Good morning.
Holy Ground
The other day, as I was moving through the garden of God’s Word, something unexpected happened—I stumbled.
Not a fall… just a pause.
Something interrupted my movement and caused me to look again.
And when I did, I realized I was not just seeing something—
I was being drawn to consider something more closely.
Like Moses at the burning bush, I found myself drawing nearer… not out of certainty, but with a quiet sense that there was more here than I first understood.
And as I drew near, I heard the Spirit speak to me:
“Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.”
I cannot say that I understood it fully then, and I would not claim to have exhausted it even now.
But I do feel the weight of it.
So I ask for your patience—and for the Lord’s help—as I walk through this carefully. Not as one who has mastered it, but as one who is still being led into it.
Because what began to unfold centers on something simple… yet deeply revealing:
the nature of the seed in the kingdom of God.
The Nature of a Seed
Before we consider the parables, it helps to slow down and consider the seed itself.
A seed carries life within it, yet nothing about its outward appearance reveals what it truly holds.
Left alone, it remains unchanged—not because life is absent, but because it has not been released.
So the question is:
What does it take for that life to come forth?
A seed must be placed into the earth.
There, something begins to happen that cannot be seen at first.
The outer shell gives way.
And only through that breaking does the life within begin to emerge.
It does not remain alone.
It multiplies.
So a principle becomes clear:
Life is released through death.
The Two Parables: Word and Sons
With that in mind, we return to the words of our Lord.
In Matthew, Jesus speaks of a sower going forth to sow.
And He tells us plainly:
the seed is the Word of God.
The focus there is on how the Word is received—how it takes root and what it produces.
And then, in the very next parable, He speaks again of seed—this time in a field.
Now something changes.
There are two kinds of seed:
- one sown by the Son of Man
- the other by the enemy
And He explains:
- the good seed are the sons of the kingdom
- the tares are the sons of the evil one
So here, the seed is not the Word—but people.
This is not a contradiction.
It is a progression.
In the first parable, the Word is sown into the heart of a man.
In the second, that man—formed by what he has received—is sown into the world.
But something must happen between those two moments.
The Word cannot remain in a man as it is.
It must pass through a breaking.
And this breaking is not theoretical—it is experienced.
It comes through pressure.
Through trial.
Through tribulation.
Through the dealings of God that press against the self-life.
And under that pressure, something begins to happen.
What once covered the life within begins to crack.
And what was hidden begins to come forth.
So the Word is first planted in the man.
Then, through the breaking of the self-life, that life is released.
And only then is the man ready to be planted into the world as seed—
not merely carrying the Word, but expressing its life.
And even then, the fruit is not the same in every life.
Our Lord says it comes forth in measure:
- some thirtyfold
- some sixtyfold
- some one hundredfold
Not because the seed is different—
but because the depth of the yielding is different.
So the pattern is clear:
- The Word is sown into the heart.
- The self-life is broken through the dealings of God.
- The life is released.
- And the man becomes seed—planted into the world to bear fruit.
Christ: The Word and the Seed
Scripture declares:
“In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God.”
He is the Word.
And yet, He also said:
“Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone…”
So He is both:
- the Word that comes from God
- and the Seed given into the earth
This is not just teaching—
this is the path He walked.
He did not remain alone. Like the grain of wheat He spoke of, He fell into the ground and died, and by His death He brought forth much fruit.
Our Path: Receiving and Being Formed
This is where it becomes personal.
He is the Word who became flesh.
We are flesh who must receive the Word.
And when the Word comes, it does not remain outside.
It begins to work within.
Sometimes gently… and at other times, very deeply.
It corrects.
It exposes.
It presses against what we would rather protect.
And over time—if not resisted—it breaks through the self-life.
Until something happens that cannot be produced by effort:
the life of Christ is formed within.
And so, when the Lord sows, He is not only sowing words—
He is forming sons.
The Enemy’s Counterfeit
But there is something else happening in the same field.
