And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. (Mark 4:7)
What are the things that choke the Word?
- the cares and anxieties of the world
- The distractions of the age
- the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches
- the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.
Confession
To me has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God that is, the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly. (Mark 4:11 Amplified)
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Mark 4:23)
Most of us are not naturally born with the ability to hear God’s voice. It is something that must be imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. It is something that must be cultivated daily. So then the first principle is having the ability to hear, the ability to hear God’s voice.
Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. (Mark 4:24)
Take heed what you hear (Mark 4:24)
What you hear is important because:
1.Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17)
Faith comes by hearing the word of God. When you study and meditate on God's Word, you grow your faith. When you exercise your faith, (put your faith into action) you strengthen it.
2. Fear comes by hearing
Fear comes by listening to the lies of the enemy. What do I mean by lies of the enemy? Anything that is inconsistent with God's Word.
The secret to more is hearing
and to you who hear, more will be given (Mark 4:24)
Peter made it a point to hear what Jesus was saying and cast His net and saw increase. Everyone in the bible who received an increase in the bible made it a point to hear. Could it be that those who are not seeing an increase in their lives are not being careful to hear what the Spirit is saying?
With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you (Mark 4:24)
The more we give of ourselves to hearing God’s voice, the more God will give Himself back to us. In other words, it is we who decide the measure with which God will give Himself to us. The measure with which we hear is the measure with which God will impart Himself to us.
For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Mark 4:25)
by wrong hearing (or failure to hear), we decrease our spiritual resources and finally become spiritually bankrupt.
Over the years, I have encountered Christians who seem to be totally bankrupt, yet in past years they were abounding in the blessing of the Lord. What bankrupted them? They had lost the ability to hear (had ceased to cultivate that ability) and had begun to listen to the wrong things. They had cut God off and opened themselves up to evil, negative sources, which had bankrupted them spiritually.
The choice is up to you: are you going to allow God’s voice be stifled by other sounds, taking away what you have already received? Or do you choose to be someone who hears ... Someone to whom is given more daily?
But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)
Jesus was always cool. He was never in a hurry. He could even sleep in a boat that was in the midst of a storm. In the incident in Mark 4:35–39, it was not the storm that woke Him up, but the cry of His disciples.
And when He awoke, He said to the wind and sea, “Peace, be still!” It takes someone who is inwardly at peace to change a hostile environment into a peaceful one. He also calmed the storm in the hearts of His disciples, which is where it all began. You can have that same peace because you are in Christ!
As you walk in that peace, you will soon discover that you are getting healthier. Your relationships will get stronger and meaningful.
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