The Growth Of The Word Of God In Us

Scriptures: Luke 8:11-15

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”

From the Lord Jesus’ explanation of the meaning of the parable of the sower who went out to sow seed, we can understand how the word of God grows within us. The growth of the word of God word within us is like the growth of a tree that starts with a seed which falls into the ground until it bears fruit. The growth of the word of God in us begins with hearing the word which then enters our heart until it produces words of power from our mouth. The Lord Jesus Himself said about the power of the words that we speak, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23)

The seed that is sown will go into  the ground and then take roots inside in the ground. Likewise, the word of God that we hear enters our hearts and brings forth faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the words of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) In order for our faith to be strong so we do not believe only for a while, this word of God must take root in our hearts. How can we make the word of God take root in our hearts? By meditating on it day and night, as King David said. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2)

How do we meditate on the word of God? Meditating on the word of God is muttering the word of God while pondering it. Since the purpose of this meditation is for the word of God to take root in our hearts, we must remove the “stones” from our hearts. These “stones” are the things in our hearts that are against the word of God. A stony heart will cause the word of God not to take root in it. Therefore, it is very important for us to humble ourselves when we meditate on God’s word, so that the “stones” are removed from our hearts. It is written, “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts!” (Hebrews 4:7)

Once firmly rooted, the tree will then begin to grow upward. Its stem will come out of the surface of the ground. Likewise, once our hearts are established in the faith because of the word of God’ that has taken root in it, this word of God will come up from our hearts into our minds. To make sure this happens, we must constantly speak the word of God as our confession of faith. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” (Hebrews 4:14) Faith confession is the practice of speaking the word of God aloud.

Why should we be diligent to speak the word of God as the confession of our faith? In addition to having the word grow from our hearts to our minds, speaking the word of God aloud will help us focus our minds.  Our minds are easily distracted by many things. In order to keep our minds fixed on the word of God that has produced faith in our hearts, we need to make the confession of that faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13)

At a certain height, the branches of the tree will grow out of the trunk to its surrounding. This is a picture of the word of God that has come to our minds. When the word of God that comes out of our hearts have reached our minds, it will be revealed clearly. Our minds will be opened because they will be full of light and we will fully understand the word. We will understand the word from many different aspects. King David wrote, “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130)

From the branches around the trunk of the tree will come out the fruits.  This is the final stage of the growth of a tree. Similarly, when our minds are opened because they are full of the understanding of the revealed word of God, that word is ready to bear fruit in our lives. When we open our mouths, what will come out is the word of faith and of understanding. We will have faith like God and we will speak like God, The words that we speak will be powerful. They will have power both to create and to give life to the dead. The Apostle Paul wrote, “God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” (Romans 4:17)