Overcoming the Five Obstacles To Faith, Part 4: the Thorns

What kind of heart is required to produce a bumper crop of the promises of God?

Generated by DALL-E

Have you ever worked on your faith, only to see no results? You’re not alone—this is the thorny soil Jesus warned about.

In this series, we’re exploring five obstacles to faith, with the thorny soil—split into three types of thorns—as our fourth focus.

This type of soil is perhaps the most insidious of them all. We understand the word (part 2), we’re enduring (part 3) the contradictions, putting in the hard work like a farmer working the soil.

But, there are still no results.

It is frustrating.

We become disappointed, and then it becomes more difficult to endure. If we’re not careful, it will distort our understanding of the word because we will project our failures into God’s word. We reinterpret the Word through our failures rendering the Word of no effect.

Understanding is lost, and the enemy snatches away the seed and it can’t produce.

We must enter the Kingdom of God like a child, not as a skeptical adult with a history of disappointments.

Faith has become so mysterious that we don’t even know to look for the missing puzzle pieces. They’ve become so normalized that we’ve built a doctrine around the fact that not all the pieces are there.

The Missing Puzzle Pieces

Suppose that you’re building a puzzle, and you don’t know there are missing pieces. It would be frustrating because no matter how hard you try that puzzle will never look like the picture on the box.

Later you discover that the pieces had fallen on the floor. You’re overjoyed because now you know it’s possible to achieve the same picture that is on the box.

Jesus is that picture on the box—He showed us what faith looks like.

The parable of the sower has the missing pieces so that we can complete the puzzle and have a watertight faith that will produce a harvest of miracles and promises.

When we pray and believe, we must have all the pieces. We must know Heaven’s answer. If we don’t, we can’t have faith. The outs are doubts.

The thorns represent three puzzle pieces that we need to produce the harvest.

The Three Types of Thorns that Choke Faith

"Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19).

These are the three thorny weeds:

• The cares of this world

• The deceitfulness of riches

• Desires for other things

If they exist, there can be no harvest. We can stand on the promises of God all that we want, but they will not produce.

We know what the picture looks like on the box. We know that we must walk just as He walked. This is the purpose of the Gospel. In order to do so, we must put the pieces together. And we have all the pieces so that we can believe His promises.

The carnal nature will attempt to sow doubts, like it can’t be that simple, or no one can be free from the cares of this life.

The serpent deceived Eve by making things complicated (2 Corinthians 11:3).

The Sadducees kept going astray because they did not know the scriptures and underestimated the power of God (Matthew 22:29).

The Gospel that Jesus gave us is simple, and it works.

We Need a Soil Test

When we are walking in the Spirit, these weeds become as real as the weeds in our vegetable garden. And we do what is natural, which is to pull them out.

There is no messing with weeds. We have to be aggressive.

No matter what labels are given to the weeds, or how acceptable the labels have become, they’re still weeds, and they’re taking our harvest. Anxiety chokes the harvest.

If you’ve been struggling with weeds for a long time, it may seem daunting. Know that with God, all things are possible.

You may even be in a place so dark that although you want to believe a weed-free garden is possible, you can’t muster the faith. “Help my unbelief” prayers are also prayers of faith, which the Lord will answer.

This was the prayer that I prayed when I was stuck in anxiety, and the Lord delivered me. It took more than a year, but He set me free completely.

Know that He loves you and He endured the cross because He saw the resurrection life in you, not just in eternity, but today.

The Holy Spirit will reveal the weeds to you and show you how to uproot them. He is the master gardener sent to help us produce the bumper crop that endures to eternity.

Let’s take a deeper look at each of the types of thorns, and what we can do to overcome them.

The Cares of this Life

The first thorn Jesus warns about—the cares of this life—is often the most pervasive, creeping into our hearts unnoticed.

Daily life can be consuming, and when the risks and unknowns turn to worry and fear, the weeds sprout up almost overnight.

The fear of losing a job, anxiety about a child’s future, a potential market crash, or just trying to fit everything in can become overwhelming.

We still need to live in this world. We need to pay bills, run our business, plan meals, etc. But what is it that has our thoughts and our hearts?

We cannot blame God when the promises don’t come while our mind can’t let go of the worries of everyday living. Many would rather blame God, calling it their Job experience rather than examine the condition of their own heart.

This kind of stubbornness and pride will only lead to pain.

