Category: Cultivating Faith: Drawing from the Well

What’s Growing in Your Garden?

I was working in my garden today, after neglecting it way too long this spring. I felt like the Holy Spirit was speaking some wisdom to me that I wanted to share. First, as I was pulling out the weeds that had grown in among my flowers, I felt the spirit of God whisper, this is what can happen when you neglect spending time with me. Things that you don’t want in your life can begin to take root. In the bed up by my mailbox, clover had grown rapidly, but it was difficult to pull out. The roots had embedded deep into the soil and I had to work hard and pulling them out. Most of us who love God are not looking to sin, but it is often like a weed, slowly taking root and destroying the the garden it enters. Secondly, I noticed that often the weeds grew close to or even within the base of a healthy plant, making it even harder to tear out. Weeds are not desirable in a garden, because they steal the nutrients from the soil needed for healthy plants to grow. Sin is like this and steals our joy, our peace, our loving kindness and replaces it with fear, shame, anger and bitterness. This is why we have to be so careful with what we are feeding our spirits. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to, “Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.” In Hebrews 12:15 we are instructed, “Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” I see the hand of God at work in our hearts the same way a gardener creates a garden: tilling, fertilizing, watering, weeding and pruning. It is through His loving hand that we can grow to fullness and bear the fruit which He promised is ours when we stay connected to Him. Our part is to understand that the garden of our spirit requires our care and preseveration. So I ask you again, “What is growing in your garden?” Are you planting the word of God or the cares of this world? One will grow into a faith-filled life of purpose and the other will drain you of all life. Just as a garden requires us to tend it, so our spirit requires us to continually ensure that we are feeding it with the Word of God which promises to help us stay filled so that we may overflow.

Thank you Father, that you allow me to see You through all of creation. You amaze me in the beauty and majesty that is around me in every season. Help me to be aware of what I allow into my heart, mind and spirit. Reveal to me things that will steal from the purpose and calling You placed on my life and allow me to be pruned that I may yield fruit that will bless those You called me to interact with in all areas of life. May I become more like Your son, Jesus Christ, that I may be pleasing in Your sight. I love you, Lord. Amen.

At The Table

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. (Psalm 23:5 NKJV)

To prepare means – to plan, to purposefully think about something before it happens. So the Lord purposefully decided to hold a banquet in your honor. He decided how the table would be set and which decorations would be used. He decided to pick the foods that would delight you the most. He chose to show that He was honoring you before all the world, even those people who were enemies. During this feast, you will be anointed wiith oil. This anointing symbolizes that you are set apart. In the Old Testament, the king would be anointed with oil to show he was chosen by God to lead the people of Israel. You arre being anointed as kings and queens. As part of the family of the Most High King, you belong to the royal line. For the King of kings is in you!!

I love how often Jesus linked things in the Old Testament to his ministry. During a meal with the disciples He tells them, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2-3) Jesus purposefully is planning about bringing us home to live with Him for all eternity. Our eternal lives will be filled with peace, joy, and we will get to sit at the table with our God and enjoy worshipping in His presence.

Our God not only desires to show us honor now, but we will be given the honor of celebrating with Him one day in Heaven. But here, right now, He wants our cup – our inner spirit to overflow with the gifts that He imparts through His Holy Spirit. He invites us to come fellowship with Him now so that we will be filled again with His presence, His power and His anointing. Go and sit at the table your Father has prepared for you today and be filled. Amen.

Act of Worship

Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” (John 12:3-4 NLT)

Nard was an essential oil created from a Himalayan plant, Nardostachys jatamansi, which is from the Honeysuckle plant family.  It has been utilized for medicinal purposes as well as in oils and perfumes for thousands of years. It would have been imported into the region surrounding Judea and Israel making it expensive. Because of her love for Jesus, and to honor him as the Messiah, she poured this perfume on his feet and then wiped his feet with her hair.  What an amazing act of worship. Jewish women did not often uncover their hair in public. She did not consider the opinion of others but took it upon herself to act as a humble servant. She clearly desired to show her Lord that she loved him and wanted to honor him. It would have and did shock some of the other members that were gathered at that residence for this celebratory meal.

Do we stop and consider all that the Lord has done for us? Are we willing to abandon our sense of dignity and pride all to give him the glory and honor that he deserves? In the book of Second Samuel, David dances and leaps before the Lord as he celebrates bringing the Ark of the Lord to the City of David. When his own wife Michal chastises him for looking foolish, David declares, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, tor appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified that this and will be humble in my own sight.” (Chapter 6, vs. 21-22)

When we spend time in worship whether privately or publicly, our eyes should always be fixed firmly on our God who has done good things for us. He is the one who has given everything to us and provides for all our needs. He is worthy of every act of praise. We should abandon any sense of pride and remember the outpouring of Jesus’ love poured out in blood upon the cross at Calvary. He is worthy of all our praise. Are we willing to look undignified for the Lord?