“You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up“. Deu 11:19

[a brief conversation with the Lord]

I had a short discussion with the LORD in a garden today. I’ve seen the Lord in this garden a few times..but this time He was fully dressed in the apron, wellington boots, snipes in hand,full gear. He wasn’t anywhere as clean as the man in the picture above, He was on His hands and knees in the dirt as He meticulously attended to some very little seedlings which didn’t look more than a few days old. I let out a wry grin to myself [who would ever imagine the Lord as a gardener and a-hands on one at that. Something quite funny about the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords tilling the garden]. But He actually enjoys gardening!

I asked Him: “What are these little plants you are devoting so much attention to”? He said to me: “these are the young children who are in the faith. It takes meekness to bend down from your busy schedules and pursuits to devote time and attention to grooming these little ones in the faith. It also takes LOVE, for those who love me love what I love! Remember I said to Peter “do you love me? feed my lambs”John 21:15. It also takes one who carries the consciousness of generational transfer” Deut 11:19. [He really emphasized the role of the fathers doing the teaching in this scripture….not pawning it off to their wives]

“Too many of you are so busy caught up with your lives that you neglect the important work of nursing these little ones in the faith, spending time reading the word with them, answering their questions and teaching them. You leave the sunday school teachers in church to handle them. But you have to realize that it takes one to plant and another to water whilst the Lord gives increase (He showed me a watering can and Him watering them)”. “As parents you have the primary role of sowing into them. Because you do not do this, you leave them exposed to the whirlwinds of the world (I saw terrible gale force tornados tearing through a city) without sufficient cover or preparation. Tell my sons and daughters to stop neglecting this key responsibility”.

Then I saw him transplanting some seedlings to another part of the garden: curious I asked him: “Is their position in this place important?” (Looking for some ‘deep’ apostolic angle 😝 )To which He answered with a slight dig: “The Lord is not partial to anyone Acts 10:34 but if you understood gardening, you would know the difference between the primary nursery and the secondary nursery. Go and look into it. 😄

I have passed the message as instructed, but also important you don’t condemn yourself because the enemy likes to play the ‘your not doing enough’ guilt trip!
I am reminded of an incident that happened several years ago when I went to pray in the park in our estate. A father was sitting with the wife and daughter on the grass having a chat. Suddenly he flared up and started shouting at the little girl with such rage ‘am I not working to provide all you need’. She was weeping, wife was weeping. I was irritated and thought to myself ‘what kind of animal is this?’ then I felt the caution of the Lord and He told me “He is my Son, I love Him. Pray for Him, he is under intense pressure and on the brink of losing His job at the bank”.
My point is The Lord understands your pressure-He is not condemning you, but you need to talk to Him and let Him give you a unique strategy for how you can attend to this issue in your life with your children. Obedience is what is important, He will give the increase.

Shallom