Luke 6:48 KJV
He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock.

DAILY READING Matthew 5:21-48; Exodus 30-32; Proverbs 14

There is a hidden season of life where God trains us. This season can be likened to the growth of the Chinese Bamboo Tree, which is one of the most unique and amazing plants in the world. It doesn’t grow in the typical fashion of other trees. Once planted, one must water, feed and nurture the seed every day, for four years. Yet for those four years there is no evidence of growth, no evidence of life. For four years, it seems like one is totally wasting efforts because there is no sign a tree was planted there. But during those first four years this bamboo tree is actually growing a very strong, deep and extensive root system below the surface of the ground. This extensive root system is necessary to sustain the life of this amazing tree. One cannot see this growth with the naked eye, but one who understands plants knows exactly what is happening. The farmer cannot see it, but he knows the seed is growing. He keeps watering and providing sunlight to it because he understands if he stops, this plant will die. But then, in the fifth year, an amazing thing happens. The tree finally breaks the surface of the ground and in the space of five weeks grows to an astounding height of 90 feet. It is as if the tree grows right before a person’s eyes. 

The ministry God has called us to, is a walk of faith. We must trust God even when we cannot trace Him. In the hidden season of life, we continue to invest our time and energy into His Kingdom because we understand that something is happening just beneath the surface. Whatever is happening beneath the surface is a necessary part of the manifestation. We may not see the answer today, but that doesn’t mean the answer is not being worked on today. Our faith in God gives us the patience to keep working and waiting until His answer does come.

Our endeavors start first in the spirit with prayer as the foundation. This is the unseen season where like the Chinese bamboo we keep watering by faith even though there may be no visible signs of outward manifestation. But we trust that as we keep watering in prayer, underneath the surface, God is working. 

Whatever it is we are called to do, we must first establish it in the spirit through prayer, before it manifests physically. We have to lay the spiritual foundation first before we start building physically. 

Many endeavors fail, because people try to build without the foundation of the spirit first in place, so the whole thing comes toppling down. God’s order of things is the spirit first, then the physical follows. Even nature teaches us that there is a hidden unseen season before manifestation. As human beings we were first in the unseen place of our mother’s womb where we were nurtured and preserved until the time came for us to become physically manifest. For nine months we were unseen, until the due season. So is your destiny. It has an unseen season when it seems as if nothing is happening, but if you will only continue to obey God in your hidden season, in the due season your manifestation will come. 

Prayer is the foundation. The man who tries to build without a spiritual foundation found that when the wind, rain and storm came, his ‘great’ house crumbled. Because there will be oppositions, it is in the hidden season of prayers that you deal with the oppositions that will arise. Whatever you are embarking upon: marriage, childbirth, education,  etc, you require prayer investment for it to succeed. Life is handled with prayer. The height of any building is determined by the depth of its foundation. We shouldn’t expect a great dream to manifest without first establishing it in the spirit through a season of prayer.

PRAYER:  Lord please help me to build my life upon the solid foundation of Your Word and prayer, help me to pay the required price to lay the needed spiritual foundation for my endeavors  in Jesus’ name. 
 QUOTE 

The tests you are going through in life today are not for your destruction, they are for your testimony. – WORDBITE 222.  

 [ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK FAITH CLASSICS.