Episode 8: Planting Mighty Oaks

Erin Davis: When Noble was in first grade, he came home from school with a stick wrapped in a brown paper towel. Being an all boy household, I didn’t think much about it. I once cleaned our house and picked up nine sticks in a single pass! Boys lo-o-ove sticks!

Noble is our most serious son. Because his mind is always in hyperdrive, his mouth rarely is. So this day—which I later realized was Earth Day—Noble received a small redbud sapling, with the encouragement to plant it.

When I say it was a stick, I’m being generous. It was no longer than a ruler, nary a bud or a leaf on it. On his own, without any input from us, Noble went down to the barn. He found a shovel. He dug a hole right outside of the window where I do most of my writing, and he put the little stick in it!

Not wanting to crush him, I thanked him for thinking of me and assured him that Mama would love to look out that window and see that tree when it got big! And I told him—but I was lying—“I cannot wait to see that redbud bloom!” 

Spring came and went, summer—we live in Missouri so summer brought heat and humidity. I thought, If that thing wasn’t dead when he planted it, it’s sure gonna be dead at the end of the summer! And still that stick stood tall.

Then fall came. There were no leaves on that tree to drop. Winter came. I was sure it was deader than dead, but it was still standing there outside my window. And then spring came around again . . . and a miracle happened! 

My little tree, planted in faith by my little boy, sprouted the tiniest of leaves and the littlest of pink buds. Noble had not just planted a stick, he planted a tree! And his good intentions and his loving thoughts toward his mama bore fruit!

Joy McClain: This is The Deep Well podcast with Erin Davis. I’m Joy McClain. Erin’s in a series called“Lies Boys Believe,”and we’re going to start with this idea: Be careful what you plant, because what you plant is going to grow!

Erin: It’s an object lesson God’s Word often uses to remind us that the seeds we plant and water will bear fruit. That’s true of good seeds and it’s true of bad seeds. This, of course, is the principle of Galatians chapter 6. I’m going to start with verse 7, and then I’m going to work backwards in this passage.

Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 says: 

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 

Now, Paul wasn’t writing about redbud trees there. He was still reminding us about this battle between the flesh and the Spirit that we’ve been talking about a lot in this series. He goes on to talk about that. But his point is: be careful what you plant!

Listen to verse 8: 

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Well, there’s an even broader context here. The book of Galatians is often referred to as the emancipation proclamation for God’s people. It’s a book about freedom! And what are we emancipated from, exactly? Well, lots of things. But one of the things we’ve been set free from is that we were slaves to lies, and we’ve been set free to live in God’s truth—just like we’ve been praying for our own boys to do!

How do they do this? How do they run from lies and live in the truth? It doesn’t just happen in the moment they receive Christ—although what a beautiful moment that is! It’s not just when they decide they want to live for Jesus and not for themselves, although it happens then.

Hands down, the moment my boys were baptized was the best moment of the journey so far! It’s exciting to see, there really is a transformation that happens. They really can turn from lies in ways they weren’t able to before. 

But it also happens on an ongoing basis. There’s salvation, and there’s sanctification. And it’s in the sanctification that we’re learning over and over that we can gravitate towards lies—and the enemy is always hurling them at us—and we can choose truth.

And we learn on an ongoing basis that we want to plant and water seeds of truth. Well, where are the seeds of truth? They’re in God’s Word. Part of the pressure of parenting is that we know this basic principle. We know that sowing and reaping is true.

To mix my metaphors, we’ve got eighteen years, give or take, to build the foundation that our children’s whole house is built on, and that’s some serious pressure. And when you’re in first grade or fourth grade, or a freshman, it can be really hard to connect today’s choices to tomorrow’s bondage, or today’s choices to tomorrow’s freedom. But we can show them.

Psalm 92 has become a really important passage in my life. It’s also something I’ve started to pray for my boys. Let me read us Psalm 92. I’m going to start in verse 12: 

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

If you know your trees, you know these are not weak, puny trees the psalmist is describing here. These are massive trees; these are strong trees. These are deeply rooted trees, and that’s the image the psalmist gives us for what the lives of the righteous will look like. That’s the image for what I want the lives of my boys to look like.

