I was given a package of seeds in a beautiful blue paper bag with ribbon. The package said, “Sow seeds of prayer for your kids.” I pondered the implications of this metaphor. What are seeds of prayer?
As I was driving down the road, it hit me: prayer is small like a seed. You put it under the ground and water it over the years. When you children grow, you see those prayers slowly producing fruit in their lives.
I remember praying for self-control for one of my children. Over time, he has grown so much in the area of self-control. When I see how much progress he has made, I get choked up and grateful to God for changing my son to become more mature in his faith.
Another son was lazy years ago. I begged God for wisdom to know how to nip this in the bud before I produced a man who would never properly support his wife and children in the future. God gave me wisdom in how to address my son by telling him about a specific man we know who ruined his family because he refused to work, even though he was healthy. He just didn’t feel like working. Eventually his wife and two small children began to starve and were miserable, forced to leave their home and try to find shelter with her parents. This lazy man brought pain and destruction into the lives of the people he loved most because in reality he loved no one but himself. Lazy people are selfish. They live for themselves and not for God. The result is misery to everyone around them.
Years later this son of mine is the most diligent of all my children.
All I did was pray. I prayed with desperation as only a mother can. Because I could see the consequences of the sin in my children’s lives, that if left unresolved, would end up in bitterness and empty lives.
So I sow seeds of prayer for my children every day, interceding for their character weaknesses and being pro-active in working with God. And I expectantly wait for the fruit of those seeds to grow.
I found a 1-minute song about this very idea, and it’s beautiful! Click on the “Listen” button to hear the song:
To keep up with my prayer posts and get a free prayer e-book, like my Prayer Page.
Tags: Christian Living, prayer
Love the image of the seeds pushing through the ground as time goes by. Thank you for this encouragement to continue lifting my kids up in prayer.
When I received the package of seeds, I thought it was a beautiful metaphor!
This is a powerful thing; Abraham built an altar and Later when Jacob went to the same place so many years later; an angel of God appeared to him ……the power of planting seeds for our children is big
Wow, that’s a great example of this!
It is a great post for me to read as my two children are still young. I pray for their character weaknesses and for them to seek God with a strong and confident faith all throughout their life. Thank you for the encouragement!
We can never pray for our children too much!
What wonderful answers to your prayers! It is amazing that God honors the desires of our hearts.
I’m so thankful that we have a God who hears us.
I have seen my prayers bear fruit. I am still waiting for a full harvest but God has been so faithful to my kids
I’m waiting for the harvest, too, but I’m glad that we have the opportunity to invest in our kids’ lives while they are young.
Thank you for sharing this. This is very encouraging because as a mother of young children (5 and 6), it’s hard to have a perspective of the long term that prayers are answered according to his will. I’ll keep being faithful!
God’s timing is better than ours, and in due time, the desires of our hearts (if they align with God’s) will be fulfilled.
amen… sowing in prayer never goes without reaping a harvest of God’s abundance
Especially spiritual abundance! Christ came to bring life abundantly!
Love that! Yes, sowing seeds of prayer takes time. The sooner we actually plant the seed the better and then we can continue to tend it along the way.
I like that!
Love this illustration! You can’t expect immediate results.
The harvest comes after God has worked in their hearts.