The garden was inclosed until the wind started to blow. Jesus is the sower, right? He sows the seed, which is the Word (which is love) of God. We are the ground that the seed grows in. And here's the cool part--when a seed won't grow you don't throw the seed away, you fix its environment. The Gardener makes sure the ground is good for growing. Never forget that it is the GOODNESS of God that leads man to repentance. And never forget that repentance is simply reconsidering something in the light of something else. Seeing ourselves as we truly are--instead of the way the world has taught us to see ourselves--in the light of God's mercy, and grace, and love. What I'm trying to say is--if there are some stony places in us... the Gardener can soften those place by watering us. The healing rain. The living water that flows from our innermost being. Or if there are some shallow places in us where it is hard to put down roots... the Gardener can dig in deeper. The deep calls out to the deep. There is something in everybody that cries out for love. Love is what we need. Love is ALL we need. And, yes, love comes in many shapes and sizes. Love is the solution, the answer, to the problem. But that doesn't always look the same from person to person, garden to garden, situation to situation. Remember when we briefly touched on some of those good things that were already inside the garden? The things that the Gardener Himself wanted to partake of? Revelation 22:2 tells us that, "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." A fruit for each month of the year. For every season and every occasion. And the leaves--that fall to the ground, and blow wherever the wind will take them--for the healing of the nations. This is such a powerful picture. What I'm trying to say today, in my roundabout wander around and hope I make my point kind of way, is that it is the Gardener's responsibilty. Making sure the ground is good. Planting the seed. Caring for it. Helping it grow. Reaping the harvest. And all we have to do... is let God do what He's of a mind to do. Be still and know that HE is God. Rest in His loving arms and let His love flow into you, and out of you. Freely you have received... freely can you give. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Let God love you and love Him back by loving the people that come into your path. Be that good ground... by letting Jesus MAKE you that good ground. Or rather, by letting Jesus show you that you already are. He did the work. It is finished. He cleaned us up so that He could present us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. We are who we need to be. What we need is to know who we are. What we need to know is that the garden--with everything inside that it would ever need--is no longer inclosed. We can share what we've got. We can give it away. And we don't have to be afraid of losing what we've got, because we are connected to the unlimited supply!

The secret to life is living from the inside out. Letting what's inside come out, by knowing and believing that it's in there. And here's the straight truth--we all DO live from the inside out. Because what is inside--what we BELIEVE is inside--DOES come out. The act of looking for love in all the wrong places is simply the manifestation of an incorrect belief that we don't already have the love we need. Coming from a place of lack is coming from a place of believing the world's lie. Believing that you are not good enough. Believing that you have to earn approval and love. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river and His Father made the declaration of "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," Jesus hadn't started His earthly ministry yet. He hadn't done anything to "earn" that love. Because love is not about what we do. Love is about who we are. And, yes, what we do FLOWS from who we are. But we can't put the cart before the horse. We can't try to modify our behavior in order to earn something that can't be earned. God doesn't want us to jump through hoops. He wants us to, well, live. And since we know that to live is to love and to love is to live, we can understand that what God wants us to do... is love. In fact, that is the New Commandment Jesus gave to the New Man. Love one another as He has loved us. Which, again, simply means letting what's inside come out. We WERE a garden inclosed. We have always had everything we needed inside of us. Created in the image and likeness of our heavenly Father. The problem was that we didn't know what we looked like, because we didn't know what HE looked like. Because it was dark. But then God--God, not us--took care of that by saying, "Let there be light." By injecting love into our situation. By injecting HIMSELF into our situation. He gave us what we needed, because He knew we needed it and because He loves us. It's that simple. God so loved the world... He gave. God so loved the world He gave... Himself. Jesus laid His life down for us. He gave His life for us... and to us. Because He wanted us to have it. God conformed us to the image of His Son. So that we might know who He is, and know who we are. And in that knowing we might BE who we really are. As He is, so are we in this world. It's not about trying to be someone you're not. It's about understanding and embracing who you are. It's not about getting something you haven't got, it's about experiencing what you have got. By giving it away. By sharing it. By letting the wind of the Holy Spirit blow through you so that all of the good things inside you get stirred up. Using what we've got. Being who we are. Letting the mind of Christ--that's already in us--BE in us. By using is. By thinking of the thoughts of God. Thoughts of goodness, and peace. Not anxious thoughts, because we know God has an expected end for us. Because we know we can cast our cares upon Him, because He cares for us. Knowing that our heavenly Father has us covered. He has our backs. He has provided us with everything that we need to not only survive in this life, but thrive in this life! Not by trying to gets something, but by knowing and believing that we have something. Not by trying to be someone we're not, but simply by opening up and being who we are. And, listen, when you open up... not everybody is going to accept you. That's ok. I know I'm not for everybody. But for those that I AM for... those are the people I'm going to pour myself into. Those are the people that I can make a difference for, and to. Those are my people. The garden was inclosed. But now it's open. Now the Spirit and the bride say come. Come and get it. It's open. It's here. It's available!

