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HELEN SANDERS
3-21-2023
THE DYING PROCESS
Jesus talked about the dying process in John 12:24 where he said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn (the seed) of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
A seed left to itself and never planted will not produce anything. You may look at it and say, “Oh what a beautiful seed,” but it’s beauty does not lie in its appearance. It lies in what it can produce.
The seed first must be placed into good ground where it can produce. Jesus talked about the wayside, the stony ground, the thorny ground, and the good ground. Only the good ground produced. And even though it was good ground some produced 30, 60, and 100-fold. That means that only eight and a quarter percent produced a hundredfold out of the four types of ground.
But then what happens? Like the dirt a seed is placed into, it must receive the seed first. If we have a stony heart, or thorny heart, or a casual heart towards the things of God we cannot expect the seed to grow at all. The ground must be prepared to receive the seed, and so must our heart. We must want that seed to grow in our lives more than anything else.
So, now that the ground is prepared, what happens next? Well, the shell around the seed must be broken for the seed to germinate. This is part of the dying process. It will not feel good to have that seed broken. Your life will be under pressure to cause this to happen. Many resist the pain that brings that seed’s shell to breaking, but without the seed being broken, it cannot germinate. It will die. So, as we go through the pain of change, like a seed in the ground we can be aware of some things. First, it will be a dark place. Seeds germinate under the ground. It is a lonely place. You will feel all alone during this process. You may even cry out to the Lord to save you from this brokenness, but it must take place for the seed to grow.
Then while we are in the “dirt” stage we must be watered. If a seed isn’t watered, it will become hard and not produce. The watering in our lives comes from hearing the Word of God. It shows us who we are and what we must do to be the fruit that God wants to bring through our lives. It takes much faith to endure this dying process and the changing process. Faith comes from the Word of God and by anointed preaching that instills faith in us.
Then, we will see roots growing from the seed. Many times, it is a long process of the roots growing before a small sprout comes from the broken seed. Without the roots, the seed doesn’t have a chance to grow upward. Yet there is no fruit until the roots and the sprout grow strong enough to bear the fruit. Fruit may start to grow but if the root system is not there, there will be no nourishment for the fruit and it will wither and die.
The seed grows toward the light. God put that within the seed. It grows upward as its root grows downward. The dying process is beginning to show results. The sprout now begins to grow leaves and grow larger toward the light. The final stage is when the roots, the sprouts, the stems, and the leaves are strong enough to bear fruit. Even then, there will be bugs that come and try to destroy the fruit, so we must be mindful for this and resist those “bugs” that Satan sends.
The whole process would never bring fruit without the seed first dying. We must remember that we are going through this entire process to bring forth fruit. If our roots in Christ and His Word aren’t strong, then the enemy will come in and steal the fruit. If we don’t allow the process to take the time it needs to become fruitful then the storms of life will destroy our seed before it has a chance to mature.
We must never rush the process of dying and coming alive. God knows exactly how long it will take. This is where our faith comes in to trust what we don’t see with the one that sees all. Dying brings life. It did for Jesus, and it will for us too. Be one of the 8.25% that produces a hundredfold.
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