Daily Devotional Thoughtful Thursday | May 28, 2026
It’s Thursday, and time for your daily devotional. Listening, understanding, and heeding are important steps in receiving God’s word. Jesus shows in His Parable of the Sower that there are four ways one can receive the it. The enemy is involved to some degree, but ultimately, people are to blame for their lack of attentiveness to the word. In today’s daily devotional, it’s time to receive the word with understanding.
Hear and Understand
What an indictment against those listening to Jesus’ words in His day. In Matthew 13:15, He calls them dull of hearing, a people who had closed eyes, unhearing ears, and no understanding. He goes on to pronounce a blessing on His disciples who see and hear spiritually. It’s essential to your life and spiritual well-being to hear and understand the word of God. Romans 10:17 declares, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
As Faith Teacher Kenneth E. Hagin would say, hearing isn’t a one-time event. You have to keep hearing the word of God. Proverbs 4:20-22 admonishes you to keep God’s words before your eyes and in your heart because they’re life to those who find them and health to their flesh. In your daily devotional, reading and studying the word is keeping it before your eyes. Meditating on it night and day activates your spirit and energizes your faith.
God’s Word is Accessible
In Matthew 13:17, Jesus proclaims, “Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” Abraham, Daniel, Isaiah, Micah, and Zechariah would have delighted to see Christ’s day. Israel had anticipated a Messiah, who was prophesied of old when Adam and Eve were still in the Garden of Eden.
Abraham began the lineage of the Messiah, who would be the promised seed. The prophets who foretold His coming would have eagerly welcomed Him. In this daily devotional, consider yourself blessed to be born in an age where God’s word is accessible 24/7. However, you must take advantage of its accessibility.
You Must be Interested
In verse 19, Jesus begins to explain the Parable of the Sower by describing one who hears the word but doesn’t understand it, so the enemy steals it away. They receive seed by the wayside. Their lack of interest means they don’t care to understand it. Minister Nancy Dufresne says that you must be interested in the things of God. You won’t receive unless you’re interested. The one who receives in stony places doesn’t take time to let the word become rooted by keeping it before them, or by meditating and communing with the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, being easily offended, they fall off. The one who receives seed among thorns is too obsessed with worldly cares to let the Word maturate. In these three instances, each receiver has made an unconscious choice to give other things more attention than God’s word. In your daily devotional, these are people who’ll say they’re believers, but what reveals their unbelief is that they bear no fruit.
Walk As One Who Has Understanding
In Thursday’s daily devotional, as a believer, be interested in increasing your understanding of God’s word. Your heart will be fertile ground, and you’ll bear much fruit, as high as a hundredfold. Take advantage of study resources, like the Incline Thine Ear series by Minister Hagin, to stir your faith. In today’s daily devotional, be among believers who bear fruit. Operate as one who has understanding.
