Keeping the Garden

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. Genesis 2:15

The other day I was praying for my children the usual prayers I pray for them. I pray for them to be holy and happy. I pray for them to have transforming union with God. I pray that if their vocation is marriage that they have holy and happy spouses and that if it is religious life it will be made clear to them. And because of the culture we live in I also pray in Jesus’ name against evil spirits coming after them, particularly the spirits of rejection, abandonment, rebellion, addiction, never, murder, anxiety and depression – spirits I see so prevalently in the world.

As I was praying I had the thought, “I wonder if this matters.” A little creep of doubt about whether my daily prayers matter. And as quickly as I had the thought (perhaps a fiery dart), I had an answer, “you are keeping the garden.” And I knew in a most humble and small way I was actually doing what Adam did not. I was praying for our hearts to be guarded against the serpent entering. And it absolutely matters.

I began to think of all the things that Jesus taught and said about prayer.

He taught us to pray with persistence.

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.  In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’  For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone,  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?  I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:1-8

That last line always gives me pause – “And yet when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Lord, under no circumstances may I tire of prayer and under no circumstances may I lose faith in your goodness.

He taught us to pray with humility.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Lord, let me see others with your eyes. May I not Lord myself over another.

He taught us to pray in solitude.

Meanwhile, he would slip away to deserted places and pray. Luke 5:16

Lord, may I seek you everyday and may you come into the most hidden places of my heart.

He taught us to pray in faith.

So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24

Lord, you made me for these times, help me in my daily life to love like you love.

He taught us to pray for forgiveness.

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25

Lord, help me forgive those who have hurt me. Lord help me to forgive myself. Be merciful on me a sinner.

He taught us to pray for deliverance.

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done. Luke 22:42

and deliver us from evil Matthew 6:13

Lord, deliver me from evil. Thy will be done.

He taught us to pray for strength and to stand firm.

Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36

Lord, let me keep my eyes on heaven and not let the suffering of this world bring me to despair.

He taught us to pray for help in the mission of the Kingdom.

 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Matthew 9:38

Lord, send us help in the fight for your Kingdom.

He taught us to pray for our enemies and persecutors.

 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you Matthew 5:44

Lord, help me to pray for those who despise me and who have harmed me. May they be converted and come to know you fully.

He taught us to pray in His name.

 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me[a] for anything, I will do it. John 14:13-14

Lord Jesus, in your holy name, I ask that you make me a Saint.

He taught us the High Priestly prayer.

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,  since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

 “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.  I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.  All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them.  And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.  While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.  But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.[d] 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.  They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

“I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

 “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.”

Father, may I be one with you as Jesus and you are one.

I pray all these things as Jesus taught us, just as he taught us the Our Father in order that I may keep the garden of my heart and help the hearts of those around me. My my sin be taken to the Garden of Gethsemane. May my heart be restored to the Garden of Eden.