Of Seed And Soil
Speaking God’s word with our voice is one of the most powerful spiritual tools we can use in seeing God’s purposes for our life & gifts materialize. God’s Word is a Seed, and our hearts are the soil into which the Seed is sown (Mark 4). Everything produced will prosper when correctly applied because it was produced from Seed & soil (Mark 4). When we speak the Word of God in faith, as scripture instructs us to do, it will produce.
A mature heart results in fertile or good ground for the seed of the Word to be sown. God’s plan for our lives or the use of our creative gifts will be frustrated if we are not developed, and Romans 12:1-2 branded. Being solidified in this truth will produce a certain maturity in Christ, making it impossible to miss God’s will for our lives. Knowing God’s will and (concerning this entry) knowing how He wants our creative gifts used and distributed can only happen once we are committed and surrendered to Him, as taught in Romans 12. We must become a living sacrifice. When I think of the function of a sacrifice, I see that it does not have a function. A sacrifice is usually tied down on an altar, lifeless, surrendered, and unable to get off of the altar, dead. This stands to reason that if we are called to be a living sacrifice, we must remain on the altar. We must live a life completely surrendered to Christ and fulfill the requirement of total commitment. Through the absolute relinquishing of our will, we allow Christ to occupy His rightful place in our lives with full reign and rule over us. We need to abide in Him to the point that we are unable or refuse to get off the altar. We must decide to be a living sacrifice or, by definition, a living victim. This is how the words sacrifice and altar are defined in the Greek & Hebrew:
Sacrifice: (Strongs - G2378) thysia = a sacrifice, victim
(Strongs - H2077) zeḇaḥ = an offering, victim
Altar: (Strongs - G2379) - thysiastērion = the altar for slaying and burning of victims, use of, a place of sacrifice
(Strongs - H4196) mizbēaḥ = a place of slaughter (where sacrifices are made)
God’s purpose for our lives, calling or vocation, is secondary to our Romans 12 purpose. God’s will for all those who bear His name is for us to be a living sacrifice. God doesn’t want our service more than He wants our heart. We are His singular focus, and He should be ours. As we become a living sacrifice and not conform to the world and its way of doing things, our souls will be transformed by renewing our minds. A promise is attached once the Romans 12 requirements are fulfilled: that we will prove God's good, acceptable, and perfect will. Then we will stand, equipped. Minds renewed, hearts fertile, ready for the sown seed of the Word to prove and produce God’s perfect will for our life and creative gifts. There is, however, a caveat to this process. Once our minds are renewed, our hearts surrendered, maturity developed, and the seed of the word sown, there is one more action, or inaction, which is extremely necessary on our part. The next step is to do nothing. It is vital that once we have sown (and continue to sow) the Word in our hearts, we allow it to remain, germinate, and grow. We should not act on any temptation to manipulate or continuously “check” to see if the Word is producing. Once a farmer sows seeds in the ground, he leaves it alone. He understands a slow process takes place before he sees any fruit. The farmer understands the art of patience. He understands the principle of seed and harvest time and that there is a long time between the two. If the farmer planted his seeds and neglected to realize there is a growth process that must take place before he can see actual/visible fruit or leaves but instead kept checking on the growth process and digging up the seeds to try and figure out why they are not producing any fruit, then the growth process would be delayed or stopped altogether. He would never see his harvest. Jesus illustrated this in His teaching titled The Parable of the Sower in Mark 4. Just like the farmer, we as believers have to operate with the understanding of the power in the seed itself. We have very little to nothing to do with the process. Growth and change happen automatically as we sow the seed of the Word into the fertile ground of our hearts (Romans 12:1,2). The condition of our soil/hearts determines the growth of the seed/Word. The seed is never the problem; the Word always produces. So, there is never a need to dig up a seed to determine why no visible fruit is produced. The onus is on the heart or soil in which the seed was sown. Sowing into good ground will produce good fruit. As illustrated in Mark 4, the seed activates the ground, and the ground brings forth fruit. It’s an automatic and natural process. Just like a child cannot be produced without sperm, we cannot produce or bear fruit without the incorruptible seed of God’s Word. The heart is on center stage in this regard. Everything needed to produce fruit is already in our hearts, but these things must be appropriated. Patience is vital during the growth process, just like awaiting the birth of a child.
