Don't Let Worry Choke the Word — Use the Word to Choke the Worry

I'm excited to keep going in this series, because today I want to introduce the ground most of us actually live in — the one where the Word started working, and then somewhere along the way, it didn't anymore.

This parable tells you why you're not bearing fruit — and it's not God

This parable helps me spot phony teaching immediately. If someone tells you God is withholding from you, this passage shows there are a whole list of reasons you might not have received, and none of them involve God.

The devil tries to steal the Word, but if you stand up to him, he can't actually get the job done — he's not that big. Most of the time, the real answer to "why am I not being fruitful" is in your own hands, not God's.

Ground three: the seed that started working, then didn't

“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.”

Mark 4:18-19 (NKJV)

Notice the word "becomes." This ground actually started producing. Things were working. And then, somewhere in the middle of it, something choked it out.

This is where most Christians I know actually live — myself included. You made it through ground one, ground two, and now here you are, watching something quietly strangle the fruit you were seeing.

Every thorn in Scripture points to one thing: worry

Here's something worth catching — every single time thorns are used in Scripture, they're tied to worry, not sickness or hardship in general. Jesus Himself defines thorns as the cares of this world.

So whether you like it or not, you've got some thorn bushes in your flesh — not your spirit, your flesh. As you walk out your Christian life, you'll notice them coming up. Have you ever sown the Word, started seeing it work, and then gotten worried about the very thing you were believing for? That's a thorn. Call it what it is.

Identify the thorn — then grab your gloves

Don't just stare at the thorn bush. Don't justify it either — "well, every garden has a few thorns," or "we're only human." You're not just human. If you're born again, you're not living by a merely human standard anymore.

When worry shows up disguised as responsibility — "I'm just a concerned parent," "I'm just being careful" — pull back the curtain on it. Carrying that care as though only you can fix it is its own kind of pride.

Cast your care on Him — He didn't say "unless you're a parent"

“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NKJV)

He didn't say cast all your care on Him except the things that matter most to you. He said all of it.

Don't let worry choke the Word. Use the Word to choke the worry instead. Grab that thorn bush, gloves on, and pull it up by the root — every time it shows back up.

I've got a brand-new daughter myself, and I already know what it feels like when concern for her tries to climb up as worry. I get it. But the safest place for your cares is in His hands. He can do far more with them than you ever could.

Fight To Win.