The Gardener

                                                                                              

The other day, I was speaking to one of my students who was really going through it. She is a little past midway in her program and seems to be under attack. Her flesh is rising, and she is talking of wanting to leave again. We expect this in the latter phases. But it is no less worrisome. The evil one will do anything to derail people from God’s purpose on their lives. When he battles against them the hardest, is when I know they are called to greater things.

Eph 6: 12-17: ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

[If you would like to read up on this, there is a wonderful site online: restorationministries.org-à videos and audio-à Certain of what is unseen and Demolishing strongholds.]

My student’s struggle caused me to reflect over the duration, so far, of her program and of others I have watched transform. They come in lost, alone and in almost total darkness by the time they agree to get help… or are mandated by authorities. They are self-loathing, self-destructive and completely broken. Pretty much anything that can happen to them in the world has and they are at the point where they just don’t care what happens to them anymore. But God has called them and does not want them to die an eternal death.

I lay awake praying and thinking about their constant changes from shadow to light during program. And I thought about the scripture in Matthew.

Matthew 13:1-13:  That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

Then my mind wandered to the seed becoming flowers. I looked at my student(s) as if she were a flower. When she arrived in program, she was neglected, withered and almost dead. In the very recesses of her roots there was a minute part of her soul that refused to die; lit up only by a tiny spark of life that God deposited there, to keep hope alive.

Jeremiah 29:11-14: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.^[a]

While in the Crisis phase, their whole being is filled with toxins/poison that has ravaged their spirit, mind and body to the point that they are no longer who they once were. It is our job to nurture them as they detox. As they detox and rid themselves of the bondage that held them captive so long, they are desperately reaching for the sun and being filled by staff, with the nutrients that they need to keep them from death. Their body/stem of the flower is becoming stronger and able to support them. They are turning from dark to light to restore themselves.

In program, they are taught about Jesus and that He died for them. In fact, He called them out of darkness to live in the light. Their coursework slowly feeds them from the inside out to give them hope and the desire to live in the light. You can see as they slowly start to grow their hope for a better life. The leaves on the stem become vivid in color and they open up to the idea of the battle between darkness and light.

They must get to a point where they can identify the source of the damage, the tools of bondage, the weapons of mass destruction that buried them in darkness. You see, unfortunately, many in the world would like to believe that they were born bad, or just partiers that never stopped but 9 times out of ten, their reason for ‘numbing’ themselves is a lot more complicated.

Sin is in the world. It is in us. Our flesh wants what it wants and most times it leads to a fleshly desire, not a spiritual one. None of us are immune. To some degree, we all go through it.

Romans 5:12: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

James 1:15: Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Many have turned away from the face of their Father in Heaven or were not introduced to Him at all. So many in the world, like Sodom and Gomorrah, turned to sexual sin and our students, men and women alike, were often their victims. Incest, molestation, rape, prostitution…sex is a distortion of what is expected and approved of. Self-mutilation, self-hatred and self-destruction follows. They feel that they are alone, damaged goods and unworthy. I remember Trinity crying so hard she could barely talk, as we read Diane Swanson’s book “Forgiveness”. Trinity told me that she didn’t think that God could love her anymore for the sins that she committed against herself and her family. And at that time, she had been disrespecting her mom, ditching school and using drugs. (Pray for her, she is in total darkness now, homeless and desiring nothing but the next fix.)

You see, sin separates us from God. The farther you get from God, the closer you move to sin. You are either in darkness or light, good or evil, close or far from His covering. In truth, you choose to walk away out of guilt and condemnation, knowing that what you are doing is wrong. The more you do it the more shame, the more distance you put between you and those who love you. You want to be around others like you who accept your behavior, not those who would want better for you.

The students in the program uncover their issues, their wounds, their damage and learn to see the true source of their brokenness, what led them into darkness. In all reality, we do our best to get all the way to the root of the problem, every poisonous root that took hold, must be identified and removed so that they can blossom.

In second phase it is all about the tools. By now they are in devotions and classes every day, learning about the Word of God and the scriptures and His love. They are given disciplers to talk to when they are weak, to comfort them and fill them with truth and love. We are teaching them that ‘we’ are not their savior. Christ is their Savior. When they seek the attention of man/us, instead of Christ, they will do the same in the world and may follow the wrong people again. They must learn to turn to Him in the times when they complete and have no one to counsel with when they are weak. We need them to trust and believe that God’s promises are real.

1 Corinthians 10:13: No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

As they grow in faith, I can visualize their petals slowly opening and the flower coming to life. They are filled with gratitude and love. They are being filled with scripture and sisterly love in the program. Everyone either has been where they are, are going through it at the same level, or are just in Crisis and struggling for their lives… for their very souls.

As they are in third phase, they are usually under attack again. See, the last thing the evil one wants is for them to live for Christ and share Him with others. You can see them revert to old thinking and their thought life is under attack. For those who are wise, they share that with us so we can uproot it and remind them what the enemy is about. If he can get any one of them to stumble, he likely prevents a world of people they know to lose faith too. You must know that we all, each of us, impact many lives, more than we know, by our choices in life. We mimic what we see.

1 Peter 5:8: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Listen, this isn’t some bedtime horror story that you tell your kids so they will be good. This is real. Haven’t you ever seen people that remind you of the scripture of the possessed man who had demons? If you look at it from a biblical standpoint, what do you think happens when they surrender their very lives to darkness and a world of drugs and alcohol? It takes them out. It changes their life and snuffs out their light! When you see people in darkness, stop looking at it like they are just jerks or arrogant or worthless. They weren’t made like that! They became that because they succumb to sin and agreed with the evil one. They didn’t know enough to reach for their amour, their light, their life.

1 John 5:19: We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

In the latter phases, the student’s struggle, their petals begin to fold in, they are weakening to their Christ like convictions. They question their existence, their purpose, their path. They begin to doubt and turn from their Father’s face. Their thought life is fraught with uncertainties because they let the enemy in. We literally put on our armor every day to fight fire with water and darkness with light! Listen, they need a fierce love! One that does not falter. We must revive them and feed them the Word and His love and get them back to their open, blossoming selves.

Ephesians 5:13-17:  But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Faith, my friends, is a powerful thing. The bible tells us that if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, whatever you demand (within the Godly realm) will happen. Likewise, if you pray and waver in your belief that He can and will accomplish it, it cannot happen. Our Achilles heal is free will.

Matthew 17: 20: He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Our students must get to a point where they no longer rely on us to feed them, but they gather nutrients, strength and life from the Father of Light Himself. A flower cannot survive if it is removed from the life. Just as a flower cannot survive if it is filled with poison or trampled on. A flower requires nutrients, Water (Word) and Light to survive.

Just like flowers, our students will go through seasons of drought/doubt, of night/ darkness and of cold where they may die/distance themselves from God for a season but come back to life in the Spring. I can almost see it happening as they waver closer and farther from the Light. The more they fill themselves with light, the less darkness can survive. You cannot have them both at the same time.

Ephesians 5:8-14: For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ...

You must plant yourself firmly in Christ and refuse to budge. Seek knowledge, His Word, His peace. Encourage each other, seek wise counsel, have faith.

Much love in Christ. Be well, stay blessed.