And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-29.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
My Son told parables about the Kingdom of Heaven and He would liken it unto various things in the earth, such as mustard seed, treasure hidden in a field, a pearl of great price, yeast in dough, a master and servants entrusted with a charge, a wedding and a wedding feast, and seed sown in the ground. And those who had ears and a heart tuned to Me would understand. My wisdom, to those whose minds are set only on the flesh, that is, only the things of the world that you can discern with your five physical senses and analyze with worldly knowledge, is a hidden wisdom. 1 Corinthians 2:7. In Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3. You have to dig deeper and plant more seed to understand.
And that is today’s Life Lesson in living days of Heaven on earth: “Plant Seeds to Grow.” And the more you plant and the more you cultivate and guard it, the more you grow in the things of the Kingdom. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.” Genesis 2:15.
“And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:52. How? “Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that it was necessary for Me to be in the things of My Father?” Luke 2:46-49. He later told Martha about the one thing necessary that Mary had chosen as the better part. Jesus only spoke My Words and did the works I showed Him, for that is doing My Will. And doing My Will brings increase in every area of your life. And that is My plan for you: Shalom and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11.
Today, let us go to the parables of the Kingdom for what I want to show you is very important to living Heaven on earth. And I would like to focus on one parable in particular, the seed planted and grown. Mark 4:26-29.
Remember, Heaven is the place where My Will is done, you know that from the prayer Jesus taught you. “Your Kingdom come; Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” It is then you will have Heaven on earth—when you are doing My Will. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and delightful and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2. You offer to exercise your dominion authority over the earth for bringing Kingdom results to the earth and to do this you must renew your mind in My Word. And how do you do that? “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21.
My Son taught this parable, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark 4:26-29.
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22.
This parable was told by My Son right after the parable of the sower sowing seed on various types of ground. Mark 4:1-20. He told them that the seed represented My Word and the soil was the hearts of the hearers. The ones that bore the harvest in varying amounts were the ones who were faithful, having honest and good hearts. “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the Word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with steadfast perseverance.” Luke 8:15. And then He went on to tell them a truth farmers would all know: the more seed you plant, and the better you cultivate and guard it, the bigger harvest you will enjoy. “Take care what you listen to. By what measure you measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” Mark 4:23-25.
“He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” 2 Corinthians 9:6. My Word comes down to you as seed for the sower and bread for the eater, and you decide how much seed of My Word you will plant in your heart and how much of the bread of My Word you will eat. Growth and nourishment. Desire My Word that you may grow thereby. Grow in what? Wisdom, stature, grace, and favor before Me and men. Days of Heaven on earth.
So back to the parable of the Kingdom. First, you plant (cast) the seed into the soil of your heart. How do you plant My Word? Well, look at the prior parable, you hear My Word and you cherish it and keep it despite the inward and outward tests that try to steal it or choke it off. And Psalm 1 tells you more: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the Word of the LORD and in His Word (the perfect law of liberty, knowing My Word will set you free from things that bind you, limit and torment you) he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3. He increases.
To meditate in My Word is to chew on it, that is, to read it, speak it, ponder it in your heart (as Mary did) as choice treasure drawing out the promises in it, which are all yes to you in Christ Jesus. Keep digging in to find the hidden treasure under the surface and plant each precious seed (promise, direction, correction, revelation) you find. Plant each proverb, each psalm, each Word of Jesus, each prayer, each song, even those sung in Heaven in the book of Revelation and sing your own tune to them. And watch them grow and grow as you meditate more and more. You know not how, but little by little your pains and sicknesses lift, your anxiety goes, your fear abates, and you begin to take up the sickle with authority and harvest every one of those seeds you planted, now grown to an overflowing harvest manifesting the purpose for which I sent it.
How do you plant? “Keep My commandments and live, and My teaching as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 7:2-3. Write them on the tablet of your heart. “My heart overflows with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Psalm 45:1. Death and life are in the hand of your tongue. Proverbs 18:21. And you will eat the fruit of your lips, it will go into your heart. Be careful what you hear and speak as you sow, so also you reap. Plant ONLY My Words to cultivate, guard, and grow or you will not have a harvest of Heaven on earth.