This isn’t an exaggeration either.

Jesus placed the worries of everyday living in the same category as drunkenness and carousing in Luke 21:34. This is because these things enslave the heart making it dull and numb to God’s voice.

Overcoming the Cares of this Life

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus puts all of this into perspective. If we can maintain perspective by trusting in Him, the cares of this life will not take root.

"‘Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?’“ - Matthew 6:25

Do you think that God created you to merely survive?

Is the purpose of each day to make it through to the next day?

Our life experiences, the trauma, the disappointments are clamoring to deliver the message that our life doesn’t matter much.

Oddly enough, it’s kind of the point. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need faith. Faith proclaims the Word of God in the chaos of our life and calms the storm. Walking in the Spirit means that we hear His voice above all the noise. We step out of the boat and fix our gaze on Him.

The chaos of this life makes it all seem hazy so that we can’t see why we’re here and what we’re doing, but His Word is the light that clears the fog.

When we see our purpose in Him, it makes total sense that He would provide everything that we need for our temporary stay on planet earth.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

Jesus is saying that if we take care of His business, He will take care of ours.

There are people you will meet today who need encouragement. Every morning He has manna for us, but not only for us, also to share with others so that they may be encouraged and strengthened.

It is when we focus on our mission, doing His work that He takes care of us.

Matthew 6:33 isn’t just about sitting in your prayer closet. It’s about bringing His kingdom to the world.

Overcoming The Deceitfulness of Riches

Riches are deceitful because they promise what only God can truly provide. They offer a poor substitute for peace, happiness, independence, and other things, whispering that if we just had a little more, we’d finally feel secure.

But Jesus warns us in Mark 4:19 that the "deceitfulness of riches" is a thorn that chokes the word, making it unfruitful.

This isn’t about money itself—it’s about the lie that money can deliver what only God can.

Rick Joyner once said, "All Christians should be financially independent, which means they should never have to make decisions based on whether they have enough money, but on whether it is the will of God."

True independence comes from trusting God’s provision, like the Israelites with daily manna (Exodus 16:4). The deceitfulness of riches creeps in subtly—thoughts like, "If I just had more, I’d be content"—shifting our focus from God’s kingdom to our own.

To overcome this thorn, put on the new man, taking Heaven’s perspective: "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

Prioritize eternal investments like generosity, taking care of widows and orphans, sharing the Gospel and the fresh manna, which you have received from Heaven.

Overcoming The Desires For Other Things

The "desires for other things" (Mark 4:19) describe a heart that’s always searching but never finding—chasing new hobbies, projects, or endless social media scrolling.

These aren’t necessarily sinful, but they’re thorns that choke God’s promises, keeping His word from bearing fruit.

Hobbies are not a problem. Working out isn’t a problem. Technology isn’t a problem. Social media isn’t a problem. The problem is when these become the object of our desires.

We’re looking for these things to satisfy, when He is the only one who satisfies.

In Isaiah 55:2-3, the Lord asks why we’re spending our money on things that don’t satisfy. He says, “Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance."

He, Himself is the what our heart is looking for. Everything else is just a distraction.

There is nothing in this world that can satisfy and delight our soul like His Word spoken to us.

I spent many years reading the Word as a self-help guide, just trying to be a better person. It was many years later that I learned that His Word was alive, that it burned like fire, bubbling up within the soul, transforming us into His likeness, satisfying like nothing else in this world.

Own It

The shortage of the miraculous and lack of fulfilled promises in our lives are not God’s fault. They’re ours.

The Gospel isn’t complicated, it’s simple.

If the thorns have taken over your garden, don’t fret about it. There’s no need to spend hours counting the weeds or calculating the lost harvest.

Just surrender to the Holy Spirit, and let Him show you how to care for your garden. He has gardening tips available for you every day.

The Holy Spirit will even let you know when the cares of this life, the desires for other things, and the deceitful glamor of wealth are starting to take root.

These weeds are not benign as we may have imagined, but they are the reason we don’t see the harvest.

When we clear these thorns, we become the good soil Jesus spoke of, ready to produce a hundredfold harvest.

I pray that you’ll see the weeds—whether the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, or the desires for other things—pull them out with the Holy Spirit’s help, and see God’s promises unfold in a miraculous harvest.

I would love to hear any testimonies you have of the promises being fulfilled in your life when the weeds are gone.