As the Good Seed, we Die to Live and Bear Fruit, and we let God Initiate our Service

We believers in Christ are symbolised in the Bible by the good seed, the sons of the kingdom who are sown by the Lord to grow in His kingdom; Christ as the seed is sown into us to make us sons of the kingdom, the good seed, and we follow Him to die to live, being martyred for Him, and loving Him yet not initiating anything in working for Him.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the seed of life to grow in us and even to make us the good seed, the sons of the kingdom. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are sons of the resurrection, for we were born of God in the resurrection of Christ to be children of God, even the same as Christ! Amen, Lord, grow in us today. May the kingdom seed grow in us. May we be willing to die to live so that Christ may be expressed through us. We love You, Lord, and we want to be the good seed in reality today! Amen!

We believers in Christ are truly mysterious persons, for we were born in Adam, just as the rest of the other human beings, but one day we were born of God. Wow, how about that!

The mysterious Triune God with His mysterious divine element has been wrought into us on the day we were saved, and we were regenerated to be God-men! Amen!

As a result of this, we received another life, another nature, another element, and another essence; now we are human beings who are born of God.

The Triune God is in us and we are in God. We are a mystery. We Christians are believers in Christ, and just as the Triune God is a mystery, so we are now a mystery by receiving the Triune God in us. We have the Spirit within us.

When we look at ourselves, we may see failures and defects, but we should not despise ourselves or harm ourselves; we should rather hand ourselves over to the Lord and praise Him, even open to Him for Him to make us what He wants us to be.

We want to be the reality of the wheat of life, the good seed, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and the fishers of men.

We can’t be this in ourselves; we cannot make ourselves be these things but Christ in us can make us such ones.

As long as we open to Him, give Him the ground in our being, and allow Him to work in us, even to work Himself into us, He will make us what He said that we will be by faith in Him! Praise the Lord!

We Believers are the Good Seed, the Sons of the Kingdom who Die to Live and Bear Fruit in Resurrection as the Lord did

In Matthew 13 we see how we believers in Christ are symbolised by the good seed, the sons of the kingdom who are sown by the Lord to grow in His kingdom (see Matt. 13:24, 38: 38-42). Hallelujah, we are the good seed!

The seed is the word of God (vv. 4, 19; Luke 8:11), Christ Himself (1 Pet. 1:23), sown into us to make us the good seed, the sons of the resurrection (Matt. 13:38; Luke 20:36-38).

A man went forth to sow and he sowed good seed in his field; this is us, the good seed.

First, Christ came into us as the seed, the good seed, and He is the Word of God; there is life in the word of God, and when we receive the Word, life comes into us and grows in us. The word of God as a grain of wheat dispenses God as life into us to nourish us.

This is our experience; as we come to God’s word, we receive His life, and as we keep coming to His word, His life grows in us.

The word of God is also as fire to burn us and many of the things in which we have confidence, and the word as a hammer breaks down our self, our natural life, our flesh, our lusts, and our concepts (Jer. 23:28-29).

On the positive side, we are the good seed, the sons of the kingdom; on the negative side, we need to see that the word of God needs to break through in us and deal with us to make us in reality the good seed.

We have Christ as life in us, and we need to grow in life by receiving more of Christ.

We all receive the same Christ; we all have the same Word of God.

But the person who grows in life the quickest is the one who allows the Word of God to operate in him to not only dispense life but also burn the things he has confidence in and break down the self and anything negative.

The Word functions to give life and also to burn many things in us, even to tear down our self-confidence.

As we grow in life humanly, we have more self-confidence, for we know things, we know what to do, we have some experience, so we rely on ourselves. Even in the work of the Lord and in the church life, we know what to do and what to say, so we don’t depend on the Lord.

The Lord wants us not to have confidence in ourselves but in Him. He places us many times in situations of persecution, suffering, and affliction so that the last bit of confidence in us may be eliminated.

We simply need to keep coming to the Lord’s word, be open to the Lord, and He will deal with many things in us.

