Plant Your Prayers

Plant Your Prayers

If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed . . . Matthew 17:20

WE OFTEN LOOK AT PRAYERS OF FAITH as transactions. We make a request, and either the request is answered the way we hoped or it isn’t. If it is, we rejoice; if it isn’t, we walk away or try again later. We’re content when a healthy percentage of our requests turn out in our favor.

But what if prayer isn’t a transaction? What if it’s a conversation in which the seeds of our desires and visions for life, many of which have been given by God, are discussed and considered and left to season for a while? What if prayer is more like planting seeds in the soil of God’s Kingdom, where they are hidden for a time but have the full potential to grow, bloom, and bear fruit if someone waters them, fertilizes them, and cultivates the right conditions for them to grow? What if we’ve walked away from prayers God has already said yes to but in his timing—and never noticed that they were beginning to grow? What if we’ve neglected the process?

That’s how prayers of faith are sometimes presented in Scripture—and how they tend to work out in our own lives. Jesus compared our faith to a seed. It may start out small, but over time it grows and eventually bears fruit—if we don’t give up on it. In fact, the seeds of faith we sow in prayer today can shape the world for generations to come. Seeds, after all, grow into all sorts of big plants. They already have within them the DNA of what they will become. All it takes is the right environment for them to grow.

Think of your prayers as seeds, not transactions. Some may pop up overnight, but many will not bear fruit for a while. Some may only emerge from the soil of the Kingdom decades later. But they do emerge. They accomplish things that would not have happened otherwise: changing lives, advancing God’s purposes through his people, and transforming the world around you. They are investments both in the now and the forever. Over time, you will see the splendor, taste the fruit, and smell the fragrances of the master Gardener’s work.

We must patiently, believingly continue in prayer until we obtain an answer.