How's Your Growing Going?

If you are like me, there seems to be one day of study that particularly speaks to you.  For me, this past month happened to be Day 5 in our study.  The lesson was on Luke 8 and the parable of the sower.  One of the reasons this parable lingers in my mind is because our oldest son, Jared, used this parable for his project for a Bible fair at the Christian school he was attending when he was in the fourth grade.  I well remember the tray we constructed with the four rows depicting each of the seeds and four types of soil Jesus described.  (Remember, the seed represents God's Word.)

1. Jesus first described the seed that fell along the path.  Birds came along and ate the seed. We know Satan is the called ruler of the kingdom of the air.  We can literally picture him here stealing away God's word from our hearts before we have an opportunity to apply it to our lives.
2. Some seed fell among the rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. This describes shallow hearers of the Word, those who receive God's Word but don't let it penetrate the depths.  When times of testing come, and they will, those who haven't allowed God's word to grow deeply in their lives, will never know the power and faithfulness of God.
3. The third seed fell among thorns.  The seed grew but the thorns choked the plants. We can so easily visualize the things that threaten to choke our walk with the Lord.  They are a daily threat.  Those hearers are defeated by the distractions of the world:  worries, riches, and pleasures.  The distracted hearer chokes on her own worldly appetites. 
4. Lastly, there was the seed that fell on good soil. It grew and produced a prosperous crop.   These are those who hear the Word and retain it or allow it to occupy a place in their life.  They chew it up and swallow it until it occupies a place in them.  When God's Word is deliberately internalized, it's part of who we are.

I pray, dear Sister in Christ, that you join me in praying that God's word would find root in our lives.  Lord, may your word accomplish and achieve what you desire it to in me!  (Isa. 55:10-12)

Thank you for your commitment to study God's Word.  "Persevere, doer of the Word.  A harvest is coming!"  (Jesus, the One and Only, pg. 99)

I encourage each of you to recommit to this study and to meeting with your group.  We learn so much from and are encouraged by one another.  I am praying for you and your specific needs. 

You are in my heart,
Dianne