In Matthew 13:18--23, we are taught that the seeds GOD is planting in our lives contain the ability to produce spiritual fruits, but the growth of these seeds will depend on *you!* Before the seeds of revelation, love, faith, and power can germinate, grow and produce fruit in your life, certain conditions must be met: 1. They must be sown in fertile soil. 2. They must receive proper care and nourishment. Unless these conditions are met, the spiritual seeds will remain dormant and unproductive in our lives. It takes spiritual energy. The power for us to possess the same characteristics CHRIST possessed is in those spiritual seeds but we must nurture them through prayers, fasting, special times of communion with GOD, and allow the Word to take root within us before we will begin to grow and become transformed into His image [2 Corinthians 3:18]. Our hearts must be receptive. Many times the Word falls upon a heart that has been hardened, or the believer fails to understand the Word. As a result, the seed is unable to penetrate and take root in the heart and produce results. This same principle is true regarding all the new seeds of revelation, love, faith and power that GOD is planting in our lives. Our minds will need to be renewed through the Word. However, before we can cultivate the growth of these new seeds of revelation, love, faith, and power, we must know Satan's strategies to steal, hide and choke these seeds. To ignore him or be afraid of him is to invite him to come in and operate. 1. When the Word falls upon a believer's heart that is not receptive or lacks understanding, Satan snatches it out of his/her heart [vs 19]. 2. Satan brings persecution or trials and, if the Word has not taken root or the believer is not established in the Word, the spiritual fruit withers and dies [vs. 20--21]. 3. Satan uses diversionary tactics -- the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches - to "choke" the Word and make it ineffective in the believer's heart [vs. 22].