“I have put My Words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to plant the heavens, to establish the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” Isaiah 51:16.
And in the parable of My Son, the man casts the seed and it begins to grow as he continues his daily life and goes to bed at night, meditating in the night watches. “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches,” Psalm 63:6. “I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my Beloved!” Song of Songs 5:2. “I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices.” Psalm 16:7-9.
And consider the planting and cultivating of My Word that I showed My people who I had redeemed out of the slavery of Egypt. I had to turn them into the conquerors I had truly made them so they would stop thinking like slaves and regarding themselves as grasshoppers. “You shall therefore impress these Words of Mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, days of Heaven upon the earth. Deuteronomy 11:18-21.
And as you read, hear, speak, and ponder My Word a wonderful change takes place, like the changing of the caterpillar to the beautiful butterfly. Indeed when I say that by renewing your mind in My Word you will be transformed, the Greek word in which that scripture was originally written is “metamorphoó,” which means to transform but it is the root of your English word “metamorphosis” which describes the transformation of a crawling caterpillar to a flying butterfly.
And looking at our featured parable again, we find “The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.” Your heart knows how to grow My Word, if you will fill your heart with My Word you are giving it the life it has been searching for all along, for I have put eternity in each person’s heart and no matter how much the world, the flesh, and the devil try to drown it out, that candle is still flickering dimly but is seeking to be lit by My Words of Spirit and life. Your hearts are hungry, but not for physical food but for the bread of My Word. Peter felt this as others deserted Jesus who was telling them He was the bread of life, he spoke up, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” John 6:68. There are no other words like My Words. My Words are not idle words, they are your very life.
So what do you do to plant My Words? “Bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light” Proverbs 6:20-23. My Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet. There is great reward in walking in them.
And don’t just be a hearer, you plant by hearing, you cultivate by speaking, and you harvest by doing. And it is important to rejoice and sing songs of praise. I am your strength and your song! You have to water the seed and with joy your will draw water from the springs of Salvation (Yeshuah). Isaiah 12. My Son washes you in water with the Word. Ephesians 5:26-27.
And do it all with joy. “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting and singing. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:5-6. If all you do is carry your seed around in a bag and don’t plant it you will never have a harvest, but if you plant it you will reap it if you reap with joy. What does this tell you? If you are in the midst of a trial and pain, days that are nowhere near Heaven on earth, it is time to plant as much seed of My Word as you can and start speaking it over the field of your life and soon you will see the first the blade, and don’t spurn small beginnings, the pain may be better but not quite all the way gone yet, the lost loved one may suddenly be thinking it’s time to change, celebrate any movement in the right direction of your problem, do not despise small beginnings and abandon your crop, because after the blade comes the head, then the mature grain in the head. And when the crop permits, immediately put in the sickle, because the harvest has come. And it will, if it is the eternal and life-giving seed of My Word and you keep out the birds who snatch it (the doubt and unbelief brought by the devil), the weeds and thorns that choke it (the devil’s fiery doubts) and just keep growing it to full maturity through perseverance (faith and patience), you will have it. Guaranteed. Whenever the devil comes to steal your seed and choke off the growth, make sure you answer whatever thought, dart, or circumstance he presents with the truth of My Word and you will have planted even more good seed to get a bigger harvest yet! To your joy and his chagrin. Checkmate.
And the angels will come to minister to you as they did to Jesus when He routed out the devil. And if you note from My Sons parables, the angels bring in the harvest. And they will do it for you too.
I love you. Whatever your need, start sowing seed. Dig into the treasure trove of My Word and get the seeds you need. My Word does not return to Me void but has within it all the power you need for the promise to grow if you just do what I told Adam in the beginning, cultivate and guard the garden. And it will be a heavenly garden on earth because it was grown of the heavenly seed of My Word. Planting Heaven on earth.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11.