In Matthew 13, Jesus taught the parable of the sower; a teaching story of a farmer scattering seed, which contained a hidden lesson about how God attempts to plant his word into our heart:
Matthew 13:3-9 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
The above was the riddle version of the story. The full understanding was concealed. Later Christ explained the hidden meaning privately for his close followers, the disciples:
Matthew 13:18-23 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
We often interpret this parable as if "the word of the kingdom" is evangelism, with the first three soils being those who reject or fall away from Christ and the last group being those who believe in Jesus until death. This is a valid but incomplete interpretation. The parable does not have to do only with salvation, but with how any kingdom teaching and any promise from God struggles for fulfillment without our lives. It applies to every word from God, whether from the Bible, or God speaking to you mentally, or given as a prophetic word spoken over you.
The number four has some interesting symbolism here. There are four chambers in the human heart just as there are four sections the sower scatters his seed into. God is trying to sow the fruit of the Holy Spirit within our heart. At the beginning, only some of our heart is receptive to the kingdom word. Our goal should be to reclaim the other areas: wayside, stony place, and thorns, into becoming good soil for the word to develop in. Four is also a number representing the world and its elements and the soils follow the pattern of trials in the four elements. "Air" is the birds devouring the seed by the wayside. "Fire" is the scorching from the sun the second seed experiences. "Water" is the choking/drowning that happens to the third seed. And "earth" is the good soil.
Seed by the Wayside
The seed sown beside the road that is eaten by the fowls (birds) is when Satan makes you doubt the promise before you even had a chance to take it seriously. You mind is stunned by how the word could even by possible, just as the darkness in creation could not comprehend the light. John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
For the elements, "air" is the invisible mental sphere which comes from the head, the highest part of us. Birds stay high up in lofty places. Satan builds strongholds here just as birds make their nests up high in the branches. Do you know brain cells are named after tree branches? "Dendrites" named after the Greek word for tree and are called such because their appearance is like a microscopic tree.
When we allow our mind to doubt the promise and instructions of God, we become confused, relying on our human understanding rather than the Holy Spirit. This causes us to give up on the consistent faith and works needing to bring the word to fulfillment.
Satan loves to try to snatch away the promise at the beginning. Often one who is miraculously healed in a tent meeting or revival service will have the symptoms of their sickness return after a few weeks once the tent revival has packed up and moved to the next town. Satan knows he cannot defeat the powerful anointing of the revival minister but once he has left, the devil tries to sneak back in with symptoms of sickness that will bring doubt. If the person begins to speak words of unbelief then satan is able to steal the rest of the healing away. A Christian does not have to be powerful to possess their own healing, but it does take faith and consistency. You can't just give up when you see negative symptoms return.
When God puts a promise in your heart or you receive a trusted prophetic word, be prepared for the counter attack before the blessing.
God gave Joseph dreams revealing his destiny, that he would be a powerful ruler. Not long after this revelation was sown in Joseph's heart, he was sold into slavery. This is the devil's tactic of attacking you with the opposite of God's promise, to get to you curse the promise and call it a lie and thus cancel the word before it ever had a chance to grow. Joseph did not fall for it and held fast in faith to the word and it did eventually come true. A seed takes time to grow though. We must not speak words of doubt and defeat just because the word does not happen right away. We should even prepare for the opposite at first, and ready ourselves for satan's counter attack against the word of promise.
This principle is also seen in the story of Elisha and the Shulamite woman:
2 Kings 4:15-20
So [Elisha] said, "Call her." When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. Then he said, "About this time next year you shall embrace a son."
And she said, "No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!"
But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.
And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, "My head, my head!"
So he said to a servant, "Carry him to his mother." When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
The wealthy woman had been very helpful to Elisha, always giving him food to eat and a place to stay. Elisha wanted to bless the woman in return and prayed to God to provide her with a child, since she was infertile. While the child was still quite young it died suddenly. The miracle seemed to have been erased. This is one of satan's favorite strategies, to make it look like the opposite of the promise is being fulfilled. God ended up resurrecting the child when it was brought back to Elisha, but you see the principle here. The woman could have just cursed and buried the youngster but instead she fought for her promise. We must not give up when the devil gives us symptoms opposite of God's promise. It is just a test of our faith and attempt to snatch the seed before it gets roots.
Seed among the Stones
The second seed springs up quickly in its visible flowering part, but dies just as quickly because of failing to build any roots, the invisible foundation of private devotion, humility, and sacrifice. These are like the social media couple who praises each other an unbearable amount publicly, but soon curses each other just as openly as soon as there is a problem in their relationship. God does not see this kind of relationship with Him as being valid; one that does not stand when He brings testing to see how real your faith is.
Revelation 10:10 So I took the small scroll from the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.
The problem is the seed on stony ground receives the word with joy but not also with bitterness. We should prepare ourselves for both sides of the double-edged sword of God's word. The sweetness of life redeemed from the world's darkness as well as the bitterness of the sacrifices and trials that come with the Christian life. When John first tasted the scroll on a surface level his mouth was sweet, but when he actually fully digested what was inside in its full implications, his stomach turned bitter. The seed in stony places treats God's word like a lollipop, only wanting the pleasing taste of blessing and encouragement verses, while avoiding digesting the fullness of God's instructions in a way that would require serious life changes.
