Increasing Your Capacity for the Word of God (Episode 123)

In this episode, Frank King teaches on how to increase your capacity for the Word of God. Every churchgoer has a certain capacity for understanding and receiving God’s Word. That capacity differs for each of us. Some churchgoers receive very little of what is preached from the pulpit. Some leave with a practical understanding of what God is saying through His Word. Most will fall somewhere in between.

This reality is not a reflection of one’s intelligence. Some churchgoers are greatly educated but have little capacity to receive the Word of God. Some with little education have a large capacity for the same. This is not about education. Rather, spiritual reasons exist as to why our capacity for the Word of God differs from person to person.

To explain why we differ in our capacity for the Word of God, Jesus taught a parable we refer to as the parable of the Seed and the Sower. In it, this farmer went about sowing seed in the ground. As he sowed seeds, they fell upon different places. Some went by the wayside, some fell upon stony places, some fell among the thorns, and some fell on good ground.

After Jesus had finished speaking the parable, the disciples came to Him wanting to know what it meant. Jesus explained the parable in terms of people who come to hear the Word of God. Each type of ground where the seeds fell represents a type of hearer. The interesting thing about this parable is that each of us falls into one of the categories of hearers in this parable.

Why Your Capacity for the Word of God Matters

This subject is important because you cannot live for God beyond your capacity for His Word. If you only have the capacity to receive the elementary teachings of the Word, then you can only live for God on an elementary level. But that’s not where God wants any of us to be. He wants us to have the capacity to receive the deeper teachings of His Word so we can live for Him on a deeper level.

The good news is that if you don’t like being where you currently are, you don’t have to stay there. You can increase your capacity for the Word of God. That is the focus of this episode.

Some churchgoers tend to blame the preacher for their lack of spiritual growth. Admittedly, preachers can have a negative impact on a person’s ability to hear God’s message. In other words, if we as preachers fail to make a clear presentation of the gospel, we can make it harder for people to understand and receive what God is saying so they can grow.

But that’s not the premise of the parable of the seed and the Sower. The premise of the parable is that the seeds that were sown were good seeds. We know that because when the seeds fell upon good ground, Jesus said they produced fruit. 

The bottom line is that if your heart is good ground for the Word of God, it will produce fruit in your life. By contrast, if your heart is not good soil to be sown in, not even the best of preaching can render you fruitful.