The Five Obstacles of Faith Part 1: Foundations

Cultivating Faith That Transforms: Unlocking the Parable of the Sower

The reason we’re on this little planet is so that we can learn the faith that works through love, bringing glory to the Father.

This faith isn’t wishful thinking—it’s built on the unshakable principles of God’s kingdom. This faith will be forged by fire. It is the faith that expects the obstacles, ready to face them—knowing that the harvest is coming!

This is the kind of faith that the Father is looking for.

Faith that doesn’t produce results is dead. Faith must see the promises in the scripture come to pass in our life, and those around us. It is changing the world from the inside out.

It is the demonstration of the power of God in everyday life.

In this series we will discover the secrets of the Parable of the Sower so that your faith and endurance inherit the promises of God.

His Promises Are True

When was the last time you believed a promise in the scripture, pushing through all contradiction until it accomplished its intended purpose?

God’s promises carry all the power needed to fulfill their purpose. But, we have a part to play, which is to believe and clear the impediments in our heart.

For example, there was a time when my marriage was going through a tough patch. We were committed to work through it, but we had no clue how to resolve things. I read Proverbs 18:22 about how the Lord gives favor to those who find a wife. It did not “feel” like it was true at the time, I just wanted it to be true.

When things were contrary, I recalled the scripture, and praised the Lord for His favor—choosing to believe His promise over my experience. In the natural, this was nuts. My flesh often reminded me of how silly this was.

Somewhere along the way, I started to believe this scripture. Doubt and fear were replaced with hope and joy. The harvest was coming. My heart became like the good soil in the Parable of the Sower—ready to receive God’s promise and yield a harvest.

Several months later, the seed produced its first harvest and continues producing today. Not just in our marriage, but we can now help others experience the favor of the Lord in their marriage.

God’s favor doesn’t just result in a satisfactory marriage. It results in an extraordinary marriage.

The miraculous depends on us believing His Word. It is complete, there are no gotchas, no fine print, it’s not too good to be true.

Our feelings, and our experiences will at times appear to contradict His Word, but we must stick to the truth so that we don’t puncture our faith.

Puncturing Faith

We often hear that it may not be God’s timing for someone to be healed today. But that explanation can’t be found in scripture. If Jesus were standing in front of us, and we asked for healing, would He actually say that it’s not your time?

This is important because outs are doubts. If we hold on to reasons why our prayers might fail, we undermine our faith.

Our faith must be watertight and logically sound putting our conscience at rest. If we don’t know the answer to our prayer, we can’t have faith because faith is the evidence of things not seen.

"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says." - Mark 11:23

This is the watertight faith as Jesus taught. It is simple, and it works.

This is why understanding faith’s mechanics, as Jesus taught, is so vital—something John G. Lake put into practice. He would tell those who were ministering healing with him, not to return until the person they were praying for was healed. They always came back. Sometimes it took a month, but they were all healed.

The Lord is restoring this lost faith in the church.

Modern Christianity has punctured faith by altering or adding to God’s Word so that the Gospel appeals to the carnal man (natural desires). It gives people an out so that they don’t feel bad or unworthy when the prayer delays, robbing the will to fight for what’s rightfully theirs.

Isn’t it time that we took the literal Word of God as fact, and examined our own hearts?

Why Did You Doubt?

With sails furled, the boat groaned under the disciples’ strain, oars clawing through waves. They were already drenched from the spray, pushing forward hour by hour into the early hours of the morning.

It was then that Jesus emerged, whom they presumed to be a ghost. Knowing that they were afraid, He called out, “‘Take heart! It’s Me—don’t be afraid.’” Half-convinced, Peter shouted into the wind, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Jesus replied, “Come".

For a moment, he defied the impossible, mirroring what only his Master had ever done before. The boat was barely visible behind the swells, while the wind continued its barrage in the darkness. Overcome, he started to sink and yelled “Lord, save me!” Jesus gripped his arm, hauling him up, saying, “‘You of little faith—why did you doubt?’”

The Teacher always knew. His firm and tender correction left an impression deep in Peter’s soul. The words shaped his faith forever. He would see more miracles than he could ever have imagined.

If we listen, we will hear the same words of our Teacher asking, “why do you doubt?”

What Jesus did for Peter, He is doing for us. He is the author of our faith, and He is the one who will complete it. He delights in revealing the mysteries of the Kingdom to His children, perhaps nowhere more clear or more profound than in the Parable of the Sower.

The Most Important Parable

A vast throng of people gathered—people streaming from nearby villages and distant cities, all eager to hear Jesus teach. The crowd swelled so thick that He stepped into a boat to teach them through many parables.

But He singled out the Parable of the Sower as the cornerstone. If we don’t understand this one, none of the others will make sense.

In this parable, Jesus lays bare the mechanics of faith with striking clarity. It’s as if He lifts the hood on the engine of faith, revealing how the parts work together. He reveals the secret to unleashing God’s Word as a powerhouse, delivering the promises it holds.

The Parable of the Sower

"Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” - Matthew 13:3b-9

The seed in the parable is a word from God, which contains within it the potential for a hundredfold harvest. These aren’t just good ideas, philosophies, tips and tricks to a better life. These are portals to the power of the Holy Spirit’s invasion in your life and the lives of others through you so that you become who He is in this world.

For example, when God’s word about rejoicing in the trials is sown in fertile soil of our heart, it produces its harvest and we rejoice in trials. We share this with others who believe, rejoicing in their trials, and share this with others.

The fertile heart is free of the five obstacles, which Jesus taught in the parable of the sower. Next time, we’ll tackle the first obstacle—the wayside—and why understanding God’s Word is the key to unshakable faith.