To Hear God You Must Cooperate

The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.” Luke 8:15 (GNT)

"You need to be able to say, "God, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do. Even if it seems scary or unusual or hard, I'm going to do it.""

God speaks to people who decide in advance to do what he tells them to do, not those who say, “God, tell me what to do and then I’ll decide if I want to do it.” When you have an attitude of cooperation, you are going to hear from God. A willing mind is the good soil that we see in today’s verse.

You need to be able to say, “God, I’m willing to do whatever you want me to do. Even if it seems scary or unusual or hard, I’m going to do it, and I’m going to keep at it until I bear fruit.”

How do you bear fruit? Luke 8:14 says it takes persistence. But it takes more than that. In the next verse, Luke 8:15, Jesus says this, “they listen to God’s words and cling to them and steadily spread them to others who also soon believe” (LB).

One of the ways to bear fruit is to pass it on. Teach somebody else. That is the secret of growth. Whatever you learn, as soon as you learn it, pass it on to someone. Whoever teaches, grows the most -- because when you teach you show that you’ve not only heard it, but you’ve incorporated it and can communicate it to others.