What are you growing?
Pause and reflect: What kind of “seed(s)” are you allowing to grow in your mind? What kind of “seed(s)” are you allowing to grow in your relationships? What kind of “seed(s)” are you growing in your relationship with God?
Scripture: “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:18-23 NLT
Scriptural insights: “Jack and Jill” went down and up the hill all summer carrying water to their newly seeded garden planted in the spot reserved for tenants. As the plants began to grow and get crowded, “Jack and Jill” decided to transplant some of their lush greenery in other parts of the garden to make more room for the anticipated fruit of their labor. By the end of the summer, as the plants continued to grow taller and more lush, my husband and I (aka “Jack and Jill”) noticed that by summer’s end there were no signs of any fruit! My brother-in-law, a horticulturist, was brought in to diagnose the problem-weeds. Yes, you read that correctly. Although initially we planted vegetable seeds, we nurtured and tended to the weeds the entire summer, while the vegetable seeds never took off.
I wonder how often we nurture and grow the wrong things in our minds, our thought life, our hearts and hopes.
Prayer Points:
Pray for our farmers and their families as they tend to the lands that feed our nation and contribute to feeding other nations.
- Pray that God will use the principle of sowing on good soil to impress upon the hearts of our cultivators the need to “plant” Jesus in the soil of their heart.
- Pray for a farmer you may know.
- Pray for those in need of food to be reached with both food and the gospel of Jesus Christ
Pray for families:
- Pray for ways to share with your neighbors the life giving and life sustaining message of Jesus Christ.
- Pray for ways to love the children in your neighborhood, your family, your church.
- Pray that families will find time to engage with Jesus Christ in the midst of summer’s activities and busyness.
Pray for Outreach Groups:
- Ask God to show you a way to cultivate healthy and thriving groups in your community.
- Pray for receptive hearts of the women that attend your group and for ongoing ways for God to nurture the seeds of His Word as they leave and return to their daily life and responsibilities.
- Pray for your planning team, that they will saturate their minds with the life-giving words of Jesus and live in the joy of His truths.