His Word is like a big hammer to break down the self, the natural life, the flesh, the lusts, and any concepts.

As the good seed, we must follow the Lord into the ground to die and bear much fruit in resurrection (see John 12:23-26, 31-32).

To die and experience the cross is to deny and reject our soul-life, our natural life, to live by the divine life.

There are many things in us that prevent us from being the good seed; may we follow the Lord into the ground to die to live, even to die to bear fruit in resurrection.

The Lord took the lead to die daily, and eventually He died physically to release the divine life.

The sowing of the good seed is martyrdom, for “what you sow is not made alive unless it dies” (1 Cor. 15:36); we can be martyrs physically, psychologically, or spiritually (2 Tim. 4:6; Matt. 16:25; 1 Cor. 16:12; 2 Cor. 2:12-14).

If no death, no life. We may want to have abundance of life; the way to have it is more death. The only way is more killing of our natural life and soul life until it dies, for when we sow, what we sow is not made alive until it dies.

Thank the Lord for His love, for Christ’s love of affection constrains us to live and die to Him, making us martyrs for Him (5:14-15; Rom. 8:35-37; 14:7-9; Rev. 2:10; 12:11).

We need to love the Lord and be in His word, and as crazy lovers of Jesus, we are motivated and strengthened to die to live.

The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man and release the divine life (Rom. 8:2, 13; 2 Cor. 4:10-13; Jer. 48:11).

Inwardly, the love of Christ constrains us and strengthens us; outwardly, the environment cooperates to put us to death.

This should not cause us to feel depressed or sad, thinking that we want to have a happy life and not such death experiences.

We need to realise that this is our experience and our daily living; things don’t go our way, the environment becomes quite unpleasant and difficult, and suffering is our portion day by day.

We should not murmur or blame God for this, nor should we complain; all these are to produce us as the good seed, those who die to live so that we may bear fruit in resurrection.

We simply need to open to the Lord and take the Spirit as our portion so that we may allow the killing work to operate in us.

God assigned to each one of us a certain amount of suffering and dealings, for we are called according to His purpose and we love Him.

He wants the divine life in us to be released and grow unto maturity; for this, He constrains us with His love and He works through the environment.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the seed of life through the Word to sow Yourself into us and make us the good seed, the sons of the resurrection! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are the sons of the kingdom who are sown by the Lord to grow in the kingdom! Amen, Lord, grow in us! We open to You in Your word to receive the dispensing of life and also to let the word burn in us! May life be dispensed into us and may anything that we trust in be terminated. Have a way through Your word, Lord, to break down our self, our natural life, our flesh, our lusts, and our concepts. May we be willing to follow You into the ground to die and bear much fruit in resurrection! Amen, Lord, may we be willing to deny and reject our soul-life, our natural life, and live by the divine life! Praise the Lord, what we sow is not made alive until it dies – we are daily dying to live so that we may bear fruit in resurrection! Oh Lord, constrain us with Your love to live and die to You! We open to the putting to death of Jesus in our environment so that the indwelling Spirit would kill our natural man and release the divine life! Amen!

God Appreciates our Love for Him but Rejects our Initiation to Do something for Him: He is the Initiator

Thank the Lord for making us the good seed, the sons of the kingdom; on the one hand, we have His life in us, and on the other hand, we work for Him.

It is very enlightening to see the story of David intending to build the temple out of his love for God as seen in 2 Samuel 7.

He was zealous for God and desired to care for God and love God; such a love for God was accepted by God.

However, his intention and determination to build a house for God were rejected by God, for immediately as he wanted to do this, God sent the prophet Nathan to stop him (see vv. 1-5).

God appreciates and welcomes our love for Him; He wants us to love Him, open to Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him.

However, nothing related to our service to God should be determined by us; it is only God who can initiate our service to Him.

We should love God with all our heart, but we should not start doing something for Him as soon as we feel that we love Him. Our heart to serve God is acceptable to Him, but our decision to do something for Him is not acceptable.

