Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
ROMANS 10:17 (NKJV)
A gardener can plant the same kind of seed in three different locations and get three different results. In one spot, she get giant tomatoes. In another, she’ll get small tomatoes.
And in a third, she’ll get nothing. What’s the difference? It’s not the seed, it’s the soil. The soil must be prepared for the seed.
The same is true when you hear God’s Word. It’s why you can take who people to church, sit them side-by-side, and one will walk out thinking God really spoke to him, while the other won’t get anything out of the service. The heart of one person was prepared; the other’s heaii wasn’t.
How can you prepare the soil of your heart for the Word? The Bible says,
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Therefore, get rid of all moral. filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you”
(James 1:19b-21 NTV).
For good reception, this passage teaches you to have four attitudes:
You must be quiet. ”Be quick to listen, slow to speak.” You can’t
hear God if you’re doing all the talking.
You must be calm. “Slow to become angnJ.” If you’re frantic,
you’re not going to hear God. The Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10 NIV). My translation of that is: “Sit do-wn and shut up.”
You must be clean. “Get rid of all moral.filth and evil.” Before you
can meet \vith God, you need to take out some emotional and spiritual garbage. Get rid of the stuff that stinks in your life. You get rid of the garbage by confessing your sin to God and agreeing with him that what you did was wrong.
You must be humble. “Humbly accept the word planted in you.”
Be ready to do whatever God tells you from his Word. A prideful attitude makes a hard heart.
How’s your soil today?
