Tend Your Patch

To “tend” something is to “give it attention.”  Life demands attention.  Tend it well.

Text for Today – Proverbs 28:19 – He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

Early in my pastoral ministry, I had a dear brother, an elderly statesman in the faith, a fellow minister of the Gospel, and senior elder to whom I was personally accountable, Dr. Charles Cookman, say often to me, “Tend your patch.”  I saw the success and long-term significance of his ministry, and chose to accept those words as a valid principle for ministry.

While everyone is not involved in pastoral ministry, or even directly involved in any arena of the five-fold ministry, this is a principle for life that will work in every arena of endeavor, personal or professional, private or public.  What is your ministry?  What is your profession?   This principle applies even in family and social situations.  To be successful, tend your patch.

Pray daily over your ministry, work, and family.  Prepare the lives (the spiritual ground) for the seed of God’s Word to be sown in their lives by praying for them.  Walk by faith here and exercise every ounce of spiritual authority you have.  Plant the good seed (the Word of God) into and over those areas for which you pray.  Some seed is sown individually, while others are sown with a broadcast spreader; hence into and over the areas for which you pray. 

Guard the areas into which you sow.  You do this by praying for those areas and maintaining your profession of faith without wavering.  This waters your patch, and helps keep your seed from being stolen by the enemy.

Finally, expect a harvest.  No harvest just walks into the barn.  Someone has to go get it.  And harvesting can be as much, if not more work than planting.  Remember, the Scriptures command us to sow, but just as emphatically command us to harvest what is sown.  It is a lawful principle of God’s Word; what a man sows he will also reap (harvest).  So, after you’ve planted, watered, and guarded your patch, expect that harvest to come forth in abundance.  And when it does, go get it.  If you tend your patch, your patch will produce blessing for you and others.

Manna for Today – Mark 4; Galatians 6:7

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