We are a garden. GOD'S garden. He is the One who planted it (us) and He is the one who dresses and keeps it (us). Look Song of Solomon 4:16, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." I love that so much. Because it tells us how we let what's inside come out--the wind of the Holy Spirit, faith, knowing and believing that what God says is in us... is in us--and because it tells us that our Beloved eats His pleasant fruits. What does that mean? In a nutshell, "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which siad, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). When God eats of the fruit that He has planted in us... it makes Him a proud papa. A well pleased heavenly Father. When what He has planted in us comes out of us... that puts a smile on God's face. Which means it puts a smile on OUR face, because we are the visible face of the invisible God. We are God's expression. His love letter to the world. And, as always, this is not about what we do as much as it is about who we are. What you do IS important. Don't get it twisted. Your actions and choices matter. What you do matters. But what you do flows from what you believe. Either way Christ's love controls us. Either we know we are loved and do everything we do because that love we have is too great to keep to ourselves and we just have to share it... or we don't know that we're loved and we do everything we do in order to get that love that we think we don't have. One way is banging our heads against the wall and ending up with nothing but a headache. The other way is a more excellent way. Simply receiving and releasing the love we've been given. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Letting Him eat the fruit of our garden--the love that we have... and the love that we are--by feeding the people we come into contact with. Whatsoever you do unto the least of them you do unto the King, right? How we treat people is how we relate to God. If we're always trying to get something (love) from people, it means we don't know and believe that we are loved (by God). But if we love people, that can only come from God first loving us. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. What you know and believe that you do have. So letting God love you is the first step. Receiving. So that you have something to release. But that's the second step. That's the fulness. The whole point. Love is never about getting, because love IS giving. We don't have to get anything because Jesus has already given us everything. He gave us Himself. Laid His life down for us. Did all of the heavy lifting. Finished the work. Jesus did that... because He loved us. Gave His life for us and to us simply because He loves us and wants us to have it. To experience it. And we experience that life of love... by loving people. By giving what we've got. By giving everything we have and everything we are. The greatest love a man can have is to lay his life down for his friends. And to know that everybody is a friend... whether they know it or not. To know that we destroy our enemies by making them our friends. Pouring hot fiery coals of love on people, not to hurt them or burn them, but to melt their hearts. That's the kind of stuff that I believe God gets excited about. That's the fruit that He wants to eat. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. And He eats it, and enjoys it, and is proud of us, when we share that fruit. When we let what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there!