Creating, sowing, reaping, seedtime, and harvest time have been operating on Earth since the beginning. In Genesis 1:11, God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass…”. Here, we see God spoke His Word (seed), and the earth responded by producing grass. The creation process is laid out clearly in the beginning chapters of the book of Genesis. We first see the word “create” in Genesis 1:1. The passage reads: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Hebrew word for “create” is bara, which means to “create, shape, form (from nothing).” In Genesis 1:2-26 the word “make” is translated from the Hebrew word asa, which means “to do, fashion, accomplish.” So in short, to “create” means to make something from nothing, and to “make” means to create something from existing material. The Hebrew rendering of the word “made” (as seen in Genesis 2:22) is bana, which means “to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue.” All these words point to creation. Everything spiritual and everything natural, as well as how things are produced of seed and soil, can be found in Genesis 1 and 2. We learn from these passages that everything above ground was once in the ground. God gave dirt/soil a miraculous ability to produce fruit. Be that the soil of our heart or natural soil (dirt). God put everything that we (His human creation) or the natural world will ever need within the soil. Everything and every one is created from nature or soil. People were created from dirt. Fabric is created from plants. Metal is created from rocks, and glass is created from sand. God spoke (sowed the seed of His Word), and the world was produced. God spoke and created man in His image. The seed was planted by God when He spoke and the earth brought forth fruit.
This truth is also illustrated in nature through the process of human conception. In Mark 4:28, we learn that the earth is feminine. The passage says: “for the earth brings forth fruit of herself.” It is important to note here the definition of the adjective “herself” in the Hebrew language. “Herself” comes from the word automaton, which means “moved by one’s impulse, or acting without the instigation or intervention of another, often used of the earth producing plants of itself.” This definition of the original Greek word clearly explains the independent process from which production happens automatically. We know the earth is feminine and produces automatically after planting a seed. We also know that nothing can be conceived or produced without a seed. In the same way, a child cannot be created without a female egg being fertilized by a male sperm. Further study gives us more insight into the Word as a seed. In 1 Peter 1:23, the word “seed” is translated from the Greek word sport, which means a sowing, implying parentage. This word is similar to the Greek word sperma, from which we get our English word “sperm.” In Genesis 1, God speaks His Word to create and command the earth to produce. God spoke (seed, Word, sperm) to the ground (dirt, soil, our heart), and it produced life (bore fruit). This is the process of physical and spiritual conception. The growth process before we see the fruit produced from the seeds we have sown is similar to pregnancy. Sperm fertilizes the egg, the zygote is conceived, the embryo develops over nine months, and the fetus is born. Mark 4 illustrates a similar process for the fruit produced in the spirit. We plant/sow the Word in our heart; conception takes place; the seed (zygote) germinates as we nurture, protect, and feed it (the blade); the seed (embryo) development progresses and grows as we continue to water and nurture it (the ear), then after a significant waiting period, the fruit (baby) is birthed/produced and harvested (full corn in the ear). Just like in Romans 12 (the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God), there are always steps involved in what God does and how He brings the full manifestation of His will to pass in our lives. Using all 3 illustrations, we see that God’s ways never change no matter what elements are involved:
pregnancy: zygote > embryo > to fetus/baby
farming: the blade > the ear > the full corn in the ear (Mark 4:28)
spirit: the good > acceptable > perfect will of God (Romans 12:1, 2)
Three different applications of the same principle brought about by the same God through the planting of a single seed. The Word of God has no choice but to automatically produce fruit through us when we:
plant the word of God in our hearts (through reading and listening to scripture)
decide to protect it (by meditating on it and speaking it forth)
water it (through consistent study of scripture),
nurture it (through prayer through study, meditation, prayer, and speaking it.
Also, in the Parable of the Sower, Jesus uses illustrations of the principle this way: hear the word > accept it > bear fruit (Mark 4:20)
Faith and the promises of God are voice-activated, so speaking the Word out loud through declarations is a powerful tool. Using the weapon of our voice-activated declarations renders the enemy powerless as we exercise our Christ-delegated authority against him. When we appropriate the principle of plant, protect, and produce, the promises of God and His will for our lives will manifest supernaturally.
How we declare the things of God:
Through trust & faith in God (Mark 11:23)
From a place of expectancy
through a heart positioned to
receive exactly what you are declaring. (Proverbs 18:20-21)
With confidence in God’s Word (Isaiah 45:11)
Through the delegated kingdom power & authority you’ve been given by God (Luke 9:1-2; 10:19)
Declare the following out loud with your voice:
Today, through communion with Christ & diligent prayer, I receive and allow Christ's inner presence to manifest in my physical appearance & I declare that this manifestation will transfer onto everything my Father has commissioned my hands & mind to create. Everything in my life will prosper because they will be produced of Seed & soil. In Jesus Name
Acts 6:15
