The GARDEN
When I was going through the worst of the worst in my life, Jesus showed me a garden—indicating “my place”….in my forever Home-Heaven.
Jesus said, in John 14:1-6
LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, ye believe in God,
BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.
2In My Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself; THAT WHERE I AM, there YOU MAY BE ALSO.
4 And whither I GO ye KNOW, and THE WAY ye know.
5 Thomas said “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus replied I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE: no man comes to The Father but by Me.
This garden was small-and in my human perspective of the things of God it should be HUGE and exorbitant. It had four benches; one in each corner of the garden, each privately and beautifully separated from the others, by trees, plants, and bushes. I said “Jesus, why is this garden so small—only a few can fit in here!”. His reply “My Child, this is so I can speak to My Own one-on-one; just Me and them, face to face…”
Those benches could comfortably seat only two—YOU and JESUS. Pick a corner. Have a seat; talk to Him—for that is His hearts desire—AND YOURS.
THE ENTRANCE to The Garden, the second vision of the Garden in Heaven
1 Corinthians 2:12-14
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the (Holy) SPIRIT which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I am reminded that those who have not the Spirit of God can’t understand HOW GOD WORKS, because it is by His Spirit that such knowledge is gained. I am also reminded that even those who have HS often are blinded by man’s limited intellect and imperfect (human) knowledge; by unbelief, and by satan’s agenda to stop the power of God working in and through a Believer. Often, we who profess to be led of the Spirit, are really bound by our own limitations of self-reliance and carnal thinking rather than reliance on His Word and the leading of Holy Spirit in us! Lead us, Spirit of The Living God!
As I neared the entrance to The Garden, I noticed a small rose bush outside the gate which looked out of place. It had no flowers, but a few buds. My first thought was that it should be INSIDE the garden, and perhaps, if I were tending this garden, I would be moving it to a more appropriate place.
The pure gold gate opened into a corridor, which had side and overhead lattices that formed a covering; a roof of sorts, and this lattice was covered with roses.
Beautiful roses, of all sizes, shapes, and colors. As Jesus walked through this Garden entrance the subtle, yet somehow at the same time, powerful fragrance of these roses permeated my olfactory senses, and I breathed a deep breath, inhaling the luscious fragrance of multiple blooms. It was as if I was TASTING the fragrance of these roses and they “tasted” like the most expensive dark chocolate in the world!
There were no thorns on any of the rosebushes. (I noticed that right away, because I am constantly being stuck by the thorns on my rosebushes!)
“You are to seat the ones who enter the garden; to provide them fruits of their choice, (there were four fruit trees in the garden—one in each corner) that they may comfortably wait. Only four are in the garden at one time—one for each bench.”
Wait! Hold on! My human mind raced to anxiousness, as I saw a line outside the garden; me stationed as sentry: “HALT! Gotta wait! Jesus is busy right now; you will have to wait your turn or come back! “ Then I heard the complaints, the impatient remarks, the heavy sighs of restlessness—like a Walmart line on a Saturday!
Then He laughed; A hearty laugh… He had read my anxious human thoughts! “My Child,” he said, “It is not here as it is there. Come.”
He led me back outside the gate and pointed to that little out-of-place rosebush. “This bush, my child, blooms a bloom when one enters. which closes up when one leaves. ALL who are CALLED HERE, there IS ROOM FOR, for I AM the One who beckons them to Me. “
“The bush, My Child is for you—and there is another at the back gate, just like it—that you may know at any time how many you are to serve.”
Jesus will never give us more than we can handle. Whewww…. Here AND in Heaven! So, that’s PART of what He showed me I’d be doing in that garden. I imagine 5-fold ministry folks will be in charge of HUGE ornate fancy gardens—or even castles! But, in all sincerity, I am simple. Not simple-minded, mind you! The ornate, fancy, huge garden maybe one day I will “grow into” while I am in Heaven, who knows?
But for now, I relish the simple things in life—a sunset, a daffodil in bloom, a baby’s smile, a hike with a friend; and now, in fall, a crunchy, just-picked almost perfect apple.
I’ll eat a perfect one in that garden in Heaven, with YOU!
THE FOUNTAIN in The Garden, the third, and so far, last vision of God’s Garden in Heaven
One hears of Heaven being a place where we lie around on clouds and play harps and eat chocolate without getting fatter. And, confessing that Ive never been there-(came close three times; but that is another story I shall soon share), so this may in fact be so—but Heaven is also a REAL PLACE—GOD’S Kingdom and a place where I believe we will continually listen, learn, and LIVE… including work. But “work” there shall not be work as it is here—a necessity of the flesh to obtain necessary fleshly sustenance needed for fleshly survival; but “work” there shall be tasks assigned by The King over us all, which we will eagerly do and complete to perfection, according to His will, all the while praising God, but never tiring of task or praise—a peaceful contentment of the knowledge that we are forever under His jurisdiction; surrounded by His Light; ever-glistening, ever-gleaming; immersed in His Love, Peace, and contentment.
As He led me to the gate, He opened it, and said, “This is your place. You are to maintain it in the manner I show you.” I gazed at the pure-gold fencing, the trees, the plants, the bushes and flowers—and all this I shall explain in detail sometime—and I was immediately drawn to the center of the garden, in which a fountain gently flowed.
My curiosity was peaked, because this fountain did not act as fountains we see here, with water gushing frantically and splashing with force as it meets the bottom. I was fascinated by this fountain.
I stared at it. It wasn’t water, but a gel-like liquid. it flowed slowly, and the noise it made was soft and soothing, but what I noticed most was this “water” glistened with glittery speckles that shone with a brilliance I had never seen—with rays shooting out as beams of sunshine produce, but whiter and not harsh on one’s eyesight. These rays penetrated the atmosphere and went on into infinity, shining brightly as far as I could see.
As the “water” hit the bottom of the pool, it swirled and twirled into various and numerous colors and shades—all the while glittering and glistening with colors unexplainable and unnamed, because we have them not here on this earth.
I exclaimed, “Jesus, this is SO cool!”. (yes, I know…but thats what I said…) “But, it’s not water, what is it?”
He replied , “It is the Fountain of My Love. It does not wash off, but covers My Own with the shining brilliance of Me. It softens the heart; it soothes the soul. It heals the hurts. It magnifies ME, and it pours over Mine and into Mine with ever-flowing Love and Peace and Joy of ME.“
As I stared down at the pool of glistening, swirling Love of the One who died for me, I knew that His Love would get me through every challenge, every sickness, every rejection, every emotional and physical hurt, every lie of the enemy meant to steal, kill, destroy…and suddenly, the fretfulness and hopelessness that I had felt was now gone; replaced by His Love, His Peace, His Joy.
I began to cry tears of happiness, joy, and peace. I looked up at Him, and He smiled at me. “My Child, all is well.”
And so it is.