On this, the last day of 2013, we all are prone to a certain amount of reflection. We ask ourselves questions like, “What did I accomplish this year?” or “What can I do to advance in the coming year?” Many people make well-intentioned resolutions about losing weight, exercising, or finally reading all the way through the Bible! While all of these good intentions are commendable, they rarely last beyond January 31!
For those of us who work in the Israel Prayer Garden, we look back over the almost three years since we first broke ground on this consecrated two acres in Corinth, Texas. From the beginning, when I first laid the map of ancient Israel over a survey of the garden, I knew when I crossed from one tribe to another. Finally, after three years, everyone who enters the garden will know, as well, because today we are placing copper plates along the pathways indicating the boundaries between each tribe.
As we cross the boundary separating 2013 from 2014, I urge you to ask God for a new understanding of the boundaries in your own life. This scripture from Acts 17 has ministered to me in a whole new way as I have watched our intrepid garden artisans labor in the winter chill:
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:24-31).
In 2014, may we all seek the Lord in the hope that we might find Him, and rest assured that we will be deemed righteous through Him that was raised from the dead.
Shalom, and Happy New Year!
Pam and the Garden Crew
Posted by karen secrest on December 31, 2013 at 10:38 pm
Thank you for your consistency, dedication,ability and willingness to share with us. May you all have the most blessed, exciting New Year ever, even as the Lord has promised.
Regards,
Karen Secrest
Posted by Maria Wennberg on December 31, 2013 at 10:43 pm
Thank you Pam for your beautiful thoughts and bringing to remembrance God’s truths.I love you dear friend. Yes, a very happy New Year to you and your awesome family. Maria
Posted by LeRoy Whitman (@LeRoyWhitman) on December 31, 2013 at 11:32 pm
With these boundary markers, I also declare there is now a Divine connection between the tribes that begins to arise, be recognized, and function!
Posted by Louise Cheney on January 2, 2014 at 2:41 am
Wonderful and so inspiring and encouraging thank you
Posted by Rebecca Susan on January 2, 2014 at 10:30 pm
The Scripture you shared from Acts 17, ministered to me also … particularly this portion … “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead”.
Thank you!