ICS Daily Devotions
Word Producing the Fruit of Faith
Mark 4:16 (NKJV) These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
Persecution and tribulation can come in the form of suffering and you can be hard pressed on every side. It is a confrontation regarding whether you will really stand up for what you believe or have heard! It confronts your conviction of your faith in God and His word.
We need to be very clear that God is the one who sows the word into our lives, and He will not be the one who would want to steal it. God cannot be the one who give and take away at the same time. Remember, God wants what He has sown to produce fruit and seed has to stay in the ground in order for fruits to be produced. Therefore, it is God who gives and the devil who takes away! The devil’s nature is to kill, steal and destroy and God’s nature is to give us an abundant life.
The devil is the one who sends tribulation and persecution that involves suffering in order to steal the Word of God that has been sown into our heart. The attempt is to make you believe the circumstances more than trusting and having faith in God. The moment you let go of what you have heard and believed, the seed will be stolen. He wants you to give up!
2 Cor 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 4:5-8 (NKJV) But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:7 ” Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”
There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. We are saved by faith through His grace! It is the faith we have to believe Jesus has paid for our sins on the cross that righteousness is imputed unto us.
Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
In order for the word to take root in our heart, we need to speak out what we believe and meditate on it day and night. Meditating is “chewing” on His word and feeding our spirit man. The more we meditate on His word, the more His word becomes part of us and it will soon take root in our heart. When His word becomes part of us, faith will arise within us and faith will propel us to act according to His word. When we speak according to the conviction we have in Him, we will start to step out in faith and approach our trials and persecution boldly. Stand firmly on His word and watch Him do a mighty work in delivering you out of your situation.
Sermon series: There is power in the seed
