DEVELOPING IN FAITH (PART 3)

THE FAITH PROCESS

Mark 4:26-29

The Parable of the Growing Seed

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The seed in the verse is the Word of God.

The ground is the heart or spirit of man,

Jesus is saying, a man scatters the Word of God into his OWN HEART.  Then all by itself the soil or the heart of man starts to produce faith (agreement with heaven) in the earth realm.

Faith is the heart of a man or woman firmly persuaded of what heaven says

Although the man does not know how the process works, the Word of God that was sown  into his heart begins to grow and produce agreement all by itself.  This happens if he sleeps or is awake; it does not matter, the process continues.  As the man keeps the Word in his heart, slowly his heart is coming into agreement with what heaven says, and FAITH IS BEING PRODUCED.

Mark 4:26-29

The heart produces agreement through a process.   At first when our heart receives the Word, faith begins to form.  Jesus compares that phase to a sprout.

The sprout then goes on and continues to grow and becomes a stalk. 
Eventually, the head forms on the stalk.  At this point, still no fruit, no agreement, and no change in the natural realm

The process continues as the head now matures and produces mature grain. When the mature seed is in the head, agreement is there, and faith is there, allowing the man or woman to harvest into the earth realm what heaven had planted in the heart of man.

HIGHLIGHT #3  FAITH WORKS EVERY TIME

Romans 10:17  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
In different terms we could say that as you sow a promise from heaven into your heart, it will slowly produce confidence of what God said all by itself.  Eventually, your heart will be fully persuaded of what heaven says, and agreement will be there.

Example:

You are facing sickness.  As you sow the Word of God that says that God has paid the price for your healing through what Jesus did, your heart slowly begins to become convinced of what God says all by itself.

When that Word matures in your heart, the confidence that you are healed becomes what you believe and say.  No longer are you simply quoting what heaven says.  Your heart is now firmly convinced.  When you say, “I am healed,” it is not a formula that you are quoting; rather, this is what you believe and know to be a fact.  What heaven says has now become your own perception of reality.

REVIEW WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.  Heaven sows the Word of God into the earth realm, into the heart of a man or woman where agreement is needed.  The man’s heart is not in agreement with heaven yet, but the process begins to take place in the heart that brings the heart, all by itself, into agreement with what was sown. 

​Jesus uses a great illustration:  He compares the process to a farmer sowing seed and how the plant matures.  Jesus gives us a picture of what faith looks like.  In the natural realm, when the seed in the head is mature, it will look EXACTLY like the seed that was sown into the ground.