The Gardener Within

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I wasn’t too happy to realize that some sort of caterpillar-like bug was invading a garden at Oceans Retreat Center. I diligently attempted various solutions to remove the pests but these creatures are resilient. In fact it appears they are thriving and multiplying.

So the other day I decided to get the pick, shovel, and rake and go to the source. As I dug deep in the dirt to remove roots that spread throughout the garden my thoughts drifted to the recent season of Good Friday and Resurrection Day.

Could these pesky caterpillars be an analogy of my soul struggling with sin. No matter how much I desire a right relationship with God, sin keeps creeping in, no matter what I try to get rid of it. I sincerely desire a flourishing and beautiful spiritual life rooted in the love of Christ, yet sin keeps popping up and eating away at my soul.

BUT, praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Holy Spirit that on Good Friday that all changed. The Father loved me so much He sent His Son to dig down to the root of my soul. He attached my innermost being on the cross with Him, and through His death put an end to sin and its power and all its deadly effects. And on the Resurrection day, He planted through the Holy Spirit His life in me giving me a newly created soul rooted in Him.

Remember Mary Magdalene crying that Sunday morning at the tomb? She addressed Jesus as The gardener!!! (John 20:15). To me this speaks volumes. I believe John records this detail to point us back to the garden of Eden, the Creation story and the creation of man and woman.

Our parents, Adam and Eve, were called not only be at home in the beautiful garden of Eden and in perfect fellowship with the Father, but also to join together in order multiply this place of harmony all over the world (Gen. 1:28). They were given a mandate along with their children to bring God’s glorious garden to the ends of the earth, to fill the world with beauty as the Father’s precious and beloved children.

We all know the results of the fall and sin’s deadly grip on those who are created in God’s image. But because of the resurrection of Jesus all those who have died and rooted to Him by faith, have a life in eternity awaiting them. This sacrificial act changed everything. A new garden and Gardener are in place, He reigns as King and is making all things new. Paul clearly states this in 2 Cor. 5:17:

“If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone the knew has come.”

This is the powerful truth of the Resurrection!! Don’t miss this! Jesus made all who are in Him into a new garden that will bear beautiful fruit. Don’t allow the enemy’s lies via media and other false messages in our world discourage you.

The Gardener has come to till the souls that are full of thistles, thorns, and deadly pestilence that have ravaged His children, and He has dug deeply and removed it all and transformed their souls into beautiful gardens for His glory.

So don’t be discouraged when you identify a sin in your life. Be reminded that because of the blood of Jesus we can confess that sin, ask for Him to get to that root be renewed and replanted with His love as the source. Whatever sin or temptation you may be struggling with, remember He promises to walk beside us and help us grow in His flourishing garden. Where the enemy has brought barren deserts to our soul, His Spirit in us will bring streams of living water to thirsty souls with the good news of the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20).

So fellow follower of Christ may we encourage one another to let the Gardner do His redeeming work in us and through us so that His glorious and beautiful garden may flourish and grow to reflect Him in all we do and say.

How’s your heart?

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Written by Mike Verkaik:

How’s your heart?

That is the question I asked myself and the team as we started several days of our kingdom encounter at Oceans Retreat Center. The Spirit placed it on my mind after  reading Psalm 119:81 which started with the words, “I’m lovesick” (TPT)

I am so blessed to join students whose desire in traveling to South Africa is birthed out of living a life of lovesickness to know and understand more of their Abba Father. Providing them with time and a focus to have their hearts go hard after His glorious presence. Jeremiah 29:13 reminds us, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

The Oceans kingdom encounter includes experiences in worship, prayer, service, study and journaling. Below are excerpts from blog entries that the students wrote for family and friends.  Be blessed and encouraged as you read the encounters they had as  they ran hard after their God:

Student 1:

Pastor Raymond assigned our team to partner with a group of 3 or 4 people from the community, and pray over the storms in their lives. I walked up to a group of 4 men, and heard some incredibly tough things they are going through in their lives. Then, one man in my group, who I recognized from the last time I was in South Africa, shared how he struggled with a spirit of fear. I was surprised as I remembered him being incredibly outgoing and welcoming as he sang in front of church. A spirit of fear is something I struggled with before my first trip, and still struggle with sometimes now. A fear of what the people around will think if I try to stand out as a person who lives their life fully devoted to Jesus Christ. To hear that a man, so outgoing and joyful in the Lord, struggles with a similar thing as me, gave me encouragement, and it was a privilege  to pray over him. Praying for peace for him, as well as for confidence to continue being outgoing for the Lord, made me feel the Lord’s peace the most on this entire trip.

