Life Is In The Seed

There is a funny thing about truth. No matter how much a person tries to run from it, it always seems to follow us home. Truth, like the word of God, is the seed. Now, Jesus said there were a variety of hearts that were likened to different kinds of soil. Some hearts, like ground that has been tilled and prepared, allows the seed that is planted to immediately take root and begin to grow. Others...well, they seem a lot like this picture. The person's heart may have a lot of barriers that act as a wall of self preservation. It doesn't just keep others at a distance, it keeps the love of God, His presence and His truth locked up in captivity so that the person cannot really grow or change.

There is a dying process that the seed of truth produces, and it's a necessary step that cannot be overlooked. How often we want to see immediate change either in ourselves or our loved ones, but the seed, Jesus said in John 12:24, cannot bear fruit UNTIL it goes into the ground and dies. Then, and only then, can it actually produce life and bear fruit.

Whether it is ourselves or those we have been praying for, the seed must die. It's a process the individual must go through as they wrestle with that grain of truth, themselves, and God. The seed must surrender to death, and so must we surrender to death of ourselves. We know by faith that our flesh was crucified with Christ, but often our flesh still wants to try to stay alive and resist the growth that the seed is designed to produce. God is very patient with the process because He knows it is the process that will produce lasting change and permanent growth, but, when He wants a person to get on track He does have His ways of turning up the heat and making things quite uncomfortable, so that submitting to Him seems more desirable than resisting Him and doing our own thing! The moment you grab hold of a promise from God, all hell will fight to prove that that promise will not bring forth life. It's ok...that's part of the process but no matter how bad the news it doesn't mean the circumstances are truth. They may be the facts at the moment, but you can just let the enemy know that those facts are not the truth, and your circumstances are going to comply with the word of God. Of course the enemy tries to steal the seed, but here is the great news! Inherent in the DNA of the seed is the quality of tenacity. Don't ask me how, but that seed will always look for a crack so that it can grow and break forth out of the ground. Have you ever seen a shoot of new green life that springs up between cracks in the sidewalk, in between rock and the most incredible places? It makes one wonder how anything could find a way to grow. Yet, the life of that plant seemingly will not be denied. It looks for a place to break through and produce what is in the DNA of the seed!

We rented an apartment a few years back and there must have been a crack in the foundation, because there was this stubborn piece of grass that would grow up from under the carpet and right there in the corner of my living room was green living grass. I honestly think God gave it to us as an object lesson! Tonight He reminded me of that blade of grass. I could never get to the root, so I always had to clip it off with scissors, and it would always grow back. The root always produces the fruit. Listen, whether it's a stubborn weed you need to get rid of or a seed that you want to bear good fruit, the process is the same. You must deal with the roots. Spiritually, it is the same process. Either way, the good seed is more powerful than the weeds. Just keep planting the word of God because eventually it will find a way to break new ground!

Friends, let me give you a reassuring word today. Your spouse, your loved ones, or whoever is on your prayer list may be wrestling somewhere with themselves and God, but that seed is looking for a place to grow. THERE IS ALWAYS A CRACK THE ENEMY DIDN'T COUNT ON. You might not know where it is, but God does, and He will direct that seed to fall into the right crack; the one that has just enough light in it to make that seed struggle to live and keep reaching for daylight. It may take a while, but the word of God does not return void. It will prosper in the thing for which it was sent! (Isaiah 55:11) The interesting thing about a new plant is that it has to fight to live, and in the process as it gets stronger, it will displace some hard clumps of dirt, debris or even rocks. So keep declaring the word of God and sending out light and truth to the person, even if you can't speak it to them directly. Once it is released, it is in God's timing and according to His intimate knowledge of the individual. Ask Him to direct the seeds of truth into the right cracks in their heart. Ask Him to shine His light in that crack that pulls the seed up into the light. Speak God's word that is like a homing device looking for it's target. Truth always has a way of following a person home.