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The Thorny Heart (Part 1)

The Thorny Heart (Part 1)

We continue with our series on the fallow ground of our hearts which must be tilled, prepared, worked on enriched and positioned in a right condition to receive the word of God and produce for our good and to glorify God. When the word of God is delivered to us we must be able to receive, retain and use it. When we receive a prophetic or proceeding word for ourselves, family, ministry and nation we require the right heart for a breakthrough of great waters as it happened for David in the battle against the Philistines at Rephidim.

(2Sam 5:20). He called the name of the place Baal Perazim i.e. Master of Breakthrough). The proceeding word? The Lord said to David “ Go up
for I will doubtless deliver the philistines into your hand” (2 Sam. 5:19 nkjv) OR the historic victory over the Amalekites at Ziglag to recover all he lost.

The proceeding word was “ pursue, for you shall surely overtake them (the Amalekites) and without fail recover all” (1 Sam 30:8 nkjv)

In all these cases and more David’s heart was in the right state to receive the word of the lord and produce fruit.

Therefore, let us do an audit of our hearts to ensure it is right before God and ready to receive the proceeding word of God and bear much fruit that by it the Father will be glorified and we receive the blessings of God intended for us.

First we look at our lord’s categorization of our hearts we present to receive the word of God.

In the parable of the sower there are four types of conditions or categories of hearts. This is found in

(Mathew 13:18-23 nkjv), Mark 4:13-20 and (Luke 8:11-15 nkjv). From these scriptures the first is the Wayside Heart which receives the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one in Mathew's Gospel, Satan, in Mark’s gospel, the devil in Luke’s Gospel comes and takes away the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved.

The second heart type is the ‘Stony heart’. This is the heart that receives the word ( the seed) and immediately rejoices but has little endurance. There is no real root in him.

When affliction, tribulation or persecution arises because of the word immediately he stumbles and falls away from trusting and obeying the Lord.

The third heart type is the thorny heart. A cluttered heart full of weeds and ruts. This heart receives the word of the kingdom among thorns. They go out and are choked by the “ cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” which enter the heart and render the word unfruitful.

The forth type is the good heart ( the good ground), that is the one who receives the seed ( the word of God) and understanding it who indeed “bears fruit and produces, some a hundred-fold, some Sixty , some thirty” (Matt.13:23 nkjv)

From these we owe ourselves personal responsibilities to examine our hearts and ensure that all fallow areas are tilled and what needs to be uprooted or prevented are attended to quickly in order to be fruitful citizens of the kingdom. We take up the thorny heart in this discourse.



THE THORNY HEART

What is a thorn? It is any person, objects, idea, or anything our heart clings to and confides in. It is what we believe in and mindlessly pursue which can limit or prevent us from achieving the end that God intended for us. It is that which distances us from intimacy with the Holy Spirit. It is that thing which prevents the word of God from producing in our life. It is that which can make us lose our divine mandate and he unable, like Adam and Eve, to extend the kingdom of God and multiply His glory on the earth.

It is the fallow ground of our life which must be broken up. Furthermore, thorns are ideas, values, positions, desires, relationships, attributes, traditions, thoughts, deeds and motives that do not allow us fulfill destiny and accomplish God’s purpose for us on earth.

Thorns are the enemies of breakthrough physical, material, economic, and financial even with the word of God in our heart and in our mouth.

Let us examine the three components of the thorny heart from the scriptures we read in (Mathew 13) and Mark 4. Using the Amplified classic here they are:

i. The cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasures and delight and false glamour

ii. The deceitful of riches and

iii. The cravings and passionate desire for other things.

These Creep in and choke and suffocate the word, and it becomes fruitless. What a spiritual disaster!

Let us examine each of them

1. The cares, anxieties, distractions, pleasures, delight and false glamour of the world

How can we know a thorny heart when we encounter or have one?

A thorny heart describes believers who are born again. Their spirit has been regenerated. They accept Jesus as personal Lord and savior. They understand they have now said goodbye to Satan and the world.

They have now identified themselves with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. They belong to the body of Christ and are citizens of heaven. They have even undertaken water baptism by immersion as the disciples of John and the early converts through the apostles in the early church. They have also received baptism of the Holy Spirit and are speaking in tongues as evidence of this grace.

Yet they live fruitless lives. Some receive gifts of the Holy Spirit and the calling of God on their lives. Indeed many are leaders in various ministries but live fruitless lives.

They cannot advance the kingdom of God and multiply His glory in the earth wherever they go.

Many of these are running congregations of thousands of baby Christians led by an old fruitless baby.

Indeed they do better than the stony ground believers who easily fall back at the slightest persecution or affliction.

However easily become uneasy doing good. Paul tells us in (Galatians 6:9)

“So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit” (msg) and in ( 2Thessalonians 3:13) he tells us “ And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good” (nlt). As a result these type of believers do not go on to perfection (Hebrews 6:16).

Further, the writer of Hebrews profiles these type of Christians. He says in (Heb. 5:11-14.)

“By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one-baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago. Milk is for the beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways, solid food is for the mature who have some practice in telling right from wrong” (msg)

They are the type of believers absorbed by the pleasures of this world and are pursuing what it provides to the unwary and immature. They neglect to weed out from their lives those inclinations, trends and character traits that feed temptations.

They sign post such believers our Lord warned against in (Mathew 12:43-45).

They have been delivered only to be repossessed by ‘seven other spirit more wicked than himself… they make the state of the man worse than the first’


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