Because you haven’t looked after the soil of your heart.

If you need breakthrough in your life in a specific area such as finances, health or relationships, you should consider the soil of your heart. Many people are not good receivers of what God wants to give them, and it has to do with the heart.

I want to share some kingdom secrets and mysteries which will help you discern what is happening in your life and allow you to walk in the fullness of what God has for you.

Matthew 13:3-11 NLT
³ He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. ⁴ As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. ⁵ Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. ⁸ Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! ⁹ Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
¹⁰ His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”
¹¹ He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.

There are a number of truths in the short passage. Firstly, Jesus was talking in parables so that the truth would be hidden from the crowds of people who would later crucify Him. He only shared the truth with His disciples, and in verse eleven He says that only they are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, every parable contains secrets of the Kingdom, and these secrets are available to us through the Word of God. So it’s very important to always be meditating on a Bible verse throughout the day, quoting scriptures and memorizing them. As you are diligent with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you all the mysteries to where you won’t have any more questions.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 AMPC
⁹ But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
¹⁰ Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny].

1 Corinthians 2:9 is quoted all the time, and I’ve heard it said that “God works in mysterious ways”, then people laugh. The problem with that is when you read verse ten. The Spirit of God searches even the profound and bottomless things of God – divine counsels and things hidden. He reveals all of these things to us, but we have to be in relationship with Him to receive that counsel. So as a believer, nothing should surprise you because the Holy Spirit is your mentor and counsellor, and He reveals the future.

In the parable of the sower, which should be called “The parable of the soils,” because the sower is mentioned once and the focus of the parable is on the soils, there are four types of soil: footpath, rocky soil, thorny soil and fertile soil. Only one soil produced a harvest, and three produced nothing. The exact same seed is sown on all soils, and the same sower is throwing the seed. Therefore there is nothing wrong with the seed or sower; The difference in result is all due to the soil.

Matthew 13:19-23 NLT
¹⁹ The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. ²⁰ The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ²¹ But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. ²² The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. ²³ The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Luke 8:11-15 NLT
¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. ¹² The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. ¹³ The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. ¹⁴ The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. ¹⁵ And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

In Jesus’ explanation, it’s very important to note what made the soil infertile: either hard, rocky, or thorny. The first thing to deal with is not understanding the Word of God which is the seed. This is probably the biggest one which is why Jesus mentioned it first. If you think about the whole world population and how many people are believers in Jesus Christ, it’s a very small percentage currently. What I have seen over and over is people hear the word of God, they try to understand it in their mind, and when they can’t, they walk away. In essence, the devil just stole that Word from them. In this day and age with all the technology we have, it’s really impossible for someone to not hear the gospel at least once in their lifetime. What I’ve encountered is that most people who aren’t believers, people I’ve spoken to, have already heard the gospel many times but because of where their heart is, they don’t accept it.

To combat the lack of understanding, you can pray for wisdom and understanding. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal every truth in the Word to you, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. If you ever read something in the Bible and think it is too good to be true, or it isn’t relevant today, you have to remember that the word “Gospel” can be translated as “Too good to be true”, and Jesus is the centre of the Gospel. You have to accept that miracles are for today and are needed now more than ever. Prosperity is for today. Healing is available to you. Find the scriptures that you don’t believe in, and pray over them asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of them to you. Don’t let the devil rob you of your miracle because you don’t understand the Word.

The second thing to be wary of is rocky soil which is where the Word doesn’t go deep enough in your heart. You take the Word at surface level and accept it mentally, but you haven’t meditated on it and memorized it and quoted it. When you face persecution, you give up on the Word because the circumstances don’t reflect the promise you have. I have seen people who believe in healing go back on their beliefs, because they got sick. However, just because sickness came doesn’t mean God’s word isn’t true.

You need to be ready to face the attacks of the devil when you get a Word from God, because He will come as a thief to steal everything away, using the methods Jesus explains here. When God gives you a Word for healing, you may feel sicker for the first day, week, or month. But that is the devil working overtime to get you to doubt. If He can’t get you to forget the Word of God, he will work on getting you into fear and doubt and unbelief. That is his mode, and Jesus is spilling the beans on all of this. This is why Jesus said it was a Kingdom secret. I get excited just thinking about that.

The third fruitless seed is the thorny soil. The Word is crowded out by worries of this life and the lure of wealth. Some translations say ‘the deceitfulness of riches’. This one is a big one for most Christians. When you have the Word of God, and you believe it but don’t live in it, it gets drowned out by everything else that is going on in your life. There are so many ‘cares of life’ that want your attention, the biggest one getting a flat-out mention – money. I think a lot of people who are poor think about how to get rich and what they would do with all that money if they got it. The problem with that is that your focus has shifted away from the Father.

If your focus gets shifted, it’s only a matter of time until the direction that you’re walking in also changes to where you’re looking. Jesus said to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, then all these other things will be added to you. It’s a matter of priority. What is your priority if you only can choose to do one or two things. Does the Bible always get read every day by you? Do you always pray, even if you don’t have time to do anything else?

It’s important to not get into works over this, which is working really hard but not flowing in the fruit of the Spirit. If you write a list of things you want to do but keep failing to do them, don’t push harder to do it in your own strength. Let go of it and lean on the Lord to help you. Ask Him to help you. Remember that you are to seek first the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. That means that when you’re in the Spirit and walking with the Lord, you will have peace and joy. Righteousness is also translated as “justice”, meaning anything wrong is made right again. If something is out of alignment in your life, it must come back to the correct intent that God has.

The good soil is hearing and understanding God’s word, and then producing a harvest. In other words, you have taken what you received and put it into action which produced a harvest. You didn’t fall for any of the devils attacks and distractions that cause soil to be unfruitful. You are faithful, patient and fruitful. It’s obvious that God is at work in your life because you have a harvest that is many times the seed that was sown.

When you put all of this together, what it means is that for any problem you are facing in your life, be it lack of provision, lack of health, bad relationships, depression, or whatever it is, what you need to do is go to the Bible and find at least two verses that are promises for what you are needing. Then you take those verses and use them as a sword in the Spirit, waging warfare by declaring them, meditating on them, and praying them into your life. When you do that you are intentionally taking seed and planting it in your heart for it to grow. It takes time for it to grow though, so remember to be patient and stay in there. God will bring a mighty victory to you and you will have a testimony for the rest of your life on what He has done.

One thing that God showed me was praying before going to sleep. He wanted me to do that as part of my routine, however after a week or so I started to skip nights. I thought about this parable of the sower, and the Word of God came to me. He said “Remember that the only soil that produced fruit was the one that never gave up”. His words convicted me and helped me to keep going. So when you wage warfare, it’s a good idea to also have this parable at the forefront of your mind, to remind yourself that you will receive your harvest if you are patient and endure.