Planting Seeds & Nurturing Them

By Gordy McCoy

Hosea 10:12 “Plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love.  Plow up the hard ground of your hearts.”  (New Living Translation)

That first few days of sunny 60 to 70 degree spring always seems to get us pumped and ready to go out and get our garden and flower beds ready for planting.

Want to see a miracle?  Plant a word of love deep in a person’s life.  Nurture it with a smile and a prayer, and watch what happens. An employee gets a compliment.  A wife receives a bouquet of flowers.  A widow is hugged.  A gas station attendant is honored.  A preacher is praised. Sowing seeds of peace is like sowing seeds.  You don’t know why it works, you just know it does.  Seeds are planted, and topsoil’s of hurt are shoved away.

Don’t forget the principle.  Never underestimate the power of a seed.  Mark 4:31-32 “It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground.  It is the smallest of all seeds but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches and birds can make nests in its shade.”  (NLT)

Confession does for the soul what preparing the land does for the seeds.  Before the farmer sows the seed he works the acreage, removing the rocks and pulling the stumps.  He knows that seed grows better if the land is prepared.  Confession is the act of inviting God to walk the acreage of our hearts.  “There is a rock of greed over here Father, I can’t budge it.  And that tree of guilt near the fence?  Its roots are long and deep.  And may I show you some dry soil, too crusty for seed?”  God’s seed grows better if the soil of the heart is cleared. And so the Father and the Son walk the field together, digging and pulling, preparing the heart for fruit.  Confession invites the Father to work the soil of our soul.

Mark 4:26-29 “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.  The earth produced the crops on its own.  First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.  And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”

Here are a few tips on how to plant small seeds at Elim.

·        Invite someone you know to Elim this Sunday

·        Invite them back next week

·        Pray for the people you invite every day this week

·        Pray for lives to be changed by Jesus!

·        Be there early Sunday

·        Sit in the center of each row –Leave the aisle seats

·        Sit toward the front – Leave the back seats

·        If someone needs a seat…get up and move over…or give them your seat

·        Volunteer to serve, We need greeters and people to set up and take down chairs

·        Don’t stand around in the lobby talking to your friends, and ignore the people coming through the door.

·        Greet everyone you see and say, “Good morning, welcome to Elim Evangelical Free Church.  My name is ___________________________________”