We can experience a life beyond our wildest imagination when we maximize who we were created to be. Applying the principles Jesus shared in describing the four types of soils in Matthew 13 and Luke 8, we can become fruitful (i.e., creative, generative, and productive). Jesus’ parable points out that we struggle to become who we were created to be when we have a hardened heart, a shallow faith, or find ourselves trapped among the thorns. If we can avoid these pitfalls, we will be fruitful.

Which soil best describes you?

Soils

1. The Rocky Path - A Hardened Heart
2. The Shallow Soil - A Shallow Faith
3. The Path with Thorns - A Distracted Life
4. The Rich and Fertile Soil - A Fruitful Life

To avoid these common struggles, we can discover our God-given destiny by developing 4 skills. Becoming who we were created to be means we need to become receptive, tenacious, intentional, and proactive.

Here’s the dirty truth: God works in our lives and even helps us trust Him, but there are things we must do to really grow. You are going to have to get your hands dirty – so to speak. We have to work hard to overcome silence, trials, temptations, and rebellion. We need to choose to follow Him which is not always easy.

In these snippets, we will look at how developing these new skills can help you make progress in your spiritual journey.

The skills are derived from Jesus' parable. To move from a hardened heart to a vulnerable one, we need to overcome the silence and become receptive to God's voice. To move from a shallow faith to a deep faith, we can overcome trials by becoming tenacious. To move from a thorny situation and instead have clarity, we can overcome temptations by becoming intentional. To avoid living a life of desolation, a life lacking fruitfulness, we overcome rebellion by becoming proactive.

This chart shows us a way to apply the parable of the soils to our lives:

SOILS ------------- THE ALTERNATIVE ---------- SKILLS

Hardened ---------- Vulnerable ------------- Receptive (Overcoming Silence)

Shallow --------------- Deep ----------------- Tenacious (Overcoming Trials)

Thorny ----------------Clear ----------------- Intentional (Overcoming Temptations)

Desolate ------------- Fruitful ---------------- Proactive (Overcoming Rebellion)

The following snippets enable you to dive deeper into this process. The four essential skills to develop in order to become who you were created to be include:

• A Fruitful Life (An Overview): Becoming Who You Were Created to Be (free)
• Becoming Receptive ($.99)
• Becoming Tenacious ($.99)
• Becoming Intentional ($.99)
• Becoming Proactive ($.99)