"Several years ago my father nearly died of cerebral malaria. When I visited Mozambique last summer...I was told I should tell him goodbye…My mother and father have been imprisoned, mugged, deported, robbed, and assaulted by more diseases of the developing wolrd than we have means to diagnose. They receive more deaths threats than we bother to count. They have been beaten with varying degrees of severity, and stood many times at knifepoint or gun muzzle. They have often faced armed extortion, angry mobs, burglaries, fraudulant blackmail, car-jackings and street muggings. I have heard warnings from many doctors about their imminent demise...they have faced riots, some personally directed at them; the latter having arisen because desperate people wanted more from them than they had to give...My family has taught, by the entirety of their lives, these words, "He who seeks his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life shall find it." All my youth's instruction has been that it is worth any price to serve the Lord. Constantly to offer your life for His sake, and for the sake of those He loves-even for the sake of those who are yet His enemies-is the only kind of life worth living. This is the truth." Elisha James Baker
Excerpt taken from
"Keeping the Fire- Sustaining Revival through Love: The Five Core Values of Iris Global" by Rolland Baker
VIDEO OF HEIDI BAKER - @ GATHERING OF KINGDOM TRIBES IN AUSTRALIA - MARCH 2017
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Are you familiar with the four personality types ?
And did you know that we have a spiritual personality as well ?
Jesus (Yeshua) gave us the parable of the sower, in which he likens mankinds hearts to 4 soil types: The soil can be hard as a gravel path or full of stones or infested with weeds and thorns or it can be soft, weeded and fertile. These soil types represent our hearts and mind as we come in contact with the sower (God) that plants his seeds (the word)
The good news is that we are not hardwired in the spiritual. Jesus spoke to the sad young man that thought he could not qualify for the kingdom of God, cause it is just too hard.
"What is impossible with man is possible with GOD". So that's why we pray and never give up hope. Jesus was talking about the word of God falling on different soil types which allegorically represent our hearts.
The word was embodied by Jesus. In him we know our identity and reach our destiny.
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Matthew 13:1-23 New International Version (NIV) - The Parable of the Sower
13-1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.” 10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. 18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
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Footnotes:
- Matthew 13:15 Isaiah 6:9,10 (see Septuagint) New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2013:1-23