Tara is a little girl sent to spend time with her grandfather, a farmer. She enjoys her summer running around the property as well as playing with the piglets and chickens.
Her grandfather takes her out to the field and shows her how to plant a flower seed just the right depth into the earth. She's about to dump too much water from her watering can when he stops her, teaching her not to flood it out.
Every day, she runs out to that patch of ground where she planted her seed. She waters it just enough and tells it to grow with a smile. As time goes by, however, she's disappointed that nothing has shown up. Summer is coming to an end and she is yet to see her seed grow into a pretty flower as her grandfather promised.
One afternoon, a man walks up to the fence and waves her over. She doesn't go too close, he's a stranger after all, but she answers his questions thinking he must be a friend of her grandfather's. The man asks if she's planted anything and she tells him about the seed she's waiting on. He produces a beautiful flower. He tells her to dig up the seed and put the flower there instead.
Little Tara is excited! Finally, she'll have a flower with colorful, red petals! She races out to the field and digs up what she planted. She discovers a shoot with roots but it didn't have flowers yet. In its place, she sticks in her new flower, smiles and skips off to go feed the chickens.
The flower is wilting by the next morning, so she waters it. Two days later, it's dead. She drags her grandfather to show him what happened but he's confused. Through tears, she eventually tells him what happened and he shakes his head with a sad sigh.
He explains that she never should have pulled up what she planted because it only had a few days left to shoot up past the dirt. It would have displayed lovely blue flowers that she could have taken home to her mother. Poor Tara wails as he comforts her.
More often than not, you and I are that little child. We sow a seed of prayer in faith but because we don't see any evidence of it, we effectively dig it up. Our impatience makes us subject to the devil's lie that there's a pre-grown flower we can have, instead of waiting for what we've sown to grow.
When we uproot our prayers, we're sadly left with nothing to show for our efforts, just like in Tara's situation. The prayers we planted 'die' and the counterfeit we believed in evaporates.
May the good Lord help us whereby we grow in patience and wisdom. May we remember our prayers, wait on them to be fulfilled, and not accept satan's deception that there is an alternative to waiting on God, IJMN Amen.
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FINAL MESSAGE
Guys, let's wait for the seeds we planted to germinate and produce beautiful petals. It's easy to get impatient, there's pressure from all sides all the time.
But, remember that God is able to make a way and to move mountains...AT HIS APPOINTED TIME...because He knows when is best.
CLOSING PRAYER
Mighty One, I thank You for another successful fellowship. Thank You for everyone who participated and those who will at a later time.
I pray that the meditations of our hearts and the words from our lips were pleasing to You, Lord. Please, take all the glory! Let Your name be praised through our gathering. May others who don't know You yet, come in here and experience Your presence and Your grace. May they be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth.
All glory be onto You, Almighty God! We look forward to gathering again on Friday to honor You, IJMN, Amen.
Great Shepherd, I lift into your able hands the people in our lives that need a closer relationship with You.
God, Your word says "no one can come unto the Father unless He [draws them unto Himself] first".
My prayer for Your children, is that they will be saved "with an everlasting salvation [and] ... never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting." (Isaiah 45:17)
Have mercy on them Lord, let them become not just Your children, but Your sons/daughters (Romans 8:14).
"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12)
Amen, in Jesus name.
LAST 10 MINUTES
Do you think there are prayers you might have uprooted in the past? This typically happens because we are impatient in our waiting and that opens the door for satan to speak its lies, telling us there's an alternative.
However, satan's alternative will always be a lie no matter how attractive it seems. Our foremother, Eve would testify to this if we could speak with her right now.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer on this issue -
Father, please forgive me for every time I accepted satan's counterfeit instead of waiting to reap from the prayer seeds I sowed. I repent for submitting to impatience and frustration. I'm sorry for not holding on to Your faithfulness.
From this day, I break all ties to the voice and the lies of the devil. I decree that I hear my Shepherd and not the stranger. I declare that I receive and walk in the fruit of patience granted by the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22-23. I wait on You to give and I recover all that I previously relinquished in fear and the lack of wisdom because Christ paid the price for me. IJN AMEN!
Here's a prayer shared by sis @GusOctober last year. It seemed apropos to post it again today:
"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless." Psalm 84:11 NIV
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 NIV
"Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV
I pray that each and every person that reads this will know and have a relationship with Jesus and God. I pray that you truly know how much God loves you and that he cares so deeply for you. He created you in his image and gave his only son so that we may have eternal life if we believe. You are not forgotten and God does care about your concerns, your life, your hurts, your disappointments, your frustrations, your desires and your dreams. He has seen every tear you've cried and he has heard every prayer you've prayed including the unspoken prayers of your heart. His promises for your life are and will always be yes and amen. He knows all that you've endured and he knows you may be tired and struggling to press on but don't give up because in due season you will reap your harvest. He knows you've heard that many times before but hold on just a little while longer because you're closer than you realize to your breakthrough and blessings. God is not a man that he can lie and his word will not return to him void. Every word that he has spoken over you, every dream and vision that he has given you and every promise that he has made you, will come to pass. God loves you with an everlasting love and he has his hands on you. I pray that you see God's hand in your life
From DJÂ - THANK YOU GOD FOR YOUR AMAZING AND AWESOME GRACE!
