When the heart is right and receptive to God, the Word being sown is very effective. If the heart is not right and receptive to God, then the Word will not be as effective. The Bible tells us that not only do we need to receive the Word will gladness; we also have to allow the Word to take root and not allow the things of the world or circumstances to pull us away from the Word. As for me, the Word was first sown in to my life at the age of 12. My heart was open and I received the Word. Although after time, the cares of the world and the desire for other things crept into my heart and I was pulled away. Even when I went to church, my heart was hard and I did not want to receive anything. I finally had to get to the place where I died to myself and to my flesh and I surrendered my heart to the Lord to do what He wanted me to do. The Word of God was then again able to do its work in me and I was able to begin to grow once again. The Lord has given me desires through the years that I had not had before without Him doing a work in my heart. The things that once mattered to me don’t really matter to me anymore, and the things that didn’t matter to me then, matter to me now. Coming to Bible school and working in full time ministry are just a couple of the desires the Lord has put in my heart in the past few years. Before I rededicated my life to the Lord, I never had a desire to be a preacher or be in full time ministry. In fact, talking in front of a group of people was the last thing I wanted to do growing up.

– – Jonathan