{Dig}


Welcome to my new ongoing Monday series, Prayer from A to Z, where you’ll receive coaching and encouragement to make your prayer life soar.

There is a time for every type of prayer, including a simple Help! or a humble Thank you, and frankly, those two short, sweet, powerful prayers are sometimes enough.
But there comes a time when our prayers need to dig deep: to deal with long-standing issues, unearth long buried dreams, uncover our purpose, or dig up joy that got buried beneath the sediment of ugly moments.
Our prayers can become a sharp trowel that uproots fear, anxiety, discontentment or anger. When we persevere through prayer until we get to the root of an issue, we are addressing the source itself, not just the unpleasant fruit that it produces. We can pluck at an annoying weed week after week, but the leaves will stubbornly continue to grow unless we attack and demolish its root system. Only when we dig deep in prayer can we locate and destroy roots, and this only happens as the Holy Spirit brings revelation and insight.
This week, slip on your boots, place a shovel beneath your foot and plunge it into the ground of your heart. Ask God to expose any bad roots that need to be yanked out. Once they’re exposed, ask Him to eradicate every last root until it no longer produces offshoots. Then ask Him to replace those bad roots with good seed.
As you dig deep in prayer, confess God’s word over the soil of your heart, and watch beautiful new growth bloom.
I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ (Hosea 10:12)
Have the roots of your being firmly and deeply planted in Him, fixed and founded in Him, being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:7)


4 comments:

AmyAlves said...

Evenin' Julie,
Confession seems to go with new life! I'm so thankful! Keep writing, you bless me! ~ Blessings, Amy

Hester's Heart said...

Thank you Julie,

This is such a good visual for me and I appreciate the spiritual application.

Off to get my shovel. ;) Love, Hester ;)

Susan said...

I love the way you applied that, Julie. And the Colossians verse is SO good. Reminds me from a verse in Ephesians about our faith being "rooted and grounded in love." Those words are music to my ears!

Time for me to dig!
Hugs from VA :)

gretchen said...

One of my chores growing up was weeding, but no-one explained the importance of pulling those rascals out by the roots! My labor was all in vain and I made so much more work for myself! Once I had a garden of my own I learned about proper weeding and now I love gardening because of the parable of yanking sin out!

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