CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 692

“Scattered”

Acts 8:4 (ESV) Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

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Have you ever planted a fruit bearing plant into a pot yet failed to transplant it into a larger pot as it outgrew the first? Such a root-bound plant will be unable to grow to the maturity level it needs in order to bear the fruit for which it was intended.

Likewise, many of us become root-bound and too comfortable in our life circumstances so much so that we become ineffective in fulfilling our intended purpose in life. While setting down roots can be a good thing and a sign of stability, there can come a time or season in our life where our desire to preserve and maintain our lifestyle circumstances hinders our continued spiritual growth rendering us less effective in bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.

Throughout history, God has uprooted people by His call on their life to fulfill His divine purpose and plan.

Gen 12:-1-4 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you … So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…

Sometimes, God allowed adversity, persecution and trials to be the catalyst that got people moving. We see how the persecution of the early church was such a catalyst that scattered believers throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria where they preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Had they not been scattered, the Gospel would not have spread to these regions in the time that God intended it to be.

Seeds have to be scattered in order to have an abundant harvest.

Are you encountering trials and difficult circumstances in your life that appear to be an uprooting force that you are resisting? Consider the possibility that these trials are a catalyst allowed by God to prepare you to answer His call upon your life. We have all uprooted our families to answer the call of a job promotion or a new job opportunity. Some of us have uprooted to answer the call of duty in service to our country. Why then do we think it so strange that God would also call us to a new duty station?

Eccl 3:1-2 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

God may have planted you for a season where you are now and you have grown where you were planted. Perhaps now God knows that you need a ‘larger pot’ in order to grow into the full spiritual maturity He needs for you to bear fruit for His kingdom. Therefore, He is engineering circumstances such that your inertia, that is your tendency to remain where you are, is overcome and you can begin to move in accordance with His direction and guidance.

Prayerfully seek discernment from the Holy Spirit such that you can recognize God’s scattering force in the midst of your trials. Wherever God plants you, take root, grow, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the example of your life of obedience and service to Him.

Close in prayer, thanksgiving & rededication of your work to the glory of God