Student 2:

I personally had a really cool encounter with God and how God sent signs for me that perfectly went with how I prayed for him to give me signs: I was sitting on top of Elsies peak with Fish Hoek to my left and Simonstown to my right. As I was praying and looking over False Bay I asked God to give me a sign that He was here and in my life. It wasn’t that I was doubting as much as I was just needing an extra boost of confirmation. While looking at the water there was a weird light spot in the water, and the shape of the light spot reminded me of a scar that one of my buddies had. It was a really weird thing to be symbolized but it was what God sent my way. 

Then I went to my Bible to read a passage from a book that was similar to my buddies name. When I was flipping to that chapter I did not yet know what verse I was going to read. Then, God put a voice in my head that said, Isaiah 60:4. I flipped to that verse and the first sentence of the verse was, “Lift up your eyes and look about you.” So I finished reading the passage and put my Bible away so that I could just look around for another sign. After about 5 minutes of looking, I saw a lighter shade of water again and this time it was shaped like an arrow. Believe me when I say this, the arrow was clear as day. 

After I saw the arrow, I followed the end to where it was pointing to the mountains across the bay. As I was looking I saw a path in between the mountains, and the path had a couple zig zags, then it split into a Y shape. Immediately, the word “choose” shot into my head. It was telling me that I need to choose to be a follower of the Lord myself. I cannot rely on my parents and how they raised me to choose that, I need to choose. Also, I need to choose all the right choices just like Jesus would have chosen when he was on earth. So that was a life changing experience and I love how I can share that with all the readers.

Student 3:

“If you knew that Jesus was coming in the next few weeks, what would you change.” When Pastor Raymond asked that question, I was swarmed with a feeling of guilt. I was thinking about it and I was like, why do we need to change? We shouldn’t want to change, we should be living to our full potential and live up to our fullest when it comes to God. We shouldn’t just change and pray more or worship more or help people more because we know he’s coming. We should be able to do that now, not knowing when he is gonna come. 

That is something that really stuck out to me and made me think a lot and reflect on my decisions I have made and the decision I want to make in the future when it comes to growing my relationship with God.

Student 4:

During this trip I had this word on my mind: “foundation”.  I am really trying to build my foundation on Christ and to grow a deeper connection with him. Throughout these two weeks I really felt God talking to me through other peoples actions and words. 

Yesterday there was this man praying over us at Overflow Church and he was talking about having a foundation with Christ and how he saw a vision of wet cement and how your foundation will always be rocky at times, but God will always dry that cement and I really felt God speaking to me in that moment. I also learned this about His foundation while I wrote in my journal on a rock by the ocean.  I had a vision of a wave, and how the flat part of the water is Gods love for us that will never change, and when the wave is building up, that is the storms we are going to have to face throughout life, but God will always bring us back to shore.

So how is your heart? May you seek and find the lover of your heart today and encounter His Kingdom overflowing with love!!!!

The Powerful Fruit of the Resurrection

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Jim has made the long journey to Africa 8 times. He is a gifted craftsman and has used his skills to bless Oceans Retreat Center with helping with an addition, put in a kitchen, windows, flooring, electrical work, Jim can really do it all.

But what’s even more amazing than his work gifts is Jim that has brought 8 of his grandkids on the journey with him to encounter what the Holy Spirit is doing across the ocean in the continent of Africa.

Resurrection Sunday I watched Jim serve side by side with 3 of his grandkids, delivering food parcels to needy families in a gang and drug infested housing complex. They not only offered food with love but prayed powerful prayers over residents.

Watching Jim serve with his grandkids over Good Friday and Easter weekend and the many other times Jim has been out-highlights the powerful fruit of the resurrection. I will never forget the day Jim stopped by the church office when I was pastoring in Michigan.

Jim didn’t waste anytime telling me about his battle with addictions and his long journey seeking freedom from the bondage and pain it caused. But from his humility and honesty I could sense the Holy Spirit doing a deep work in his heart. He knew that he was powerless and needed a power greater than himself to break the strongholds of the enemy.

Jim put in the work of daily dying to himself and attaching himself to the cross of Christ, soaking in the blood of forgiveness, and letting the God of the Resurrection fill his heart with supernatural power to walk in the love and freedom of Christ in him. It all didn’t just happened over night, he took the time to painfully take the steps on this journey.

He experienced what Paul prayed about in Ephesians 1:19:

“His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms…”

Jim has shared his story about this resurrection power working in him with many- including the teams he has been on in Africa. The Father has used His testimony to produce amazing fruit and I got to witness it again on Resurrection Sunday as the same resurrection power in Jim has passed on to His grandkids.

Being fairly new to the grandpa role I want to follow his example with my grandkids. I hope I can share and serve with them out of the “incomparably great power” of the resurrection of Christ that raised me out of the bondage of my brokenness and sin and seated me in the loving arms of the Father.

Our families, neighbors, the lost and hurting all around us need to witness the powerful fruit of the resurrection in our lives. May we join Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:19 and ask the Father to fill each one of us with an experiential understanding of the resurrection power, which raised Christ from the dead. It is the same power living in you and living in me. A power, which is greater than any power this world has ever seen.

