When we were at the local garden centre recently, I was reminded how much people enjoy planting and seeing plants grow and flourish. There was a man in front of us at the checkout who was getting some tomato transplants and he also had various vegetable seeds as well as some seed potatoes to plant. Clearly, he was willing to do the work to plant and tend and see these plants produce. There were also several people who were selecting various flowering plants for their gardens and to beautify their yards or porches or balconies. A drive down country roads at this time of the year gives opportunity to witness large tractors and equipment working up the fields and planting acres and acres of crops. After all the effort of planting, these plants need to be nourished and they need to be watered so that their roots grow strong and life is sustained. The same is true for us who have had seeds of faith planted in our lives. We need regular nourishment and watering in order to grow strong and healthy in our faith. There is Scripture in Jeremiah 17:7,8 thatconfirms this necessityin living productive lives of faith. 7“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Here we discover that the tree planted by the water sends out its roots by the stream and so is able to be sustained as needed and to never fail to bear fruit. This image of a flourishing tree is used to describe what the one who trusts in the LORD will be like. In order for us to be like the tree planted by the water, we need to keep our trust in the LORD firmly established. It is consistent prayer that keeps us focused on trusting in the LORD and having confidence in Him. This will be what we ask of God in our WEDNESDAY PRAYER TOGETHER tomorrow May 17th at 1 pm
Praying that we will trust in the LORD and maintain our confidence in Him, Pastor Lola
Thank You God that you give us reasons every day to trust in You. We recognize the blessing that does come to us as we choose to trust in You. This does not mean that we do not have questions or times when we do not understand what You intend to do. Still we choose to secure our confidence in You. Our God we want to be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. When the heat of scorching adversity comes against us, we will not fear. Instead we will trust You. When we are parched in our faith and long for refreshment, we will trust You. We consider what You may have to teach us about what it means to trust You LORD. How easy to say that we trust You when the circumstances of our lives fall easily into place. We look to You God to enable us to trust You when there is a drought and You alone are the Source to keep our faith alive and vibrant. Leaves that are always green are what we request of You in our prayers today. It is through prayer that our trust in You sends out roots. We do pray for the ways that You prepare us for times of drought and hardship. And God we do not simply pray this for ourselves. We pray for Your cooling refreshment for all those who struggle to believe. We pray for those who witness hatred in our world and question those who claim to belong to You while promoting hatred. Please convict each of us of our inconsistencies. Where who we are does not match Who You are, please change us. For some it seems that life consists of just trying to get by. When this is the goal, it seems hard to imagine flourishing. We pray that we will never make the living of our lives of faith about comparing ourselves to others and concluding that we are better positioned than someone else. Use us we pray to bear fruit for Your kingdom. The fruit of Your Spirit comes to mind. How beautiful for our lives to produce the fruit of Your Holy Spirit. This can urge others to trust You and to surrender their lives to You. We pray that our trust in You will always invite others in a loving way to trust You. Place us where we need to be to access Your living water. We pray to be willing to move in order to be sustained by You. As much as we pay attention to the weather forecast when making our plans, Help us to consult You more to ensure Your heavenly forecast of what is coming and how we need to respond. We choose to trust You LORD and to renew our confidence in You so that the faith planted in us will bear good fruit. All this we commit to You and pray for grace to trust You more, in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.