Elkan's Word For Today

THE WORD FOR TODAY

A TALE OF FOUR GROUNDS (Part 2)

 “Listen! A farmer went out to plant his seed.” Mark 4:3 (easy-to-read).

Today, We’ll continue with our reflections on Jesus’s “The Parable of the Sower.”

 “And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow...

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and immediately they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away...

But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Who has ears to hear, let him hear.” - Matthew 13:3-89

Yesterday, we found out that “Nothing Ever Happens at the Wayside”. The people in the second group of today will tell you that they are not that dumb. They’re cool, they’re hip. The word of God has come, and their hands are in the air. Oh yeah...

Ground 2 – “Let’s ROCK and Roll-on”

The members of this group are luckier than the first in that they hear and actually acknowledge the Word as being from God. God may have given them a revelation, or a man of God might have prophesied into their life, or their pastor may have proclaimed that they’d be living in THEIR OWN houses before the end of the year, etc. and they RECEIVE it.

They’re naturally excited, they believe and shout a loud “Amen!” to it.

The devil cannot steal it anymore, it has been acknowledge as from God.  Jesus says that they receive the word with joy, but (oops) they have NO ROOTS.

No foundation. No basis. No ground. The word ‘root’ signifies depth. Many people like shallow manifestations, the so-called believe-and-receive miracles. They’re ever too ready to affirm every (and sometimes contradictory) statement they hear from a pulpit.

Now let’s assume God Himself appears to them during their Quiet Time and says, “I’ll make you so prosperous that banks will start lending from you!” How do these group of people react? (Ground 1 people will probably say that “it thundered” (see John 12:29)); but this group will jump and run around the room in excitement that they have finally received a direct word from God. They’ll pray in tongues for one hour and then rush out – forgetting that they’ve not picked up anything from God, (not least the money itself).

They expect a check of 33 billion dollars to fall on their laps two days after the promise; (BTW, 30 billion is for the “lending”, the extra 3 billion is for the shopping list they drew up after the promise was given).

They have no instruction, they have no plan, they have no understanding of the character of the God that’s about to bless them, no comprehension of what He’s said in His word concerning prosperity, no appreciation of His purpose for their life and the resources to be endowed on them, no conception of the TIME PLAN, no NOTHING!

In short, they have “NO ROOTS”.

If God tells a young man that He’s going to make him stand before kings, that doesn’t mean the man should just stand there, smirking around like someone who’s in on some juicy secret. No, he’s supposed to get his acts together: include that statement in his daily Faith confessions, pray regularly about it to keep it in his head and to battle spiritual forces (that have already started planning how to oppose him), study to show himself approved, polish his language, read up on public speaking, etc.  (We probably all know of people who have stood before kings either literally or metaphorically who we see make a mess of the opportunity).

Our Lord explains what happened to the seed in this category:

“And what about the seed that fell on ROCKy ground? That is like the people who hear the teaching and quickly and gladly ACCEPT it.

But they do not let the teaching go deep into their lives. They keep it only a short time. AS SOON AS TROUBLE OR PERSECUTION COMES BECAUSE OF THE TEACHING THEY ACCEPTED, THEY GIVE UP. – Matthew 13:20-21 (ERV)

Practically speaking, no bank will approach you for a loan if your net worth is less than 9-figures, in dollars. However, you should realize that, as long as that word is from God, the Devil will automatically start seeing you as a billionaire and will mount “BILLIONAIRE” type of attacks on you, (even if you’re penniless right now).

THINK ABOUT IT

Think about any specific promise that you received from God, either directly, through prophecy, ‘word of knowledge’, scriptural revelation, etc. Now think about how your life seems to be experiencing just the exact opposite.

Did God lie?

Was that man of God dubious?

Were you self-deluded?

Or is evidence that the Devil is fighting tooth and nail to stop that word from coming to pass?

Are you David, anointed to be king, yet now a renegade soldier?

Are you Moses, a prince of Egypt destined to deliver your people, yet finding yourself a fugitive from Pharaoh?

Or are you Jeremiah? Called to be a “Prophet to the nations”, yet you spend most of your time at the bottom of a dry well or in prison?

Don’t be a ROCKy Christian, don’t be OFFENDED, it’s just the World/Satan telling you they take that word from God to you seriously, (even if you don’t).

AMEN.

More Blessings Await you today, you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

Greg Elkan