Pick it up at verse 13: 

They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 

Don’t we all want our boys to flourish? We do! And Scripture is saying it’s possible, but not on their own; they’re flourishing in the courts of our God.

 Verse 14: 

They still bear fruit in old age;they are ever full of sap and green [why?] to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

This all ties back to what we’ve been talking about. Your boy was made to declare who God is! And we need a better vision for their flourishing than just for them to be physically healthy, to have a good job, to marry a good girl. I want all those things for my boys, too. 

But Scripture is saying that the righteous flourish in the courts of our God because they have a story to tell. They declare who God is. I just love this image of the Christian life, even though it’s costly! We talked about that. But only in Christ is it possible to live a life, to die, and flourish, and be fruitful. What more could you want for your boy?

Seed planting starts today . . . and the day after that . . . and the day after that. And parenting is a lot of watering and nothing happening. But God’s promised that what you sowed you will reap, and what your sons sow, they will reap. It’s the principle of how God works in our lives.

As you’re listening to this (maybe this episode or maybe this series, and the Holy Spirit has done the hard work) if you’ve felt conviction, that’s not me, that’s the Holy Spirit. Maybe you’ve realized, “I’ve planted some bad seeds in the hearts of my boys.”

Maybe you’ve realized that you’ve built your family life on something, and it could be anything, other than the One who Scripture describes as faithful and true. I think sometimes the enemy just keeps us so busy with good things that we miss the one thing we were meant to invest our lives in!

Maybe your own spiritual life looks like a stick! You are not seeing much fruit at all. Or maybe it’s the life of your boy . . . and maybe he’s not a boy anymore. I know every time I teach, there are women listening with prodigal sons, and their hearts are hurting because of the decisions their child has made.

They look out their window, and it looks dead. Any hope of him living for Jesus looks dead. There’s no fruit at all! The thought I want to leave you with for this series is that there’s still time. There’s time to plant new seeds. There’s time to water them in the Word. There’s time to trust the Lord to use your life, to use your boy’s life, to produce something beautiful!

There are two prayers that have been prayed over my sons that have become just a part of our family. One was communicated by a friend named Wes. He once prayed that God would make our boys dangerous to the enemy!

And when he prayed it, I thought, That’s a scary prayer! Because no doubt, the enemy is a powerful foe. We’ve already talked about how he hates our sons, and he hates our family! And so, the human part of me just wants to tuck my babies under the wing and keep them off the enemy’s radar. 

But when Wes prayed it, I knew it was true. I knew that what they really need is to be a force in opposition to him [Satan]. That they need to be on his radar, and they need to be dangerous and push back the forces of darkness. So we’ve prayed since they were little that our boys would be dangerous to the enemy! 

And then there’s my friend Tippy. Tippy just turned eighty. I talk about her in many seasons of The Deep Well. She’s loved my boys really well. When she prays for them—which is often—she prays, “Make Erin’s boys oaks of righteousness planted by streams of living water.” 

It’s the same image that the psalmist was describing. I don’t want my boys to just be little saplings. True, they have new life in Christ. It’s true, they’re going to heaven. But they’re pretty fruitless and they’re pretty weak because we’ve played it safe. I want my boys to be oaks of righteousness!

As I think about the era of history when my boys will become men, there’s some fear. God’s people are not the home team anymore, that shouldn’t surprise us. Scripture predicted that would happen.

And while there’s never been any golden age of morality since the bite was taken of the forbidden fruit, there certainly have been eras where it would be easier to be a follower of Jesus Christ. They’re not going to grow up in that era.

But you know what the world’s going to need? Oaks of righteousness planted by streams of living water—boys who became men with roots so deep in the truth that it doesn’t matter what the enemy hurls at them, they’re going to stand tall for Him.

As I thought about how I wanted to end this series, I want to have a commissioning service. I’ve thought many times about how many little lives are connected to you who have listened to this. I’ve thought many times about what they’ll be like in fifteen or twenty years, and what we need them to be like. 

I mean, my ultimate hope is that Jesus would come back today, and that my sons and I would be caught up in glory with Him. But if He doesn’t, if He tarries, our boys are going to have to be strong! And so I want to commission them—for thousands, maybe millions of boys that are connected to us—that are not the future of the church, they are today’s church. We need them to stand on the truth!

