One of my favourite past-times is gardening. It is most fun when you plant a seed, water it, see it grow to become a plant ready for harvest.
Consider this verse. “I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). This talks about the natural process of how the kingdom advances in a life, family, church, or region.
- Planting – Someone has to plant a seed of truth, love, prayer, declaration, prophetic act, or obedience for there to be a future harvest of good things.
- Watering – After the seed is planted, it will need to be “watered” by that person or others.
- Supernatural increase – As it is watered, “God gives the increase.
- Fruitfulness – Then there is a harvest of salvation, revival, healthy relationships, and freedom.
I (and probably you too) find it more exciting to plant or harvest. Watering, however, takes work! It is less exciting and requires intentionality and faith to believe something is happening when we don’t see anything happening.
What are some of the seeds we are to water in faith?
- Truths – “The truth will make you free” (John 8:32). One of the main ways we grow in the Lord is through seeing new things in Scripture we had not seen before.
- Identity – We cannot consistently do what we don’t believe we are. The second most important question in life is, “Who do I say I am?” (the first being who do we say Jesus is?). We are not who our past experience says we are, but we are who God says we are.
- Skills – “Stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:7). It has been said that if we spend 10 minutes a day for ten years doing something or learning about a specific area of life, we will become an expert. This continual repetition is watering our abilities which will bless others and ourselves.
- Relationships – Every relationship starts in seed form. Whether they are salvation seeds sown in a life or the deepening of a relationship we have committed to, we can water these through kindness, listening, giving quality time, and many other ways.
adapted from a blog by Steve Backlund 10.09.2021