February 23, 2014: Pour Out!

Mark 4:1-20

Amplified Bible (AMP)

4 Again Jesus began to teach beside the lake. And a very great crowd gathered about Him, so that He got into a ship in order to sit in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was at the lakeside on the shore.

2 And He taught them many things in parables (illustrations or comparisons put beside truths to explain them), and in His teaching He said to them:

3 Give attention to this! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4 And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

5 Other seed [of the same kind] fell on ground full of rocks, where it had not much soil; and at once it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil;

6 And when the sun came up, it was scorched, and because it had not taken root, it withered away.

7 Other seed [of the same kind] fell among thorn plants, and the thistles grew and pressed together and utterly choked and suffocated it, and it yielded no grain.

8 And other seed [of the same kind] fell into good (well-adapted) soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing, and yielded up to thirty times as much, and sixty times as much, and even a hundred times as much as had been sown.

9 And He said, He who has ears to hear, let him be hearing [and let him consider, and comprehend].

10 And as soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, with the Twelve [apostles], began to ask Him about the parables.

11 And He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [of our circle] everything becomes a parable,

12 In order that they may [indeed] look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, lest haply they should turn again, and it [their willful rejection of the truth] should be forgiven them.

13 And He said to them, Do you not discern and understand this parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the parables?

14 The sower sows the Word.

15 The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown [in their hearts], but when they hear, Satan comes at once and [by force] takes away the message which is sown in them.

16 And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy;

17 And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away.

18 And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word;

19 Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.

20 And those sown on the good (well-adapted) soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit—some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some [even] a hundred times as much.

So no worries if you sow good stuff all the time and it seems you are seeing no results at all! Most of the seed you sow bears no fruit! BUT! Just keep sowing! Without regard for which type of soil your seed may be falling on. You will be amazed when you start reaping 30 times, 60 times, and even a hundred times over! Believe me I've been shocked many times. I've poured myself into people who seemed like good ground! Who had sooooo much to offer the Kingdom! And all my time and energy was seemingly wasted! Or maybe the timing was wrong and they simply weren't ready to turn their lives around. Sometimes years later they were thanking me and coming back to God! The MOST exciting people are the ones I either completely gave up on or the ones who seemed like a hopeless cause. I was tempted to pass them on by. What did they have to offer God's kingdom in my eyes? ZERO. But it's not up to me to decide! I just work with EVERYBODY who comes my way and leave the reaping up to God! And omgoodness! Many times, the ones who seem the most hopeless are the ones who reap a hundredfold!
"Dear Jesus, please help me to pour, pour, pour myself out to EVERYONE, everywhere I go. Without regard for what they can give back. This is what You did. You just served everyone who came Your way. I don't want to waste time deciding if someone is worth my energy. I want to allow YOU to give the increase. Because You just give and give and give! You never stop giving. Wow!!! You are amazing and I love You. I will praise Your matchless name forever and ever, Jesus. AMEN."