Prospering in the Lord

I pray that as you read this, you are well and prospering in the Lord. In last night's sermon, based on Mark 4 and the parable of the soils/Sower, I spoke about being "fruitful". That is what I mean when I pray that you are "prospering in the Lord"; that God's word/truth/wisdom is so landing on fertile ground in your heart that it is taking root and growing a crop of blessing - one that extends beyond the boundary of your needs to the shores of the needs of others (family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances - even enemies).

This parable, also found in Matt 13 and Luke 8, pictures three types of hearts found in the lost (beside the road, rocky soil, choked with thorns) and the heart of a Christian (good soil). I know it is not beneficial to make a parable teach something other than what is intended, but I also know that Christians readily identify with feeling hard hearted at times, with the word seemingly taking shallow roots and then appearing to vanish, and with feeling choked to death by wordly desires which compete with godly desires.

Isn't it comforting to know that even when we, as Christians, feel such emotions, God still describes our hearts as "good soil"? 1 Cor 3:9 says, "We are God's workmen, God's field, God's building." Sometimes we forget that God is the operational force at work for good in our lives; it is He who makes things happen. And He works with us now, the way He did when He saved us, and ushered us forth to grow for him: through His truth, His mighty word. He uses His word to nourish us, spur us on to action, to chastise us and point us in the right direction, and to encourage us while the fruits of obedience are "breaking through the ground". Listen to a few "farming verses":

Isaiah 44:3 says, "I will pour water on him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground."

Hosea 10:12 Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness ; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

Isaiah 55:10-11 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

So, let you an I not be like the multitude that heard the Lord with their ears but didn't listen with their heart. Let you and I be doers of the word and not hearers only, and in due season we will "prosper" in the Lord.

God bless you,

John