THURSDAY, AUGUST 20
Scripture: Mark 4:18,19

Verses 18,19 state, “Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” There are three basic ploys that the enemy has. Wayside soil, which means we have to plow it out and get it ready. Stony ground, which means we have to work to get rid of the stones. And finally, thorny ground, where the enemy tries to bring in diversions that take our time and attention and end up choking the Word so it does not get the care that would bring it fully to germination. Those thorns consist of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desire and focus for other things. The cares of this world deal with problems and troubles that press against us. The deceitfulness of riches is the lure of money and longing for material things. Finally, the desire for other pastimes keeps us pursuing things that take us out of the Word. If we can fight these battles and win them, we have just turned our soil into good ground. By turning wayside, rocky, thorny ground into good ground, we can fully possess our vessel so that we have a productive and operational spiritual farm. Only then can we have a harvest coming out of every aspect of our field. And that is our goal.