The Garden of Gethsemane

This is where I am today. I have been studying what actually happened while Jesus was in the Garden and it amazes me how hard he toiled. The garden represents more than a place where you grow fruits, vegetables, or plants but the garden represents and symbolizes a place of death. The garden is actually where you go to lay your life down. If you approach the garden properly you will not leave the same way you came. If you read carefully Jesus left on two different occasions to find that there were those that he asked to "watch" with him had fallen asleep.

What this says to me is there are some experiences that you have to walk alone. This is the hard part because you can be in a crowd of people and yet still be all by yourself. At the same time you can have a smile on your face but yet be full of trepidation within your soul. You can have the look of peace and tranquility on the outside while you are in agony and pain because you know what the "real deal" is on the inside. And that's why I believe most definitely that you can be a public success and a private failure. If this were not possible, then how else would you explain the suicide rate for those who make over six figures a year? To have all the money in the world, like Michael Jackson, and yet be miserable is something that the average mind cannot ascertain but it happens.

So, it brings me to the conclusion of the matter. Your garden may not be my garden but each one of us has a "Gethsemane" encounter that will either make us or break us. Jesus went into the garden and because he refused to accept his cross he was able to leave with no change, still the heavy burden. I believe that Jesus was looking for affirmation from his close partners or possibly to see if Peter, who had received revelation as to him being the CHRIST, had been given any further direction than what Jesus was hearing God say. Remember, Jesus knew no sin so it's not a sin to be in trepidation or agony, but the sin is to choose an easier, quicker route to destiny that is not provisionally acceptable by God.

It was not until Jesus uttered the words, NEVERTHELESS, that he fully accepted and came into direct agreement with the Father as to the cross that he had to carry to redeem mankind. The same goes for you and me, until we come to the realization and understand that we have a cross to carry we will never be able to reign with him. Yes, it was agonizing to be betrayed and forsaken and brutally beaten to the point to where he was unrecognizable. But had he escaped the death and burial, there would not have been a resurrection. The same goes for us, we MUST accept the death walk as necessary for us in order to KNOW Christ and to reign with Him forever!