The enemy also sows.
He cannot create—only imitate.
What he produces may look similar at first.
There may be form, activity, even the appearance of growth.
But something is missing.
There is no life from God within it.
It may resemble the real thing outwardly, but it cannot produce what is eternal.
And over time, that difference becomes clear—
because fruit reveals what appearance cannot.
The Measure of Fruit
Our Lord also teaches that the same Word can produce:
- thirtyfold
- sixtyfold
- one hundredfold
The difference is not in the seed—
but in how deeply it is received and allowed to work.
Salvation is the same.
But fruitfulness varies.
And it is revealed over time.
Unbroken Life
This brings us to a necessary truth.
It is possible to have the Word present—and yet remain largely unchanged.
To be near spiritual things—and yet untouched at the deepest level.
But nearness is not transformation.
Because where the self-life remains unbroken, the life within the seed remains restrained.
A man may hear the Word.
Speak the Word.
Even handle the things of God.
And yet, if the self remains on the throne, the life of Christ is not freely expressed.
So the question is not only:
Do I have the seed?
But:
Has the seed been allowed to die?
God’s Concern for His People
In Ezekiel 34, God speaks against the shepherds of Israel.
They fed themselves.
They neglected the weak.
They failed to care for the flock.
And the people were scattered.
The Lord says plainly:
He is against them.
But His purpose is not judgment alone.
It is restoration.
He says He Himself will seek His sheep.
And Christ fulfills this:
“I am the good shepherd…”
Where others failed—
He would not.
Aaron’s Rod: Where Life Appears
There is another moment in Scripture that makes this clear.
When leadership was questioned, the Lord asked for rods.
Dead pieces of wood.
Each one representing a man.
A rod is a branch cut off from its source.
Once separated from the tree, it has no life in itself.
It cannot grow.
It cannot bloom.
It cannot bear fruit.
So when these rods were placed before the Lord, they were all the same—
dead.
And yet, in His presence, one rod did what no dead rod could do.
It budded.
It blossomed.
It bore fruit.
That life did not come from the rod.
It came from God.
And by this, God made His point clear:
What is chosen by God must be made alive by God.
This applies to ministry.
The Bible, when handled apart from the Spirit, becomes only the letter.
It may inform.
It may explain.
It may impress.
But it does not give life.
A man can preach straight from the Bible and still have no life in what he says.
His words may be correct, but if his self-life has not been broken, there will be no Spirit behind them.
So even while using the Bible, he can only speak to your flesh. He may stir your thoughts, move your feelings, or impress your natural mind, but he cannot speak life to your spirit.
Another man may be less polished, but if the Word has broken him, humbled him, and been made real in him, then when he speaks, there is life in it.
Why?
Because he is speaking from something the Spirit of God has worked in him. And when that happens, his words do not stop at the flesh—they reach the spirit and minister life.
Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
The flesh can only minister what belongs to the flesh.
But when a man has been broken and dealt with by God, the Spirit of God can speak through him to the spirit of another.
So the difference is not in whether the Bible is being opened—
but whether the vessel has been broken so that God can give life through it.
A Call to Consider
So this is not to accuse—
but to consider.
Is the life of Christ increasing?
Or only the language of it?
Is there inward change—
or only outward familiarity?
These are not questions for others first.
They are questions for ourselves.
A Simple Example
If a man goes to the gym for years but never becomes stronger, something is not aligning.
He may be present.
He may be consistent.
But the intended result is missing.
In the same way, if we are around the things of God for years, yet remain unchanged, something is wrong.
Because where the life of Christ is truly received—
change follows.
Final Thought
This is not a call to activity.
It is a call to surrender.
Because in the kingdom of God, the seed is not preserved—
it is planted.
And once planted, it must pass through death.
Not a death that ends life—
but one that releases it.
So the question remains:
Has the seed been allowed to die?
Because only what is surrendered in His hands will bear His life.
And only what passes through death—
will truly live… and not remain alone.
