Recently I was praying for a miracle when I felt that God showed me a picture of a field ready for a harvest. And I learned that healing sometimes is a process that yields her fruit in due season.
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Recently at church my wife and I went up for some prayer. We’ve been praying about having a family and some of the health issues surrounding that… As we were waiting I was praying, again, for God to come down and give the touch of healing for which we have been asking and seeking.
I was feeling discouraged that my prayers had not been answered, even while I was praying. How many times have I prayed? How many times have others prayed? And why was the answer not coming the way I expected it to come? There are stories after story, and testimonies after testimony of answered prayers for deliverance, for healing, for babies, for life, for needs great and small.
And I saw a picture in my mind of a field of fruit trees ladened with fruit, and I said yes that’s what I want: to see the fruit of the prayers spontaneously appear: bam, fruit!
But then I saw a picture of an empty field, how it must be plowed, and the furrows created, and the seed put down, and the watering, and growing, and finally the harvest comes. And I felt like God was showing me that sometimes the miracles do occur all at once, but sometimes our prayers are like the steps taken to grow that fruit.
One person’s prayers plow up the ground, another plants the seed, another waters, another nurtures and prunes, and then one day the fruit will be ready for harvest. All of this passed through my mind in a moment, both the picture and the understanding. And I was comforted.
So when our turn came for prayer, the minister laid his hands on us and prayed. The miracle didn’t happen at that moment, though I was believing and expecting it would. But I know that this prayer, and all the prayers we pray and others pray on our behalf, are received by God, and they are working in our lives to bring about a harvest of righteousness.
Be encouraged. What’s something in your life that you’ve been praying for?