Word of the Day
Beloved, I do not need to be convinced how wonderful you are by the deeds or works of your hands. I was already convinced of your worth and great value before you were ever a twinkle in your daddy’s eye so nothing you do or don’t do for Me has weight on My evaluation of your great worth.
Remember the man who searched for the pearl of great price and sold all He had to get it. Think about it in reverse. I gave the very best I had to find you for you are indeed a pearl of great price to Me. A pearl is a pearl regardless. Once formed and created it is a pearl sweet and simple. It is the same for you My Beloved. Whether you are buried in a field or adorning the crown of a king makes no difference in value. You are still a pearl…still My pearl.
Works and deeds or you could say “blooms in the garden” are the results of resting in the finished work of the Cross and not the labor of your hands. All labor…all work should be a byproduct of relationship…a byproduct of walking in the garden with Me. When seen in this light, the work you do for Me can no longer be seen in the truest definition of work. Why? It has become a beautiful by-product of love. In essence work has become a garden formed from the outward working of your own heart being entwined with Mine in a place of rest and obedience. All you do and all you ever will do should come from the overflow of love poured out of My heart into yours. No three ring circuses allowed in the Kingdom.
Remember, the deeds you do for Me should never be just something you do because something needs to be done. Now there is a time for this when you must turn your hand to a need but I am speaking of doing things because you feel the need to validate yourself or to please another person. You must do what I give you to do and the result will be pleasing to Me. I was never pleasing to all men which is obvious when seen in light of the Cross. Yet, I pleased My father and made a way for you to be joint heirs with Me through the acceptance of the Gospel (Ephesians 3:6). Obedience which flows from love causes no sorrow in the long run but reaps great benefits to all involved.
Beloved, your obedience to walk in the garden with Me will create gardens for others to feast from until they are able to walk in the same manner as you and create their own gardens. This is Kingdom pollination and multiplication. All it takes is one person who agrees with Me to make a garden. Will it be you, My pearl of great price, for you mean everything to Me?
Again the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and precious pearls, Who, on finding a single pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.(Matthew 13:45-46)
Prayer
Lord, I bless you for the illustration of the pearl of great price. Help me to understand the deeper meaning of this and the willingness to sell all to purchase the “one.” There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for another…than for a man to give all he has for another. This You have done for me even with the possibility I would not value Your sacrifice. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the pearl of great price. It is worth everything and I am worth everything to You.
Help me to see my own value with according to Your truth…according to how I look in Your eyes. A pearl is a pearl and a child is a child. I am your child no matter where I am or what I look like. Simply stated, I am yours.
Words cannot convey the joy I experience because I know and experience Your great and enduring love. It is hard to understand how Your love for me isn’t given to me based on performance. Performance is the way of the fickle world and can disappear in an instant. It is not so with You. Once a pearl…always a pearl.
Today I bless You with the obedience of My heart and life in the confidence of who I am in You as I help others to see the beauty of Your garden…as I help others to see themselves as pearls of beauty and great price nestled in the fields of Your heart. May the garden I am and the pearl I represent shine with beauty and emanate the fragrance of Your beauty, drawing many fields of Your heart. Amen.
Reflect and Journal
- Do you find that you are doing things to get mans approval or God’s approval?
- Seeing you are His Pearl of Great Price is there anything you can do to be loved more than you already are?
- Do you find the need to have others validate you by trying to accomplish things they desire? How can resting in the love of God for you purchased by the giving of His Pearl of Great Price set you free from pleasing men?
- Are you willing to be a co-laborer with the Lord by following His lead and let Him create all He desires for you as His garden with a heart of love and pure motives?
- Write a description of what the Garden of the Lord looks like to you based on what you know about His Word and according to what He spoke in the above devotion.
- What do gardens and pearls have in common in reference to the Kingdom of God? Whose garden can you help grow today (not tomorrow, pick something you can do today) in to the fullness of who they are in Him?