Please be patient while we lay some groundwork for our garden teaching. By the time these teachings are through you should know more about how to grow a harvest for your personal needs, for the Lord's work and to plant more seed and how to protect your garden.

Galatians 5:16-18 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Only when we "walk" in the Spirit are we free from the tyranny of the flesh. Only when we learn to walk in the Spirit "all" of the time can we be truly free from the flesh. We know that the flesh is the enemy of God and is therefore our enemy. They are as Paul puts it here in Galatians contrary to one another. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.

I talk to the Holy Spirit all the time about everything and try for the most part to listen. I have not achieved walking by the Holy Spirit 100% of the time but I keep getting back on track and seeking that until the Lord is able to work it into me. You see if you are not being "led" by the Holy Spirit in everything that you do then your motive is not ordered by His love. (His love being the fruit of the Tree of Life. We need the fruit of the Tree of Life in our Garden, and this fruit is the Love of Christ. It goes beyond our fragile love and carries the greatest of all anointings.)

Sometimes we do the right thing but for the wrong heart motives. When we do things in the wrong heart motive the Lord sees only the law. Rules that restrict and confine you to what you have to do but wouldn't do if the law didn't force you. For example: I want to take that apple. It's not a big deal. It's probably just going to rot on the tree if I don't pick it. Your heart motive might says, "Is anyone watching." Notice it doesn't think in motives of love or truth but will I get caught. Will there be a consequence. That's law. (That's the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We don't have to plant and cultivate this fruit, it grows naturally and has since the fall in the Garden of Eden but we do have to work to remove it one root at a time. It poisons the heart of our garden.)

But when we are led by the Holy Spirit which leads us in love, you would look at that apple and might even think that would be nice but it's not mine therefore it is not an option. In my heart I love the Lord and want to please Him more than my momentary desires. That is the Tree of Life, which is love "led by the Holy Spirit." This love conquers the flesh and its rulership, laws over us. In our heart it doesn't matter if anyone on earth will see us because we know that the Lord always sees us. There must be no exceptions, no compromise, no excuses but only the right heart motives.

How can we tell if we are growing the fruit of love or the fruit of the law? We can only tell by the heart motives and attitudes. The Lord hears our heart attitude much louder than the words we speak. Jesus said in Matthew 12:37 "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." That is not just the words of our mouth, by which we can pretend and say things we don't mean but the words of heart and the attitudes of our heart. Only by these attitudes can we tell the motives and the roots behind the fruit we are displaying. And only with the Holy Spirit 's help can we root out the wrong tree and yield to the roots of the good tree in our life.

Let me show you something. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Sin conscious and sin focused. That's not life or love. Love is God focused.)

I Corinthians 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (John Bevere talks about this in his book "Drawing Near". It is amazing to think the strength of sin is the law. But the law is supposed to stop us from sinning. As we have discovered it was unable to do that, so we needed a better way. When we walk only by rules and regulations we are walking in the law or legalism. It does not come from the heart but from the determination of the carnal mind. It carries the idea, "I may be standing on the outside but on the inside I am sitting down." Yet Jesus said if you have committed adultery in your "Heart" you really have committed adultery. The law, or rules have nothing to do with the heart and a true heart change. The law is the new creation of the Spirit trying to walk by the rules of the carnal mind, which cannot save you.

Anywhere there are rules there are ways around them, loopholes. You find yourself wanting to do these other things but oh man now I can't, I have to obey the Father. Then your heart pulls away from a harsh Father that restricts you from the fun or ways you choose. But the Lord has called us to a new command, a command of love. By this command we obey because we love Him and desire to please Him. Even though there would be no evident or immediate consequences we still don't want to do what would be displeasing in His sight because we love Him. We continually allow Him to correct us in our attitudes and are quick to repent because of the intense love we have for Him and because we recognize His great love for us. We know by His love for us that even if we don't understand what He is saying for us to do, it really is best because from the heart we TRUST Him that loves us. Law doesn' t trust.

