TUESDAY, JUNE 23
Scripture: Mark 4:3-8, Psalm 65:11

Mark 4:3-8 states, “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” This passage unfolds the truth of the sower sowing the Word. In the parable of the sower, the key issue is the soil. The assumption is, the seed is good. That assumption can always be made when the seed is highlighted by the Holy Spirit and it is a Bible verse. The seed of Scripture is always good and it fits this parable. The sower who is sowing the Word here is the Lord. And it falls on four different kinds of soil. The fourth is good soil that guarantees a harvest. The other three need work before they can be turned into good soil. And we all know in the parable, the condition of the soil represents heart issues. Wayside ground is ground at the end of the field that does not get plowed. So, before the soil is good it has to be plowed so the seed can germinate. The second kind of ground is stony ground. Seed cannot germinate in very hard places, so sowers have to address the hardness of the soil before they sow their seed. The third type of ground is thorny ground, where other things come in to choke the seed. This is a key passage for us in order to lay hold of the promise in Psalm 65:11. If we are willing to deal with those heart issues and convert our soil so we are sure it is all good, we can plant this Scripture in our heart. And the way we do that is memorize it, repeat it, declare it, decree it. This is a verse that needs be spoken, declared and decreed, over and over again. This is a verse that germinates when sown – bringing first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.