Pastor Mac Hammond | August 8, 2021
Recap:
The seed of God’s Word is a powerful and valuable creator in our lives, but it cannot be planted and left alone. If so, it will be choked out by weed seeds or hardened through the heat of adversity. That’s why we must learn how to put down deep roots. We can do that through our imagination. When we use our imagination to create an image of our life lived in line with God’s Word, we are creating a root system that will feed the seed of God’s Word and set us up to receive a harvest of good things in our lives.
Dive Deeper:
When a seed is planted in the ground, its chance of survival depends on how deep its roots become. Shallow roots and rocky soil will not provide the ability to grow through difficult weather. In the same way, God’s Word needs roots in order to grow through every kind of weather and produce a harvest of good fruit.
Creating a strong root system doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen through a continual moving of your mind to the Word of God. You will strengthen your faith and the root system of your life when you picture your life lived God’s way. This is what will bring you through the heat of adversity.
You see, the enemy wants to change your destiny, and in order to change your destiny, he has to change your belief system. Changing your belief system is easy when your root system is weak. When you haven’t spent time picturing the Word of God as reality, you’ll more easily see the worst becoming reality. If you, however, spend time meditating on God’s Word and replaying it over and over in your mind, you’ll see the psalmist’s words coming true from Psalm 1. You’ll be like a “tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
So today, go ahead and find a Scripture about God and meditate on it. Memorize it. Sing it. Replay it over and over in your head until that truth has dropped from your head into your heart. Let the roots of God’s Word become established in your life.
Read More:
James 3:18 KJV
“And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
James 3:18 Amp.
“And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God’s will in thought and deed) is [the fruit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace [in themselves and in others, that peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].”
Mark 4:16-17 KJV
“And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”
James 1:2-4 KJV
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Psalm 1:2-3 KJV
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Romans 12:2 KJV
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Proverbs 23:18 KJV
“For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”
Philippians 3:13 KJV
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”
1 Peter 1:13 KJV
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
Discussion Questions:
1. How does God’s Word help in difficult situations?
2. What Scriptures do you know? What can you do to learn more Word?
3. What happens when you imagine the worst? What happens when you imagine the best?
4. What can you do to made meditating on God’s Word part of your regular routine?
Rewatch or catch up on the full sermon with the link below!