Garden Ministries

Encounter the living God

  • About Us
    • Links
    • Contact Us
  • Quotes
  • Podcast
  • Wall of Judah

General

Stay Attached. Don’t Detach: The Final Stretch

Janet Weaver Smith and George Smith ©9-4-2015 gardenministries.org

The road toward complete dependence on God and trust in Him may include any or all of the harsh conditions Paul described in 1 Corinthians 4:11-12. For those of us who must have Christ fully formed within and who are relentlessly pressing toward the goal of winning the prize of our heavenward call, God is dealing with the last vestiges of unbelief and fear. Ironically, it is hardship that “tells on us.” When hardship hits, our response reveals how much we trust and hope in God and His goodness, or don’t.

When the storms of hardship begin to whip up around us, we cannot let them distract us from our fervent goal of completeness and union with Christ. All the more, hardship is the time to press in and fix our eyes on the Author of our faith—Christ Jesus—and let Him perfect us as we continue to believe Him. We can actually use these very hardships and shocking events to our advantage by letting them drive us deeper into Jesus.

When shocking events began to unfold, like Job, our first reaction should be to bow before the Lord in worship and thanksgiving, declaring that God is good, not because we are acting all fake and religious, but because we have learned along the way that when hardships occur, we actually want to turn to God and dive into His deep, not detach and turn away from Him in offense. In our season of preparation, God has changed our hearts to be like Jesus who always entrusted Himself to Father.

Thus, that which we “speak” about God’s word, we have come to intimately know as truth and so it will holds us when the storms blow. That is why God often speaks His word to us before the storm comes and then gives us time to believe it so that it works within us an intimate, knowing belief in who He is. When hardships come, this “knowing” place with God instantly activates and empowers us to take refuge in Him because we have learned to love and trust Him in all circumstances. And this is how we have come to know Him; we know, believe, and obey His living and active word.

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

True love and devotion for Jesus is and will be the only thing that holds us when we are opposed. No human compassion or love can hold us in what is coming in the earth. The revelation that we are about to begin seeing is how much God personally and intimately loves each one of us.

Jesus is going to begin to reveal to each individual the true Bridegroom heart—His intimate passionate longing for me as an individual… and who I am in what He has assigned me to be within His body. When we begin to get that revelation—the empowered knowing of how much Jesus loves individually us—we will be, by the Holy Spirit, empowered to respond back to Him with an equal love. But it will never be human love; it can only be divine love. God loves God. Jesus came and made the way for God to literally be put in us so that Father could love us and show it and have a relationship with us that reveals the truth of our Father’s love.

It is a great mystery in the Throne Room of Father; how it is all about Him, beginning to end, yet He has chosen to take it “being all about Him” and make it all about us. But in making it all about us, we are freed by the Spirit to give it back and make it all about Him. That’s intimacy. That is a truly interactive, intimate relationship. Because as much as I sit and long for Jesus, it’s such a pale shadow of His longing—His waiting for me to want Him the same way He wants me. We do not have the capacity in our own human physiology to generate that kind of love so He put His love in us by the Holy Spirit so that we can love God with the Love of God so that we can partake of God’s love for God in us.


« Revelation of the 7 Thunders: Part One
Faith to Encounter the Cloud of Witnesses »

Connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS

Search

Recent Posts

  • The Purpose of the Wilderness
  • Overcoming an Aggravated Soul: Turning to the God of Peace
  • Standing with Jesus in the Storm
  • Eternal Rewards: An Equal Opportunity for All Believers
  • Knowing Your Time and Season

Recent Comments

  • shawneeann on BLOG: The Opposite of Love is not Hate
  • JohnyAutoclub on BLOG: Relationship Building
  • JohnyAutoclub on BLOG: The Opposite of Love is not Hate
  • Garden Ministries on BLOG: The Opposite of Love is not Hate
  • grubedoo on BLOG: The Opposite of Love is not Hate

Archives

  • April 2022
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • December 2020
  • September 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • April 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • September 2014
  • March 2014
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • June 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • July 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • January 2010
  • November 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2007
  • November 2006
  • August 2006
  • March 2006
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005

Copyright © 2023 · Garden Ministries on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in