Equally effective

Does God ever teach you through your own prayers? I was praying for a friend who's on a mission trip this morning when I prayed something for their team that was not from me! I stopped and pondered what I had just prayed, amazed! This was a revelation! 

I was praying for effectiveness in ministry, and praying against discouragement, should their natural eyes not see what progress they were making. My team in Australia struggled with this, as we had no salvations during our trip. The majority of our ministry was conversations about God and who He was, planting seeds in the college students of Brisbane. But it came to me to pray that they would know that the seed planters are just as effective as the harvesters. When I prayed it, I stopped to think about what I had just said. The seed planters are just as effective as the harvesters. I think a lot of times when we talk about planting a seed in a person, we basically think of it as a nice way of saying, "You didn't do all that much," or, "You didn't make any progress with that person, but someone else might later." 

Just think about a farm. Since I live in Indiana, I'm thinking of corn. Imagine two different farmers are working a single plot of land. One's job is to plant the seed, and the other harvests it at the end of the season. Let's say the first farmer observes other farmers planting seed, and, seeing no difference in the ground after the farmers plant their seed, decides not to plant any seed at all, saying to himself, "This is a waste of time. I'll just relax and let the other farmer harvest later." 

Why doesn't this scenario work? Because there HAS to be seed. The seed is that of which the harvest is composed! And the thing about the two farmers is this: if they both do their job, they are equally effective. If one skips out on his job, it is just as devestating to the crop as if the other did. 

To Know Him is to love Him

As I was worshipping one night at camp this past week, I looked around and contemplated the beauty of God as the noise of a hundred people praying for each other and worshipping filled my ears. Seeing everyone experience God so beautifully, my heart ached as I wondered how every year, I watch most of the kids go home and go back to living exactly how they had been before. The services are so life-changing, it causes some confusion as to how and the world anyone can experience this, go home, and act like it never happened. 

God revealed this to me: To know God is to love Him. He Himself is love. So if you know Him, you will love Him. You will love Him passionately because of who He is, and you now know who He is. Out of that love then springs obedience, because when you love someone, it is your greatest desire to live a life that pleases them. Then the obedience is not forced, but done with a willing and joyful heart, because you are pleasing the One you love. The ultimate problem here is not the lack of obedience. The greatest need is not to free people of bondage and addictions (though that is vital) or to teach them what things are sin and preach against them (although this must be done). The ultimate problem is that people are not seeking God. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus promises that he who seeks will find. When we find God, we will begin to know Him. When we know Him, we will love Him. When we love Him, we will obey Him. This is vital, because if we only pray for freedom of bondage and addictions, they may get free, but if they don't seek God and know Him, they will return to their bondage or find a new one. If we only preach against sin and teach what is sin, they will learn, but they will have no motivation to follow through, or will try in their own strength, fail, and give up.

We need to teach them how to seek God on their own, and when they find Him, they will start following Him. If we do this from a young age, we could watch and see even the need for freedom from bondage and addictions drop as the youth prevent the bondage from even happening by following Jesus.