Plant A Joyful Seed:

    Jesus always spoke to the people in parables so that they could understand His word better. He knew that he would have to take the mystery and make it plain and put things into a practical example and I am thankful that he did.

    The parable that I want to speak about today is the one of the Sower. It states in Matthew 13:3-9 "Behold, a Sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on the stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (NKJV)

    Later in this same chapter the parable is explained. To sum it up, the word is seed that God sows to everyone. If it is heard and not understood, then the enemy, or the birds, will come and snatch it away and it will never be able to grow. In others, the word is received, and received with joy, but it doesn't have a good root system, stony ground, to endure the trials and tribulations of life, the sun, so it is burnt up and lost.

    The thorns in this parable are the worries and anxieties of this world. They are the weight that we carry and the pressures of what the world says that we should have. Unfortunately, the word of what God tells us and what He has promised us gets choked out in the thorns. The world takes it out so that it cannot grow; and a lot of us have a hard time casting our cares upon the Lord. Instead, we try to carry the weight ourselves and what would have been "good ground," becomes unfruitful and lost in the briar patches of life.

    But God is always good and the seed that falls upon good ground, meaning he who hears the word, and understands it, will bear fruit and produce a good harvest. So how do we get to good ground? We do it by reading his word daily, and in that, we receive joy that stays inside us.

    It is joy that cannot be shaken or moved by what the world does, and it cannot be scorched up by the sun, because of what someone says to us, or about us. It cannot be lost because of  the circumstances that we see around us.

    Reading His word daily, and experiencing the joy that He wants us to have, causes us to have deep roots. Roots that are constantly being watered and nurtured by his love for us and by the promises that he keeps for us.

    Everyone of us will have moments where the enemy will steal our joy, whether that be immediately or throughout a period of time.

    The enemy took mine recently, and he chipped away at my peace and happiness. He used the people who are close to me to bring me insecurity, discouragement, and frustration. I was heartbroken and the enemy seemed to have broken my spirit as well. So much so, that it led me to question whether I should even be writing this blog, or posting encouragement for someone else to hear.

    But God will always come through. He will always be there to comfort me, and to keep me. And right when I was about to accept the defeat, He sent me someone special to tell me that seeing my posts and videos made their day. That it reminded them of who was really in control. They stated that it helps them to keep trusting God with everything; and they told me that I was reaching people and planting seeds that God wanted me to plant.

    It was confirmation that I was being obedient and that I am on good ground, so that I can produce good fruit for the harvest.

    Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning and I can never tell you how grateful I am and how happy it makes me to spread God's love and encouragement. I have learned that joy comes from inside of me. And reading God's word daily, feeds my soul. It creates deep roots, that no one and nothing could ever take away.

    With all of this being said; I want you to remember that the joy of the Lord is inside of you always. I want you to keep planting seeds, no matter the circumstances. And above all else, keep reading God's word and keep watering the seeds that He has already planted in you. Because someone, needs to see them grow. Someone, needs to feed off of the fruit that you are producing, so that they can plant a seed themselves and in turn, we can all produce a harvest that is bigger than anyone could imagine.