Tag: Peace

In The Garden

November 3, 2016

garden

I come to the garden alone
while the dew is still on the roses,
and the voice I hear falling on my ear,
the Son of God discloses.

And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
and he tells me I am his own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known.

C. Austin Miles, 1913


In A Garden To Begin Life

God has chosen a garden to do some wonderful things for His Creation. And as God’s nature  mandates, He desires the best and finest for and from His most prized possession.

Humanity, the human soul, the crowning of all living things created were made in, made for and made to dwell in a garden. Let’s take a look.

The first man Adam was created ‘and placed in’ a garden:

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2:8

The Lord desires the best for us. He is not a grudging, harsh, unforgiving taskmaster. No, our God wants us to have the best, live the best and forever possess the best He has to offer. And it all began in a garden.

In A Garden To End Life

Fast-forward time 4,000 years. Here we have another garden. This garden was also a place where God placed another Adam, the last Adam, the man Jesus Christ
( I Corinthians 15:45).

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. John 18:1

It has been stated that the cross was not the place where Jesus died. It is understood that Jesus actually died in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was here where Jesus surrendered his human will (the spiritual man) to the Father. It was the cross where he surrendered his human body and blood (the physical man) for all of humanity.

Jesus could not have endured the pain, humiliation and agony of the cross of Golgotha if he had not first died out in the garden.

But, it does not end here. With God, He always saves the best for last.

In A Garden To Renew Life

Let’s recap this thread of thought. First, God placed the first man Adam in a garden to live. Next, God placed the last man, Jesus Christ, in a garden to die.

An interesting tidbit of information concerning Jesus’ tomb is revealed to us in John’s account of the gospel:

Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. John 19:40-41

Jesus was buried in a tomb located (that is right) in a garden. And an interesting thing happened in this garden:

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. Luke 24:1-3

Follow The Pattern Of The Garden

It is said that God is a God of principles and patterns. And this is apparent in how He from the beginning designed the path leading to salvation. The law of the Old Testament began and was fulfilled in a garden. In doing so, God used the garden as a pattern. The failure of Adam in the garden as recorded in the Old Testament was reconciled in a garden by the last Adam, Jesus Christ, recorded in the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul succinctly defines the gospel in I Corinthians chapter 15:

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: I Corinthians 15:3-4

We see that the Word of God opens with Adam living in the garden. Then we see the last Adam, Jesus Christ, lying dead in a garden. And lastly, we see him in a garden lifted up to eternal life. Living, lying and lifted completes the cycle.

Is not God sovereign in all His ways? Is it not a wonderful thing how the Lord puts all of the puzzle pieces together to make His ways fit perfectly?

There has never been and never will be a man who walked upon the dust of this earth like Jesus Christ. Jesus is perfect, pure and priceless.

In conclusion, the garden is God’s plan for life. The garden of prayer was the gateway for Jesus to face his darkest moment. A garden supplied the strength he needed to carry the cross, and with it, the sins of mankind. Should it not be likewise for us?

This post began with the opening verses to the song ‘In The Garden’. Jesus will never require us to bear a cross that He will not first prepare a garden to equip us to carry that cross, if we are willing to enter it.

May the Lord Bless You.

A Song In The Night

August 10, 2015

I call to remembrance my song in the night: Ibird1
commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Psalm 77:6-7

Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. Psalm 42:8

We don’t grow in God when the sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing and the birds are chirping a melodic song.

No. It is in the darkness where we  grow in God. For it is in the darkness where God creates His most majestic and wonderful works:

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. Ecclesiastes 11:5

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:15-16

From most observations, the womb is a pretty dark place. Yet, it is in this darkness where the God of creation fashions and stitches together the wondrous fabric of human life.

The Apostle John wrote one of the most powerful, majestic and prophetic books of the  Bible, The Book of Revelation, while living in a very dark place. The book was written while  exiled by his countrymen and left to rot away on the forsaken island – the Isle of Patmos.

The real test  of our faith through time is to keep singing a song of hope and love to God regardless of our circumstances. It all comes down to the condition of the heart:

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6:45

One real challenge to a believer in Jesus Christ is to keep a song alive in our hearts – even when it means singing it in the darkest hour of life’s night.

And it is one thing to write a song in the night and quite another thing to sing one  there.

The Master’s Master Sound Track

How many people have started out with a ‘Top-10’ hit single-like experience in God, only to find their song hit the proverbial cutting room floor through the corrosive effects of trials, tests and temptations?

And how many have started out with the potential to produce a spiritual symphonic masterpiece, only to be prematurely cut short in their walk in God and left with the copyright to a B-grade jangle fit for an alcohol-fumed honky tonk?

What does it take to produce a master recording for the Master? – everything we’ve got. Every note played on the vinyl of our life gets recorded in heaven’s master sound room:

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Revelation 20:12

Every attitude, decision and action we make is mixed on God’s master sound board  and burned onto our very song, with our name as the recording artist.

However, the Lord’s grace gives us a chance to re-record the imperfect takes and get the music  right:

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
I John 2:1-2

What Will Jesus Say About Our Song?

Will Jesus say to one of His angels?:

“Let’s hear the recording that Rachel (or John, or Cheryl or Chris) produced. I want to hear the sweet, harmonizing, perfectly mixed sound tracks that they produced while living for me in a dark and corrupt world.”

“I intentionally sent them musical rests (divine delays?) at several appointed times in their life. Did they interpret them as acts of unkindness from Me or did they keep a good attitude and allow those spaces of silence and rest get recorded on the master track? Let’s hear it.”

“And here, right there, I sent some harsh winds of adversity to get them to stay longer in the practice (prayer) room to hone their musical technique and gain mastery over their instrument. Let’s hear it and see.”

“And here, I decided to change the key right there to add dimension and rapturous breath to the musical arrangement. Did they perceive those abrupt and shattering changes as signals of my displeasure or frustration with their life? Or did they “roll with the punches” and allow faith to create the swelling and overpowering musical dynamics I was looking for? Let’s listen and see”.

“And lastly, I pulled out all the stops and really wanted MY glory to shine through their life. Yes. That time when it looked like things all around started to unravel and implode and only a MIRACLE from ME would bring them through.

It was that time I demanded an unparalleled display of faith and trust. It was their Paganini Caprice No. 24 moment, a “pull out all the stops” encounter with their angel of contention. Flesh against Spirit. Human will against Heaven’s will. The earth’s beggarly elements against Heaven’s storehouses of blessedness. Worldly ladders of cut-throat success against Heaven’s ladders of angelic succession.

It was all designed for a witness of My glory and presence in their life where no one could deny that God was doing it all. Come now, let’s hear it in all its splendor and musical genius”.

The Final Cut

How will our final life recording sound? Will it be something God would want to listen to? Will the recording of our life become one of His favorite soundtracks? Will we persevere until the end and finish the symphony that God desires to produce with our lives?

Only time will tell. We must not quit. We must not compromise. We cannot afford to stop short of applying track after track to the final, superbly mixed recording of our life symphony.

“Jesus, please help me to keep recording your symphony of love, hope and faith with my life . And Lord, help me to keep singing my song in the night!”