Tend Your Inner Garden
Your life is a gift to you from God – and you have been given a responsibility and an authority to oversee the development of your life. In Proverbs we are encouraged, “Above all else, to guard our hearts, for they are the wellsprings of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) We are given responsibility to guard the directions and the influences of our hearts. Your heart is like a garden, with the life spring of God’s Spirit in its center. You need to tend to your garden.
Be aware of the condition of the soil in your garden. How receptive to God’s Word and direction are you? Does His Word seem to just bounce off of you without having much impact? Or does it find a quick and exciting, though short lived, expression in your life? Do the concerns, cares and pressures of life seem to choke out God’s Word and emerging eternal life in you? Or do you take long-term delight in His truth, honoring and working out steadfast obedience to God as part of your lifestyle? (Mark 4:3-20) Taking time to worship and to exalt God’s truth will produce good soil, and in turn good fruit, in your life.
Cooperate with God’s pruning. Our “Father (in heaven) prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:2) God cuts back portions of our lives in order to deepen and strengthen us to make us more useful and fruitful. This process can include failures, frustrations, hardships and dry seasons. It can involve some things/relationships being torn from our lives. It is usually painful. Our tendency can be to run from these times, or assume they are malevolent in nature. But often, they come from the hand of God. And, we must learn to seek Him and walk through the times of pruning, believing that He is with us and that He is working His good and pleasing purposes through the difficulties. God often uses pain to help us let go of the things that keep us from growing and multiplying personally and spiritually. Can you submit yourself to His pruning?
Recognize the growth seasons, and be bold. There are many different seasons in the spirit. Some center on cultivating, some planting, some watering and some pruning. And, there are some seasons that are all about growth. These are the times when God is clearly and powerfully moving through our lives. This is when you can tell that His anointing is on you – His power is accomplishing more in and through you than you could possibly do on your own. It is at these times when your soil work and pruning work most reveal their significance. When it’s time to be bold, you want to make sure you are well informed by the Word of God. You also want to move in humility and under the lordship of Christ, lest you do harm others or come to ruin yourself. When it’s time to grow and multiply you don’t want to be caught up second guessing yourself and being overly introspective; you want to trust your secure relationship with the Lord that has been built and tested during the other seasons. These growth seasons are when God will use you to produce fruit thirty, sixty or a hundred fold. These are the times that your life will really impact others. When you find yourself in a Kingdom growth season, be free to go for it and watch your garden grow.
Tending with You,
Pastor Tom
