You have been busy sowing, I can see it in every line of your prayer, a heart wide open before the Lord, full of the names of people and places, full of the Word, full of longing that the seed would not only fall but lodge, sprout, and bear fruit. And now, after all that sowing, you pause. You commend it all to God. That is the right and necessary thing, and I want to sit with you there a moment, not to hurry you past it, but to steady you in it.
When the husbandman has scattered the seed, he cannot make it grow by pulling at the stalks or by lying awake worrying over the furrows. He looks up. He knows the clouds hold what he cannot manufacture, and the sun holds what he cannot kindle, and the soil holds mysteries he did not put there. And so he commits the field to the One who alone gives the increase. That is not a weak retreat; it is the boldest act of faith a laborer can make. You have done that. You have named the enemy who would snatch the seed away, and you have asked the Lord of the harvest to bind the thief and plunder his house. That is not a whisper; that is a battle cry uttered on your knees. The enemy is real, our Lord told us plainly that the wicked one comes to steal the Word out of hearts, but the Sower is stronger. The arm of the Lord is not shortened. It reached down to save Saul of Tarsus when he was breathing threats, and it reached down to break the chains off that poor Philippian jailer trembling in the dark, and it reaches down still.
I notice you pleaded the promise that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation. Do not think that is a small thing, or a mere decoration to your prayers. When a king dispatches his guard to protect a child of his household, the guard does not slumber. The heavenly watchers are not idle. You may not see them, the servant girl in the prophet’s day did not see the horses and chariots of fire until her eyes were opened, but they were there all the same, filling the mountain. The adversary may rage, but he is on a leash, and the Lord who holds him has already plucked the sting out of death and the victory out of the grave for every soul that trusts in Christ.
And here is a sweetness for you to taste as you wait: the gospel you have spoken, the Word you have scattered, is not a message you invented. It is the old, sure, tried proclamation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That is not a philosophy to be debated, but a royal decree to be delivered. When the herald reads a proclamation from the king, he does not mumble, he does not apologize, he does not offer it as one option among many. He declares it, because the authority is not in his voice but in the throne. So it is with the good news. The sinless One became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He was judged, He was buried, He rose, He ascended, He sent the Spirit, and the correct response, the only right response, is repentance and faith. This is not a mere invitation; it is a command, and that is the kindest thing God could do. For if it were only an invitation, the troubled conscience would forever ask, “May I? Am I permitted?” But when it is a command, the door is thrown wide. What God commands, you may do. What the King requires, the beggar may bring. The blood of Jesus pays the whole debt, and to the soul that looks to Him the receipt is written in His own pierced hand: “It is finished.”
So do not grow faint. You have not yet seen all the fruit, but the seed is alive. Some of it has fallen into furrows you will never walk past, into hearts whose names you do not know, and the Spirit waters where no human hand can reach. A love letter sometimes comes in a black-edged envelope, hard trials may be the very means by which the Word breaks through the soil. Your prayers are part of that watering. Every time you lift a name or a place to the throne, you are exercising the holy trade of a priest in the household of God, and the Lord hears.
It may be that some who heard the Word have stumbled already, or have let it slip. Do not be surprised. Peter walked on the water and then sank, and all because he looked at the wind and the waves instead of the Master who bade him come. Yet Christ caught him at once. The Lord is not a harsh gardener who casts out every plant that droops. He prunes, He props, He waters again. And so you may pray with confidence for any soul that seems to have drifted, the proclamation still sounds toward the north and to every point of the compass: “Return, backsliding one, for I am married unto you, says the Lord.”
I will pray with you now, and let this be our anchor.
Father, we thank You that Your arm is not too short, and Your ear not too heavy. Guard the seed that has been sown in so many hearts. Bind the thief who would snatch it away, and let Your Word abide and bear fruit unto eternal life. Strengthen our brother in his labor, refresh him in his waiting, and open his eyes to see, even now, some firstfruits of the harvest You are surely bringing. Give him peaceful confidence to leave the increase entirely with You. Keep those who have heard from the evil one. Water them in the night watches. And to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Father, thank You for the Wisdom of the "foolish plan of preaching the Power of God" 1 Cor 1:18-31, Rom 1:16. Reveal Righteousness by faith Rom 1:17, Faith from Hearing, Rom 10:17, so Salvation by Grace through Faith is Freely Received, Eph 2:8-9, Bring others to Water Seeds, 1 Cor 3:6, Glory to You who Invented the Plan of Salvation, Saved and Taught us The Message, Gave us Any Ability to Do Anything of Real Value, John 15:5, You are The One Who Gives Growth 1 Co r3:7, Grant Spiritual Hunger 1 Pet 2:2, Wisdom and Revelation in The Knowledge of You, Eph1:17 Protection from the evil thief Mk 4:15 Jn 10:10 John 17:15 
Angelic Protection until Salvation Beheld, Ps 91:11-16, Heb 1:14...
Father, we thank You for these who've been praying for grace to witness in the face of trials and opposition, 1 Thes 2:1-13. We thank You for wide doors for effective service being opened despite adversaries, 1 Cor16:9, for divine appointments with housemates, in shopping centers, in cell groups, cell blocks, in churches, street corners, restaurants, with fathers, mothers, stepmothers, children, family, friends, enemies, wherever the Spirit blows, Jn 3:8, Give us what to say and HOW to say it, Jn 12:49.
Your arm is NOT too short that it cannot save, Isa 59:1, Numbers 11:23. Remind ALL that have ever heard, especially recently (and remind us, kindly) of our humanity, sin, the gospel of free grace by the bloody death of Jesus on the cross for our sakes, His death for payment of sin, Rom 5:23, with analogies of bills being paid, therefore nothing owed, it is finished, Jn 19:30, His resurrection, His appearing to many witnesses, His ascension, and sending of The Holy Spirit, Acts 2:32-33, and the correct response of repentance and continued discipleship, Jn 8:31-32.
This Jesus who was sinless BECAME sin for us, 2 Cor 5:21 (was judged to death as The Lamb, Jn 1:29, to break the curse of sin, Gen 2:17, John 11:50-51, Gal 3:13-14) so we could be made the righteousness of God on His behalf, as His ambassadors, 2 Cor 5:20, through the Word of reconciliation He's committed to us, 2 Cor 5:19.
Thank You for those who've heard, we've prayed with and for, and WE trust YOU Holy Spirit to continue to do His work until the day of Christ Jesus, Phil 1:6. Keep them and us all from the evil one, Jn 17:15, who attempts to snatch away the seed of the Word, Mk 4:14-15. May prayes render him as being bound, and having his goods plundered, Mk 3:27, as the late evangelist said, "we plunder hell to populate heaven."
Water the seed of the word and let them grow, provide more chances to share and grant us all full faith and repentance, turning from all sin with grief and hatred of it, wholly endeavoring to new obedience, trusting Jesus who has become for us wisdom, righteousness, continued sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor 1:30. Thank you in advance, even now, in The Name of Jesus, Mk 11:24, Amen.
