Is God Tending A Garden of Hope in You?

Is God Tending A Garden of Hope in You?

Good Morning Friends,

Faith is relevant today as much as ever, for so much of the problem is not the way things are, but how we think about them. You see Jesus expects us to bear fruit even when it is out of season. Go to the local supermarkets in Florida and you can see we have the appearance of that, but Jesus, I think had something additional in mind that was more spiritual. In today’s scripture He shares the power of words in the creation of good. He shares a vision of what happens when faith and confession collide to move mountains and grow in us something special. Is God Tending A Garden of Hope in You?

Scripture: Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

Mark 11:22-25 (NRSV)

13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ ¹⁹Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ ²⁰The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

John 2:13-22 (NRSV)

Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”  But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”

Matthew 21:18-22 The Message (MSG)

¹⁵Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’

John 20:15 (NRSV)

Message: Following Jesus in the real world is not easy. Like the Lord’s Prayer, we have to take it a day at a time. Today we are cautioned that mere appearance and trusting in anything other than Jesus is insufficient. Today we get the lesson of the withered fig tree that follows the passages about the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple. This morning’s reading blows a hole in our comfortable view of a gentle, meek and mild Jesus. When it comes to hypocrisy his anger is clear. Jesus is heading to the finish line for His assigned mission and nothing is going to get in his way. And if we are not just a little bit disturbed by this teaching, we do not get it. Here we see how words can direct us but also destroy us. Here we see how words can display who we are and what is really in our hearts. Friends, only when we get to know the object of our faith can mountains can be moved. We are to perform what we promise and practice what we profess…then God will give us the power through prayer to see in new ways to live.

Pray we are fruitful Christians. Pray that our reasoning mind not be the measure of our desires. Pray that we explore the limitless power of prayer to create change in us and change in the world. Pray that we believe that our words make a difference…that they speak to the circumstances of our life leading us to confession and greater belief.
Pray we are part of Jesus’ Temple. Pray we listen to the Gardner.

Blessings,

John Lawson