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.
To learn more, please read
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 DJ - 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 BI - 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 MFC - @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 BI - 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 - 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 BI - 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
PRAISE TIME
Hebrews 12:28 - Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
It is time to worship our God with acceptable reverence and awe.
On this Independence Day, let us obey His commands and be blessed!
From M22 - Thank you Lord for another P and P Abba Father. We give you all the glory and honor.
Thank you sis @FFJ for today's word. I have been Tara so many times and when I finally realize I could have waited. I start to see that I could have actually waited. I know by the world's standards, waiting is a waste of time sometimes. If you are not doing anything to find a solution, you are considered inept but I am learning that we have to silence that external and internal noise and just focus on God. God is intentional and always on time. We might not know it till we have received what we patiently waited for.
I pray that God gives us wisdom and patience we need to wait on him and I pray he helps us resist the urge to go ahead of him IJMN amen.
From WG - As always this message resonates and is just another reminder to be patient and allow things to grow/manifest on the lords time.
From IA84 - With sincerity, I want to thank God for another day. Thank God for my health, my finances, a roof over my head, clothing, food, and all the blessings I've ever had, receive now and those on their way to me. I'm grateful that despite not having the greatest of health, that God is helping me to figure things out, somehow, someway. I pray God will continue using me as a blessing to others in need, as he continues to bless me. May today be a day of love, kindness, compassion, joy and hope. May God continue keeping me, in the midst of whatever storm that may be. For I know that every storm we endure, only lasts for so long. I ask and pray God's blessings over all the wonderful people in my life, and that he will use them to be a blessing to others too. I know I am imperfect. But I thank God for loving and blessing me, in spite of. God is forever and always good to me and I cannot thank him enough. In Jesus' name, Amen!
From CMC - This came right on time. I’ve been Tara several times over and I get mad, thinking I’m being punished.
Can’t wait to read more into this. Thank you sis @FFJ see you tomorrow!
Every Praise & Pray (for others), I lift an altar call, asking people to give their lives to Jesus Christ. I do this because I'm learning that many of us have not been introduced to this concept, some believing that it refers to a baptism or Christening. However, giving one's life to Jesus is an act of commitment and submission whereby you choose to make Jesus, and therefore, His Father - God, the only authority over your life.
If you haven't considered submitting to the authority of the Lord, please permit me to say - today is the day. The Lord wants you to choose Him. Please tell the Lord you want Him. Ask Him to change you for His purpose and your good.
So many of us are afraid of choosing the Lord and worry about the consequences. You don't want to give up the shows, the websites, the music, the way you speak, etc. However, have you considered the consequences of not choosing Him?
Maybe you think this message doesn't apply to you because you were born a Christian. You regularly go to church. You don't lie or steal and believe you are a good person.
That was me a few years ago and none of that stood in the way when satan tried to completely destroy me. I had to cry out and submit to Christ in order for Heaven itself to wrestle me out of the devil's clutches. This might sound dramatic but believe me, it was. I have shared more than one testimony of how the devil tried to kill me but for the gracious hand of God upon my life. I know what it means to be a Christian versus what it means to be a born-again Christian, and I pray you will choose to be the latter.
I pray that today will be the day you truly choose Jesus and start to walk with God's hand firmly upon you for your good. The day you decide to be intentional in developing a tight relationship with Him. Come back to your Creator. He wants you back. And if you want the sort of relationship where God speaks to you and grants unimaginable access to His grace, mercy, power and more, please say the following prayer. But, only if you mean it.
Lord Jesus I am a sinner. I confess my sins right now to you. And I believe that you are the son of God. I believe that you came , you died, your rose again, and you paid the price for my sins. Today, I accept the new life, today I accept the Holy Spirit. Come dwell in me, make Your home in me. I will never be the same again. In Jesus's name, Amen.
God bless you!