Deceitful Riches

[Mk 4:18-19; Titus 3:3-7]

Your spiritual well being determines how difficult it is for the enemy to advance in your life. We must work with Holy Spirit and allow Him to prepare our hearts in order for the Word of God to remain fruitful.

The parable of the sower (see, Mt 13, Mk 4, and Lk 8) can expose a number of the enemy’s tactics. We know that it is easy for him to snatch the Word of God from a hardened heart. And we are learning that stony ground doesn’t allow for a good root system.

We must be rooted in the Word of God in order to survive when pressure comes, because we speak the Word of God. If we claim to be Christ like, the pressure from the evil side will come.

And last time, we studied thorny ground with cares, worries, and distractions.

The devil knows the Word is alive and will produce — he is terrified of the power of the Word in the good ground of our hearts.

Mk 4:18-19 (AMP) – [18] And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word; [19] Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.

The KJV “lusts of other things” Gk. Word means; a longing, especially a lust for what is forbidden.

The Greek word for “becomes fruitless” used here means to cause to be. So the wanting for other things strangles, and causes the Word to be unfruitful. We know that tradition can make the Word ineffective (Mt 15:6; Mk 7:13). But we must also know and believe how effective and deceitful the cares and pleasures of the world actually are.

Titus 3:3-7 (ESV) –[3] For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [4] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

“Passions and pleasures” Greek word hedone (hee-do-nee’)^[2237] means sensual delight, the gratification of natural or sinful desires.¹ Things that lead even to war. God has saved us from these things and to go back to them is spiritual adultery. Friendship with the world is enmity with God (cf. James 4:1-4).

Keep yourself in the love of God (Jude 21). Feed your faith, and starve your doubts to death. Keep your heart ready with the Word of God, to receive more of the Word of God. Remember the battle is for your eternal soul.

Prayer:

Lord, we thank you that in all the shaking that is happening in these days, the true church will not be shaken. We will stand firm and take back territory in this spiritual war. We roll all of our cares onto you, because you care for us. Holy Spirit work with us, and prepare the soil to bring forth fruit. Lord, we trust in you. Amen.

Proclamation:

I declare that my pleasures and riches are hidden in Him, for His glory and His kingdom. I will not desire other things of the world, I will not be distracted from my Lord’s purpose and plan. My spoken words, agree with God’s Word and they will not return to Him empty. I have great success in the kingdom. I have the victory, now!

God bless you my friend,

— Dwight Hammond