Seed of Faith

Luke 10:2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Yesterday was a day of fear, a day of violent storms, flooding, wind and tornados all around my hometown. The city found itself in the crosshairs of a direct hit, business people lined stairwells in skyscrapers, and children huddled in school hallways, living what they knew was not like a drill they had practiced before. Fear gripped many people yesterday, and likely many of them said prayers for the safety and others, not knowing what the next minutes held. God uses big things like these, to show us our need for him, and to tug on hard hearts, tilling the soil in preparation for planting the seeds of faith. Do you wonder how many have found their faith in natures power, how many have plead to God for safety, and their lives changed eternally with those answered prayers?

In the text above, we are seeing Jesus send out people into the towns to share about him. We are seeing Jesus sending out his messengers ahead of his arrival, being bold in their faith, going into the unknown. When you read around the context of this passage, you read of the houses of peace; those homes in which God has already prepared hearts to receive the Good News, hearts that have already answered the call of God, or are about to respond to that tug he has placed upon their hearts. The power that God gave them in their journey was incredible, but Jesus told them not to rejoice in what they have here, but what was to come. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Such simplicity in that statement, such as our faith should be, not to worry or rejoice in regards to this life, but to focus on the paradise of the faithful into the next.

What if someone around you had prayed to God for safety yesterday? What if they felt that tug of God on their heart, but they really didn’t know what to do with it now? Satan is already attacking them, trying to steal the seed planted on shallow soil. (Matthew 13:18-28 The parable of the sower) Satan is always trying to discourage those quickly who just sought out God, who may have just prayed and had an answered prayer. Satan will immediately tell them it was a coincidence, have them laughing it off, back to their old ways, and Satan smiles. What if you were bold like those Jesus sent out, proclaiming your faith to all God has prepared to hear? What if God could use you to encourage someone about answered prayers, about their need for Jesus, about the next life that lasts eternally? God is always doing a work before you, you just have the opportunity to join him where he has already been working, and hopefully get to plant eternal seeds of faith.