As humans, there’s just something in our nature that loves to make things a lot more complicated than they are or even need to be, which is why simple examples of kingdom principles often seem so powerful! That’s why I love it when the Lord works to illustrate them as He has in the past few weeks and reveals how they apply as we stand for the restoration of our marriages and families.

I happen to be an avid gardener and after buying my first home on my own a little over eight years ago, I devoted a great deal of time, labor and money to turning my yard into a series of beautiful flower beds and gardens. In fact, one of the earliest Seeds Of Faith posts I wrote, God’s Glorious Creation Is an example of how God used gardening to teach me how He works the same miraculous way to restore what “appear” to be dead marriages and how just like our gardens in the spring; they will be better and even more glorious than ever before when He revives and rejuvenates them! But putting so much time into getting the ministry off the ground and then doing all that I needed to once it got going; my yard suffered terribly from neglect because I just didn’t have the time to maintain it as I previously had. And being as involved in the ministry as I was, in addition to not having the time and experiencing a greater loss of vision, I didn’t even have the same inclination, which surprised me quite a bit. Of course, now that even makes sense too; God took that heart’s desire away so I wouldn’t experience a conflict concerning what I wanted and needed to do. So I thought my gardening days were over, which was in part why I had seriously considered selling my house and moving on several occasions when my finances were stretched pretty thin. But each time, it seemed that the Lord put up roadblocks, so I finally made peace with staying here even though my yard was depressingly neglected and I felt guilty about allowing it to get so bad!

So for the past two years, as spring and the time for getting out in the yard approached, I didn’t get what I call “bitten by the spring bug” and was REALLY surprised when I felt that old familiar urge again this year! But since the ministry was unusually quiet (in terms of posts and responses on the private websites—which I often spend much of my time editing) and I have help now, I thought I’d tackle getting the yard back in order so I could enjoy it once again. I knew I’d feel a lot healthier and more fit and be much happier with a yard I’d enjoy and appreciate again instead of feeling so bad about letting it go as I had. So I let some of the people who help in the ministry know that I planned to “sort of” take a few weeks off; still doing the things I absolutely have to do, but not devoting as much time to it as usual. Since I hadn’t taken any time off at all since establishing FAMM, I felt that would be okay and as it happens, things have even been a lot quieter than usual and I’ve been able to keep up with everything I need to AND still work in the yard. But the Saturday before Easter, I really hurt my back trying to lift something I shouldn’t have been lifting, and that put me out of commission and kept me from doing a lot of what I needed to for over a week. THEN I had a bout with allergies and that took the wind out of my sails and put me behind again! Then, all seemed well and I intended to get a lot of my new plants out this past Saturday; but we had some pretty serious thunder storms on the way, which would have destroyed my tender little mail ordered plants!

But as each of these delays cropped up, I just kept telling myself “Romans 8:28…so this is working for good SOMEHOW, even if I can’t see it!” And I’d just laugh about it! That’s what I told myself when I ran into roadblocks about selling the house and moving as well, because it really is one of my favorite and most comforting and reassuring verses of scripture! But when the thunder storms kept me from the yard this weekend, I admit that I finally started questioning if I had made the right decision about working in the yard again and I started asking the Lord if He was trying to tell me something; perhaps He wasn’t too happy about me taking some time away from the ministry after all; or perhaps I shouldn’t have spent the money I did to get things fixed up in the yard and around the house. But I claimed a few scriptures that came to mind and that reassured me; like He gives us the desires of our hearts when we delight in Him (Psalm 37:4), and I knew working in the yard was a desire of my heart and that I was still delighting in Him; that He promised to give us the things the pagans run after when we seek first His righteousness and His kingdom (Matthew 6:32-34), and I knew I was still seeking Him first; and when we abide in Christ and His Word, there is no condemnation Romans 8:1, and I knew I was doing that too. So I finally came back to Romans 8:28 and just decided to rest in that promise and not worry about things I couldn’t change, and to resist Satan’s attempt to make me feel guilty or think that God was displeased with me for taking some much needed and appreciated rest, relaxation and down time! That’s SO like the devil; he ALWAYS tries to take what God is actually doing and using to blessus and make us questionit!

