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Devil Cane from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Some years ago, we bought an adjacent property that had been neglected for years after my brother passed away.

It was mostly reclaimed by the woods and covered in pine trees, thorns, briars, poison ivy, and poison oak. We spent time clearing away the collapsing house and debris, hauling in dirt, grading, picking up and burning piles of roots, and planting grass on it.

Finally, we had the ground clean enough to cut the grass with a mower, but because of the bad seed it had grown for years, it continued to grow everything but grass. The plant that thrived the most is what we call "The Devil's Walking Stick" or "Devil Cane." Aralia spinosa is like a thorn tree on steroids, fast-growing and painful to encounter.

Another thriving plant was the "thorned devil vine," or smilax, which in South Carolina can grow as thick as your wrist and choke trees to death. Each time I went to cut the grass, the vines were already three feet tall. I would pull them up by the roots with pliers.

It took several years of taking care of the land for the bad seeds to finally die off, but today, it is clean, green grass.

(Mark 4:7–8 NKJV) And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."

Jesus went on to explain the parable to the Apostles: Jesus was the Sower. The Word of God being preached was the seed being sown, and the people listening were the ground. Many rate the preacher, but here, Jesus rated how well people listened.

Example: Do you hear what the preacher is saying, or is your mind already at the restaurant, and what they say does not matter because you won't hear it anyway? The word falls on deaf ears. We've all been there...that's the danger. Those are the thorns.

The first seeds were sown on the hard ground by the roadside and never took root. That hardened ground needed to be broken up with a plow first, and that can be painful. The second fell on stony ground, and it grew, but the sun scorched it because of the shallow soil. Then we have the thorns:

(Mark 4:18–19 NKJV) 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.

The seed that fell among thorns actually fell on good ground. This ground was not hard like the roadside nor shallow like the stony ground. Yet, like the land we cleared, the bad seeds continue to grow there, and they choke the word, so it becomes "unfruitful," meaning useless.

The only difference between the "thorny ground" and the "good ground" was that the bad seeds were allowed to grow. When thorns are allowed to grow in good soil, they choke the word, and that person becomes "useless." Also, a crop of bad seed can yield 30, 60, or 100-fold just as well as good seed can.

Jesus said that desire for other things (and you know well what it is), the cares of this world—Martha in the kitchen, too busy, so much to do—causes you to "become useless" to the Lord. Oh, don't worry. Busy Christians are still saved, but they don't grow. They don't produce any fruit, and no one wants to be like them.

We automatically tend to think that Christians are the "good soil," but I believe all four soils would say they were. I have been all four incrementally, well, say, three and a half. I am still working on that last part.

Because of my upbringing, I became very hard-hearted. My Mom divorced nine times, and my Dad three. I have had my head beaten against the wall by "family," been spit on, flipped upside down in cars, given beer, whiskey, and cigarettes, left at bars, and once, set on fire with stolen gas, all before I turned ten. Eventually, nothing hurts anymore because you become hardened. You don't allow anyone close enough to hurt you, not even God. It would have taken a miracle for me to change, but never underestimate the Lord.

I got saved after He took me outside my body while playing bass in a bar one night. I watched myself on stage, and then He asked me, "Do you want this or what I have for you?" I was dumbstruck, but like Peter, I instantly blurted out, "YES! I want You!" If this is for real, then I want it all, and I want to start now. At the end of the song, I put my bass in the case, went home, lay on the floor, and repented in tears. It was Saturday night, so the next morning, I got up and went to church. All my friends scattered like roaches at the mention of Jesus.

After a few years of attending Church, He gave me a vision of a huge logging tractor, its wheels taller than me, pulling a single-blade bottom plow that must have been six feet deep. It was an enormous machine used to cut a fire break through the woods, and He said, "I am cultivating your land." He was breaking up the hard-heartedness in me, and He had brought His plow.

After the ground was broken up, I became a shallow Christian. I hungrily devoured the word. I attended seminary, and I knew all the right words, but I didn't know Him. There was no intimacy. I talked a lot about Him, but I didn't talk to Him that much. I thought I knew a lot about Him, but knowledge merely puffs up, and I really didn't yet know as I should. Fortunately, He understands the stages we go through better than we do.

Then, I went through a period of thorns. I had good soil, but the bad seed that had been planted while I was sleeping continued to try to return and choke the word. I would deal with one bad thing, and another seemed to spring up after it. It was very easy to fall back into my old ways, to return to the past, to straddle the fence and smile—to wear the church face.

I like to think that I have left most of that thorny soil behind and am working towards becoming good soil. Yet, it takes years for those bad seeds to finally die out, and that is by diligently ripping them up by the roots. If you let one stay and reach maturity, it will bring you a harvest of 30, 60, or 100-fold. Then you will take another lap around that mountain, and the end of that man is worse than the beginning (Matthew 12:45).

My experience has taught me that, like the land we cleared, the bad seeds of your past will continue to try to return if you allow them. Good soil will grow Devil Cane better and faster than bad soil once it takes root. And if they are allowed to grow, they will choke out the good, and you become useless to the Lord.

(Matthew 13:24–26 NKJV) Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

"While men slept," the enemy came in and sowed bad seed in the field. It is time to wake up!

Make the Lord your first priority, and keep a short repentance list. Check-in with Him daily. He doesn't require all of your time, just a bit of quality time, and then you can go forward with your life with His hand in yours. That is the way Jesus did it. The same is true with money. He doesn't want all of your income, just the first 10%. The rest is yours to do as you like.

I find that spending a little time praying and listening each day helps me control the weeds in my life, and eventually, the Devil Cane seeds die out.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You so much for another day. Please help me control the thorns in my life and balance my time, energy, and money. Break up my hardened ground. Make what is important to You important to me, and help me never lose sight of the eternal. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!