Garden Moments

2 Corinthians 1:4
“[God] comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

A great vs for when hard stuff happens:

• He is there to help me
• He redeems the pain by making it into a gift I can give to others

That all sounds great, but when I’m IN the hard stuff, it is VERY hard to remember.

I think I have help “forgetting,” and that makes the hard stuff harder.

I hate the hard stuff
I love His mercy & wisdom.

Isaiah 55:8,9
8.“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
9.“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

So much I don’t understand.
I get all wound around the axle.
I love God’s quiet voice reminding me:

• “Relax… My thoughts are not your thoughts…”

He’s God.
I’m not.
I don’t HAVE to get it because He does.

Resting in His all-good Godness.

Psalms 143:8
“Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.”

Want to change your life?

Train yourself to make this your first waking thought and your daily “start the day” prayer.

Before my feet hit the ground, before I claim blanket victory, I’m going to PRAY THIS.

Let’s see what happens…

James 1:9
But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position.

I don’t think many of us like “Humble Circumstances”… but James says that a “High Position.”

The Kingdom of God puts the least first.

Because “the least” trusts in God and not themselves.

I think the key is to see my world through WISE EYES (HIS eyes in v5).

I am reminded of when God opened the eyes of Elisha’s frightened servant Gehazi and let him see that he was surrounded by God’s Angel Armies. (2 Kings 6:6-17).

Too often, our circumstances mask the reality.
Too often, our eyes see only our fears.

Going for “Gehazi Eyes”.
Going for HIS Eyes.
Looking to see what HE sees.

Psalms 51:12
Restore to me the JOY of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

Religion always seems such somber stuff.

It’s easy to slip into a grim, white knuckled faith.

I like “the JOY” of being His…David connects JOY to OBEDIENCE in his prayer… Fascinating stuff!

That’s why Paul and Silas can sing “Victory in Jesus” when they are in prison – they are doing what God wants them to do.

(Ever since I was a kid, that’s the song I imagined they were singing)

I’ll take more JOY, please…

John 14:6
I AM the way, the truth, and the life…

Jesus declares…. If you want to know how life works…I’m it.

For best results… Follow instructions.

So simple
So hard
So true.

ANYONE can come…
Because HE made the path.

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

When Jesus was telling uswhat we need to know about who He is, this is one of the biggies.

I’ve always liked His turn of phrase.
I take it to mean two things:

1. He has ALWAYS been
   (Eternally existent)
2. He NEVER changes.
   (Immutability)

That means that the promises He makes are ALWAYS true.

The gifts that He gives are ALWAYS effective/real.

His Grace IS and WAS and IS TO COME…

THERE‘s something to hang onto in a shifting/sliding culture!

John 10:9
I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

“I AM the DOOR” is fascinating.

A door is all about access.

• to shelter/warmth
• to opportunity
• to nourishment

It’s also about protection

• it keeps me in
• it keeps danger out

Jesus is all those things.

He is where we intersect Life

I’ll take it

John 10:14
I am the GOOD SHEPHERD , and I know My own and My own know Me… and I lay down My life for the sheep.

One of my best friends in High School raises sheep in upper Wisconsin. A lot of work, but he loves it.

I’m drawn to the image of THE GOOD SHEPHERD mostly because of what it says about Jesus’ active role in our lines.

Jesus:

• protects
• guides
• nurtures
• lays down his life for us

What’s not to like about any of that?

Of course, that means we are the sheep, and sheep are dumb, helpless, and utterly lost without their shepherd. I guess that says a lot about US.

Awed
Amazed
Humbled
His