I quoted these verses and mentioned this concept a little ways back, and I think that's what got me fired up on this path we're on about gardening. Song of Solomon 4:12, "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." To me, that just lays it out for us. God put us IN a garden (the finished work, the garden of Eden), but He also put the garden (the finished work) in us! A garden planted in the garden. So even when God sent man out of the garden of Eden... that didn't disqualify us from being who we are. Wherever you go, there you are, right? In the same way, we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. That's our identity. Not just what we do, but who we are. And even when we mess up we remain who we are. On your worst day you are still the righteousness of God in Christ. On your worst day, you are still God's garden. And that distinction is important. GOD'S garden. He is the true Gardener, right? His garden is HIS responsibility. HE is the one who planted it, HE is the one who prunes it. "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6). We have to get to a place in our lives where we're not afraid of a little chastening and correcting. "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whome the father chasteneth not?" (Hebrews 12:7). The pruning may not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but for the garden to grow and be prosperous and bring forth that good fruit. Which, by the way, Song of Solomon spends a decent amount of time actually listing. I'm not going to do the whole deal here, for sake of time and space, but the point is: This garden that we are--GOD'S garden--is chock full of goodies; pomegranates, pleasant fruits, camphire, spikenard, just to name a few. But this is where it gets good. This is going to be the thrust of this Rant series for the next few days: "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (SOS 4:16). I love this so much. The wind--which is the Holy Spirit--blowing through the garden and stirring up everything that's in there so that what's inside... comes out. So that the garden inclosed, the spring shut up, the fountain sealed... can be open. That, to me, is keeping your heart with all diligence. Keeping it open. Keeping it open to love. Not shutting down, or "protecting" yourself. Listen, I know life happens. I know that once you've been burned it's hard to get close to the fire ever again. I understand all that. Intimately. But having said that... God's love is the fire. And it burns away everything but itself. A Holy Ghost wildfire that feeds on itself (Himself) and grows and grows and grows like the burning bush Moses saw in the desert that burned but was not consumed. Like the three Hebrew boys in Pharoh's furnace who were joined by a fourth man who looked just like the Son of God! The fire doesn't hurt us, it purifies us. We come out stronger on the other side. So, again, don't be afraid if the Gardener wants to get rid of some of the stuff in HIS garden. When that wind starts to blow it may just blow some unnecessary stuff right out of you. Don't hold on to things you don't need. Let go and let God. You'll find that you're so much better off without all that clutter and junk. You won't be weighed down. You'll be light. Happy. Free. Free to love. Free to live. Free to experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God that is His gift to you. From Father to Son. From Gardener to garden!

Dressing and keeping the garden is putting on the whole armor of God and guarding your heart. YOU are the garden. The finished work. That's important. Because if you're coming at this life from a position of, "I need to be better," then you're coming at it wrong. This life isn't about obtaining some imaginary, arbitrary measure of what the world calls "success." This life is about love. Period. Full stop. To live is to love and to love is to live. Love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. But you can't give what you don't have. That's why it's so important to know what you have. If you don't know the work is finished, you'll always be trying to finish it. Or lamenting the fact that it ISN'T finished (when, in truth, it is, you just don't know it or believe it). Everything comes down to faith, right? What you believe in your life (either the report of the Lord, or the lie that the world tries to feed you) is what manifests in your life. Look at Galatians 5:6, "for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." It doesn't matter what you DO... it matters what you BELIEVE. What you do FLOWS from what you believe. Behavior modification cannot result in any lasting change. Behaving because you're afraid of punishment or bad consequences isn't sustainable. What it comes down to--always--is the heart. It's a heart issue. Grace doesn't let you get away with stuff you shouldn't be doing, grace keeps you focused on the things you should want to be doing! Look at Proverbs 4:23, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." It's all about love. Fatih, hope, and love. The greatest of which is love. You are what you eat, right? What you consume, or fill yourself with, is what will come out of you. It's too big (whatever it is) not to. So fill yourself with God's love. That's how you keep you heart. Not by keeping it closed, but by keeping it open! Keeping it open to love. Not by hardening it--and I know we all have reasons to harden it--but by keeping it soft. Keeping it sweet. What's that old saying? "Keep your words soft and sweet, you may have to eat them." Or that other old saying, "Everybody is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind." Basically... just love people. The true Gardener, Jesus, has pruned HIS garden (you) so that there is nothing inside but love. That's where I want to go with the next Rant series--what's inside this garden and how it is released into the world. What this garden is really all about. I started with tending and keeping because that was the first command that God gave man after putting him in the finished work of the garden of Eden. That was our first job, if I can say it that way. Maintaining what God had already done. Taking the ball and running with it. Jesus said, in John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." Jesus equips and empowers us to live the abundant life that He came for us to have. Jesus finished the work so we can enjoy the fruit of His labor. Jesus is the true gardener, and we just accept--receive and release--what He has done for us. And in us. And through us. And as us. Jesus is the King of kings. Which means we are kings and priests and we rule and reign on this earth. Jesus is the Gardener. That means we can dress and keep our own garden. By manifesting what He has done in us. By putting on (dressing in) the whole armor of God, and by keeping our hearts with all diligence. Knowing who we are and BEING who we are. Knowing what we have and GIVING what we have!

