A Garden of Prayer

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Who doesn’t love receiving a bouquet of flowers?  I know I do!  Flowers are one of the most simple and beautiful gestures a person can give or enjoy from the garden.  The very beauty and fragrance of flowers is a gift from God.  They are reminders of Eden, walking with God in the cool of the day, the place we were created to be, in close communion with Him.  The Bible refers to our prayers like an aroma pleasing to God.  Just as Jesus offered up himself as a fragrant sacrifice for us, making the way for New Testament believers, our prayers are a scent pleasing to God that reach him directly through Christ.   

For the past couple months, prayer has been on my heart.  I felt a deep conviction from the Lord that I need to take prayer way more seriously. I felt a stirring inside that I need to set aside time, as a sacrifice in my day, to intentionally pray.  Jesus would rise up before dawn to spend time in prayer, to stay connected to the Father.  “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed in to a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35. 

As I was listening to the Lord one morning, I heard him say “you will need to pray next level prayers in the days ahead.  It will be needed for daily instruction in the times we are walking into.”  I saw a picture of being drawn into deeper areas of the Garden; a place of sitting with the Lord to hear his heart, lifting up praise and thanksgiving for who he is, for our salvation through his sacrifice, praying the Word as a weapon of truth and coming into alignment with God’s will and plans.  Let’s face it, we are in a battle between good and evil.  As ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven, we have been given authority to pray in the name of Jesus, to reign over the demonic forces coming against us.  It is time to preserver in prayer like never before. A call to deeper intersession, repentance, praise and thanksgiving, forgiveness, seeking wisdom and utter dependence on Him.    

This painting is a reminder to take time to pray from the secret place, the garden of your heart to the Lord.  When we spend time with him in prayer, the “golden bowls” in heaven are filled and please the Lord.  He hears our prayers.  The prayers of the righteous are powerful and fragrant, like a bouquet offered up to the King.  Prayers are more important now than ever before; we need them personally to stay grounded, to intercede for our cities and nations, for our loved ones, and all those who need a touch from God. Cultivate a garden of prayer.  

(Click here to order a fine art print of this painting.)

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14