Prayer Garden

This has been a tough day for me so far, not the day I had planned and certainly not the outcomes I wanted. The only thing good about today so far is that I can finally put to rest a controversy in which I've been involved. And then there is the Word of God that has come to me in spite of all my struggles with pride and anger.

Gethsemane. A garden of olive trees. A place of solitude and a place to get close to God. Jesus went there often and found it the place where He could accept the will of the Father over His own fears of pain, humiliation, rejection, and betrayal. It may seem odd but today this place at my computer is my garden of prayer.

His words stir something in me: "Sit here, while I pray." I sit here while He prays for me! He is interceding on my behalf. I am just here. I am with Him. I need His prayers and I feel at peace.

"Remain here and watch," He told Peter, James and John as they went a little further away from the rest. Remain here. Watch. Watch Jesus pray. Watch Him commune with His Father. Remain. "I am the vine you are the branches, If a man remains in Me and I in him he will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5 I remain with Him. I allow His life to flow through me. I can do nothing without Him. He has given me a promise of much fruit.

Then talking directly to Peter, Jesus says "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." Watch out for the temptation. Watch for the weakness of the flesh. Sleep comes when I should watch. I may miss my moment, my God moment. Pray. Prayer strengthens my spirit and my bond with my God.

No matter how many times I sleep when I should watch and pray, Jesus is always at prayer for me. He never fails. He is always ready for anything that might come. He is strong when I am weak.

Father, forgive her she does not know what she is doing! She does not know that I take the cup of her sin. She does not know my love for her is complete. She does not know that my plan for her will be fulfilled. Forgive her!

Withered Fig Tree Faith

Remember the fig tree that was cursed by Jesus? Well, the disciples and Jesus again passed by the tree and found it withered away to its roots. Good old Peter pointed out to Jesus what He had done as if Jesus wouldn't believe that His words would be so powerful.

It is as if Jesus replied to Peters' observation by saying:" You want to see power? I'll show you power! This is how you can have my power." It was then that Jesus spoke words that had the power of dying words, teaching words that simply spoke the message Jesus came to give.

"Have faith in God." Jesus spoke the most powerful of these words at the onset of this teaching moment. He is God! He is telling all of us to have faith in Him, trust and believe.

He then tells us that there will be challenges, like mountains, we need to overcome. They can be removed just like the fig tree dried up: Words, spoken in faith, believing in and trusting God will hold power to remove the obstacles to having faith in God.

Again, Jesus tells us that if we ask in prayer and believe we will have faith.

Finally, Jesus wraps it all up with forgiveness. He asks us to forgive anything and everything so that the Father will forgive us. This, too, takes faith.

Jesus teaches us that to find faith in God we must remove any obstacles by speaking our belief, praying and finally forgiving. What a beautiful lesson to learn under a cursed tree: Have faith in God.

God, You are the place where our faith begins and ends. It is taught at the foot of a tree You cursed for our sakes. I humbly thank You!