Come to the Garden

Come to the Garden

Jesus is calling us to come to His garden, where the scents are sweet and the flowers abounding with life and color. His care for each tender plant is impeccable. As we walk on through what joy we find in seeing all his beautiful handiwork. I'm referring here to times when we pray. Our prayer time is like spending time in God's garden. He calls us early in the morning while the “dew is still on the roses” and everything seems so fresh and new. That's what our prayer life should be like, rising early to see what new and beautiful things the Lord wants to reveal to us. He has a way of bringing things to our attention in the mornings like we really can't get any other time of day. I know when I pray in the afternoon the cares of this life have already filled my thinking which makes it hard to concentrate on the Lord's divine presence and fullness. He wants to speak to us but we just have to be calm and sensitive enough to listen. Sometimes our electronics, media, or work get in the way but God wants to invite each of us to His Garden today. Will you spend time in His Garden this week?


Here's a lovely song written by Charles Austin Miles (1912)
called “In the 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.
Refrain

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.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.


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Thanks for the read!

Storms In This Life

Storms In This Life

The Lord didn't promise life would be easy, he did though promise to always be with us. If we simply call, He comes. I have found this true in my own experience lately. Someone very close to me has become very ill. At first I struggled with God and didn't want to even speak with Him. Then I started to open up and let Him back in. What He made clear to me was that no matter what He loves me. He doesn't judge me for not understanding Him, instead He waits til I tell Him the storms of this life are too much and He needs to come be the captain of my ship, otherwise the storm might overtake me with grief. At one point I couldn't even bring myself to sing, because I was too busy asking why Lord?

Here's a few verses and a song that have helped me through this time:
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
 

 ^{Matthew 8:23-27  "}Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.  Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
 
Master the Tempest is Raging – Mary A. Baker

Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threat’ning
A grave in the angry deep?

Chorus:
The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!

1. Master, with anguish of spirit
   I bow in my grief today;
   The depths of my sad heart are troubled—
   Oh, waken and save, I pray!
   Torrents of sin and of anguish
   Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
   And I perish! I perish! dear Master—
   Oh, hasten, and take control.
2. Master, the terror is over,
   The elements sweetly rest;
   Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
   And heaven’s within my breast;
   Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
   Leave me alone no more;
   And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
   And rest on the blissful shore.

Galatians

Galatians

The book of Galatians was written for our edification and admonition. The church of Galatia was taught the gospel of Christ by the apostle Paul. He took care of them spiritually and visited them. At one point though some Christian brothers came from the church in Jerusalem and told them that they should start keeping aspects of the law of the Old Testament such as circumcision. The Galatians started to believe that they had to do those things in order to be saved. Then Paul wrote them the letter of Galatians saying that they needed to go back to what he had taught them which was the gospel of grace and not go back to the law of the Old Testament.

We as Christians need to remember the old law is not the way, we need to keep on target and that target is Christ. Going back to the Old Testament law won't save us, it's a matter of grace now. We are saved by grace not of works. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

The function of the law is to condemn and show sin, that is why we have the law in the first place to show where we have gone wrong. Now though that we have Christ, he is the fulfillment of the law, meaning He -- the perfect Man -- has died in our place and we no longer have to pay the penalty for our sins. By trusting in His sacrifice on the cross we are saved from sin, death, hell, and the grave!Hallelujah!

Now that we have been saved by Christ we have liberty. Galatians 5:13 states, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” This is the best use of our liberty in Christ, serving one another with a full heart of thanks to the Lord for his great gift, that of salvation.

Now my dear friends I would highly suggest you reading this series of devotionals called Galatians: The Sonship. If you would like your own copy please contact me directly and I will ship you your very own copy! My email is rachel.valencas@gmail.com.

God bless you and keep you all!