Be protective of the word of God!

 Luke 8:5-8

“A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Jesus used to make His point using parables. This is one of them and it has so much truth in it. The word of God is likened to the seed that the farmer scatter on the field, where some of these seeds fall on footpath, some on rocks, thorns and some on fertile ground. In the same way, the word we receive by reading the bible, we hear from a church sermon or any other platform, we receive. Now it depends on what we do with that word, that will determine if there will be a great harvest or nothing at all. It can either be the word that we received, do we allow people to talk us out of what we heard and received, or do we let the word lie loose which the devil can easily steal, because we didn't water and nurture what we heard, or will it yield a big harvest in our lives, thus by believing we see our lives transformed and God working in us?

This shows that it is not enough to just hear the word; we need to receive it, believe and nurture it, by seeking God about what He says and find ourselves in His presence where He will reveal even more. It is for this reason that we are cautioned of the company we keep, because other people may discourage you about the word that you heard, received and believed; thus, leading you astray. We need to be intentional and allow ourselves time to engage the word of God, meditate on it and pray about it. In this case, it will stay fresh in our minds and when trouble hits, you hold on to what God told you, which will give you the strength and courage to stay strong. Basically, we need to be protective of the word...