A well watered Garden

A well watered Garden

Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

This verse gives 6 promises of God to all who would receive it.

They are as follows:

• The Lord will guide you continually (always)

• He will satisfy your soul in drought (in difficult times)

• He will make fat your bones (give good health)

• You will be like a watered garden (speaks of life flowing into you)

• You will be like a spring of water (life flowing out of you source)

• Your waters will never fail (you will be continually supplied to be a supply)

This is an incredible verse in Isa 58 which is such an important chapter in the scheme of things pertaining to God’s intentions and promises to the believer. The idea of the watered garden is also that it is a well watered garden. There is a play on the word “well”. Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where…… It can mean that the garden is more than adequately watered and supplied with water in the natural or a garden that is supplied by a well which is the source from which the garden is watered. People may comment on your garden because it so beautiful and ask; ‘how are you watering this garden or where is the source of water from?’ They ask this because they know that water is critical to the well being of the garden and that water is a precious and expensive commodity. For one to have a beautiful garden year round means, it is an expensive affair. So, the source of water is incredibly important in the context of the question they ask. Added to this, their intention is to find out how you are able to afford it.

So, the word ‘well’ is very important in this context as it has deep spiritual meaning. The well in the context of the Bible has always been the central place of dwelling. In Australia, when they talk about the ‘water hole concept’, they are referring to people building and congregating in cities, or building around each other till a city is formed (then it becomes crowded to boot). In the old days, since water was important for both man and beast, it was not to be taken lightly. Many a battle and problems have come about over wells in the Bible. So, what is the deep spiritual meaning? The deep spiritual meaning is the water in the well represents the life giving Holy Spirit. In the passage below, you will find an encounter that takes place that exemplifies this very meaning. Joh 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. Joh 4:8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Joh 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Many Christians struggle with the concept of the Holy Spirit just like this woman and so in many cases discount His involvement in their spiritual growth. They tend to stick to the word which in their case is about the written word which is called the Logos word. They ignore the Rhema word which is the revealed word of God. Hence, so many theologies and doctrines are formed around the Logos word that actually never gives life. It gives the intellectual man much knowledge which only causes him to be puffed up while adding many degrees to his name to boast about how much he knows the word of God. This is what had happened to the Jews and they ended up forming sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees and many other types of people including zealots. None of them achieved anything but death out of their knowledge of the scriptures. Though the scriptures spoke of the life of the word, the never received it. Joh 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not .Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

In the modern day context, the danger is to become so theological minded that we seek the letter of the word and not the life of the word. Understanding the word does not mean we will necessarily receive the life of the word because understanding can be subjective (personal) and not Godly understanding. That is why Apostle prayed that God would open the eyes of the understanding of the Ephesians Eph 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. The eyes of understanding in this case was to be opened specifically by the Spirits of wisdom and revelation. Note the emphasis on Spirit, which in this case is plural, as there were two.

Apostle Paul did not want the Ephesians to end up in the same boat as the Galations who had started out in the Spirit and ended up in the flesh. Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

This eternal life or life Giver is what the word testifies to as being the water of life. He gives life through the Spirit and anyone who receives His Spirit receives life eternal. So many are seeking Jesus to give them life on earth or the letter of the word thinking that is life, but few seek Him for the life of the Spirit which is eternal life. Coming to Jesus and receiving Him as Lord and Saviour does not equate to receiving a worldly life. On the contrary, one will find that life in Christ on earth is full of challenges and problems and requires death to self. That is why we need the Holy Spirit and the only way that you can be a well watered garden is to receive into your life (garden) the Holy Spirit. Not only do you have to receive Him, you must do what He says in order to keep His presence and life active in you. Mary the mother of Jesus told the servants to do what Jesus told them to do when they ran out of wine at the wedding in Cana. Jesus said to fill the empty pots with water. Then, when they drew from the pots, they received new wine. This too represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the new wine of life that Jesus gives. So many want the wine of this world which represents death.

New wine belongs in new bottles not old bottles

My friends, seek God for His Spirit to be poured out upon us. Maybe you are in a dry place and need His Spirit. When you ask for the Holy Spirit then you will see all the dry places in your life become well watered. Isa 32:15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Isa 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. Isa 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

I believe that the days are soon coming upon us when the Spirit of God is going to be poured out upon us. Many others in the world are also contending for this very important event. The world has become a desert of difficulty and there is no escape for millions who are seeking reprieve from the problems. Life in so many nations are in such turmoil that the usual boundaries that once existed in this world are being broken and many do not care anymore. They see one half of the world living in prosperity while so many others around the world are dying and in despair over daily life. The refugee problem along with wars, death, starvation, disease, poverty and the like are all increasing to unmanageable levels. The only solution is God’s intervention.

I believe that God’s intervention will be an outpouring of His Spirit to save many in these last days but then, He will take the Church out of the continuity of its existence on this earth. This will leave a very impoverished earth that will not be able to find solutions and will eat itself to put it crudely. There will be times like never before on this earth and many will die without Christ. Pray that God will show mercy even more so and bring in His millennium rule soon.

You are that well watered garden if you believe it. Take hold of His promises to you and bring joy, peace, love and hope everywhere you go. The well is within you . Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Lots of love

Pastor Noble

21/06/2015

©2015 Noble Rajkumar