March 9, 2010

Chapter Eighty-three: the Holy Spirit said, "watchman, rise up and go into the garden!"


A supernatural Christian seeks God constantly. That is his normal way of life. Seeking God means meeting Him, seeing His glory, worshiping Him, being in awe of Him. It also includes seeking to hear God and obey Him (in practice). 
Jack was woken at 5 am for a number of consecutive days the minute he recovered from his mouth situation. He sometimes felt reluctant to get up and went back to sleep. This morning he was woken by the Holy Spirit, "Arise, go into the garden!"

He was surprised. But a vision of Abraham standing under the starry sky meditating and interceding came to his mind instantly. So he changed into his protective track suits and sports shoes and went downstairs. It was his habit to first seek guidance from the Bible. There were about four Bibles in front of him and he happened to pick up a Chinese one. The pages turned to psalms 96-100, mainly exalting God and declaring His might and His reign over the earth (all nations). After reading the Chinese verses, he picked up his usual NKJV thinking to find the same psalms so he could read them in the garden. But the Holy Spirit showed him another verse, at Ezekiel 23:30, "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one."

This was the verse that he had heard a number of times recently from various sources. But he never managed to find its Bible location until this morning! He also read Ezekiel 22:26 about the priests who failed to keep their duties. He realized the seriousness of the situation. So he went into the garden, but the Holy Spirit prompted him to take the Chinese Bible instead of the NKJV to proclaim the psalms aloud. He obeyed.

There was no star and it was still dark except for the street lights. He duly read the psalms proclaiming to the land the glory and might of God. Then he prayed in tongues. He was not sure what to pray then. After sometime, he was told to walk round his own garden, on the stone steps that he used to pave the pathway. So he walked and prayed in tongue. It dawned on him that he was being asked to claim the city for God in a prophetic way, using his own garden. So he claimed as he walked and prayed for the city.

But he could not find many words as the city has increased its wickedness and defilement by idolatry (including Christian churches not separating themselves form the worldly way, as priests being warned in Ezekiel 22:26). "O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us!" That was all he cried. Then another prayer lines rose from the last verse from Jonah (4:11), "And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hands and their left -and much livestock?"

After he walked the stone steps and along the boundary of the whole garden, he paused at the top step and continued praying in tongues and worshiping God. He could sense the oppression in the air. The sky was like bronze and the earth like iron (Deut.28:23). He was a a loss as to how long he should continue (apparently in vain). But the Holy Spirit prompted, "Take up the hose and spray water on your ground, every corner and let the Holy Spirit rain upon this land." Jack obeyed.

As he watered his garden, he sang praises and welcomed the Holy Spirit rain. As he continued to pray in tongues he felt elated. His burden and heavy load were all cast down. The blanket of darkness lifted and the blue sky appeared! The grass glistened with moisture and the trees came alive.

All in all, it has been a wonderful early morning with God in the garden. It reminds him of how God used to visit men in the Garden of Eden. He really feels honored and touched that such a great God wants to meet with and talk with His people, even him. He certainly looks forward eagerly to more of these meetings!

p/s: The supernatural rain has come around 3pm! It was unlike any other previous heavy rain. It came in dense form, intermittently spraying the ground (like God watering His garden) thus making sure every inch of the land was quenched. There was no waste. When Jack drove in the street he saw pools of clear water gathered by the road side nourishing the trees and the roads and trees were all washed clean and looked new and shinny. The rain fell on the whole city just as the Holy Spirit had said so.

(When he read Ezekiel again he discovered that in 22:24  the Lord ordered the Prophet to say to the land, 'You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.' So, when Holy Spirit brought forth the rain, it meant that the Lord has heard the prayers for the land from His children!)

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