“But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matt 13:23)

Recently I had heard about a number of tombs being found in Egypt in recent years which contained mummified remains of people.  In the tombs they also had jars which contained seeds that had been preserved in that state for thousands of years. Someone got the idea to sow them and harvest the corn and such contained in the seed to see if there was any significant difference between what they sowed in Egypt over 2700 years ago, compared to the seeds of those types of crops harvested today.  There was no difference, it yielded the same exact thing.  It didn’t matter how old the seed was, because apparently the seeds we’ve passed on from generation to generation, still contained the same crop as those from thousands of years earlier.  It didn’t expire or reach its ‘best before’ date.  All of the image of what that seed was intended to yield remained intact inside it for over 2700 years until it was harvested.

I thought this was simple yet amazing enough of an example of God’s kingdom worth adding to my series on the ‘imperishable seed‘ lately. I highly suggest going over those posts for the benefit of this entry if you’ve never read them before, as many of the Scriptures I’m referencing or taking for granted in this post I’ve been covering more in depth in previous posts for the foundation I’m building on in this one.

Another way I thought about this: I remember as a teenager the days when I used to make mix tapes – long before we had digital mp3 players and iPods (which I thank God for!).  I would take songs on CDs of mine that I wanted to make a mix tape with, and listen to the tape on my Sony Walkman while delivering newspapers.  The quality of the songs–because they were only a copy–would be degenerated compared to the original CD I obtained them from.  If I wanted to make a copy of that mix tape for somebody, I’d have to go to the original CDs again, because if I copied the tape–which itself was just a copy of songs–then the quality of that next tape would be even worse than mine was.  Such was the quality of copying using analog–it gets worse and worse the more you reproduce it from one copy to another.

Natural seed is not like such, and this is certainly not the case with the imperishable seed either (1 Peter 1:23)–it doesn’t diminish, lose anything, or degenerate from one generation to the next as it’s passed on.

The same seed of Christ planted in a believer who was changed by the blood of Christ having put their trust in Him 2000 years ago does the same work in a believer’s heart today.  The seed has not gotten worse the more it was spread.  Kingdom seed is not analog.  Its ‘DNA’ doesn’t change when it’s passed on from one person to another.  If what’s true of the natural seed is true of the spiritual imperishable seed of Christ in us, then it shines light on passages like when Jesus said in John 14:12  “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

We are capable of doing at the very least the works, signs and wonders Jesus did, because His imperishable seed–perfect image of His nature–has been implanted in us (1 John 3:9).  But Jesus didn’t stop there, He said we’d do greater works than these.  Whenever I talk to people of certain evangelical persuasions or denominations who don’t believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit–tongues, healing, and what have you–as being for today, I no longer go to the book of Acts to point out that there’s no reason to believe such activity was to stop in the Church, but I point to this aspect of Christ’s character.  If He did certain things, and said we would also and more, AND has planted His seed in us, then nothing of the image in that seed has depreciated over the centuries or degenerated in quality since.  Nothing of His has been lost or diminished in us. He didn’t even say we’d do at least the same He did, but greater works.  I know that sounds blasphemous to some, and is an abused concept by some people, but it’s still what the Word of God teaches and shows.  So the idea it’s arrogant to say believers can heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons or do things Jesus did and said we’d do (Mark 16: 16-18) is strengthened, and “only He can do it” is nullified, because the very nature of Christ is implanted into us as believers when we’re born again.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24)

Jesus, our ultimate example, left His abode in heaven, and entered our fleshly earth realm, and lived as a man.  He ‘fell into the earth’ and died, that He may be raised from the dead and conquer sin, and in a sense, plant a new work in mankind that would blossom and flourish and that work itself would overcome the sinful, carnal death nature.  Jesus died in order to be gloried, much like a seed.   Seed gives forth after its own kind, and Jesus’ likeness is reproduced into those of us where His seed is implanted.  Who He is, is spread and reproduced in us as we mature and grow and spread the kingdom of God with evangelizing and manifesting the nature of Christ through healing the sick, and giving freedom to the oppressed.

Likewise, in order to obtain the Christ seed, we ourselves die.  We have to give up our life and no longer be in control, or no longer own ourselves, in order to be a part of this spiritual realm.  In order to manifest this heavenly Christ-ruled kingdom, we die to ourselves, and live through Christ.  There can’t be any ounce of self left, because Christ’s nature abides in the believer.  He was not like ‘us’ in our sinful fallen state.  Therefore such sin nature must die–that nature must no longer be nurtured–but the seed of Christ in us watered and nurtured, and cultivated.  The seed of Christ on the inside of us is as holy as how sinful Adam’s seed inside us is evil–the nature that must be killed in order to mature in the nature of Christ.  Galatians 6:7-8 states “For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” All opportunities for this flesh nature to grow, or be nurtured, must be cut off.  I encourage reading a previous post for more about the importance of that.

