Have you wondered why the Word of God doesn't benefit some and why others seem to get so much from the scriptures? Well, today's episode sheds light on this question as we examine the parable of the Sower.

Understanding is key to experiencing the benefits of the Word of God in your life. The devil cannot steal the Word from the believer who understands it. We see a very good scenario in Thessalonica and Berea. Both cities had Paul and his crew preach the gospel to them, one rejected the gospel while the other received it with readiness of heart. The Berean Christians had the Word of God benefit them because they were eager to hear it and went back to search the scriptures. Their goal was to understand what Paul taught; when they did, they believed.

Why does the Word of God have little or no effect on the lives of many Christians? Well, Jesus tells us that the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word that is planted in our hearts. If we let worry and fear creep into our hearts, the Word of God will be of little impact on our lives. If we put our trust in our ability and understanding, the Word of God will have little effect on our lives. Worrying is thinking about negative outcomes; you can't focus on negative outcomes and expect the Word of God to produce for you. Rather focus on the Word of God and see it produce maximally in your life.

In today's episode, I discuss what it means to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

Many times, we get excited about the Word of God too soon. We rejoice and then when we hit hard places because of the Word, our feathers fall. We almost get into depression because we did not build the Word of God into our hearts. We just ran off premature without letting that Word settle in and form a conviction in our hearts. This is a description of the seed that fell among stony places; the seed did not have root in itself and it endured for a short time.

What do we do about this? Well, I discuss these and more in this episode.

One of the main reasons the Word of God does not do us any good is that we fail to understand it. The less we 'understand' the word we hear, the less we benefit from it. Many Christians are like wayside hearers, they are hard and impenetrable; unable to receive the Word of God.

This week, we examine the parable of the sower as we study how to get the best out of the Word of God.

Many Christians are good at following fads and new things. Our thirst for new doctrines leads us astray and sometimes shows our need for more spiritual growth. Our spiritual growth is directly linked to how established we are in the Word; the more unstable we are, the less spiritual growth we experience. In the last two episodes, we have been emphasizing the need to stay away from the doctrines of men and every wind of doctrine.

There are many irrelevant and seemingly harmless stories, entertainment, and music that we have no business paying attention to. These things are like weights (Hebrews 12: 1), they hold us back and hinder our faith. For instance, be careful about the kind of music and movies you watch – many of them have plot lines that directly contradict the scriptures and would gradually put a dent in your faith.

In this episode, we continue from the last point.

There are things that hurt our faith in God more than we give it credit for. One such thing is the entertainment we feed on and the people we hang out with. The Bible refers to this as old wives' fables - made-up stories that do not really mean anything. I discuss this in detail in this episode.

Are there things we should not listen to? Yes, the bible tells us what we should be careful of allowing in our hearts. We must protect ourselves from anything that would hinder our fellowship with God and take us farther away from Him. This week, we continue our podcast series as we examine things we should not pay attention to.

We often find ourselves deficient in certain areas of our lives more than others. We find it easier to get victory in one area than the other. This is an indication that we ought to spend more time in the Word studying and meditating on those areas we are deficient in. The Word of God has answers to every area of our life because God has given to us all that pertains to life and godliness.

So, find scriptures in the bible that talk about those areas you are most deficient in and start paying attention to them.

Many believers wait until they have a major issue before they go to the Word of God. A preacher once said, "If you waited until you needed faith to get it, you waited too long". While every believer has faith in a measure, we ought to grow and develop our faith every day for it to work for us. Feeding along the lines of faith and healing would prepare us to stand in the evil day.
Feed your faith today and see it work for you tomorrow.