Life comes at you fast. That's just part of living. But, luckily, we don't have to do it ourselves. Look at Ephesians 6:13, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and haveing done all, to stand." I like this one even better than Ephesians 6:11 (the other memory verse that speaks of the whole amour of God), which says, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." I like it better because, to me, it's more practical. I don't want to get into a big debate about the devil. I really don't. If that's something you struggle with, or against, if that's something you focus a lot of time and effort on... I guess that is what it is. But to me, it's more important to be able to withstand the day. To get from the start of the day to the end of the day. And, quite honestly, some days... that's about all I can do. And I can't do it alone. Ever. It is not good that man should be alone. We need help. Every day in every way. Luckily, according to Psalm 121:2, "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." We have everything we need. We dress the garden by putting on the whole armor of God. By using what we've already been given. We don't have to go get any armor. We don't have to earn it. Or find it. We already have it. We have been given everything we need. It's the armor of God. It's HIS armor. He gave it to us. And, unlike David who refused to wear Saul's armor because it didn't fit... the whole armor of God fits us perfectly. It is tailor-made for us. So my armor might not look exactly like yours. And that's ok. My garden might not look exactly like yours. It grows the same fruit--love--but that fruit comes in all shapes and sizes. There are at least five different love languages, right? The trick is making sure you give the people in your life what they need. Not what YOU need. Not what YOU want. Like... I love chocolate. But my son prefers things like gummy bears. Showing love for him isn't giving him what I'M into, it's giving him what HE'S into. We need to use a little bit of wisdom. A little bit of seeing a need in someone else and meeting that need. Seeing past ourselves. Putting others first. When you have the armor on, when you're letting the true Gardener trim and prune you, when you're standing against whatever you need to stand against--and the only real way to stand against something is to stand FOR something else. What you stand FOR is what really matters. Being for something... being for love... is what makes things happen in the best possible way--when you're standing firm, that's when you can truly experience this life of love that is the gift of God. This life of love that we have been given. You can't earn it. You must simply receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Let God love you and love Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. This life is for living. And to live is to love. To love is to live. Dressing in the armor of God is what lets us--equips us and empowers us--to get from the start of the day to the end of the day. Dressing in the whole armor of God is simply accepting what is true of us. Believing the report of the Lord rather than what the world tries to hard to convince you of. The devil is the accuser, right? Telling you what's wrong with you. But when you know the truth you can simply ignore the lie. When you know that God is love and He loves you, you don't have to give time or attention to anything else. You can bask in His love. Dwell in His love. Live in His love. And give that love away to anybody you come into contact with!

Let's really get into this and talk about what we're talking about. Dressing and keeping the garden--the first command man ever got from the Lord--is putting on the whole armor of God (dressing) and guarding (keeping) your heart... by keeping it open. Keeping it open to love and not shutting it down or letting it get hard and stoney. Look at 1 Kings 8:61, "Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day." LET your heart be perfect. WITH God. That's the only way it works. Because it's HIS heart beating with love in OUR chests. He IS love. Where there is love, there is God. And where there is God, there is love. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. So in order to dress and keep our garden--ourselves, our hearts--it's all about love. Jesus is the true Gardener. He is the one who prunes us when we need pruning. Our loving heavenly Father who chastens and corrects us when we need to be chastened and corrected. The voice from behind us (the finished work that is in our past, and speaks to our present) that gets us back on track when we turn to the right or the left and get off that straight and narrow path that leads to life. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. That's what He's concerned with. And the thing that makes the abundant life abundant... is love. He came that we might KNOW the ultimate truth of the universe--that God is love and He loves you. He came that we might know who God really is (love) and in that way know who WE really are (His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased) and in that way BE who we really are. Who we really are, just for the record, is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. Our true identity is Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. God in OUR flesh, love in OUR body. So the dressing and keeping that we do is simply receiving the dressing and keeping that He has done. He clothed us. Remember when man ate from the wrong tree, and his eyes were opened and he was ashamed of his nakedness? He tried to clothe himself. With leaves from that tree. And God said (paraphrase), "Your nakedness doesn't bother me. Never has, never will. But, because it bothers you, I will clothe you. With myself." And He clothed them with lamb skin. He has always, and will always, do what needs to be done. Give us what we need. Above and beyond. Exceedingly more than we could ask for or even think of. Because He loves us. He wants us to do more than merely survive. He wants us to thrive. He wants us to enjoy this life He has given us. He wants us to enjoy the love that He has for us. And, since love is giving, we enjoy what we have by sharing it. By giving it away. We dress and keep our own garden... by dressing and keeping the gardens around us. And that DOESN'T mean we force our opinions on others. It means if we see a need and we can meet that need... we do it. It means if we can help someone... we do it. It doesn't mean we trim someone else's trees so that they look exactly like ours. Variety is the spice of life. What's best for me isn't necessarily best for you. And vice-versa. You can be you and I can be me and we can still fellowship and get along. I can be all thing to all people. And still be myself. Just do what you do, but do it in love. Let God trim your trees, so you look like the garden HE wants to have. Cast what is not needed into the fire. Be lean and mean. I've got everything I need, and nothing that I don't. If all you have is love, that's all your experience, because that's all you'll be able to give away!