So I just want to pray for them out of Isaiah 61:1–4, that’s the “oaks of righteousness” that Tippy has prayed, and commission you—and commission them—to stand tall for Jesus. 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon our boys, because the Lord has anointed them to bring good news to the poor; he has sent and will send our boys to bind up the brokenhearted. He will send them to proclaim liberty to the captives. He will send them to open the prisons of those who are bound. 

He will send them to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God. He’s going to send our boys to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion. He’s going to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning. He’s going to give them the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Lord, may our boys build up the ancient ruins; may they raise up the former devastations; may they repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. And, Lord, I pray for our boys—for Your boys—make them dangerous to the enemy! It’s in Your name I pray, amen.

Joy: I pray my children and my grandchildren will grow up to be oaks of righteousness, like Erin’s been describing. In this series I’ve been reminded all over again how important it is to pass on the truth of God’s Word to the next generation.

To help you do that, Erin and Jason Davis have written the book Lies Boys Believe and the Epic Quest for Truth. This is a fictional book that will capture your boy’s imagination. You can also get a parent’s guide to help you learn how to engage with your son or grandson over what they’re reading.

To order Lies Boys Believe or the parent’s guide visit ReviveOurHearts.com. If you make a donation of any size this month to the ministry of Revive Our Hearts, we’d like to send you a copy of Lies Boys Believe. Just visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

It’s time for Erin Unscripted.We’ve had an audience with us this season, and they’re going to be asking the questions.

Erin Unscripted

Joette: My name is Joette, and I want to thank you for a couple of things. I’m obviously not a mom of young boys anymore. I made mistakes as a mom. I’m a sin-filled mama. My boys did not grow up perfect, but they all did grow up to love the Lord, for the most part—not all of their lives because they’re sin-filled, too, so thank you for that.

But the principles that you taught today, many of them are timeless. And so I want to thank you for speaking directly into my heart in some things. Number one: I don’t have to live in mom-guilt. And then the second thing that I want to say thank you for is, I do have grandsons. I have a great-grandson, and I still have time to build into their lives.

My grandfather was a godly man and I learned so much from him! My grandmother as well, she’s the reason that God planted in me the desire to be a pastor’s wife. I’m encouraged today that I’m not done planting seeds. So thank you for that, too. 

Erin: Yes, that’s a beautiful thought. In the world, in the culture, you lose your usefulness at some point, but in the Kingdom you don’t. You can plant seeds until the day that you die. Part of seed planting is praying, part of seed planting is being a godly woman, part of seed planting is teaching the Word. 

We just went to see the giant sequoias. It was the trip of a lifetime—don’t get me started, I’ll never stop talking about them! Nobody who ever planted a sequoia ever saw it [giant-sized]. I mean, there are baby sequoias in the Sequoia National Forest, and they just look like regular trees, but not the majestic trees that made me bawl my eyes out when I saw them.

And generational legacy is a lot like that, Hebrews 11 talks about that. We may not see the fruit, but we keep planting seeds and the Lord brings the fruit, and that’s a beautiful thought.

Helen: To go along with that, I felt like you gave me some new ways to pray for my grandkids.

Erin: Like what?

Helen: Not pray that they’ll be safe, but they’ll spend what it costs to follow Jesus. Sorry, I’m teary. And to be strong oaks, and just all of that.

Erin: Yes. We’re recording this in 2023. I think, Church, we’re starting to recognize and say to each other, “It’s going to get harder; it’s going to get darker.” And that’s not just an idea, Scripture makes that really clear.

And as much as I want to see revival in my day, what Scripture teaches is actually as we move toward the return of Christ, hearts are going to get harder. And it’s actually going to come to a point where there are not atheists. People know there is a God. We are in what one of my professors calls, “high-handed rebellion against Him.”

And so for those of us raising kids, that is scary. But also, Church, we have to pray, “Help them stand! Help them to be rooted!” We have to encourage them. I don’t know what it’s going to look like; I wouldn’t want to predict. But Scripture makes it really clear that times are going to get harder, not easier, before the Lord comes, and so we do want to pray for them to pay the cost.

