The Hidden Seed

A bitter persecution of the Moravian Brethren (officially called the Unitas Fratrum) broke out in 1547. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) brought further painful and deadly abuse to the Brethren’s Church. 

Bishop John Amos Comenius (1592-1670) was the primary leader of the Brethren. For all to see the Unitas Fratrum was dying. The death blow seemed to be their banishment from their homeland, Bohemia, after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. 

Leading a group of exiles over the mountains into Poland, Bishop Comenius prayed that a “Hidden Seed” of this faith would grow and bear fruit - spring to life again. But that prospect looked feeble at best as the Brethren scattered throughout Europe. Wherever they went they found persecution as they were, it seemed, always caught between Lutherans, Calvinists and Roman Catholics.

In 1722 a group of Moravians found refuge on the estate of Count Zinzendorf in Silesia, Germany. There they found encouragement and generosity from the Lutheran nobleman. They called the settlement Herrnhut which means, "under the Lord’s watch".

On August 13, 1727, just about one hundred years after Bishop Comenius prayed for the “Hidden Seed” of faith there was a revival in Herrnhut and what a powerful revival it was. The Holy Spirit fell upon the Moravians as a spiritual explosion which prompted widespread missionary fervor. The Herrnhut community sent missionaries to the Americas, and eventually throughout the world. The prayed for “Hidden Seed” bloomed. In God’s timing the answer to the bishop’s prayer was one hundred years. 

The point is we do not know what God is doing with our prayers - even the long shot prayers.