EDEN Heart

"Today, Jesus is my Gardener."

Pastor Wilkerson Jr. declared these words as he spoke a message from John 20:10-18...and my heart stopped.

In his message, he spoke of when Mary went to Jesus' tomb and found it empty, except for this lone man she did not recognize.  She made the "mistake" of thinking this man, who was really the Savior Jesus Christ, was the gardener and demanded He reveal the location of Jesus.  Essentially she was asking, "Jesus!  Where is JESUS?" as Pastor Wilkerson put it.  However, as soon as Jesus spoke her name - "Mary" - she recognized Him and became the first time to spread the news of a Living and Risen Jesus to the world!  Then, came the heart-stopping moment for me...the moment when Pastor pointed out that it was no "mistake" that Mary saw Jesus as the gardener that day.  He went onto explain that Mary, a former prostitute, needed someone to tend to her heart - to weed out the old, rid of the pests of the past, and till the soil until it became soft.  She also needed someone to plant a seed of faith and hope within her; to care for, grow and water that seed; and then she required that seed to be harvested so she could share it with others.  Jesus did all these things for her by coming to her as "the gardener" and speaking life growing, harvest-producing words of faith into her.  He became the Gardener of her heart because Jesus becomes who you need Him to be (Jehovah Rafa, Jehovah Jirah, Jehovah Nissi...these are powerful names of who Jesus is for us, but they are for another blog, another time).  Then, THE sentence came, "TODAY, JESUS IS MY GARDENER!"  Pastor Wilkerson was speaking my declaration - from his mouth confirmed an aspect of who Jesus is to me, and to you, that I had a vision of the night before, during worship with Parachute Band...

THE NIGHT BEFORE:
I'm worshipping God.  I don't even know what the song we're singing is.  I just know I'm seeking to connect with this One who I know has plans He's weaving for my future, but in the meantime I've been asking, "What are you doing in my life today, God?"  And suddenly everything around me fades but this vision of Jesus.  He gives me a picture of my heart - and it's a garden.  There are flowers of bright colors, trees, greenery.  It's immaculate and WILD at the same time; tended but rugged.  Within the center of it all is Jesus, My Gardener.  He's tending and pruning my heart.  He's growing things of beauty and harvest-producing seeds.  It's beautiful.  It's peaceful.  And, it's inspiring.  Then I see Jesus, the Tender of my heart, look at me.  With His hands dirty, from removing all the weeds and hard patches still within me, He beckons me.  Then, He speaks.  He speaks my name.  "Krinda."  And, I understand, like Mary, what the Gardener of my Heart wants of me.  He's telling me, "Krinda, I am creating this beautiful garden in your heart for us to meet.  I want you to MEET WITH ME HERE, to walk with me and dwell with me in The Garden."  Like God's original plan to walk with mankind in the Garden of Eden, God is inviting me to the same intimacy with Him today.  To enjoy the process of what He's creating.  He also is asking me to realize that a Garden is not to be kept secret and locked up forever.  Just like in the book The Secret Garden, eventually the gate must be opened to others.  In this moment of worship, I understand Jesus is telling me that today, I am to walk in intimacy with Him in the beauty He's forming within my heart, while understanding that this beauty is not to be kept.  That tomorrow - whenever tomorrow may come - He will ask me to unlock the garden and invite within who He asks me to invite within.  I understand, Jesus IS my Gardener today, who prunes, cares for, and produces a product of wild-beauty and unorthodox-perfection in my heart when I let His hands possess all of it!  He's growing seeds of faith soon to be harvested...

I share this with you, so you also may know that JESUS IS YOUR GARDENER.  Today, He wants to begin cultivating your heart.  He wants you to surrender it all to His hands so He can weed the things which suck life from you, so He can fertilize and break the hard ground, and hence He can begin growing life giving, sustaining things inside of you.  Yes, this vision was for my today, but I believe it is also for your today.  If you long for Jesus to create inside you something wild, something unprecedented, and yet a place of peace where you can spend time in His presence, He wants you to recognize Him as your Gardener as well.  He's speaking your name...
You don't have to ask, "JESUS, where is JESUS?" because He's within you.  
Working away.  
And He's asking you...come walk with me in this Garden I'm creating.  
It's your Eden with Him.