Garden Reflections: Part 1

Connecting with nature, connecting with God! (Reflections from my morning walk in my mother’s garden)

So He said, let there be…and through the spoken word, He filled the earth with the physical manifestation of the beauty, power and glory that was inside Him!

God created the world we see with words.
Wars have started with words, marriages destroyed with words, children broken with words.

And yet lives have been restored with words, hearts won over with words (will some sisters in the house join me say Amen?) calamity averted, revivals began because of words.

Words matter! So David prayed a prayer I love to pray;

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord , my strength and my Redeemer”.
(Psalms 19:14)

It starts with words, but remember words are only constructed after we have conceived ideas and thoughts in our hearts.

What God conceived in His mind to accomplish, He spoke into being and it was done.

What you say matters! Watch your tongue and watch your life, your words are more closely linked to your life than you can imagine! So use your words wisely. Choose to build others up, choose to speak words of affirmation, choose to make positive confessions about your life, spouse, children, family and whatever it is that is important to you!

In the book of Numbers the 10 spies brought back an evil report after they had spied out the promised land and this caused the children of Israel to begin to fear.  They murmured against God and desired a return to Egypt. God was angry at His people because of their words which demonstrated a lack of faith in Him and declared as follows;

Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord , ‘just what you have spoken in My hearing I will most certainly do to you; your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, even all who were numbered of you, your entire number from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me.
(Numbers 14:28‭-‬29)

Their words were their downfall! May our words be our lifting up!

In this season, with its debilitating effects, let’s choose to speak life over our situations.
No job, slow job, no business, slow business, loved ones ill or  taken away from us and a host of other issues; let us declare that all is well! God’s got this!

I love how the Prophet Habakkuk puts it poetically;

“Though the fig tree does not blossom And there is no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive fails And the fields produce no food, Though the flock is cut off from the fold And there are no cattle in the stalls,  Yet I will [choose to] rejoice in the Lord ; I will [choose to] shout in exultation in the [victorious] God of my salvation!  The Lord God is my strength [my source of courage, my invincible army]; He has made my feet [steady and sure] like hinds’ feet And makes me walk [forward with spiritual confidence] on my high places [of challenge and responsibility]”.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Yet I choose…
Will you choose to rejoice…
Will you choose to shout in exaltation of the victorious God of your salvation?

Like the Shunamite woman will you declare that all is well, when business lies cold, shelves are bare, pockets empty or your account cleaned out?

It’s a tough ask but how else can we demonstrate our faith in God, than to declare His praise and affirm our faith in His power to sustain us?

I declare to you that the Sovereign Lord is your strength, He will make your feet like the hinds feet and enable you to conquer the rough terrain and get to His desired heights for your life!

Will you say Amen?