In this moment of history, God is reordering and restoring His plan and purposes into gatherings of His kingdom seeking people. The places of gathering are like spots on earth that are restored to the Garden of Eden way of life, God’s “garden spots.” These purified holy places are to preserve the pure light and life of the kingdom during the season of darkness on earth. Some will be tucked away out of sight and others will be hidden in plain sight. Eventually they are to become bases from which the people of God will spread God’s kingdom to the world around them.
Mercy, longsuffering, and loving kindness have been poured out upon generations of people who had turned away from His perfect plan for His kingdom to reign on earth as in heaven. Other systems and lifestyles were developed after the Babylonian culture of following false gods. The time of the final destruction of Babylon is rapidly approaching.
Grace is now empowering a restoration for all who will come out of the Babylonian style ways of living and turn to God with their whole hearts. I believe that even in the darkest days of Babylonian style captivity, God had a remnant of holy people that were mostly unseen by the world – a people in history crying out to God for His plan and His ways to come forth on earth. Their lives were incomplete without us as a part of a chain bringing forth a greater fulfillment of their godly hearts’ desires and prayers.
Children of God are again hearing clearly the voice of their Father. They are humbling themselves before God and turning from their training in the ways of the fallen world and religion. They are looking to God with wide open faces to receive the fresh input of restoration of the presence and purpose of God in their hearts and lives.
Return to the Garden
God made Adam (mankind) from the dirt and placed him in the garden to tend and keep it.
Contained in this simple statement is a profound kingdom concept of the reality of the purpose of our lives. Everything that God would have us to be and do relates to this “tend-the-garden” principle. Full satisfaction and significance cannot be attained in our lives without in some way relating to this principle of purpose of our lives.
What does it mean for you and me to “tend and keep His garden”?
In general the garden of God is the place of His uncontested rule and reign on planet earth – a place where all things live in peace to grow and prosper according to His desire and purpose. It is God’s plan that the entire planet be restored as His garden.
The first level of His garden is ourselves, our own spirits, souls and bodies. Our first garden to tend is that which Jesus called the soil of our hearts. The soil that will grow whatever is planted in it. Each of us as mature human beings have the final say as to what seeds are planted in the garden of our hearts. The seeds that we allow will grow into the structure of our lives and bear the fruit of our lives. The soil alone does not determine our lives. The seed determines whether our lives will produce the kingdom of God or the kingdom of man into the earth. If we plant the seeds of the kingdom of man in our hearts it will grow, and we will be led by the kingdom of darkness. If we plant seeds of the kingdom of God, they will grow and we will be led by the light of the glorious kingdom of heaven.
While we were young children, when most of our garden was being planted, we literally had no say in what seeds were planted in the soil of our hearts. All of the people that I know personally, including myself, were not planted with only the seed of the real kingdom of God. There were other seeds of the kingdom of man and darkness planted in all of us. One of the major concepts planted in most, if not all, of us is human competition that always leads to strife and stress.
Therefore our gardens have been or will be plowed deeply, and all that God did not plant removed so that the true seeds of the kingdom of God can be received and grown into the fullness of the fruit of the kingdom.
The seed that is within the fruit that is grown in the hearts of kingdom sons is then sown into the expanding “garden spots” in the world. Eventually the kingdom seeds from the sons will be sown into the entire world in the fruit of many sons.
The kingdom of God governs the world as the mature sons of God (male and female) are planted into the world to grow the kingdom of God in the soil of this world.
At this time every place on earth that God has given or will give into the hands of kingdom sons is to become a “garden spot” that will grow and protect the seed of the kingdom of God on earth. During the dark season of earth-cleansing judgments, the garden spots will protect the seed until the tares are removed and will then spring forth to expand into increasing coverage of the world.
As each of the many kingdom sons brings himself and everything he possesses fully into the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is increased on earth. The gardens grow to occupy more and more of the world. Whatever God puts into our hands is for the purpose of our managing it for Him in accordance with His desires and instructions. As kingdom sons we are never owners but always obedient loving managers of His resources, of His garden on Planet Earth.
Kingdom Characteristics
The predominant characteristic of God and His kingdom is LOVE. God is love. His pure holy love abiding in us forms our character and determines the ways of our lives. The power of God flows through love. God’s power in us is also focused and directed by love.
To be without love is to be without God. Power without love is tyranny.
In the kingdom of God lifestyle, righteousness, peace, and joy flow abundantly in the Spirit.
In the passing church system emphasis age, religious form and humanistic concepts slipped in among the true word and ways of God. This led to an unhealthy level of acceptance of a mixture of fallen-world ways in the religious systems and subsequently in the people.
The great transformation and recent history of restoration of the gospel of the kingdom has come in three major phases symbolically pictured in the Jewish feasts.
- Passover season emphasis on the blood sacrifice of the lamb.
- Pentecost season emphasis on the Holy Spirit power of God.
- Tabernacle season emphasis on God dwelling with His people.
These have taken us to the time of the revelation of the kingdom of God coming forth in the world through Christ Jesus dwelling in and with His people by the Holy Spirit.
In each of these seasons, God is progressively transforming His people and eventually His world back to His original design and desire. Purification and change of lifestyle is progressively building the life of Christ Jesus into His people. The mixtures of the old Babylonian style living that were tolerated in the past seasons will no longer be tolerated in the season of tabernacles.
One of the most deeply ingrained concepts in western civilization is the Babylonian principle of competition among human beings. Competition was first introduced by Nimrod the great leader of old Babylon. He was the great grandson of Noah. Nimrod left the faith of the patriarchs and some way got in touch with the powers of occult darkness. Nimrod was the first to build battle towers and walls. He was first to train and toughen his troops with competition. Soon he had conquered all of His neighbors and built much of the great civilizations of the old world including Babylon and Nineveh. He also learned to manipulate and control men.
The western world accepts human competition as a very good, if not a godly concept of modern life. All strife ranging from family squabbles to nations at full out war have their roots in competition. There is no such thing as friendly competition. There is always a winner and a loser in competition.
In the Babylonian influenced world without God, competition serves many purposes including limitation of greedy business practices and increasing human mental and physical strengths. Human competition is not a kingdom principle and is only useful in the mixtures of the passing second-day age and all ungodly cultures or among wild animals in the jungles of the world.
In the kingdom it is more about assisting others to grow than to outdo or beat them in competition. It is about complementation and cooperation instead of competition. Everyone is a winner in the kingdom because our dependency is in the reality of God in us and with us powerfully bringing about His will in and through us. There is not room or place for competition in the real kingdom of God. Love and competition will not function together.
We must seek God to overcome even our own flesh and every life situation. It is all by His power and love. In the kingdom, we do not get our “kicks,” so to speak, from competive games, sports, business, or any other competitive activity.
Our competition in the kingdom is with the devil and spirit forces that fight to invade our minds and hearts with lies seeking to separate us from the power and love of God that completely overpowers the enemy and has already defeated him. Our victory and rest is in the Lord who loves us and abides in us as we abide in Him. We have but to ask according to His will, and the power of heaven overcomes.
Our joy and thrill of life is in watching Him do miraculous works among us. It is not in our striving to be “number one” and win over others in the fields of competition. We can live in perfect peace in all circumstances knowing that He is with us and is greater than anything in this world. No stress and no strife, only believe and all things are possible in the kingdom of God. May His kingdom come and His will be done in us today.
Ron McGatlin
www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net