Every Easter there are a handful of people who come, give their life to Jesus, and then . . . we can’t find them. Yikes! If that doesn’t scare you, it should. This is the kind of thing that bothers me, keeps me up at night, produces holy discontent in me that demands a response. So how should you and I respond? Well, Jesus describes these people in the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3-9) let’s start with His categories . . .

• People that are in the wrong place (seed along the path v. 4). The birds eat this up. For these individuals, they happen into the Easter Gathering, or get dragged there, guilted there, coerced there; and they have too many commitments to the demonic forces and ideas in their life that the seed of the kingdom of God gets snatched right away.
• People who make a shallow commitment (seed on rocky soil v. 5). These people will raise their hand for salvation this Easter, they might even start coming to church for a period of time. But their commitment to Jesus runs up against a hardness of heart, and a stronger commitment to themselves (rocks). They get out of the habit of church, and their commitment to Jesus is shown not to be real. The kingdom of God is not growing in them.
• People who have loud influences (seed on thorny soil v. 7). These people receive Jesus, but then listen to the louder influences in their life – worries, wealth. They can’t hear Jesus anymore and get choked out.

So how to pray? Pray for good soil! (v. 8) Good soil is tilled (God, bring those whose life is turned upside down, humble), the rocks are removed (God, soften their heart), the thorns are pulled (God, uproot all the loud influences in their life, so that your voice is the constant). Take a minute to pray right now that God is bringing and tilling good soil in people’s hearts, and that WE ARE GOING TO SEE the miracle of the kingdom of God growing in their lives!