Is it us who can do something for God? First, God has to do something for us; He has to work Himself into us to make us the same as He is in the work of building (v. 11).

We need to fear God, never having the desire to do something for God and then going ahead to do it.

As we love God and fear God, we can also stop working for God, waiting on God and allowing God to initiate the service.

This is a death to ourselves, something that kills us; we may have a positive desire to do something for God, but God wants to be the initiator, so we need to wait for God. When we stop initiating, God will initiate and give the command.

If we initiate something, God will come in to slow us down. We may see the need, we may have the ability to meet the need, and we may be ready with everything that is needed, but unless God initiates, we should not do anything.

We cannot and should not initiate anything for God. Church history is plagued with so many zealous Christians who loved God and did not wait on the Lord to initiate something but went ahead and did this and that work for God, starting this or that church, and going here and there for God.

God appreciates our love for Him and even demands that we love Him; however, when it comes to doing something for God, we need to wait on God and allow Him to give the command and initiate.

May we be those who love the Lord, open to Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him; may we be those who wait on the Lord and let Him initiate everything.

May we be like the slaves in the Old Testament who loved their masters and allowed their ears to be bored through with an awl to the doorpost (Exo. 21:6), that is, may we simply listen to the Lord’s word and wait on our Master’s command.

There is so much confusion in Christianity today, with many works, ministries, denominations, and so-called churches and independent groups.

This confusion is created not by the lukewarm Christians but by the zealous ones, who in their zeal for the Lord built one chapel after another, raised one church after another, and did one work after another. Oh Lord!

May we learn from the pattern of David to stop working for God and just love God, allowing God to initiate everything.

Sister M. E. Barber once said, “Whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God cannot work for the sake of God.”

If we can’t stop and drop the work because God tells us so, we are not qualified to work for God.

When God’s word comes to us, we should slow down and be ready to change our plans, for it is the Lord’s decision that counts. May we open to the Lord in this matter, telling Him genuinely,

Lord Jesus, we love You and we open to You. We give ourselves to just love You. Thank You for making us the good seed. Thank You for being in us as life. We open to You and we let You grow in us. Amen, Lord, our heart is full of love toward You, and we want to be one with You to build up the church. We don’t want to initiate anything, Lord, in the work for God. Be the Initiator. We take You as the source. We want to seek You, wait on You, and allow You to initiate all the work. We are waiting on Your command, Lord, and we allow You to work Yourself into us. Save us from bringing in confusion into the church life by initiating a work that is not of You. Oh Lord Jesus, may we just love God and stop working for the sake of God so that we may be able to work for the sake of God! May we be open vessels, fully open to Your dispensing and allowing You to initiate everything. We are waiting on You, Lord, and we keep our being open for You to work Yourself into us and build Yourself into us for God’s building! Amen!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” pp. 282-284, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Believers (1) (2026 July Semi-Annual Training), week 3, “The Wheat of Life, the Good Seed, the Salt of the Earth, the Light of the World, and the Fishers of Men” – day 3.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed. / Each day let Thy supporting might / My weakness still embrace; / My darkness vanish in Thy light, / Thy life my death efface. (Hymns #395 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – If the path I travel / Lead me to the cross, / If the way Thou choosest / Lead to pain and loss, / Let the compensation / Daily, hourly, be / Shadowless communion, / Blessed Lord, with Thee. / If there’s less of earth joy, / Give, Lord, more of heaven. / Let the spirit praise Thee, / Though the heart be riven; / If sweet earthly ties, Lord, / Break at Thy decree, / Let the tie that binds us, / Closer, sweeter, be. (Hymns #377 stanzas 1-2)
  – Not the gift we proudly lay / On His altar will He heed, / If our hearts have said Him, “Nay,” / When He whispered, “I have need.” / Thus we die, and dying live / In the heavenlies with the Lord; / Thus we serve, and pray, and give, / Christ Himself our great Reward. (Hymns #907 stanzas 4-5)