This is when you believe the promise until it comes time to make sacrifices for it and face opposition to bring the promise into fulfillment. Some of Israel's tribes chose inferior land because they were afraid they would lose the battles necessary to gain possession of the best land which was across the Jordan River (signifying the trial of doubt we must cross over from). They wanted what was certain in front of them, rather than fighting in faith. Just like the Red Sea had to be crossed in Exodus, crossing the Jordan is the next step to experience the fullness of the promised land.
Seed among the Thorns
Next we have the word which is choked by thorns which Christ says represent the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches. Crops cannot grow surrounded by many weeds because the weeds compete for everything the good plant needs. The weeds grow faster than the plant and block sunlight from reaching it as well as stealing the nutrients in the soil. The plant has only the leftovers, and if it survives it will only grow small.
This is how we treat our promise from God, allowing so many activities, concerns, and types of entertainment to steal our attention (sunlight) and resources (nutrients) from being devoted to bringing God's word into fulfillment. Thorns also often have beautiful eye-catching flowers above, hiding their sinister side from view. The deceptive entertainments of this world are similarly eye-catching and distract us from the thorns lurking beneath, waiting to choke our promise.
Thorns biblically represent a curse. The first mention of thorns is Genesis 3:18 where God curses the ground due to Adam's sin. Instead of easily being productive for God, Adam now had to fight off all sorts of harmful thorns and weeds which threatened his crops. When we fall into disobedience we likewise open the gate for satan to bring in all sorts of worldly distraction ("destruction") and keep us busy struggling in worry trying to keep up in the world rather than prospering in obedience.
Speaking of thorns, "tribal tattoos" are one of the most common tattoo designs historically and have the appearance of a nest of thorns. This is a way of satan marking those as belonging to him. After you are a Christian, you cannot get any tattoos; it is disobedience that strengthens satan's control in your life. If you got them after being saved, it is necessary to repent and promise never to do it again. Tattoos are a gateway allowing the devil's thorns into your soil.
When the Roman's put the crown of thorns on Jesus head, it showed that Jesus carried healing for mental-health issues, giving victory over the satanic curses and attacks on the mind. God does not only care about healing for our physical body.
The Good Soil
If we pass all of the three categories of trials which comes against the promise, then we have a chance at the word coming true. Even here, the test is not completely finished. Only a portion of words every make it to a hundredfold fulfillment. Many of the promises only come true 30% or 60%.
Partial obedience with an excuse can feel like full obedience, but is unsatisfactory to God. We see a couple examples from Second Kings:
2 Kings 10:30-33
And the Lord said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation." But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin. In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of Israel from the Jordan eastward: all the land of Gilead—Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh—from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan.
Jehu had 60-fold obedience. He was very zealous for God in destroying the false god Baal. But Jehu still could not overcome the sins of Jeroboam. He had a false image of God in that he believed that golden calves were valid representations of YHWH. This may sound stupid, but many godly kings in Israel and Judah fell for this and even Moses brother Aaron made this same mistake in Exodus. As a result of Jehu's partial obedience, we see that God gave him only a partial kingdom and begin allowing enemies to take sections. His descendants would also only rule for four generations; not like the everlasting kingdom that was promised to David's descendants.
Open the East Window
2 Kings 13:15-19
And [Elisha] said, "Open the east window"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. And he said, "The arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them." Then he said, "Take the arrows"; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times."
The first thing we must notice is that by commanding "OPEN THE EAST WINDOW," Elisha is really speaking to the spiritual realm. In Awakening the Wind we discuss the gates of the four winds in depth and how they can be controlled by a person's words and actions. Because it's a long article, I will link to the East Gate section so you can find it quickly.
The East Gate represents timing, being early, being eager, showing initiative and being proactive in doing good. Not delaying and not waiting to be told to do what you already know is the right thing to do. The East wind is the most mentioned wind in the Bible. As the spiritual authority Elisha spoke into the spiritual realm to "open the east window" and then needed the king, the natural authority, to proactively do his part to complete the operation. Spiritual and natural would have came into agreement to bring a great blessing across the land. Unfortunately the king did not possess the eagerness and proactiveness necessary to open the gate of blessing. If the king really cared about his people and hated what the enemy was doing to them, he would have stamped the ground like a savage with the prophetic arrows. Instead the king mildly knocked three times because his heart was not truly in what he was doing. The king did not really care. He did not realize that God was measuring his heart through the prophetic act with the arrows. Sadly, Israel only received a 30-fold blessing instead of the complete and permanent 100-fold victory over their enemies that God had intended to give them.
When God tries to plant his word into our heart, satan first attempts to make us doubt the word. If this does not work, he then brings warfare and trials to make us give up on fulfilling the word. If we persist past these trials, he tries to fill our life with secondary commitments, distractions, entertainments, and false causes to distract from our primary mission. Finally if we pass all of these trials, we must beware the hazard of lukewarmness which will causes us to bring out only a 30% or 60% harvest instead of the hundredfold harvest that God intended. As much zeal as Jehu had, he was still only counted as only having partial success. This is a sobering thought for self-evaluation. What "minor" thing are we downplaying that may be major in God's eyes? There are many pitfalls on the path to growing the seed of the word and we must always be watchful guarding the garden of our heart.