Joy: In our audience a group of dear sisters visited from a ministry called SPA. That stands for Spiritual and Personal Adjustments. Our next guest was participating in the SPA program.

Lillian: Hi, I’m Lillian. I just believe that God ordained me—all of us—being here today with affirming your design and also your last message. It’s crazy when you said that Wes prays that [your children] would be a danger. You know, I believe 100 percent that the seeds that were sown in me as a child, that other people planted through trauma, through strife, that Satan gave them and told them to throw and let it be watered; I feel like he did that because he knew how powerful I could be as a child of God. Do you know if that makes sense?

Erin: Absolutely! Amen!

Lillian: I feel like with the whole thing when you said that woman, she didn’t know who she was and she struggled with lesbianism . . . I personally have struggled with it for eleven years. And after being saved, I see it was trauma in my past and things that were done as a child that made me that way. It was never to be that way.

I believe like you were saying that she’s now married with a child . . . I just pray that one day I find a good man of God, because if it’s not a man of God, it’s not a good man! I’d like to find a good man of God and have my own boy or my own girl and let them be a little firework, you know.

Erin: Hmm, make it so, Lord! Yeah, I mean, the enemy hates you! We’re the opposition, and if he could kill every one of God’s children, he would. But he’s only allowed to go as far as the Lord lets—we see that in the book of Job—plus it’s fairly obvious. But he hates you . . . and so I hate him.

We fight back with vigilance, because he’s come at you with some really horrific seeds. I love that you’re getting a vision. God’s graciously giving you a vision for planting and watering something new!

Lillian: The other day we had the family visitation on Sunday at SPA women’s ministry that we are a part of. I was sitting back and I was just watching, and I just started crying, but it wasn’t that I was crying sad tears. 

I was crying because I’m at a place right now where I can see the supernatural love of God and know it’s the supernatural love of God, know that no one but Him could give that, know that no one but Him could make such a perfect moment like that, and to know it’s okay to be loved, to know that it’s okay not to just give love but it’s okay to accept love. You know?

Erin: Yes, I do know. 

Joy: Lillian, that’s so powerful. I want to encourage you, because my son grew up in a home of an alcoholic father. When he was barely seven, he accepted the Lord and never has turned back. But I knew in my spirit then what God was going to ask of him, it would be costly. And I’ve seen that in his life continually.

But one thing that I used to say to him, my favorite saying to him
(his name is Jordan), “Jordan, dance as David danced!” Do you recall the story of when the Ark was being brought back and David took off his robes and just, “Yaaahhh!!” [cry of joyful abandonment and praise to God] He just worshiped with all his might!

His wife got mad and said, “You’re an embarrassment!” 

And he said, “I don’t care. I’m not even done with that yet!” 

So it’s always been my thing, because I saw my role was to nurture and love him, not to put one ounce of bubble wrap on him, but encourage, “You dance, you worship with all your heart!” I love your feistiness!

Lillian: I think it’s crazy that you say that about him, because all of my friends that were after being saved, post my baptism . . . Honestly, I actually have just recently been released from the penitentiary and God allowed me to be here and be through all of that. 

All of my acquaintances, all of the people, all of the relationships that I had before being saved, it’s crazy because they would look at me, they’d be like, “What are you doing? Stop, you’re being weird!” But really, it’s just me worshiping God, it’s me loving God.

Where I’m at right now, I have no friends but the sisters that I’ve acquired through Jesus, and I’m okay with that. I know when I’m in church and people are looking like, “This girl is praising,” but that’s all I can do because it’s such a miracle to be here!

Joy: You just gained a whole room of sisters!

Erin: Truly, this amazes me every time I get to be with women like this, but we will be together for eternity. If I never see you again, I’ll be with you in eternity. I’ll be dancing big! So powerful!

Joy, thank you for co-hosting this season of The Deep Well. I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else! And I say this to you every week, but I want to say it to you in front of the world, thank you for leading the Grounded prayer team. You pray for that program faithfully!

And for those who don’t know, Grounded is a podcast and videocast, part of the Revive Our Hearts podcast family that happens weekly. You can watch it live at 9 a.m. EST on the Revive Our Hearts YouTube and Facebook channels.

The Deep Well with my mom, Erin Davis, is part of the Revive Our Hearts podcast family. Calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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