God never requires anything FROM us that He doesn't first provide FOR us. We love... because He first loved us. So if God's command to us is to dress and keep the garden... that means He must first dress and keep US. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. There's a line from a movie I like that says, "It's an island, sweetheart. If you didn't bring it here, you won't find it here." Something along those lines. Point being--if it's not already inside you, you can't do anything with it. The key is receiving and releasing. Letting God love you, and then loving Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. Freely you have received, freely you can give. And when we're talking about gardening, and trees, and fruit, we need to really understand how important and how powerful it was when Jesus cursed the fig tree and caused it to wither and die. Look at Matthew 7:19-20, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The Gardener has to do some pruning. Get rid of some things that don't belong or don't fit. And that pruning is what empowers the rest of the forest to grow. When you cut out the cancer everything else is healthy. When you get rid of the things that don't fit you have room for what does. I think so many times in our lives we just get used to being uncomfortable. We just accept things whether they are for us or not. And that, friends, is not a good way to be. I'm not saying you will never be uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to go out on a limb, because that's where the fruit is. Sometimes you have to stretch yourself. Go a little farther than you thought you could go. That's not what we're talking about here. What we're talking about is when something doesn't sit right. When something makes you feel wrong. The tummy test, as I like to call it. If something makes your tummy hurt... man, trust your gut. God gave us instincts for a reason. We should listen to them. If something doesn't feel right, chances are you don't need it in your life. You only have one life. It's not for everything and everybody. Boundaries are not only good, but they are important. Vital. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. Stand for love. Stand ON love. The Rock, the foundation, on which we can build. The solid ground on which we can stand and not be shaken. All I'm trying to say today, and in this Rant series, is that dressing and keeping THE garden--your enivornment, wherever you are at any given time--starts with the understand that Jesus, the true Gardener, has already dressed and kept HIS garden--you. Look at Ephesians 5:26-27, "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." That's not something that needs to happen. That's what happened 2000 years ago on the cross. That's not what we need. That's what we have. That's who we are. It feels like we are constantly being pruned. But the truth is... the work is finishe. What is happening is that we are coming into the understanding of what it means to be without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing!

