May 2, 2013
I lost the sense of the Garden in the past two years and became a person with "to-do list." Today as I came to the bluff He was waiting to remind me of what the Garden is and is not. My mind was full of so many tasks and worries and pressures. When that sudden revelation came to me that none of these pressures are compatible with His Garden, I said to myself, "Huh?!!! Are you sure?" To which I responded, "Yes, I am sure. I dimly remember that He showed me over and over and over and over that in His Garden there is to be no "to-do list."
So I argued with myself, "This is not the thing to say to anyone when the world is getting so dark now. Everyday there is more advancement towards darkness. The church is getting louder and louder that 'Woe is the United States! Woe! Woe! Woe!' Revelation is full of woes! So how can I be touting for a state of mind and heart and body where God calls His people to enter into rest as in Hebrews 4? Or in other words to enter into His Garden where we are to be like children and trust Him for everything and we go there to PLAY? Who am I? I am not a prophet or an intercessor. I paint for God and write books for Him. I have a small audience. That small audience loves what I have to say as from God. What I hear has been validated by these ones.
Nonetheless, I am like a small child and my voice is small. I am reminded of the cartoon I love of Snoopy dog dancing with great joy while Lucy glowers at him and forbids him to dance because the whole world is falling apart. I also remember the story of Moses hidden behind the rock while God walks by and there was thunder and lightning, but God was not in it; there was huge wind, but God was not in it. Then when everything was quiet, Moses heard a still small voice, and that was God.
Here's what God was showing me today. That my strength is in being in the Garden and hearing His still small voice, because the Garden is in that still small voice of the Lord. "Be still and know that I am God." I was hearing that it's all about God who is in love with the world who would do anything to bring humans into His embrace, who knew the only way was for His Son to die on the cross and resurrect from the tomb, so that all humans can return to the rest and joy of garden living. No more do they have to toil under the hot sun. The Garden is restored in the hearts of all who believe the Son and through believing to live the life of walking and talking with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
There is to be no more toiling, no more tears, no more worries because Jesus did all the toiling, all the suffering, bore all the pain and torment and rejection, all the sicknesses for every inhabitant of the earth. Every inhabitant that calls upon His name is now living in the Garden with Him day in and day out, conversing with Him and enjoying sweetness and delight. God has made everything beautiful. I remember Dr. Mary Neal saying that after her return to life she now lives everyday of her life in the full awareness of the beauty of everything that happens to her. There is not one incident that is not beautiful, whether it is hard or difficult. I remember hearing and reading Graham Cooke saying that he has not worried about anything for many years now. Wow! Imagine that! I want to trust Him so much and know that whatever the enemy means for evil He can turned it for good.
Hebrews 4:1,9 says "Therefore, since the promise of entering into his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it...There remains, then, a Sabbth rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God's rest also from his own work, just as God did from his." To not enter into the Garden of rest is unbelief. Unbelief is to say to Jesus, "No! I don't believe that Your death has paid for my suffering and that I don't have to live in torment. It's not true. I am suffering. We only rest when we get to heaven. On earth it is all toiling, pain and sorrow. That's the truth. So, please don't bother me with the offer of Garden living. What a lie! What a delusion! All the days of my life is full of sorrow, pain and disappointments and hardship - that's my lot. It's all our lot!"
It is indeed farfetched to believe we can live the Garden life because it is not found in the wind or the thunder, but in the still small voice. It takes the discipline of "Be still and know that I am God" to be a Garden dweller.
I lost the Garden living when for two years we attended a church with a strong religious spirit of works, works, works. I lost it when I fell into the vat of religious anger. When I had thought by fighting injustices with my anger I could right wrongs, I ended losing my peace and therefore the art of "hearing" the still small voice. His still small voice.
On this my birthday month I began to fall into that peace. It was by reading my book, Out of the Wilderness. I randomly began to read pages and pages of my book. I started to read and took note that I could not relate to what I wrote. Everything I had written seemed so distant, so unbelievable, so farfetched to me. But the more I read the more I could relate and understand. Ever so gently the Spirit began to shake my body. I sensed a peace coming down over me, covering me. My eyelids became heavy with the pressure of His Presence. I knew that He was carrying me into His Garden. I knew I had come home to His Garden. The sense of sweetness and delight came over me. It was as if He was singing over me.
But the next day I went into calling and writing emails to get students to come to my workshop. The spirit of toiling had jumped back on me and my muscles were tensed up. The sense of His Garden left me. I was into the system of the world: "God helps those who help themselves." Perform, perform, perform. Not realizing that the reason students sign up for my art classes over and over for many years is because I carry His Presence and they are so hungry for His Presence, though they do not know it. I can work so hard to get them to sign up, but it is not necessary as they are coming because His anointing is on me when I teach art. They want what I carry - the still small voice and me quietly vibrating in sync with His vibration, His heartbeat. The quieter I get, the stronger He is heard and felt by people around me.
