Dear Reader,
As you know, this blog site is branded “Looking for God #HEISEVERYWHERE,” so allow me to share with you how I found God…in the Living Water.
This is a personal prayer originally sent to someone I love this morning but slightly modified for you, Dear Reader.
Morning scripture and prayer 9-24-2024
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” -Psalm 100:4 New Living Translation
Oh, Most Patient and Loving Heavenly Father,
We are here in the spirit at Your Holy feet again in prayer to give thanks, praise You, and to seek Your beautiful, shining face. Thank You for preserving our souls to this point. Thank you for protecting us from all the seen and unseen dangers that threatened our physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental health. There are so many ways You keep us that our minds cannot fathom. Even when we don’t see or feel You working, You are working. You have the entire world, universe, all of humanity, etc to consider, but You still know every hair on our heads and tend to our daily needs. If You feed the birds of the air, You will surely feed us. If you clothe the grass of the field that is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire, how much more will You clothe us! We don’t have to worry about our needs being met because You will supply all of our needs according to Your riches in glory, AND King David testified that from his youth to his old age, he had never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. We thank You for the strong testimonies of faithful Believers who came before us. Thank You for the opportunity to meet You in prayer once again. Thank You for rescuing us from the shadows of the night that sought to penetrate us with fear and negative thoughts. Thank You for sending Your son Jesus to die for our sins. The Lord Jesus is the Way He showed us. He is the Truth He taught us. He is the Life that You want us to live, and we acknowledge the truth that we cannot get to You Father except through the Son. We acknowledge that apart from the Lord Jesus, we can do nothing. Without the Lord Jesus, we are like branches that have become separated from the vine and doomed to wither and die.
To use a gardening analogy for a moment, when I have handled my pothos plant vines, I have sometimes accidentally broken the vines. The break represents the result of sin. If I leave the broken piece in a broken state, doing nothing about its brokenness, it will wither and die, but if I take that piece and stick it in water, it will sprout roots and become a new plant. The pothos vines have little nodules on them. These nodules are small nubs covered with what looks like plant scales or skin. When the nodules of the broken pothos piece are submerged into the water and left to dwell there long enough, the “scales” fall off the nodules, and the nodules become the new roots. After some time, and after the roots are deep and strong enough, the broken piece will put out new, shiny leaves. The point of brokenness is still there like an interruption in the growth, but it scabs over and heals. That point is there to tell a story and build character. In this analogy, the water is the Living Water which is Christ Jesus. The nodules are points of belief from our childhood to now. The break was sin that came to separate us from the vine. The brokenness was the damage and suffering inflicted by the break (sin). The “scales” or “skin” represent masked potential- the faith parts of us that started to grow from what was planted on the inside of us but met worldly environments that were not conducive to further growth. The time it took for the broken piece to develop new, deep, strong roots is the time it takes in Christ, the Word of God, to not only be restored but reformed.
(“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” -Romans 12:2 New International Version)
The new leaves represent fruitfulness as a result of dwelling in Christ, the Word of God.
(“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” -Galatians 5:22-23)
So, what was severed, broken, cut off, separated and approaching death is now revived, renewed, reformed, redeemed, and living new life and bearing new leaves.
(“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” -2nd Corinthians 5:17 New International Version)
The roots of the new leaves grow long and strong in the container of water, but the full potential of the roots cannot be reached until what was developed in the water is planted in the earth into good ground and released to stretch out uncapped. The earth is full of dirt and messy situations, but if we take what we learn in Christ and plant it in the world, there is no telling how far our rooted faith can reach. The richer the manure, the greater the growth benefit. The plant, though in manure, doesn’t become manure. It remains what it was created to be and gives glory to God and edification to all who look upon it and study it!
Heavenly Father, thank You for this divine Word and message today. Prepare our hearts to dwell in Christ post-sin, be reformed and transformed by the renewing of our minds, and take our faith into the world so that others may witness Your Holy spiritual fruits and know that we are Your disciples. Prepare us this day for the rest of our lives in Christ, and prepare me to teach and illustrate this message wherever You will at Your appointed time, in Jesus’ Holy name. Amen.
Thank You for reading, Dear Reader, and may you find God…in the Living Water.
Looking for God 