The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:26-32 (day seven)

he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. vs 27

We often try to do too much, take too much credit, and take on way too much work. We think that we have to do big things for God to get His purpose accomplished. Yet, scripture is very clear, if we plant the seed, God will take care of the growth. That is not an excuse for us to be lazy, “Well God’s purpose will be accomplished anyway.” Rather, it is a calling for us to take our job seriously: Plant the seed!

I tell our youth workers that you might not get to see the growth in our students or reap the harvest, but it is your job to plant the seed now. Sometimes the growth will come in a few months, often its a few years, but God will take care of the growth. Whether it is planting a seed in someone else or taking a step in obedience, the Lord is calling us all to be planters today. Be faithful to plant the seed and trust God to take care of the growth.

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. – Isaiah 55:11

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:26-32 (day six).

The disciples must have been discouraged. Things weren’t going as they had imagined—people weren’t responding like they’d hoped. Perhaps they thought Jesus’ parables were too obscure, too confusing, and surely there had to be a better way to gather a following than telling stories that sounded like riddles.

The world’s way of accomplishing big things is through force, strength, and control: fill the streets with angry crowds, build up the campaign fund, broaden the base. The world’s answer is always more. More power. More influence. More noise.

But Jesus offers a radically different perspective in Mark 4:26-32. He assures his disciples that it’s not about their strength or strategies—growth is God’s work. He invites them to trust in the small and seemingly insignificant. A farmer plants the seed, but the miracle of life and growth is entirely in God’s hands. The tiniest mustard seed grows into something mighty, providing shelter and blessing beyond what anyone could imagine.

This is the upside-down Kingdom of God. His plans don’t follow our rules or expectations. We certainly wouldn’t send the Savior to die in weakness and shame, but God’s wisdom works through what the world calls foolishness. He uses the small, the humble, and the few to bring about something extraordinary. In God’s hands, little is never wasted, and weakness becomes strength.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:26-32 (day four). Will be a longer post today.  Does this first parable leave you feeling helpless or hopeful?  For a harvest there are parts the man does and parts he cannot do.  Accountability/responsibility vs. trust/faith.  Jerry Bridges describes it this way in his book “The Pursuit of Holiness”.

“A farmer plows his field, sows the seed and fertilizes and cultivates—all the while knowing that in the final analysis he is utterly dependent on forces outside of himself. He knows he cannot cause the seed to germinate, nor can he produce the rain and sunshine for growing and harvesting the crop. For a successful harvest, he is dependent on these things from God.

Yet the farmer knows that unless he diligently pursues his responsibilities to plow, plant, fertilize, and cultivate, he cannot expect a harvest at the end of the season. In a sense he is in partnership with God, and he will reap its benefits only when he has fulfilled his own responsibilities.

Farming is a joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer cannot do what God must do, and God will not do what the farmer should do.

We can say just as accurately that the pursuit of holiness is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to walk in holiness. But he has given to us the responsibility of doing the walking; He does not do that for us”.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:26-32 (day four)

God made this earth and called it good, and all of creation proclaims the glory of God and speaks to his character. Nature doesn’t just make for a great metaphor, it directly shows us God’s goodness and helps us understand how to live as a result. In this parable, nature shows us how to trust in what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin calls “the slow work of God.”

The farmer plants the seed in faith that it will slowly, in the right time, produce fruit. Even if we have a degree in agriculture and understand how plants produce, it is still nothing short of a miracle that God allows fruit to come, slowly but surely, through a small seed. A favorite worship song of mine proclaims, “Oh how nature acquaints us with the nature of patience!”

God is making all things new and establishing his Kingdom in his perfect timing, and we wait longingly for the final harvest when Christ returns in glory. But in the meantime, we have been given everything we need through the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to “trust in the slow work of God.”

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:26-32 (day two)

“The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.”

Nothing remains unchanged of all that has been created. All things in the world proceed according to their way. And everything has a way, whether good or bad, desirable or undesirable – fruit, results, effects, endpoints. Sometimes you can trace the origin of an outcome, and sometimes you can’t. It’s all too much to track, regardless. You’ve blamed yourself for hardship when you had no power to change what happened. You’ve credited yourself for success instead of expressing gratitude for good fortune. And amidst it all, unseen, God acts to move this universe along according to his purpose. To learn the way of yielding to God’s activity is the lifelong discipline from which come contentment, thanksgiving, humility, and joy.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:26-32 (day two) (A)nd he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. v. 27

Do you like to know how things work? Put another way, do you like to be in control of things? Work, family, relationships, projects, whatever it is, I like to have a sense of being in control. It is one of the reasons I detest roller coasters-that’s a different blog. To some degree or another most of us like that feeling on controlling a situation. There is security in knowing how things will go. Following a recipe can be so rewarding because you know what the result will be if you faithfully follow the plan. Walking in faith is an exercise in trust. We must trust the Lord to do the work that we cannot. Surrender is one of the cardinal principles of following Jesus. The need to know step a, b, and c are lost in the desire to obey and trust the Lord to give you what you need for the moment. For people like me that can sound terrifying, but in the cosmic Kingdom of God, it is reassuring to know that the outcome is not based on me, and if I’m honest that’s really better for us all.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 (day seven)

Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. vs 24

You have probably used the phrase “Garbage in. Garbage out.” What you put in is what will come out. You may not even realize it, but the true self is revealed when it is under pressure. A west Texas evangelist named John Randles used to say, “When you get squeezed, what’s really inside of you will come out. Who are you when you get squeezed?”

We will all be squeezed. How you prepare now will determine what is going to come out. It’s not just with the type of media or music we consume, it includes the depth of the doctrine we take in as well as the intention of the listener. Charles Spurgeon said, “The hearer of the gospel will get measure for measure, and the measure shall be his own measure.” If you put in the attention and intention to grow in your walk, what you get in return will be the gift of the Spirit, and He will be what comes out whenever you are squeezed.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 (day six)

A lamp exists to shine—that’s its purpose. In the same way, the Kingdom of God is meant to radiate and reveal. This is the heart of what Jesus teaches here: the Kingdom is never hidden. It’s always shining, always revealing, always making itself known.

This truth challenges us in two key ways.

First, if we fail to see the Kingdom, the problem isn’t with God but with us . From the beginning of creation, God has made his Kingdom visible—in the world he crafted, in the Scriptures he gave, and most fully in Jesus, the Word made flesh. He has held nothing back.

Second, we cannot compartmentalize God’s Kingdom. Its light is inseparable from its nature. We can’t dim it, hide it, or turn it off without denying what the Kingdom truly is. If we belong to the Kingdom, its light must shine through us. Let it shine—boldly, faithfully, and without hesitation.

Re:Verse passage – Mark 4:21-25, 33-34 (day five) “and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.”

What an opportunity and what a privilege for the disciples!  Jesus (in private) explaining and applying His teachings, just to them. Questions answered. Problems solved. Confusion clarified. Wisdom revealed. Truth resonating. How did they receive and respond to Jesus’ parables once explained?  Were they arrogant and prideful?  Were they filled with conceit and entitlement?  (If we are being honest, all those kind of reactions could have easily happened in their hearts and minds- and ours)  Yet I believe their main reaction was “hunger”. Remember John 6, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”  The great hope (and promise) is that Jesus would continue that same work in us (causing  “Holy Hunger”) as we worship, study the scriptures, pray, and serve.

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth;” John‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬ ‭

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