My dad used to say actions speak louder than words, but in the Lord our heart attitude speaks louder than our actions. Do we obey because we have to or because we love Him? Are we restricted by rules or constrained by love? In most people there is probably a bit of both. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to weed out the legalism in our garden but we need to very careful to quickly allow Him also to replace it and not leave a big gapping hole in our lives. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 12: 43-45 " When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation."

The part we miss is the "So shall it also be with this wicked generation." This applies to our garden, our lives. When something is taken out be quick to allow the Holy Spirit to fill it in. Don't leave it empty that is just asking for trouble. Sometimes filling in a hole left by the enemy being dug out is a process and we need to know how to protect that area of our lives until the process has been completed. For example a person I prayed for that was delivered from being under the control of fantasy knew that any time she had a "what if thought" she was to rebuke it and call on the name of the Lord. Even simple things like what if I had a big house or what if I lost weight. These are not truth and give access to this vulnerable part of her life until it has been completely filled in with truth.

Leaving an empty in your life is really like creating a vacuum. We were not meant to be empty. This will attract the attention of whatever is passing by even what you have just been delivered from. Often an enemy removed will linger close by to see if he will be allowed to return. This is where watching and praying come in. When you remove the large root of a tree it leaves a big hole in your garden and only the Lord knows what must fill that hole and what should be planted there.

We must be ruled by the Spirit which causes us to obey out of love and not ruled by the law which has no love and is only technical rules that we can look for loop holes in and ways around because they don't really matter to us. Rules cannot capture our heart and deliver it causing it to be changed but the love of God through the Holy Spirit can. Not our human love, it is too fragile but the Love of God in us. Often we think oh no I must walk and live by love and I can't. Good, that's a good revelation, no one can, and that's why we need a savior. It is His love being built into us and flowing through us that makes the difference.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Have you ever grown something that you were going to pick fruit from? It doesn't just come does it? Boom one day there is fruit on your doorstep with no effort on your part. I don't think so. First you prepare the ground, and then you plow, plant, fertilize, weed, prune, water and wait. It takes conscious effort and time. It's a process; a choice that requires continued effort on our behalf. I've seen gardens that people started and they never continued with the process of weeding and caring for it, it was a mess with no fruit.

We don't let the fruit rot; we pick it and use it. The Lord describes this process in the parable of the sower which we can read in Mark 4. The sower is sowing (planting) the Word. We usually look at this as though we are the ones sowing the Word in others, and often that is true but the Lord also sows the Word in us. We are His enclosed garden as the Song of Solomon describes us. What is this fruit that the Lover of our souls seeks to receive from our garden but the character of God that the Holy Spirit develops in us.

We are to walk in the Holy Spirit and allow Him to cultivate the character of the Lord in our lives. It is a process and a continual effort on our part and on the Lord's. Though He has completed His task in eternity He is every growing His children through love. Brooding over them like a chicken does her eggs by the brooding of the Holy Spirit, to create the life of Christ in us. You will remember it was the brooding of the Holy Spirit that caused much of creation and His brooding over us will create life in us as well.

Galatians 5:24-25 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Those who are Christ's, who belong to Him, He owns us, have crucified (killed) the flesh with its passions and desires. Fleshly character must die. Like weeds removed making way for God's character to grow and be harvested in us. Remember the parallel of the parable of the sower, Mark 4:19 "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

No fruit! You're growing too many other things in your life to have room for the character of God to develop in you by His Spirit. Weed it out. It's not worth it. Notice the opposites, cares (no trust, worry), deceitfulness of riches (no heavenly treasure or focus) desires for other things (we are to desire the Lord above all things, we were made for His pleasure not our own), these choked out the life in the word and leave our garden unfruitful.

But this says the most to me. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." It seemed to me at first He was saying the same thing in a different way but it's not the same at all. Living "in" the Spirit and Walking "in" the Spirit are very different. We must have them both and not one without the other. Where I live is where I rest, abide, remain, sleep and eat, sounds pretty inactive doesn't it? That is because it is mostly receive mode. Fat babies so to speak. But where I walk means doing, going, interacting with others (ouch), sharing my fruit.

