The process of a flowering plant (My life as a garden)

PROCESS of a Flowering Plant

SEEDS

GERMINATE

GROWING

“My Life as a Garden” Part 3

So, it’s quite easy to read a verse a day to keep the devil away but this is where we need to stand still, recap, meditate and go back to the scriptures in order for this SEED to germinate and take root in our hearts.

And that’s the next step of the process of a flowering

plant… to germinate

We all know the parable of the sower. Most Christians will by default think that they’ve got the good soil but as we look at “Our life as a Garden” let’s be mindful of areas we need to look at as we might have certain aspects of our hearts sorted but… Could there be other areas that are as hard as

a rock? There is always scope for us to go back to basics and learn how depended we are on Him but

if we can stand still at the soil for a moment as it’s in the SOIL where the (long term) germination

takes place.

The word Create comes from the word “Bora” which means to shape/create

When I think of God shaping us I think most of us would think of clay as Isaiah 64 says and Romans 12

“shape me, mould me”

I remember as a young girl my mom sent me to pottery lessons and if you wanted to make a vase, you would start buy kneeing the clay over and

over until you think all the air is out and then you would take a piece of fishing line, cut it though the middle, take the 2 pieces apart and see if there was any air bubbles… regardless of whether there was or wasn’t you’d need to put it back and knee again to make sure any new air bubbles that might have formed by taking the clay apart, would disappear again. This was an important step as the air could cause your item to break in the kiln and in the process, you could break other items!

Then, after all that, you would centre the clay on the wheel and start shaping the vase not too fast to start off with as it’s fragile and could spin right off if it’s not exactly centred but once in place you the fun starts in seeing how your work of art is being moulded into what would later become a vase.

Once that is done, then you leave it to air dry and finally you would bake it in a really hot kiln that would

without a doubt, make charcoal of your best muffin recipe! It’s seriously Hot, over a thousand degrees! BUT then, if you want that vessel to become WATER tight, you need to then glaze and fire it a second time… that refiners fire the bible talks about… that’s the shaping / creating we’re talking about in Psalm 51:10

It’s worth noting it follows to say Create in ME.

Not the irritating sister in law, or that person who sits next to me chewing gum like a toddler, or my

husband… ME and Create in me a PURE heart.

What are the stones we can take out… Unforgiveness, Resentment, Pride, Envy, Bitterness?

Let’s not speak under the umbrella “Let’s pray for her because of xyz” as an excuse to gossip about

someone… these are all stones that need to come out.

Heb 3:13 Encourage each other daily so that none of you would be harden…

I was so blessed when my friend Ilne gave me tickets to go to the Hillsong Colour Conference this year… she was blessing me by giving me an opportunity to dig deeper, to go and clean my soil and to flourish yet again – let’s pray for each other and create opportunities to grow together in Christ with which ever medium God places on your heart.

I looked at the dictionary’s definition of steadfast and it was interesting to find out how far away I was

from having a steadfast spirit when it came to my bible study time….

Resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering “steadfast loyalty” Synonyms would include:

loyal, faithful, committed, devoted, dedicated, dependable, reliable, steady, true, constant, relentless,

UNCOMPROMISING, inflexible

Let’s continue to seek God whilst being inflexible regarding our quiet time and to allow him to shape and fashion us, our hearts, so that we have good soil for his words to take root and germinate in our hearts

PROV 4:20-23

My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.

Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;

for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

A good verse to remind us that we need to guard our hearts… our soil but reading from verse 20 it’s worth noting how many verbs are jumping out…pay attention, turn, do not let, keep, guard. This is the ACTIVE part we play for God’s word to be ACTIVE in our lives.

“PAY ATTENTION”

Joshua 1:8

Keep this book of the law always on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. THEN you will be prosperous & successful.

“TURN”

When you have a noise come from precisely in front or behind of you, it’s really hard to establish whether

it’s coming from the front or the back. But when you turn your ear, you will establish where the noise is

coming from and then you can determine whether the source is good or bad, who the source is?

It’s interesting that if you add one letter to the word ear, you get the word hear –

unlike eyes/see

And if you add the cross, you get heart

If we want our heart to be whole, do not neglect to HEAR the word of God

If we have ears to hear… we have a warning.

Let’s not be like Lot’s wife who turned back and changed into a salt pillar. Let’s hear and follow, no turning

back!

“MY Words”

I love listening to a variety of people, friends, Facebook, other preachers. I love listening to Andrew Womack, Joseph Prince, Pricilla Shirer, Max Lucado, my sisters in Christ… and we should – It’s good to hear the heart of God through other people who spend time at His feet, who got a revelation from God

BUT, I do feel God is saying pay attention to MY words as in, go to your inner room and NOT just to other people repeating My words. Getting that 1st hand info and letting God reveal new things to us through His word. Things perhaps through our circumstances that we can in turn share with others who are in our shoes who perhaps does not spend this quality time with God.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do, flows from it”

We have to be so careful what we fill our eyes, ears with because it does enter our hearts… are we

selective in what we sow into our hearts…

On a practical note – how do we guard our hearts?

How can we make sure to keep our soil clean – we know Godly “things” would fertilise our soil, but how

do we guard it?

Phil 4:8

Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything and that’s usually where we stop, but if we carry on……Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

So, when we’re praying and bringing all our requests to God, let’s be thankful for all He has done and

THEN we’ll experience God’s peace and it’s HIS peace that will guard our hearts.

Lord, help me today to be mindful of the state of my heart. As I come to You in Worship, may I be reminded daily of who I am in Christ as I wear my breastplate of Righteousness and experience YOUR peace that exceeds anything we can understand, which guards my heart so that it will always be ready to receive your word, for your word to germinate and take root in my life.

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