This past weekend we had our quarterly women’s gathering and the Lord had given me a small spring time devotional to share with them that I would like to now share with you as well!

Gardens are important to God. In the beginning of Scripture there was a garden. In Song of Songs, the imagery used throughout of our relationship with God as His bride is of a garden. Jesus fights the battle of His fleshly will before being crucified in a garden. And the tomb from which He is resurrected is in a…you guessed it…garden. In Revelation 22, we see the Tree of Life that was in the Garden of Eden now in the new Jerusalem.

What is so important about gardens? Does fruit, vegetables or other things that are good for the sustenance of life just happen? No, of course not. There must be hard labor now because of the curse. We have to put in lots of hours, sweat even blood into cultivating the land to bring forth a harvest. When Jesus came to earth as a man, He also had to be subjected under the curse and so He endured the same labor in the Garden of Gethsemane around this time of year, the spring. He went to the garden to toil, to prepare the ground and way for fruit to come forth. He poured forth sweat, tears and blood for hours in that garden that night. Then, at the right time, the seed had to be planted. It had to die and be buried. For a time, we don’t see hope or life we may even wonder if anything is happening. Then suddenly, one day we see a green shoot bursting forth from the ground.

Christ was the gardener (John 15 for one example and even Mary thought Jesus was the gardener when He approached her at the tomb), the seed (Luke 8:11, the Word was God, and the seed is the Word of God), the Light (1 John 1:5), the Living Water (John 4:13-14)–everything needed for the Tree of Life to grow so that others who choose to partake may live and that Tree of Life is now at the very Throne of God! The words from the song “In Christ Alone” ring so loudly in my spirit:

There in the ground, His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me.

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ!

There are times in our personal walk and in our nation where there must be some hard-work, blood, sweat and tears to bring forth life. There is a death to dreams and hopes as well in some of these seasons. Winter is hard in the prep work but spring has its own challenges and hardships. It’s not always flowers. And just like we had this past week in north Georgia, when we get excited about seeing our hard work and shoots of our labor spring up-we then get hit with unexpected cold fronts and must fight and protect the promises of life God has given. As we do so, God rewards.

We all have areas in our lives that we are fighting for life and may be in a spring season and perhaps the Lord is speaking to you specifically in your season now through this. And I pray He continues to do so!

But I do want to take a moment to briefly speak over our nation in particular. It may seem that hope and life are gone…but perhaps it is just under the surface preparing to burst forth from the ground at the appointed time. God will bring about great victory and glory to His name. One of the other things about the spring is that snakes begin to become more active as things heat up. But when Jesus came, died and was resurrected, He fulfilled Scripture by crushing the head of the serpent. And though we still haven’t seen all that God has promised yet, that doesn’t mean that He won’t. All must be exposed, the serpents must be chased out of His garden and there is a lot of pruning and cultivating that must be done before the green shoots can fully emerge in His timing. I had to battle a couple weeks of “hope deferred makes the heart sick” especially around Easter when I thought for sure the Lord was going to bring about something at that timing. But even during the disappointment, I have never heard so loudly the Lord saying “I AM NOT DONE!!!!” When doubt tried to override, Holy Spirit has awakened my spirit stronger and stronger to hold on and see the victory and glory of the Lord in HIS timing! I have also heard the Lord awaken the song, Arise My Love by Newsong, in a new way this year. He has been singing it over America and He is also singing it over many as He is calling forth the seeds of a third Great Awakening as the last big harvest before He prepares His return. If you haven’t heard this powerful song, I urge you to listen! “All hell seems to whisper, forget [America’s] dead. Then the Father looked down to [her] and said, ‘Arise, my love. Arise, my love. The grave no longer has a hold on you. No more death’s sting, no more suffering, arise…arise…my love!'”

So Father, we thank you for each season and what you are doing during these seasons in our lives and our nation. We trust and know our hope is in You alone, no matter what outside forces say. We will cling to you!