Focus 40: Day 31

Planting Trees

Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
—Revelation 5:8

A number of years ago I read the story of a German tree farmer. This farmer was planting trees that would not mature for at least a hundred years. When the farmer was questioned about why he would plant for a harvest he would never see, he replied, “I am harvesting trees planted long before I was born by my great-grandfather. I am planting trees for those not yet born.”

My wife Brenda and I started praying for the future wife for each of our boys from the time of their birth. We prayed for just the right woman to enter each of our son’s life. We prayed for a woman whose heart was tender for God. We were praying for someone who might not yet be born. We believe God answered that prayer for each of our three sons.

As you pray for people far from Christ, I think it is important to also pray for future generations that will need to know Christ. The same prayer we used to pray for each of our sons is now an appropriate prayer for each of our eight grandchildren. These prayers should not be necessarily be secret prayers. We often told our sons what we were praying for in their lives.

There were moments that it seemed those prayers were not going to be answered. Two of our sons were traveling a dangerous path, but God brought the right people at the right moment into their lives. These prayers need to be consistent and persistent. Brenda’s mother prayed for decades for her brothers and sisters who were far from Christ. One by one they came to Christ, most of them in their seventies, after years of prayer that seemed to be going nowhere. Your prayers are planting trees for a future harvest, plant faithfully and persistently.

I love the image of Revelation 5 where it describes the golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints. I envision some of those prayers to be hundreds of years old. Prayers prayed by great-grandfathers for children yet unborn.

Dear Father, today I pray for family members who are far from you. I also pray for children in my family who are not yet born. I pray that you will send people into their lives who will speak your words of hope and that they will come to know you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Ø  Dr. Steve Birch, Pastor, White Chapel Church of God, South Daytona, Florida