The Safest Seat

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Deep in the eastern Negev of Israel is a place called Arad. This ancient biblical city hosts the ruins of a temple that is a replica of the biblical description of the Tabernacle in the desert.

We love to take teams here to present a visual of what the Tabernacle looked like. In the picture above you see the Holy of Holies with a small stone seat representing the Mercy Seat, which sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant. (Oh and a few of the participants from our last trip in May 2023.)

Last week the blog topic was “Where is Home?” I believe one of the greatest pictures of “home” is when we are seated on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies. This is where God chose to dwell with Moses and the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.

As Moses declared in Psalm 90 that “Lord, You have always been our eternal home,” (vs. 1), he further describes this home in Psalm 91:1,2:

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my fortress my God, in whom I trust.”

Moses, who I believe also wrote this Psalm, is pointing us to the heavenly Holy of Holies. If you read on in verse 4 it says:

“He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart..”

Over the Ark of the Covenant was the wings of the cherubim covering the Mercy Seat. This is the safest place in all the world, it is where the Father dwells and the place where all His children dwell when they trust in Him.

This week we celebrate our entrance into the Holy of Holies and the gift of climbing up on the Mercy Seat because of what Jesus did for us. When Jesus gave the victory shout on the cross, “It is finished,” The Father, with exceeding joy, ripped the thick, 60 foot tall veil from top to bottom. A powerful demonstration declaring that all who receive the blood of Jesus are forever welcome to come home and sit on the Mercy Seat (see Hebrews 10:19-20).

The Tabernacle and the Temple point us to Jesus who takes us into our forever home through His finished work on the cross. He brings us to the Father, where we take our seat with Him and receive complete forgiveness, no more shame, no more guilt, just full acceptance as beloved sons and daughters.

This Holy week reflect on the gift you have been given through faith in Christ. You have been given the safest seat of all, the heavenly Mercy Seat. Read the rest of Psalm 91, which describes this glorious truth.

In a world that is shaking at its core those in Christ find a home where they have the safest seat of all. No matter the wars, societal upheaval, fears propagated by the media, and the demonic lies of the enemy, we are safe on heaven’s mercy seat covered and protected by wings of eternal love.

Take your seat and sing your hearts out this resurrection weekend because you are seated in a home filled with heavens shalom which we as believers in Christ will inhabit for all eternity!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where is Home?

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I have been thinking a lot about home lately. Recently I flew back from Africa to join Patty and meet our new granddaughter, help another daughter and husband move out of our home in Colorado to a place of their own, put our house on the market, and buy another home where we can shut the door and have no worries when we are in Fish Hoek.

In between all this, I began a book project about finding home- inspired from Jesus last teaching to His disciples the night before His death-and for some reason I can’t get the old John Denver song out of my head;

 “Country roads take me home, to the place I belong…”

Perhaps you understand why “home” is on the front and center of my prefrontal cortex. Where is home? South Africa, Colorado, where family and friends live, where is that “place that I belong?” As I counted up all the places over the years I have called home that number is quickly approaching 20. So home has to be more than a place where we dwell. And as for family and friends-they live all over creation so it’s hard to define that as home.

So where on earth is there a place called home-where I truly belong? The other morning I was reading from a man who traveled around a lot and for the last 40 years of his life he was constantly on the move living in a tent. Yes, Moses knew something about transition and leaving the security of a palace in Egypt to become a shepherd nomad who had no permit place to call home.

Moses words in Psalm 90 leave us with profound wisdom for our journey through life, right away in verse one he lays before us this great truth:

  “Lord, through all generations You have been our home! (NLT)

 In that one sentence you have the most important truth in all of life. All of Scripture given to us by the Spirit of God leads us to our real home-the only place where we truly feel we belong.

As the early church leader Augustine so rightly said,

 “Our heart is restless until it rests in You oh God!”

 We will never find the perfect place with the perfect people on this earth where we can find true peace; we will be forever “restless” in the search. Our heart’s true REST can only be found in knowing our home IS IN the Father’s arms of LOVE.

Moses encountered “his home” one day looking after sheep, it took the form of a burning bush and a heavenly voice declaring, “I AM.” What an astounding way for Moses to understand where his true home was (see Ex. 3). After that day Moses knew where home was and it wasn’t back in Egypt or even in the land of promise, it was daily dwelling in His Father’s eternal house of unfailing love.

This is why Moses could pray later in Psalm 90:

“Satisfy us each morning with Your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives!” vs. 14 (NLT)

As we approach Holy Week, meditate on how the suffering, death, resurrection of Jesus, “The Great I AM” is all about bringing you to the Father’s heart of love. His love for you, this is your true home. Sin pushed us out of the garden; but Jesus’ finished work brought us back in. This “heavenly garden” is the only place on earth where you can truly be satisfied and find a true home, a place of rest in a restless world.