Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (Matthew 13:8).

At the GEMS Ladies’ Tea that our club hosted for the widow ladies in our community, the girls and senior saints earned the Flash Back! 50th Anniversary Badge. During the intergenerational Bible Study portion of the badge we studied the Parable of the Four Soils (Matthew 13:1-23). We identified the seed as God’s Word, and then talked through some of the reasons that God’s Word does not grow within us: lack of character, worry, busyness, greed, lack of trust, shallow faith, and the deceitfulness of wealth. These things choke God’s Word out of our hearts!

Rae Jean, the craft counselor for the 3rd/4th grade girls, then read Help Others Grow. It’s filled with prayer challenges: Pray that God will use you to tell His story – to tell others the story of what He has done in your life and what He can do in theirs. Pray that God will clearly guide you to people whose lives He wants you to help or change or touch in some way. Pray that you will hear and respond to the Holy Spirit as He guides you. And pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare in advance the hearts of those you will reach and touch and help.

As she read, she got choked up. The Word of God had not been choked out of her life. She and the rest of the counselor team have received the seed that fell on good soil. They heard the word and understood it (Matthew 13:23). Instead, she got choked up as she thought about the people who planted seeds in her life and the seeds she has planted and will continue to plant in the lives of others.

Our badge work took a new path as ladies and girls identified the people who had planted seeds in their hearts. Their answers included moms and dads, grandparents, teachers, GEMS Counselors, and more.

Whether you have a green thumb or struggle to keep plastic plants looking good, you’ve been a gardener of the King during the 2009-2010 GEMS season. When you taught the girls about prayer during Bible Study, or how to use their creative talents during craft time, carpooled, provided snacks, or served in a host of other ways that benefited the girls and counselors, seeds were planted and watered.

Like Paul reminded the church in Corinth, although we’ve been about the spiritual gardening of planting and watering seeds, it’s God who makes the seed grow (1 Corinthians 3:6). So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:7, TNIV).

Prayer Step: Pray that the seeds you planted this season take root and produce a harvest beyond your wildest dreams.

The seed once sown grows . . . of itself, from its own impulse and power of life . . . The self-inherent power of growth of the kingdom of God.
Rudolph Stier

I’m a recovering perfectionist. To give you an idea of the exact scale of my malady: I cried the first time I got a B+ in college. We’re not talking a few tears, either. We’re talking I called my mom and sobbed because, as far as I could tell, the world was ending. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Gasp, sob, sniffle This is going to RUIN my final grade!
Mom: You know, sweetie, a B+ isn’t a bad grade, and it was just one test.
Me: Sniffle, sob But, gasp for air, sob what if I want gasp for air to sniffle go to sob grad school sniffle someday?
Mom: You want to go to grad school? Well, you know – it’s still your first semester; you’ve got lots of time! Did I mention a B+ isn’t a bad grade? And it was just one test!
Me: Gasp You sob just sob don’t gasp for air understand! Cue my meltdown into uncontrollable weeping.

Let’s just say it was a mildly horrific day for both of us – bless my mom’s heart.

So, anyway, as a recovering perfectionist, I’m learning to integrate the word messy into my vocabulary more and more. I’m systematic; I’m organized. I don’t like messy. But life is messy. And the more you dive in and really invest in people and relationships and emotions, the messier it can get.

And, whether it’s a broken relationship in my own life or gazing into the eyes of a neglected orphan in Africa, I’ve had lots of messy, B+ moments – moments when I’m starring down the barrel of something truly terrible or shocking, something far from perfect, on the brink of a meltdown, wondering how I could possibly make things right. And my instinct is to push back – to struggle and resist and fight to fix things.

And so I trudge through piles of pain and deceit up to my chin. I elbow my way through death and disease and jealousy and pride and hunger and hate – fighting for justice, fighting for order, and sometimes simply fighting to stay standing.

And it’s in those moments that I return to Exodus 14. I can sympathize with the Israelites. Things weren’t going the way they had planned. Pharaoh’s army was pursuing them. Things seemed hopeless. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They craved structure. They craved order.

Their solution? Cry about it to Moses. And, with a hint of maternal affection, Moses tells it like it is: “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14).

Stop whining, he implored. Nothing you can do is going to make this better. You can’t make this right. But just watch. Be still. God’s already got it covered; let Him do the fighting. You need only to be still.

You need only to be still. I can do that. I can be still.

And it’s in the stillness that God gives His next command. It’s out of the stillness that God sets His saving acts into motion. I don’t need to fight, because I’ll never win on my own accord. But, in the midst of the messiness, I can be still. And I can listen. And then I can follow His lead. My effort alone will never be enough; I’ll never be perfect. But I follow the One who is – and He fights for me and makes a way. So I choose to be still. I choose to focus on Him and then watch the messiness and imperfection melt away.

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray (James 5:13).

