this parable Jesus tells us how the enemy works in our lives. I pray that you will recognize him and that you will determine in your heart and mind to believe the Word of God, to receive it with joy and to let it bring forth fruit. I remember reading this parable a long time ago and as I read I could see myself in every line. I could see when the enemy used all these different things to pull me away from Jesus. I can tell you now that it still tries to do this but thankfully the Word of God has taken root in my heart and it is bringing forth fruit so I am able to be more aware of what is going on around me.

      I pray you will also see yourself in these words and begin to shut those doors on the enemy and choose this day to believe what the Lord says about you and about Himself that no longer can the enemy come and steal His word. Be aware of his tactics, know that He is right there to steal from you and if you are going through a battle seek help if you do not know what to do or how to fight. The battle is in our mind and the enemy can only get as far as we let him, so let us learn to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ that we might have freedom in our walk with Him. The enemy will never cease His attacks on us but we as we feast on the Words of our God, as we allow them to take root on good ground and bring forth fruit, we will also learn to fight the good fight of faith and not be so easily overtaken by the wiles of the evil one. Jesus Christ loves you, He loved you enough to die for you, He loves us enough to send His Holy Spirit to us that we also might walk in the power of His love and He is faithful as His word says to complete that which He has started in us.

     Doubt and unbelief come straight from the enemy just as it did with Adam and Eve, we can choose to listen to it or we can choose to stand on the Word of God and know that we know His love is perfect and He is able to keep us until the day of Jesus Christ. God is faithful even when we are faithless, He is your best friend and He will never leave you nor forsake you. I know for He has shown me this many times. Let us rise up now in complete confidence in Him and walk forth and bring His Good News to the world. This is the parable Jesus spoke to His disciples, I pray for understanding and I pray for His Word to take root on good ground in you this day and I pray for the fruit to come forth in every area of your life.

Mark 13:18-23

     "And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
     The Sower sows the word, and these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
     These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulations or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.
      Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.
     But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty and some a hundred."

      I remember a time when I read these verses and I saw myself at every stage of this parable. There was a time when the Word of God was sown into my heart and before I even had time to receive it the enemy came and stole it. It did not take root nor did it bring forth fruit. A perfect example may be while in church I would hear everything the preacher was preaching but as soon as he was done someone might say something or do something that would make me angry and immediately I would forget what was even preached just a few minutes earlier. I realize now this was the work of the enemy the one who Jesus says comes to steal, kill and destroy. I never realized this till years later as I said when I read this Scripture and understood how fast His word can be taken from our hearts.

      I also saw myself in the next group of people. The ones with the stony hearts who immediately hear the Word with joy but have no root so it could not stay in my heart. For me this was when I first got saved. Oh how I loved hearing the word of God, the word that He loved me and that He died for me. Inside though my heart was full of stony ground, I had a hard heart full of unforgiveness and resentment and bitterness. So when any tribulation or trial came along I was ready to walk away from everything I had believed. Also when people would attack my faith I found myself questioning it and everything about it. I understand why now, I understand I was not rooted nor grounded in the love of Christ. I didn't take the time to read His Word and learn of Him. The Lord was determined though and He kept working on me to remove those stony places in my heart so that His word might take root in me and bring forth fruit. I am so thankful for His faithfulness to me and that He would not give up until those stony places were dug up and removed. Now it takes a lot more than a trial or a persecution for me to ever think about giving up the Word of the Lord in my heart.

      Let us not forget the thorns that are in us to. We hear the word but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word and the word becomes unfruitful. Wow this is a hard one for me. I have been here many times and it seems to be the hardest one to come against. We live in a world where everything is centered on what you do and how much money you make and how you live. I remember after I got saved and we moved to Florida and the Lord started building my confidence in me as a person that immediately I took all of that and found success in the working world. I had great respect and was held in high esteem by many. I was sure that making the money would solve all the problems in my life. Instead I got lost in that world, very lost and in the end when it all fell apart there was no fruit in my life that either I or anyone else could see. I wound up in a major depression and suicidal. I did not know the Word of God, it was not planted on good ground and I found myself fighting a battle I didn't even know could exist in this life. God was faithful though, He never let go of me and the day came when He began to work within my heart and taught me to seek Him first, not the things of this world. When I began to do that I could then see His Word take root on good ground.

      This is the last part of the parable. When we receive His word on good ground, when we hear it and understand it, we begin to bear fruit.

      Understanding the Word of God is not a hard thing to do. When we meet Jesus, when we behold His glory, His love, His perfection, we begin to see just how much He loves us and we begin to read His Word and hear His Word from a place of victory. When we truly realize His work on the cross was out of pure love for us and that through Him we are truly forgiven we learn to receive His love and to walk with Him in total agreement. Paul knew the struggles of the flesh against the Spirit and He chose to walk after the Spirit. Many trials and tribulations came His way but He knew Jesus, He knew His grace and His love and His forgiveness and in Christ Jesus Paul stood strong. He stood by faith in the righteousness of Jesus and not of himself. He stood know the One who loved Him and would complete all that was started in Him. We too can do the same, for we are no different than Paul. Jesus has met us on our road to Damascus and He has shone His Light into our lives and given us freedom in Him, He has shown His grace and His forgiveness and all He asks us to do is to tell the world about His great love for them. He asks us to believe on Him and not trust in ourselves to be righteous but to look to Him, to keep our minds set on things above and to know the grace and the glory of Jesus Christ. We are blessed my friends, when we fully comprehend that we are forgiven, washed in the blood, our names written in the Book of Life and filled with His Spirit we can then allow His Word to take root and bring forth fruit in our lives. When we stop listening to the lies of the enemy about us and choose to believe Jesus we can walk forth in the power of His might and stop wasting so much time being concerned if we are good enough for Jesus. He chose us, we did not choose Him and if He chose us we can rest in His love and in His grace and know that He is able to present us faultless to the Father through His precious blood. Jesus truly is the best friend you will ever know and He desires for His Word to take root on good ground in your heart. I pray you will read this parable, I pray you will recognize the works of the enemy, and I pray that now You will know freedom through the power of the Word of Jesus and that you will go forth and minister His grace to others. I also pray that His Word in You will bring forth much fruit in your life.