A lot of Parables in the Bible revolve around agriculture because everyone has to know how to grow their own food in order to stay alive.We are the soil and the condition of our heart determines how we receive God's word. In all of these scenarios, the people hear the word, but they respond differently.

In the first scenario, the seed that’s cast by the wayside, trampled on, and picked up by the bird is thrown into the type of soil that’s unwilling to accept God’s word. They’re so buried in their sins that they are deaf to the word's meaning.  In their minds, they don’t want to understand or search for answers because they are content in sin. The Devil has them rocking along in their rocking chairs. When the rocking chair stops moving, then the person notices something isn’t right and they begin to ask questions so his goal is to keep them lost in sin for as long as possible.

The next scenario is The Rock. Those people receive the word with joy but their seed is founded upon a rock instead of soil and we all know that we need soil to thrive. That seed can only sprout just a little bit and then the elements will kill it. The prosperity gospel folks fall into this category. They give up in their first encounter of tribulation or resistance. The moment that things start getting difficult they blame the tough circumstances on God and ask why he's letting this happen to them. The Bible says in this life there will be trials and tribulations. The people are only in it for the perks. They want to reap the benefits without the sacrifice.

The next type of soil that the seed fell into was full of thorns.  The devil uses the art of distraction as thorns in our lives. When he diverts our attention to the worldly things like making money, our looks, social media, or sports, God gets put on the back burner. The more we focus on the world, the more we become like it.

Finally, we get to the good soil. When the seed, God’s word, is planted in an obedient heart, it produces the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When life gets difficult they turn to God and the scripture for guidance to see how they should respond.

How can we improve the quality of our soil? We need to pray for God to open and prepare our hearts to accept his word, then we need to study the Bible, and last but certainly not least, we have to put him first.