The Secret Garden

I have had this blog subject on my heart for a while and have kept it hidden. Afraid of offending, afraid of it's impact, afraid of sounding preachy.... Just down right afraid of sharing what God has placed on my heart, and the things He has shown me. I just got back from Guatemala, about a week ago. Many have asked how the trip was and how many patients did we see? It was the best I have ever been on. It was an amazing trip! Not because of any special procedures performed, or how many patients that were seen. But, because of how much ministering in the Lord that took place while on the trip. We ministered to the people, we ministered to the translators, we ministered to our hosts, and most of all we ministered to each other. I was so very blessed during this ministry time. On one occasion as I was being ministered to, one of the young ladies that was praying for me shared a scripture and she said it was for me from God. Ironically, or not so ironically it was the very scripture I have had on my heart to share about. It was like God was saying, "OK, you have tarried long enough; just write it already!!".
Have any of you ever seen the movie "The Secret Garden"? It is a movie based on a classic book, by the same name. In the story the children who are the main characters find this garden that is hidden and locked away. After they are able to get into the garden, they find great joy in playing in the garden. The children cannot understand why this beautiful place has been locked away and hidden. In the story the owner of the property, I think the main character's uncle, has locked the garden away due to a tragic event that took the life of his beloved wife who had spent much time in the garden.
Putting aside the tragic circumstances behind the garden being locked up, the garden in the story could be compared to you and to me. Go with me to Song of Solomon 4:10-16. In these verses the garden is a place to dwell and fellowship with God. In Hebrew garden is ganan, which means hedge about, protect, or defend. If you look at that in context to verse 12, the garden is you and you are to be enclosed and fastened, or shut up. "A garden enclosed and barred is my sister, my [promised] bride- a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." How does this compare to you? Do you protect yourself from the world, or do you allow yourself to be conformed to the things of the world?
Let's go back up to verse 10, "How beautiful is your love, my sister, my [promised] bride! How much better is your love than wine! And the fragrance of your ointments than all spices!". God looks upon the church as a whole as His bride. He finds our love more pleasing than wine and more fragrant than any perfume. Your worship to the Lord should be a sacrifice of your most "fragrant spices"!! Are you giving up yourself for Him? Let me remind you of the unnamed woman in Matthew who used all of her expensive perfume to wash Jesus' feet. It was a sacrifice of expense that shows us how we should sacrifice ourselves, our time, our money, etc. in worship unto our Heavenly Father. Was His sacrifice not enough?
"Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, or a paradise with precious fruits, henna, with spikenard plants. Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices." Song of Solomon 4:13-14 (Amplified version) Let me remind you of John 15:5, we are supposed to abide in and rest in Christ. Here is an orchard with all the choicest fruits, ready for picking and harvest. How do those fruits grow there in the orchard? By dwelling in Christ, and allowing Him to take root in you. If you do this, you will bear fruit that is "abundant". In verse 14, some of the spices that are mentioned are used in the anointing oil that God told Moses to make for Aaron to use in the tabernacle. If you have all of these ingredients God's anointing will flow out of you and onto others. Each plant or spice represents a different thing:

Spikenard- intimacy, costly; surrender and sacrifice; it's the fragrance of a bride
Henna- broken spirit, repentance
Cinnamon- rejuvenation
Frankincense- intercession
Myrrh- suffering, dying to self; death (was used in embalming bodies)

"You are a fountain [springing up] in a garden, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon. [You have called me a garden, she said] Oh, I pray that the [cold] north wind and the [soft] south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out [in abundance for you in whom my soul delights]. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits." Song of Solomon 4:15-16 (Amplified version) In John 4:10, Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well and refers to Himself as living water. Later in John 7:37, He states that from whomever believes in Him shall flow springs and rivers of living water. God desires for us to be so filled with Him and so cleaved to the Holy Spirit that it flows out of us like living water. When we have cleaved to Him, He will have brought us through a cleansing and refining process that will "burned" away the things that hold us back from being more like Christ. The residue that is left, the ashes will be blown away in the wind that will come to refresh. First the cold, and brutal north wind then the soft and warm south wind..... one to blow away, and continue the cleansing the, other to refreshen. As this wind blows over you, the anointing that God has placed in you will start to flow out. In, order for any of this to happen you have to be willing; you have to invite God to refine and purify you. He will not empty then fill a vessel that is not willing and yielded to Him.
Beloved, I cannot impress upon you the urgency I feel to share these thoughts and so much more with you. We are at a crossroads.... eventually our Prince will come. Are you ready? Have you tilled your garden? Have you enclosed it? Have you watered it, and cared for it? A garden will not grow if the soil is not prepared and rooted in the Word of God. A garden will not grow if it is not fenced in and protected from the outside world. A garden will not grow if it is not watered by the Living Water that flows from the Holy Spirit. A garden will not continue to grow if it is not harvested and its fruits shared with others. Beloved, don't wait! Yield and surrender to the Holy Spirit, all that He is asking of you. I promise the spices that will flow out will taste so sweet!!