WHAT A LOVELY HOME
Part 2

“The tabernacle of the upright shall flourish”
(Proverbs 14:11).

We continue God’s description of our homes. He wants your home to be a . . .

FLOURISHING AND FRUITFUL HOME

Our homes should be “like gardens by the riverside” (Numbers 24:6). God wants us individually, and as a family, to be “like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (Isaiah 58:11).

There is nothing more delightful to the eye than a beautiful flower garden. There is nothing more satisfying to the soul than a flourishing vegetable garden. A garden gives pleasure, but it also provides sustenance. God wants our homes to be a delightful place to live, a wholesome place for our children to grow, and a welcoming home for our husbands to return each evening. Who is the one who makes it delightful? You, as the mother, of course.

In Ezekiel 19:10 (NLT) God likens mothers to “a vine planted by the water’s edge,” with “lush, green foliage because of the abundant water.”

Psalm 128:3 (NLT) gives us the same picture when it says: “Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table.” What is the good of a plant that grows prolifically and yet produces no fruit?

Can you see God’s picture for your home? A garden where the fruits of the Holy Spirit grow in abundance— love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). A life-giving garden, not only to those in the home, but also providing nourishment and healing to those outside the home. A garden where the fruit of the womb is received with joy—new olive shoots sprouting up to bring more life and blessing to the home.

Isaiah 44:4 promises that our children will “spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.” The allegory in Ezekiel 19:10-14 tells us that we should have a funeral dirge when the fruit “dries up.”

This all sounds like a nice dream. But let’s get to reality. How can we produce this fruitful garden? God gives the secret. We must live close to the water! It’s the water that produces a flourishing garden. You can have the best soil and the best plants. You can be the most industrious gardener, but without water the garden dies.

My big garden flourishes, but it takes a lot of watering. It used to take me over an hour to water my garden each evening until my husband put in soaker hoses. We have also planted some fruit trees on our land, but there is one tree that is bigger and greener than all the others. I wondered why until I realized that this tree is planted near the dripping water tap.

In God’s Word, He likens water to two different things:

a) The cleansing power of God’s Word (John 15:3, 17:17; Ephesians 5:26; and 1 Peter 1:22).

b) The power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives (Isaiah 44:3-4; John 4:14; John 7:38-39; and Acts 2:17.)

We can’t make our homes flourish by our own strength or our own intelligence. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit. To keep our home flourishing, we must daily soak ourselves in the Word and in the Holy Spirit. You may not have time to have long Quiet Times when you have little children around, but you can read a few verses when you are nursing the baby. Put your Bible on your windowsill. Open it at Psalms or Proverbs to read a verse here and there as you prepare the meal or wash dishes. Put a Bible on the table and one in the bathroom. These moments will keep you nourished and cleansed.

When we receive Jesus Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. Don’t quench the Holy Spirit. Allow Him free reign in your heart, in every area of your marriage, and in every room of your home. As you keep a soft and yielding heart, He will come like the dew to refresh you each morning. As you cry out to Him with a thirsty heart, He will come to you like the rain, bringing cleansing and new growth.

Keep the garden of your home well-watered.

PRAYER:

“Father, I don’t want my home to be a dried-up garden. I want it to flourish with fruitfulness. Open my heart to fruitfulness. I know it can only happen as I live by the water. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Fill me to overflowing. Teach me how to live in the Holy Spirit instead of living in the flesh. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I am turning on the spiritual soaker hoses to my heart and home.