Cultivation

We continued our journey towards your dedication by praying for something unusual:  cultivation.  To cultivate is to prepare the soil for growth.  In Luke 8, Jesus tells a parable about a sower who sowed on four different types of soil: rocky, shallow, thorny and good.  Since we prayed for our home last week--that it would be a place where God would be Bethel ("God is Here")-- it was obvious to us that this cannot take place in the child God has blessed us with unless we have cultivated our own hearts, as well as our marriage.  When one cultivates a garden, there are many elements that lead to the soil producing an excellent crop, the most vital being water and sun.  And so we prayed for our relationship with God to be cultivated, that our marriage and hearts would be knit together, as close as the sun and the water are when cultivating a garden.  We prayed that God would see our hearts, our hard work, and as we teach the Word to you, God would reach down and save you from "hardness of heart."  We prayed that you would respond with gladness and conviction of heart, because your heart has been cultivated by the living God, bringing you to a full understanding of his demonstrated love "that while you were still sinning, Christ died for you" (Romans 5:8).

To our child, we did not pray for your education, your friends or even what sport you would play. No my precious one. We began to pray that as we begin the greatest job we have ever taken up, our hearts would be cultivated by the grace of God, that you would be part of the cherished crop that produces "a harvest that yielded a hundred times more than what was sown" (Luke 8:8). 

To our baby..."Bethel"

We continued to pray for you last night.  We prayed for our home, that it would be a place of love, nurturing, guidance, laughter, teaching and discipline.  Those are all essential elements of a childhood, life and family, but they are also vital components to the one thing God longs to build and bless: a home.  We prayed for our future home last night.  As the family and home is attacked and destroyed in America, we prayed not just for God’s blessing on our home, but for our lives within to be blessed with "Bethel."  “Bethel” in the Old Testament is seen in many passages, but significantly in Genesis 28, when Jacob realizes the faithfulness of God and says, this rock and place will be known as “Bethel,” which means “God is here.”  We prayed that God would be in our home, that other people, friends and relatives would long to be in our house because "God is here."

To our growing little one, we did not pray for your education, your friends or even what sport you would play. No my precious one. We began to pray that as we begin the greatest and most difficult job we have ever encountered, we prayed for a unified home, one that has the literal presence and blessing of God, because “unless the Lord builds the house, you labor in vain."

To our baby

We began this long journey known as "parenting" by praying for you last night. We prayed for consistency in being Godly parents, but more importantly, we prayed for your focus. We are not referring to a medical or educational focus, but a Godly focus, one that is "yachad," which is Hebrew for "United; undivided." You will be born into an amazing and powerful world, one that has reshaped many things and advanced the world because of technology. With great freedom comes a haunting realization that there are many distractions amongst our powerful country. Only those who are united in their pursuit of the fear of the Lord and His word will one truly leave a legacy. A "divided" heart throughout the Bible refers to those who are "split; hypocritical; uncertain," people that have too much on their "plate" and rarely have any conviction or life purpose. Why? It's simple. They are distracted.

And so, precious little one, we did not pray for your education, your friends or even what sport you would play. No my precious one. We prayed that we would have a united marriage, a united family and home, a united focus on the Gospel, a united, consistent focus on "things above, not on things of this earth" (Col 3:2). We prayed that you would be blessed from above with a united heart for the things of God, that you would seek Him with all your heart, that conviction of sin would stem from this united heart, and that you would "humble yourself in the sight of God, and He will lift you up" (James 4:10).