What Exactly is IN the Seed?

“The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)  This being the case, I’m going to use the word ‘seed’ interchangeably with ‘the Word’ of God, and by no means is the following list exhaustive, but I just want to share a few ideas to drive the point home.

“And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.” (1 Cor 15:37-39)

• It contains what it is to reproduce after, as we’ve already been establishing.

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”(Mark 4:26-28)

• It contains the kingdom of God.  All that is necessary for revival and the kingdom of power spreading is found first in the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear…

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor 9:10-11)

“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)

“I write to you, young men, because you are strong,  and the word of God abides in you,  and you have overcome the evil one.” (1 John 2:14b)

• It contains your righteous nature and ability to live holy, and to overcome sin and the evil one, and salvation for our souls.  See also 1 John 3:8-10.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)

“For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God” (2 Peter 3:5)

• It contains creative forces which create and give life.  As you can see, faith is mixed in with this word of God in order to bring forth any creation.  The same properties as mentioned in Hebrews 11:3 are true of seed.  The wood and leaves and fruit and all such things itself are not present in the seed, but the DNA is and in the right conditions, those things come forth out of the ground when it’s planted and nurtured.

I personally believe this ‘seed’ is where gifts, talents, skills, and our calling is located.  I won’t be too argumentative if someone disagrees with me, because I can’t completely ‘prove this’, but hear me out:  the same way each and every individual person has specific and unique DNA that makes them who they are, I believe the Lord does with this imperishable seed in all believers.  The same way that the seed in the womb of a woman contains all the information as to who the baby is and will become, its hair color, its personality, and other traits not just physical, I believe the spiritual seed implanted inside the believer contains all the spiritual versions of such DNA and it’s up to us to water and nurture that seed.  It’s up to us to edify, encourage and exhort each other as well (since we are all the collective Body of Christ) into maturity into such things as God has designed for us individuals to become in Him and in His Body.  That’s why some people are capable of not ‘realizing their potential’.  It’s not that some people fail, and others succeed because God is hyper-sovereign and picks and chooses some to be outpacing others, but because He’s deposited in us all we need, and allows us to be stewards of our own edification and growth.

The point of the seed is that it yields and gives forth after itself, and does not remain a seed.  Therefore in an upcoming post, I’ll share some more on how to extract that information from the seed and grow spiritually.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19) 

God’s intention is not that we remain in seed form, but grow in such a manner as to produce fruit some thirty fold, some sixty and some a hundredfold.

May it be so in our lives!

Editor’s note: I wrote this as a follow up to this post, and thought I’d take the time to post another “how to have faith” entry, but this time just list several Scripture verses to help remove some misunderstandings about faith and how it works and what it is believers do have exactly.  This post will be technical instead of deep and profound.  For a more recent up to date revision of this post, it’s recommended that you visit this same article, but posted here at my own personal site.

Why study faith?

Because the Bible is clear about what promises we are to obtain by faith, and what it produces in our lives or what lack of it will fail to produce. If God places within our hands the means whereby faith can be produced, then the responsibility of whether we have faith or not rests upon us. It is therefore necessary to know how this takes place if we are planning on going further into the promises of God that we obtain by faith.

Romans 12:3 – “For by the grace of God given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned.”

• We are each given a measure or amount of faith, by the grace of God.

Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

• The measure of faith that we each have, is a gift from God, that He gives based on His grace towards us. We don’t ‘earn’ faith, it is a gift given.

Romans 10:17 – “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.”

• Pretty simple and straightforward—hearing the Word of God produces faith. Therefore, it’s a good idea to make sure to read and study the Word of God, speak it and meditate on it, just like the following verse says:

2 Cor. 4:13 – “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak.”

• What we believe influences what we speak. The Bible also says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt 12:34). What is in your heart? What are you saying?

2 Thess. 1:3 – “We ought to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.”

• Our faith can grow. If it can grow abundantly, then the opposite must also be possible, in that believers can fail to grow in the area of faith. If it can grow, or stay small, then that must mean believers can be at different degrees of growth when it comes to having faith, would it not?

Romans 4:19-20 – “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.”

• We can be strong in faith, or we can be weak in faith. Notice“Abraham grew strong in his faith AS he gave glory to God”. It’s reasonable to assume that your faith will grow if you decide to glorify God while you’re waiting for the promise you’re believing for to finally come to pass. Don’t keep asking God to fulfill His promise, but glorify Him and thank Him for it.
  

