…and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:19
One morning, I was spending time in prayer; I was walking around my house attempting to worship God. It felt as if I was hitting a brick wall. I complained, “God, I feel so dry!” I thought about the scriptures in Ezekiel about the dry bones and I wondered… “is there any life here today?” After a while I stopped and began to study, hoping that would help.
Suddenly the Lord spoke to my heart. “Is worship seasonal?” He asked.
My mind quickly went back to the week before and a conversation I was having with a friend. We were talking about how sometimes it seems so easy to pray and worship and fast and then sometimes it is toil and labor. She asked me a question… “do you think those times are seasonal?” “Yes, I suppose they are” I responded.
When God asked me the same question, I knew I had given the wrong answer.
We were referring to seasons in our lives, but the answer was still wrong. When I hesitated to answer God’s question, He continued to speak to my heart.
“Is rain seasonal?” He asked. I continued to listen while He continued to speak. “If you didn’t have rain for an entire season, what would you have?” I answered, “a drought.”
A drought is a deficiency of moisture that results in adverse impacts on people, animals, or vegetation. The Webster’s dictionary also says it causes major imbalance. That is what I was feeling, dryness or a drought, to which I had convinced myself was seasonal. The truth is there would be no drought if there was rain.
And, rain, as we know from scripture, comes with worship.
And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, the rain will not fall on them. (Zech 14:17)
Drought affects everything. Nothing grows or yields what it is supposed to produce in dry season.
A couple years ago we had a drought in our area, it affected everything that was planted. We had very few strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. We had little produce. It even affected the hay in our area. I began to seek God to find out how I arrived at this present dry place, especially when I seek Him daily. He spoke one sentence to me, “the cares of this world.”
Mark 4:19 says; And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Cares are defined as distractions, and it literally means to divide. To choke, as used in this scripture, means to suffocate and to hinder growth. Unfruitful means that it is not yielding what it ought to yield.
Therefore, when distractions come, they divide our focus. If not dealt with, they will eventually suffocate and hinder the growth of the Word we have sown, and the result is that the Word does not produce or yield what it should.
Distractions. We all have them, but did you realize these distractions come for one purpose – to divide.
You know that old saying, divide and conquer? That is what the enemy means to do. Because he knows while our mind is stayed upon God, we will have perfect peace, shalom – nothing broken and nothing missing. But when we are divided, that’s when the problems begin.
So, what do we do? We resist distractions. We tell them to go. Those things can wait until we spend quality time with God. Times of refreshment come from the presence of the Lord. I know we all have distractions and cares of this world. But we can’t allow them to dominate our focus. We can’t allow them to choke the Word of God that we have sown in our hearts and cause it to become unfruitful. We must keep our eyes upon Him and He will make sure everything else works out.
Are you feeling a bit dry today? Then stop what you are doing and spend time worshipping God. Remember, He said if you come up to worship Him, on you there shall be an abundance of rain. Let the rain come through your times of worship! God will then cause the Word sown in your heart to become fruitful – yielding exactly what it is supposed to yield.
I am reminded of 2 Chronicles 26:5, which says, as long as he sought the Lord, the Lord caused him to prosper.
This Word was true then – and it remains true today. As long as we seek the Lord, He will cause us to prosper. In our soul, our mind, our emotions, our finances, our health, or families – it’s a promise from a God who cannot lie. Don’t allow the cares of this world to stop the rain of God from flowing in your life. Seek God and Let it Rain.