It is easier to live in the Spirit in my private time with God in my prayer closet where things are comfortable than it is when I encounter people and situations. That's where walking in the Spirit comes in. We don't leave the Spirit in the prayer closet; we must apply it to every aspect of our lives. We must learn to depend on the Spirit or we will depend on the flesh. We must let the Holy Spirit deal with us and change us as we seek to walk (remain active) in Him.

Notice it says we must not walk in conceit or pride, self focus, we must be God focused, provoking one another (judging one another, measuring each other with our fleshly measuring stick), criticizing, attacking, gossiping, cursing, and envying one another. Stop, don't do it. Command yourself in the name of Jesus. It's your choice. It's your attitude or thought cursing another person, (a part of Christ whom you love) therefore in that you have done it to the least of these you have done it to Me, the Lord said, so you are really cursing the Lord. That's scary. Let's just stop ourselves and walk away. When you see yourself doing any of this stop, repent and let the Holy Spirit help you in your attitudes and thoughts. There is no need to envy another person. Whatever is of "true worth" in another person came through the Holy Spirit and that same Holy Spirit is willing to work that process in you as well. There are no instant changes, only processes that cost us the price of a chunk of our flesh.

So before you envy, weigh the price of what you are asking for. Are you really ready to have that chunk of your flesh removed like a huge rock from your garden? If it is under many layers they must all be removed to work the process. That's why it's better to desire only one step at a time and not an instant anointing that took many years to work into someone else. Instant power and anointing given without the process cause people to be imbalanced and grow crooked so the anointing flows polluted with the flesh and can cause pride and a great fall that even puts a person's spirit in jeopardy and harms others. Bitter and sweet water are not supposed to be mixed the Bible says but unfortunately we see it all the time.

Galatians 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

If you don't like what you are harvesting in your life check out what you are planting. You plant by what you spend your time and thoughts on. If it is flesh, you can expect to reap corruption as this verse says. Think about what this is saying; all you have to do in order to sow to the flesh is "nothing". If I stand on an escalator I don't have to do anything to go down, it goes down by default. To sow (plant) to the flesh you don't have to do anything and you will sow to the flesh by default. It doesn't take any effort at all to grow weeds and briars. It just happens. But it takes a conscious effort and a lot of work to grow things that will bear good fruit.

It doesn't say you won't be so powerful but you'll still be okay, it says you will be sowing to the flesh and reaping (harvesting) corruption. If you are seeing too much corruption, trouble, devastation in your life, ask yourself what you are planting. If the answer is not much, you have answered your own question. You are sowing to the flesh by default. It takes a conscious effort to sow (plant) to the Spirit and reap (harvest) the character of God to everlasting life both now and in the hereafter.

Some of the ways you plant a Spirit harvest is by staying in the Word of God daily, not forsaking the gathering of yourselves together (we need that for strength and to strengthen others), worship, intimate prayer time with the Lord (which means two way communication, My sheep hear My voice and the follow Me the Lord said.), praying in tongues and proclaiming scripture. There are more ways, like obedience, willingness, etc. but we will start here with these absolute basics. Sometimes someone will come to me and ask for me to anoint them for the ministry. My first question is do you stay in the word daily and my second is how is your daily love relationship with the Lord, abiding in His presence. If the answer to either of these two questions is negative this person is not ready to receive an anointing. It is evident they will only continue that anointing in the flesh, because they cannot harvest for themselves and others what they have not planted. We wonder why all we reap is corruption but we haven't been sowing even the most basic fruit of the Word or personal time with the Lord.

Don't be discouraged but see this as a point of beginning and for some a point of return. The Bible says if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged. Not measuring yourself by your fleshly measuring stick but making sure you line up with a committed life in Christ by doing the things you know to do. Begin again today to allow the Lord to prepare your soil and plant His word and love in you. I know you will begin to see results very soon.