1 John 5:14-15 says “And this is the confidence we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.”

• Thank God and praise Him for the answer to your prayer before the answer has been manifested. This is KEY to seeing the promise fulfilled.

Philippians 4:6-7 also brings this to light, as it says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

• If we believe God has granted us the answer to what we ask of Him we will not be anxious in waiting for its fulfillment. Anxiety over if God will fulfill His promise is symptomatic of a heart that is uncertain of whether God will in fact answer. If you are seeking something He has promised in His Word, then you can know His will on the matter, and seek the answer more confidently. If you don’t give your prayer with supplication AND thanksgiving (before the answer has come) then God won’t in turn guard your heart and give you the peace that keeps you from being anxious about it.

Another important component to developing faith is found in Hebrews 11. The whole chapter is great, but for brevity’s sake, let’s look at verse 6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He is and that He rewards those who seek Him.” If you have a translation of the Bible that words it that believers are to believe that God “exists” grab a pen and scribble the word out and put “is” instead. Many modern translations mistranslate this when the original text has a connotation of God “being” [as He is]. Believers in Jesus Christ ALREADY know that He exists! What are believers to believe God “is”? Read the rest of the verse—that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

The believer will have a hard time standing on any promise in the Word of God if they stumble over the fact that God is provider or any other character trait made clear in His word about Himself. “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Num 23:19)Any doubt of who God is and if He will perform what He has promised will cause the believer not to seek God, Who is a rewarder of those who seek Him. It’s as simple as that.

I strongly suggest this past post on mountain-moving faith, for more on how we bring ourselves to that point, because I’m going to say some things as though the reader is already familiar with the concepts found in Mark 11:23-24. Jesus never told us just to believe. But he did tell us to speak, and believe that we will have the things we say/pray for. Again, notice the speaking and what we confess. What are we told in this passage to believe? That the things we say WILL come to pass. So what are you saying? Are you whining all the time about your problems? Or are you speaking victory and freedom? We are told to speak to the mountain what God’s Word says, but most Christians speak to God about the mountain.

Too many Christians are like Pharisees and don’t have a clue they are. I’m not talking about the legalistic obedience of man-made rules—I’m talking of the ones who won’t and don’t believe until they see. That’s not faith. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). If you could see it, then that wouldn’t be faith. When most Christians say they’re cautious and skeptical of something (like healing) and they won’t accept it until they see it for themselves, they’re really just broadcasting their ignorance and unbelief. Believing it when you see it is knowledge, but not faith. These believers are walking by sight, not faith.Bless their hearts.

More Scripture verses on faith:

James 2:5 – “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him?”

• If we can be rich in faith, we can be poor in faith also, wouldn’t you agree? It doesn’t take being poor in this world’s standards to be rich in faith either, you know!

Acts 6:5a – “And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit”

• If we can be full of faith, do you think we can be empty and lacking it? Or running on near empty?

James 2:22 – “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.”

• Again, I hope my over-simplification of these verses doesn’t sound condescending or patronizing, but most Christians don’t think of these things: if your faith can be active, it can be inactive. It can lack actions to demonstrate or go along with the confession of your mouth. Faith is active and demonstrated by actions, not just a mental belief. Check this entry for more on how faith is not mental.

1 Tim 1:5 – “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”

• If faith can be sincere, it can be insincere, no?

1 Tim 1:19 – “Holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this some have made shipwreck of their faith.”

• How do people shipwreck their faith, by the way?

1 John 5:4 – “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”

• Faith is how we overcome. If we are not overcoming, is it possible, according to this verse, that maybe–just maybe–we aren’t walking in our faith? If our faith is how we overcome, then yes!

Now I strongly suggest going over these verses for yourself, memorizing them, studying them, familiarizing yourself with them even if you think you already know them.  I don’t like formulas, but something that can help you is the following if you’re facing a mountain you need to speak to and throw into the sea—and make sure you have your bathing suit on, too.

A Four Step Formula for Faith:
1- Find a promise in God’s Word for whatever you are seeking.
2- Believe God’s word as you would the word from a friend.
3- Do not consider the contradictory circumstances
4- Praise God for the answer, acting on the Word of God.

If this entry blessed you and you’d like to hear further teaching on faith and how to have more of it, then consider listening to this teaching of mine on the subject:

Faith and Healing -

Download mp3 (right click and save) 

Steve Bremner is a missionary to Peru, called to raise up disciples who flow in the power of the Holy Spirit. He is general editor of Fire Press, and also produces & co-hosts its podcast called Fire On Your Head. Visit his personal site at http://stevebremner.com 

And be sure to let me know if you got that pair of socks you were believing for (see last post’s analogy).