Then Saturday afternoon, I checked online for the weather forecast and was more than a little surprised to see that some VERY cold weather was on the way; it said that it was supposed to go down into the lower thirties tonight and tomorrow night! Well, the first thing I thought of was how thankful and glad I was that my new plants weren’t planted; because I’d probably lose most of them if they were! So instead of God chastising me as the devil wanted me to believe (and which I WOULD have believed if not claiming an relying on the written Word of God and speaking it to myself), God was in fact looking out for me! And now instead of being disappointed that my back injury and allergies kept me from getting everything done as I had intended; I am now SO thankful for the delays! What a perfect example of why we should not get upset when things don’t seem to be going our way and what Romans 8:28 means and how it really applies in our lives! And if God went to all of that trouble to help in something so insignificant as my gardening success and pleasure; how could I EVER doubt that He would do the exact same thing when it comes to the really important stuff!

Then my pastor taught out of John 15 yesterday, which is another one of my favorite passages of scripture and very important to all of us as we stand for the restoration of our marriages and families; especially verses 1-11 (AMP), which says:
1 I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
2 Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.
3 You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].
4 Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
6 If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
8 When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.
9 I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [ continue in His love with Me].
10 If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.
11 I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.
My pastor read the above passage of scripture from a version I’m not familiar with and which was different than he normally uses and he either read it accurately or I just heard him say something that isn’t written in ANY version! But when I “heard” him read the last verses, I could have sworn that I heard him say something about “if…and if my words are in your mouth…” Well, I got very excited and couldn’t wait to get home and read that passage in all the different versions; but I couldn’t find what I was so sure I had heard anywhere! Yet, I just KNEW that was a very important statement; that we will have all that we ask for and that our joy will be made complete when we have the Word of God in our mouths! So I looked for verses to verify that and confirm why it’s so important and powerful to literally have the words of God in our mouths, and the following are just a few indicating how significant that is:

Deuteronomy 30:14 – No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

1 Kings 17:24 – Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”

Psalm 33:6 – By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 119:43 – Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.

So while there’s so much of great importance to everyone standing for marriage restoration in the above passages of scripture; it’s also important to realize that one of the best ways to “abide in Christ” is to ALWAYS have the Word of God in our mouths, which makes perfect sense since we know that the key to winning spiritual warfare is taking every thought captive and making them obedient to Jesus Christ ( 2 Corinthians 10:1-6), which is the Word! And that is exactly what Jesus did when the devil came to tempt Him; He responded EVERY time with “It is written…” So the devil finally just gave up and left! And understanding that is especially important for us since Proverbs 16:1 even says To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. And there’s NO doubt whose plans we want to come to pass for our marriages and families!

So now I intend to be a lot more conscious of SPEAKING the words of the Lord into my life and circumstances, because God reminded me of the past few weeks and how I have been doing that even though I wasn’t thinking of it in those terms at the time! Yet, whenever something came up to disappoint or thwart MY plans, speaking and contemplating the scriptures the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance gave me peace even though the devil was doing his dead level best to steal, kill and destroy it! What perfect confirmation of 1 John 3:19-22, which says This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. So as we stand for the restoration of our marriages and families, when our hearts trouble us, let’s remember to always keep the words of God in our mouths so we can release His supernatural power in our lives and situations; and we and our loved ones can be blessed for the completion of our joy and His glory. When we accept the simple truth and power of God’s Word and learn to keep it in our mouths, we will indeed be blessed and encouraged; especially when we remember that Psalm 103:20 declares Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. That sure sounds like a good reason to abide in God’s Word by keeping it in our mouths and to SPEAK healing and restoration into our lives and marriages instead of the destructive words born of the lies from Satan, who is just a defeated foe and the father of lies! So let’s be sure to give those angels something to work with!

Posted Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 11:11 pm in Seeds Of Faith.