Power in the Word

Matthew 13:23 NIV

But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

The parable of the sower here is a popular story and the lessons therein have been emphasized over time. A fresh look will do no harm but rather, a repitition will help remind us of what God expects from us in our daily walk of salvation.
Reading the entire parable of the sower is like watching 4 people who come to church on Sunday morning to hear the message from God. The sowing of the seed is the hearing on Sunday while the reaction and reception of the Word is the Monday to Ssturday practice of the things that had been heard. We all go to church on sundays, hear the same messages and are under the same ministration. Yet, we never get out of the service with the same blessings. A lot of things go into our hearing and reception that it is impossible to determine just how much of what we hear has made an impression or impact on us, but we cannot avoid or deny is the fruits our lives will show as a result of the words that we have heard.
4 people, 4 kinds of receptive hearts, 4 end- results. 1 hears the Word but there is no reception, no gain, no impact. Before the seed even finds soil of any kind, it has been stolen. No understanding, so no appreciation of what has been heard. No gain, because the heart has made no preparation at all to hear or understand. Don't we come to church atimes to show off latest acquisitions or additions? Don't we come atimes simply because it is Sunday and there's nothing better to do?
2 hears the same Word only receives it with more joy and excitement than much understanding. He knows what the Word says but because of trials and hard times, he just steps aside. Good times make us glad and grateful but it is the bad and hard times that reveal the quality of our convictions.
3 also receives the Word but there's a lot of competition for attention going on in his heart. While in church, he's thinking of the next business deal and the millions he will get. He definitely pays his tithes but he has n time for deep relationships. We atimes forget that it is only what God blesses that endures and anything we gather outside his help will only endure for a little while.
4 receives and understands and applies the Word to daily living. His life is a seed-generating and a fruit-bearing one. One note of warning though: even in surrender, there are varying degrees. Some of us have mastered the art of compartmental existence: we tell God how far he's in charge of some areas of our lives while we hold on to the others. How do I maximise God's grace if he's not in total control of my life, words, thoughts and actions? It is only a life in full control of God that can maximise the potential of the seed of God's Word.
Surrender all to God today and let his Word do his work. Our lives will be better and more fruitful and God will be celebrated through the fruits our lives produce.
Rejoice, for his time of favour is here.