07/19/23 A WALK IN THE GARDEN

07/19/23 A WALK IN THE GARDEN

The Christian walk is not a walk in the park.
The Christian walk is a walk in The Garden.

But it is not always a walk in the flower garden.

Jesus showed us what a walk in The Garden was like when He battled Darkness; when He almost died; when He was on the verge of fulfilling His eternal plan of salvation on the cross and rising from the dead.

King David referred to this kind of walk; "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."

As we stand on the mountaintop of victory, we see God's call to continue in victory. We catch a glimpse of the next mountaintop, which requires us to descend from our lofty and exhilarating experience, to battle the denizens of darkness, death and destruction. We may suffer pain, disappointment, extreme loss, and possibly personal defeat, but we must walk by faith, we must trust God, we must be faithful to His call, we must deny ourselves and follow Him fully.

Remember, God does not send us into the battle alone, He does not send us in order to destroy us, and He does not send us without a reason.

Regardless the trial, if we keep our eyes on Jesus He will never leave or forsake us. And even if we falter and fail, God is ready, willing and able to restore our joy, peace, love and victory.

For those who follow, even through times of terrible testing, there is another mountaintop awaiting us. Even our final victory comes as we pass through life's greatest trial.

We don't live for the mountaintop experiences, we live for the Lord, and He is greater than the mountaintops. Valleys and mountains come and go, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever; He changes not.