You must examine every word that you hear, then receive it, think about it, and imagine it – as Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” – until the word of God becomes a part of you.
Mark 4 :1-25 “And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?14 The sower soweth the word.15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad.23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.”
Many have interpreted this parable incorrectly, and thus some believe that God created good hearts and stone-like hearts that do not accept the word as is. This is impossible, for if it were that way, God wouldn’t have the right to let someone go to hell because He is the one who made his heart stone-like, not accepting the word.
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” comes in the Greek language as “He who has an ear to hear, let him perceive, comprehend and assimilate my words.”
There was a large number of the crowd hearing the parable, but few who went to the Lord Jesus with his disciples to ask him about the interpretation of the parable. And that’s when He told them: You who ask will be given to you, to know the meaning and explanation of this parable. But the people who are outside this circle, who asked not, won’t be given the explanation or the meaning to this parable. It shall only stay light (knowledge) to them, but it won’t be transformed into life for them. In other words, they will not be able to see results in their lives because they didn’t care to ask and understand.
“That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand;”
To perceive what they see and understand what they hear, yet only a few of the many crowds paid attention to what the Lord said. At one time the Lord Jesus said to the people, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (John 6: 26-27) He always knew to speak the truth with all love.
“……Lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.”(Mark 4:12) To be converted here does not mean “to repent”, because repentance has become a matter that torments the believers because of the idea of sin and condemnation. Even though the Lord Jesus resolved and ended the problem of sin and paid its price and the Father won’t ask for its price again, what you lack is to realize that you have become the righteousness of God so you can stop sinning and thus you will not need to repent every moment because the Word of God says: And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1John 2 :1)
This means that it is natural for you not to sin because you have the nature of righteousness. As it is natural for a person not to fall yet, if he falls, he gets back up. And what is meant by to be converted is to blend their faith by what they hear “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it! (Hebrews 4:1) Here, the problem of the people of Israel is that they had the light (knowledge), but this light (knowledge) did not manifest into life because they did not merge their faith with what they heard. For faith is the response of your spirit to the Word and its reception and implantation into your spirit.
There are two types of receiving:
- to receive an answer that reaches you by mail, and this is what the Apostle Paul said in Acts 11:17 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” For they accepted the word that was preached to them,
- but there is another type, that you go to take the word yourself; and at the beginning, it is natural to hear the word and accept it. But all your life you will not continue waiting for the Word to come to you. You must go to take it! Meaning that you should seek to study sermons and spiritual articles and implant the word in your spirit.
- The explanation of the parable and types of ground
The sower is (God) who sows the Word (seeds) and the agricultural ground is the heart meaning the human spirit.
- The first type “the way side”
So many preached that God is the creator of hearts that refuse the Word in their nature. However, is it possible for God to do that then toss people in hell because they refuse the Word?! Of course, it is not possible! However, these types of hearts refuse the Word on purpose, giving priority to worldly matters. Here the way side means the path between the fields that men and animals of all kinds walk on. And due to the excess of walking on it, it becomes infertile, and this represents the heart that does not accept the sowing of the Word and refuse it on purpose. Thus, it calcifies and gets limited from constantly refusing the Word. And the problem is not in the seed (the Word) because the Word of God is alive and effective and achieves what it says in you. If you don’t see results in your life, know that you are not sowing it in the correct way. You might have understood the Word and got convinced but you haven’t meditated on it and imagined it, thus it remains merely as light or knowledge until you meditate on it and make it your way of thinking and mix it with your faith. So, faith is responding to the Word in your spirit and baring no attention to the visual world but caring only for the Word. “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead…” Romans 4:19, KJV
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4 :18 KJV
- The second type “the rocky places”
It’s the ground that is full of rocks and thus infertile. To test its fertility, samples were taken from the soil to be tested and if gravel was found, it would be considered not suitable for agriculture because when seeds are planted in it, the roots would hit the gravel and not be able to penetrate it. This is the person who didn’t refuse the Word. On the contrary, he welcomed and accepted the Word joyfully but he put boundaries in certain areas of his life refusing to let God interfere in them (tithes and offerings – depending on people rather than the Word and the Holy Spirit – forgiveness). This is a person who had petrified some issues. This type gladly receives the Word but doesn’t guard it inside by meditating on it. He still fights and occupies his mind by thoughts from Satan (sickness – poverty) and tried to remind himself of the Word but he didn’t sow it yet in his heart. Therefore, what this person needs is to sit with the Word and plant it inside by pondering and reflecting on it until it is muttered under his breath on the inside.
Persecution because of the Word: this type cannot be persecuted because of Christ because they are not qualified as is mentioned in Acts 5:41 “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.”
Persecution here is what challenges the word, meaning the counter attack of what the Word says. For example, if a person knows that healing is his inheritance and gets diagnosed with some sickness, he forgets the Word completely and believes the sickness. This is the ground that is not genuine in itself and doesn’t bear fruit because there is a difference between sprouting and bearing fruit.
- The third type “the thorny soil”
Thorns are bad fruit (the thoughts of the world). It is the person who accepts the Word and prays in tongues but his ground is occupied with thoughts of this world (thorns). If the seed drops in an empty place, it will sprout and not get choked by thorns (thoughts of this world). These thoughts don’t originate from the born-again spirit because this spirit does not produce evil but brings it from the outside because the seed (thought) is thrown in your ground and you accept it, letting it get pregnant and give birth to sin. This person does not see results because his ground and mind are occupied with the concerns of this world like Martha, to whom Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things” Luke 10:41
Meaning, you get your mind occupied with so many things that you don’t get attracted to the Word; and Jesus directed her heart to the need for only one thing.
- The fourth type “the good ground”
The good ground (heart) is the one that accepts the word and thus bears fruit and produces a harvest that is thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. However, let us understand together how to be good ground?!
Some thought that the Lord Jesus was talking about a new subject when he was like the preacher who addresses different aspects as he speaks about a certain topic; here he teaches about how to be a good ground.
He teaches them to pay attention to and give importance to what they hear because as much as you study and think about the truth that you hear, as much as the knowledge and benefits increase in you also; because, as much as you give importance to the Word and get excited about it, the Holy Spirit increases you in knowledge and revelation and you find Him reminding you of biblical verses and tying them up together. That’s why if you study the Word without care and attention, you won’t see results in your life. And if you ignore what is provided to you as teachings, you will lose what you already have.
- Levels of meditation:
- Visualize God’s Word as you study it: this means to ponder on God’s Word in picture.
- Mutter God’s Word: this means to speak God’s Word under your breath, as if explaining it to yourself
- Roar God’s Word: at this stage you shout God’s Word out loud, joyfully repeating it
“Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.” Psalm 119:67-68
When you get afflicted know that it is because you are away from the Word and astray because God is good and He’s not after the problems that you face.
“Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.” Psalm 119:98-100
The Word of God makes you wiser than your enemies and more advisable than them and your teachers, and better in understanding and knowledge than old people who learned from life experiences and not from the Word.
- Stages of thinking:
- Summon the word into your mind in active and deliberate thinking and when you stray away in thoughts, intentionally think about it again
- Reach a stage where the Word fully occupies your mind and thoughts and thinking about it becomes easy and you start studying it over and over again
- Reach a stage where you become the Word and you walk in it and you can hear its resonance inside of yourself
Be Word fanatic and put your heart into it. Be passionate about it and dig into it.
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” 2Timothy 4:2 Meaning always throw yourself at the Word
Adam’s body was not designed for sickness before the fall, but he had the responsibility of taking care of it. You have the responsibility of eating the Word to nourish your spirit, giving it the authority, and making decisions based on it.
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