The first time I heard the statement, “There are no atheists in foxholes,” was from my sixth grade teacher, Mr. De Groot. He would capture our attention as he shared his warfare experiences and how even the biggest and most callous guys in their troop would weep and fall to their knees the night before extreme combat. Mr. De Groot was small in stature, but big in prayer and they’d come to his bunk to pray.

Seeking God’s help in times of war is nothing new. In 2 Chronicles 20 when Jehoshaphat received the report that a vast army of Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites were marching toward him to make war, he was alarmed, proclaimed a fast for all Judah, and sought God in prayer.

Are troubles marching your way? Learn from Jehoshaphat.

Pray. When Jehoshaphat heard that a vast army was heading his way, he didn’t organize his militia, meet with his military advisors, or strategize war tactics. This was his first response: Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah (v. 3). What’s your immediate response to troubling news?

Remember who God is. Jehoshaphat stood in front of the people of Judah and prayed, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand and no one can withstand you” (v. 6). What name of God corresponds with your deepest trouble and need? If you feel weak, remember that He’s your Strength (Psalm 59:17), if you feel distraught, remember that He’s your Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), and if you feel betrayed, remember that He’s your Defender (Proverbs 23:11).

Remember what God did in the past. “O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend” (v. 7)? How has God been faithful to you in the past?

Remember what God said He would do in the future. “They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us’” (vs. 8-9). What did God promise to do for you in the future?

Remember God’s power. “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (v. 12). What’s bigger, your problem or God’s power? See 2 Corinthians 12:9!

Prayer Step: Are you in a worrisome valley with more trouble marching your way? Look to God, pray, and remember.

When you face a battle, spend much time in His Word and in prayer, for then He will give you that needed word of encouragement.
Warren W. Wiersbe

I love editing. I love taking something that is good (or, in some cases, not so good), and making it better. I love taking out elements that distract and adding elements that enhance. I love untangling piles of words and ideas and rearranging them into fluid thoughts.

But sometimes I get into such a rhythm when I edit that it’s like I’m on autopilot – instinctively untwisting words and shuffling ideas around a page.

It was in this trance-like state that I found myself editing the Bible. Not on purpose, mind you. The verse was woven into the lesson I was working on, and I had added a comma and changed two words before I realized the sentence was directly from Scripture. I set my red pen down and rubbed my eyes. Really, Amy? Did you just do that?

How often do I do that in life, though? Take God’s Word and add a claim here, cut a command there, rearrange some thoughts and – voila – a customized gospel that better fits my desires. We’ve all done it, and it usually looks something like this:

• Don’t gossip. I’m not gossiping, I’m venting.
• Forgive. I did forgive her; I’m just reiterating my point so she knows why I was upset.
• Don’t lie. It’s not lying; it’s just part of the job – anything to make a sale.
• Love. I am loving, but she was walking all over me and I had to defend myself.
• Don’t steal. It’s not stealing. My friend bought the CD; I’m just making a copy.
• Be patient. I am patient, but that waitress was slow and we were running late.

Sometimes our edits are calculated – we rearrange God’s truth and project our own agenda onto Him to justify our actions and responses. Sometimes they are more mindless – a numbed acceptance that treats culture’s voice as synonyms with God’s. Both are wrong. Both are sin.

So what if we really accepted God’s Word as truth and expected to receive radical freedom from radically obeying Him? What if, instead of relying on our own revisions, we acknowledged God’s sovereignty and clung to His Word alone? What would it look like if we all set down our red pens and simply admired the work of the true Author – the One who has written our names on His hands and asks us to follow Him?

Admittedly, it started after I turned forty. When I’m in large groups I have an increasingly difficult time hearing. But no matter how loud the crowd, there’s a voice that I can always discern . . . my hubby’s. It’s not because he’s blaring or boisterous, I just recognize his voice. Even when he’s across the room and I can’t physically hear his words, I can interpret his body language. I’ve been accused of reading his mind and have charged him with reading mine, too.

That doesn’t just happen because you’re married. It’s attributed to time spent talking and listening, and seeking to know and love one another more and more.

Many Christians are finding it increasingly difficult to hear God’s voice. The culture has moved from whispering subliminal messages to cranking the volume on its lies. And in all the noise some of God’s children struggle to hear and recognize God’s voice.

Jesus said, “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:2-4).

Knowing His voice doesn’t just happen because you’re a Christian. It’s attributed to time spent talking and listening, and seeking to know and love our Savior more and more!

That was the Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Philippians. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:9-11).

When we seek to know Jesus better, we’re able to discern and recognize the voice of Truth in the midst of a persuasive world that rejects Him as Lord. For it’s in knowing His voice that we can follow wherever the Good Shepherd leads – whether quiet waters, the valley of the shadow of death, or a table prepared in the presence of our enemies. When we follow His voice, goodness and love will follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in His house forever (Psalm 23).

Prayer Step: How well do you recognize Jesus’ voice? Spend time in prayer and His Word to know Him more and more.

The value of prayer is not that He will hear us…but that we will finally hear Him.
William McGi