Don’t Choke the Word

Yesterday we looked at two types of soil Satan targets. Today, Dr. Michael Youssef turns to the third: spoiled soil—a heart that isn’t hard or shallow, but overcrowded.

In this episode of the MY Devotional Podcast, you’ll hear how Jesus describes the seed “among thorns” as someone who hears the Word, yet becomes unfruitful because the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke spiritual growth (Matthew 13:22). The problem isn’t the seed—God’s Word is powerful. The problem is competition: distractions and “competing seeds” the enemy tosses into the mix to drain your focus, sap your energy, and smother your witness.

Dr. Youssef challenges you to examine what’s crowding your life:

• Is busyness strangling prayer and Scripture intake?
• Are anxiety and constant worry becoming a chokehold on joy?
• Have ambitions, comforts, or resentments become functional idols?

Then comes the hope: good soil—the guarded heart that hears, understands, and produces a crop that lasts (Matthew 13:23). This devotional will help you identify what kind of “soil” you’re living with right now and call you to vigilant, daily protection of God’s Word so it can flourish.

Prayer: Father, forgive me for the things in my life that have hindered Your Word from fully developing in me. I pray that You would nurture Your seeds of Truth in my life. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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