Sing Over Your Garden

Isaiah 54:1 “Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

What a faith-filled promise! This is such an interesting declaration, yet it is just how the Lord works sometimes. He partners with us to see impossible things birthed. We are in a season at True Life of expanding our borders and making our grounds ready. We haven't seen a finished product, but we know the promises of the “Sons and Daughters” that are yet to come who will find hope, refuge, purpose, and true identity in the family of God.

While we are “making ready” at church, at home, I have found a bunch of work. We are renting a house and want to steward it well in preparation for when we will take residence in our ”forever home”. It’s a promise but we have NO idea when that day will come. So in the meantime, we work hard to keep the house that we rent in great condition.

It is summer time! While we are usually in drought here in Texas, our grass is growing …and so are the weeds! I am spending tons of time pulling weeds and while I do, I sing. If you know me, I sing all the time, especially now while doing yard work. Recently, the Lord used my feeble attempts at yard work to teach me about the heart.

Weeds! They easily spread and take deep root. If the soil isn't tended to, all your good stuff doesn't grow. Similarly, negativity, discouragements, gossip, and what comes out of our mouth that is the opposite of praise will affect the garden of our heart. Pull those weeds and guard your heart so that life may spring forth.

Very often, I think about the promises planted in us by the Lord. We begin to question ourselves and the plan of God on our hopes, dreams, and desires when we haven't seen the answer or dream fulfilled in our timing. We end up simply giving up on them.

Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is the tree of life.”

God only plants healthy, strong, and amazing things in our life. Oak trees take up lots of room and the room has to be made before it grows. In our hearts and spirit there is a tension in making room for the promise, especially when much time has passed. Time feels wasted; we begin to doubt if a tree is growing at all. In those seasons, it’s easy to forget or neglect the seed God has planted.

The enemy of our soul loves to come in those moments and plant weeds that will try and kill your dream and the amazing destiny you are called to. When tending to our heart, we need to reject and pull out the lies and discouragement before they overtake our garden. In my greatest moments where my faith was built, the Lord taught me to sing over barrenness. He taught me to sing over what I felt were dead dreams, to sing into what He wanted to do in my life, and to sing as if I held the dream in my arms when everything around me looked desolate. It’s in this moment where you get to partner with God. Singing reminds us of the promise. It encourages your heart, builds you up and your voice begins to shape the heart of God on earth.

Singing positions you for increase. It is an act of obedience. The Word tells us time and time again to do it, so there must be something in our voice the Lord knows unlocks promise. In your song, you declare, “On earth as it is in Heaven”.

I know when I sing to myself and to the garden of my spirit, I partner with Heaven and the heart of the Father. It tends my garden and gives it what it needs. It also keeps the enemy from taking root. I wonder if I sang over my yard if my weeds would stop and beautiful grass would grow?

Here are some reasons to sing:

1. Singing deepens your roots in the Word. Colossians 3:16 “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

2. Singing builds yourself up as well as others and releases faith into the atmosphere. Ephesians 5:19 “Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.”

3. Singing releases the eternal over our life and points to what is happening rather than what is not happening.

4. Singing carries us forward and lifts us up to hear Heaven. Worship happens constantly in Heaven and when we sing we bring Heaven to earth. That produces the promise. Revelation 5:13 “And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”