For those who read what I share with the intent to better understand God, I challenge you to test yourselves against the scriptures and ask yourselves, “Has the soil of my heart been prepared to bear fruit?” Be ready to undergo a thorough self examination and have the Word itself judge your condition before God. It is written in *Matthew 13:18 Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower: 19 While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside. 20 As for what was sown on thin (rocky) soil, this is he who hears the Word and at once welcomes and accepts it with joy; 21 Yet it has no real root in him, but is temporary (inconstant, lasts but a little while); and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble [he is repelled and begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.* The seed is the same in every case, it is the soil that is different. For many of you, you have heard these scriptures since childhood and yet they have not affected you to the depths of your soul. Some of you are not saved yet, my question to you is what will it take? If you are not seeking to be holy, what are you waiting for? How covered with briars and thorns must your mind and heart be that the Gospel which converted your family or friends never touched you to make you desire righteousness? I challenge you as I have challenged myself to fervently pray to have God show you your heart before Him, and if you are not bearing fruit, listen to the Gospel with the intent to grasp the Word firmly and comprehend it to bear fruit unto repentance. True repentance is not just to turn from sin, only to turn back to it without any remorse or regret. That misses the whole point of repentance. We must turn from sin and keep turning from it as if our eternal lives depend upon it, because it does. Then and only then can we experience the fruit of righteousness, of freedom from a sinful lifestyle, and show the world around us what it really looks like to be “Born Again.”