Once upon a time, in a beautiful garden, a snake deceived a woman. By subtly attacking her belief system and planting seeds of doubt, insecurity and fear were released. She and her husband then disobeyed and ate of the forbidden tree, thereby, losing their spiritual and physical life, their identity, authority, security, and unbroken relationship with the One who truly loved them.
Fast forward to a garden called Gethsemane. It was here that our Lord, in His humanity, wrestled with the choice to follow through with redeeming the world. It was here, He overcame stress, fear and worry for us. This same victory is available to us today through Him who overcame.
And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Luke 22:44
Redeeming the very ground we walk upon with His blood.
I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I promised Moses.
Joshua 1:3
What better place than a garden where humanity lost everything would our Lord wrestle and win the battle of laying down his His will for the Father’s so that we could lay down our will for the Father. His blood, which speaks of covenant and mercy, now deposited in the ground, speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:24.
Less than a week later, the world would be turned upside down by the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. His final resting place in his human body would be in a garden.
At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. So there, because of the Jewish day of Preparation since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus.
John 19:41
He restored everything that mankind lost. Our identity as children of God, our spiritual life, fellowship with our Father, security and the authority God gave Adam and Eve.
God loves gardens and He loves to reveal Himself in them. Each person has a garden within them. It can be very messy, thorny and cluttered. But God doesn’t care about messy and cluttered. He just wants us to let Him into our gardens and as we do, we can be assured that He will help us clear brush, burn thorns and thistles, transplant, and even plant new seeds.
As we enter the season of spring in the natural, let us continue to tend our spiritual gardens with the best Gardener around and continue to pull out any weeds that are springing up and trying to choke out life within us so that, not only would we be refreshed, but that the lost would be drawn to the garden of the Lord on the inside of us.
We declare over God’s people:
You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water and streams flowing from Lebanon.
Song of Songs 4:15
The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring, whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11
The Lord will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found there. Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.
Isaiah 51:3
For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
Isaiah 61:11