"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?