We are God's garden. He is the Gardener. We can only do what He first does in us, and through us, and as us. That's what it means to rest--rest is not inactivity, it is Holy Spirit directed activity. So when we see the first "command" that God ever set down for us, Genesis 2:15, "And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it," what we see is His greatest wish for us. Right off the bat. I always talk about how the cry of God's heart was for Him to be our God and for us to be His people. That's all He ever wanted. That, in fact, is why He created us. God is love. But in order to love, you have to give--love IS giving--and in order to give you have to have something (or someone) to give to. And, listen, even from the beginning God could fulfill that in and of Himself. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father has always loved the Son. That's what it means to truly be a father. What God wanted was to manifest Himself... more. To express Himself... more. To give that love, the life, that Spirit, that light, more. So He created us. So that He could love us. And so that we could love each other by loving Him back. So that His love could manifest to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. God put us in the garden of Eden--a finished work--and He made US a garden. We were tasked to dress and keep the garden. But we didn't have to create it, or produce it. God did that part. He is the vine. We are simply the branches that bear, or carry, or make available, the fruit that the vine produces. And while we bear it, we also taste it. Look at Psalm 34:8, "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." When we trust in Him we understand and experience His goodness. It is the goodness of God that leads man to repentance. Not the fear of God. Not doing something because you're afraid that you will get into trouble is not the true heart change that comes from knowing and believing that God is love and He loves you. God is not in the punishing business. Which is not to say that He won't chasten and correct you. Of course He will. What good parent wouldn't? What it means is simply that God is not in the punishing business. He's not out to get you. The cry of His heart was that He wanted you. He wanted relationship with you. He wanted to be our God and He wanted us to be His people. And then, on the cross, He got us. Jesus was lifted up from the earth and drew all men into Himself. Jesus planted Himself in all men. That incorruptible seed that is love. Where there is light, there can be no darkness at all. When God (love) arises, His enemies are scattered. So we don't need to fear HIM. HE is our safe place. Our refuge. And, again, as we dress and keep our own garden, we need to understand that there IS pruning involved. Maturity is a process. Learning and growing. Trying things on, seeing if they fit. And if they don't... we can simply discard them. Shrug our shoulders and move on. You don't have to cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time and effort making it. God allows U-turns. In fact, I believe He encourages them. If you feel like you're stuck in a rut--which is just a grave with the ends kicked out--maybe you need to get the clippers out. Get rid of some of those dead branches that aren't bearing any fruit. Throw those bad boys in the fire (that is love) and burn, baby, burn! When I was a child I spoke and acted like one. But when I grew up I put away childish things. Once you get rid of the dead weight you can be lean and mean. You can be focused on what really matters. Which, again, is love. God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people!

You are what you eat. That's what it comes down to. What you consume, what you fill yourself up with, is what will come out of you. Because what's inside--what you BELIEVE is inside--is too big to STAY inside. It has to come out. We all live from the inside out, whether we realize it or not. Here's the choice we have: What we feed is what will grow. What we starve is what will die. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. That's where your measure of free will really comes in. You get to choose where to set your affection. Now look at Colossians 3:2-3, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." The what... and the why. What to do... and why (and how) we can do it. It is the power of God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He puts the want to in us, and the ability to. So all we have to do--as always--is receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Let God love you and love Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. Whatsoever you do unto the least of them you do unto the King. The trick is that you can't give what you don't have (how could you?) and you can only give what you do have (what else could you?). So you need to KNOW what you have. You need to receive first, so that you can release. You need to know what you've got so you can give what you've got. Eat the fruit, then bear it. Eat it... and share it. God is love. That means love feast. That means more than enough for everybody who might want some. There's plenty of room at Papa God's table. According to Psalm 23:5, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." We have everything we need. Just exactly when we need it. Because Jesus prepared it for us. The six course meal that is the Six Steps to the Throne. When Jesus was Crucified, Died, Buried, Quickened, Raised, and Seated, He did all of the heavy lifting. He did what needed to be done. When He died we died. And now our life is hid in Him. Hid in love. You can't find your life without finding it in love. You can't live without love because to live IS to love. Jesus did all of the heavy lifting and now we get to enjoy the fruit of His labor. Jesus did all of the heavy lifting (and finished the work), and now we can rest. The fruit of the Spirit is love. That's what we feast on. That's what we fill ourselves with--now that HE has filled us with it--and that's what overflows out of us. Receiving and releasing. Eating and sharing. Freely we have received, freely we can (and ought to) give. So don't feel bad about the blessings God has put in your life. Just realize that you are blessed... to be a blessing. Just realize that you have abundance so that you can live out of that abundance. And realize that love is what makes the abundant life... abundant. Love is what makes life worth living. And love is what makes it possible to live. Love is what makes the world go 'round. As the Beatles once said, "All you need is love. Love is all you need." So when we think about fruit... when we think about our diet... eating healthy... being healthy... it's all about love. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving each other. Letting God love us (receiving), and loving Him back by loving each other (releasing). I think tomorrow I'm really going to hone in on tending the garden. Tending YOUR OWN garden. So tonight I just want to finish this Rant series with the truth that the fruit of the Spirit is love. We feast on it by eating it, and by sharing it. By giving it away!