Father, I lift up this nation. Today is independence day and I decree that the seeds of prayer that have been faithfully planted for this country will not be uprooted through the schemes of the devil.
Indeed the future of the United States shall be great. The land is blessed. The waters flow at your breath and the flocks honor You. So too shall the people worship You, God. For a Godly people live in this nation and thus shall it be upheld to Your glory in accordance with Proverbs 11:11.
And it shall be known that You oh Lord are God from age to age, IJMN Amen.
(Please feel free to say this prayer for your nation or any other nation you want to pray for. It is well with you.)
Lord, there are so many people suffering with grief and trauma. However, this was not Your plan for anyone You created.
Nevertheless, people are struggling with having been disappointed and brokenhearted. And You have told us to come to You for relief.
Therefore, I call on You the Lord who mends broken bones to mend the brokenhearted. Pour Your joy into them. Show them that on You they can depend. Take their pain, Lord.
May they hold onto You just as Joseph did when despite Your glorious promise for His life, all he experienced was the opposite. May they understand that the challenges and the way they respond are only a vehicle to place them on a throne just as You did for Joseph in Egypt.
Praise be to You, God, IJMN Amen.
From BIÂ - Lord, I lift into Your great and powerful hands those experiencing a decline in their mental health. Lord, I know You are forever close to the helpless. Turn their faces towards You. Grant them hope and comfort during times of distress and anguish. Lord, embrace them in Your loving arms and let them Feel the warmth of Your love. Help them to understand if God is all that they have, they indeed have all they need. Strengthen them in mind, body and spirit. Lord, grant them true joy and transcending peace that can only come from You IJMN Amen.
Abba, I thank You for today's P&P. Thank You for the newfound courage in my life. Thank You also for showing me Your love!
From MFCÂ - @FFJ Thank you for today's parable. I've been a Tara too, impatient with God and leaning to my own understanding. Father God, please forgive me for the times I've doubted Your promises. Thank You for being the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow. Lord, We praise Your name for You are eternally faithful. May we always look to the hills for whence cometh our help, Our help comes from the Lord!
PRAYER TIME
Turn your attention to praying for the needs of others.
Call on the Lord to help people in need. Pray for families, pray for the sick, pray for the poor, and others.
Don't worry about what you're going through right now, just focus on people who need someone to pray for them right now.
Praise be to the God of sweatless victories.
The God who battles so we can win without effort.
All because we have Jehovah on our side!
Father, I thank You that we can make this declaration -
We are God's holy people, the people the LORD has saved. We are the people that God loves, the people that God did not forsake (Isaiah 62:12).
Yes glorious God, we praise Your name and lay our crowns in worship at Your feet.
Thank You, Oath Maker
Thank You, Covenant Keeper
Thanks be to You, the God who cannot lie.
Thanks be to You, the God of the Promise.
Praise the Lord!!
From BIÂ - Thank You Lord for speaking through sis @FFJ. Lord knows I am still little Tara at my grown age. I thank You Lord for Your patience despite my impatience. You truly are a wonderful Father to me. Please Lord remove all of me and all of man, and fill me with all of You. Thank You for being God all by Yourself. I need not seek anyone but You. El Shaddai, Your praise will forever be on my lips.
Lord I thank You for Your promises and I thank You for keeping them all. For Your word states in Habakkuk 2:3 -Â At the time I have decided, my words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting--it will happen!
Thank You, for this is the day of Your favor and fulfillment! Hallelujah!
From BIÂ - Thank You Lord for blessing me with more than I deserve. Thank You for the gift of life, health and wealth. Thank You for Your love, forgiveness, correction, protection, mercy and grace. My Abba, You alone are worthy of all praise.
Thank You, Father, for defending me. Thank You for fighting for me. Thank You for never slumbering nor sleeping when it comes to me or mine. I give You all the glory, IJMN Amen.
From CD - Today people are celebrating "freedom" as if they can only celebrate this nationally recognized anniversary of being set "free" in 1776; My prayer is that more people would look to the hills where our help comes from and celebrate that Christ freed us long before July 4th, 1776...Whom the Lord sets free, is free indeed. Hallelujah
Be safe Family