To Ask, and to Really Believe

"Two farmers prayed for rain. Only one went to prepare his fields. Which one got his prayer answered?"


There's a story, I first heard about it when watching 'Facing the Giants'. This story is about two farmers who both prayed for rain. One of the farmers went out and planted his field after praying for rain, but the other didn't. Here's where that question comes in; which one got his prayer answered?


I said I first heard this while watching 'Facing the Giants', so the quote at the top was the only part of the story I heard. When I first heard it, I right aways thought to myself, well, obviously the farmer who prepared his fields! I think most people would say that the answer to that question is pretty obvious, thats what I thought. But then I started to think about this more. Even though  the answer to this question seems obvious, there are too many times where I am the farmer who didn't go out and prepare his fields. How often do we pray and pray for something, and kind of just wait for God to work His "magic"? I've realized through this quote that it does not quite work that way. If we really believed that God could, would, or wanted to answer our prayers and give us what we ask, don't you think we would prepare for it? The farmer who prepared and planted his fields had the faith of a mustard seed. He asked for rain, and then he had total faith that God would bring him that rain, so he went out and prepared for it. He expected God to provide rain for him. 


How different would faith look today if we had the same expectancy that the farmer who prepared his fields had? The farmer believed without a doubt that God would send the rain he asked for, so he went through all the hard work to prepare his fields, even though he was not given any indication that rain would actually come. Think about it: what if, every time we asked God for something, we put all our effort into preparing for it, because we did not doubt one bit that God would come through for us? If we prepared for what God wanted to give to us, I can only imagine how much more we could receive from Him. There's definitely a difference between asking God for something, and really believing that God will give you what you ask for. 


Ask yourself this question before you ask God for something; are you willing to prepare your fields for Him?

Humility at the Wedding Feast

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Luke 14:7-11


Humility is so important in the kingdom of heaven. It tells us in the Bible over and over again to humble ourselves before the Lord. Sometimes when I think about this, I say to myself, "Okay, this is easy. Don't look proud and everything will be good." Really, being humble is not nearly as easy as it might sound. I mean, when I read this parable about the wedding feast, I'd like to say that I'd be the person to go and sit at the lowest spot at the table even when I see a spot of higher honour open. Unfortunately, I am not sure that this would be the case. I hate to say that if I saw a seat higher up, I'd probably take that seat. Now with that being said, I'd absolutely HATE to be asked to move to a lower seat. But in the moment, I don't think I would be thinking about that. All I would be thinking about is that I have a higher place at the table.


For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
Psalm 149:4
Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.
Proverbs 22:4


These verses say that humility is extremely important, like I already said, in the kingdom of heaven. Humility goes a long way, just like these verses say; "He crowns the humble with salvation" and "Humility . . . bring wealth and honour and life". When we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will rewards us for it. In the parable of the wedding feast, the guest who humbled himself and took the seat of lowest honour was blessed by being asked to move up. God's reward for a humble heart is so much greater than that. 


My new goal is to every day, face every situation with a heart full of humility.

Letters to God

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:3 

I watched this movie "Letters to God" this evening with my family. I haven't seen a movie this good in a long time. I can't often say that a movie truly inspired me, but this one sure did, especially at the end when I found out this movie was inspired by a true story.

It was incredible to see the way the boy in this movie, Tyler, touched and inspired the people around him, simply by writing letters, letters to God. This boy was dying of cancer, and instead of worrying about dying, he was writing letters to God, asking him to help others around him when he was gone. He wasn't scared about the fact that he was going to die of cancer, he knew God was taking care of him. Towards the end of this movie, you see the impact Tyler had when the mailmen come in with bags full of letters to God that other people had written because of him. One bag was dumped out in front of him, with hundreds of letters in it, and those were only the ones from Tyler's school. 

Now think about it. How often do we worry about the things that we think are going to ruin our days, or weeks, or in this case, our lives? We, or I at least, barely stop to think about the fact that maybe this is happening for a reason, maybe God wants to help someone else or reach out to someone else through these things. In Philippians 4:6, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." This is exactly what Tyler did. He didn't worry about what was going to happen to him. I mean, I don't doubt that he was very scared at times, but he didn't let it get to him. When he felt scared or worried, he wrote a letter to God, he prayed about it. 

Philippians 4 goes on to say that we will then "experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand." I believe Tyler experienced this peace. You can see it in the letters he wrote. He was totally at peace about dying and going to heaven. He never wrote in his letters that he didn't want to die, he always prayed for others instead. 

I think we can all learn something from Tyler. He has really inspired me to stop for a minute and think when I'm in a situation that feels like it's the end of the world. He's inspired me to think about the fact that maybe, just maybe, God put me in that situation for a reason, and think about who's life God may want to touch through it. Next time you find yourself in a tough situation, just stop and think, "How will God work and display His power through this?"   

The Beauty of Snow Crystals

Today in chapel, we watched part of a video on creation called "God of Wonders". It talked about tons of different things, but what grabbed me most was what the video said on snowflakes, or snow crystals.

It was truly amazing the way the movie described it. Every single snow crystal is different, and they all have amazing, immense detail within each of them. How is it that every single one of them could be different? I can't even comprehend the fact that there's that many different designs to put into a snow crystal! The only answer that makes sense would be that someone extremely creative and someone with great wisdom had to have created each snow crystal individually, crafted them each unique from all the others.

You can't explain the creation of snow crystals any other way. In my opinion, snow crystals alone completely destroy the theory of evolution. When you look at pictures of snow crystals, you see the immense detail put into each one. How could evolution create something so perfect? And a different design in every single one? These incredibly beautiful snow crystals couldn't  possibly be existent without a powerful architect to create them. Therefore, there has to be a creator!

I added a link to the part of the video we watched that talks about snow crystals. I honestly don't know how you could watch this and not believe that God exists. Next winter, I plan to be much more grateful for the snow, and pay much closer attention to the simple but yet so complex beauty that God has created.