2 Peter 1:8
For as these qualities are yours and are increasing [in you as you grow toward spiritual maturity], they will keep you from being useless and unproductive in regard to the true knowledge and greater understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Amplified Bible)

Are you allowing God to be your gardener?

When God saved you, He gave you everything you needed to live the life He ordained for you to live.

2 Peter 1:3 Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. (The Passion Translation TPT)

You are the planting of the Lord. He is your husbandman.

Isaiah 61:3b So they will be called the trees of righteousness [strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God], The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Amplified Bible AMP)

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (KJV)

 It is your job to allow God to cultivate you, and the fruit He gave you will blossom. There are steps to cultivating plants. God can use those same steps for you as well, if you submit to Him.

• Plants need sunshine/sunlight to grow. They use light as energy for making food.
  You need the light of God to shine on you and show you what pleases Him and what does not.
  Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (KJV)

• Plants need healthy soil. It is extremely vital. It provides an anchor and helps support the plants’ roots.
  God’s love is the soil where you need to be planted. Then you will pull from the nutrients in the life-giving flow and get the support you need for every aspect of your life.
  Ephesians 3:16b-17a Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit 17 so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded. (The Voice TVT)

• Plants need fertilizer which also provides plants with nutrients to help them grow.
  You need to be rooted and grounded in the word. The word is the nourishment you need to help you grow strong.
  1 Peter 2:2 In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word. For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life. (The Passion Translation TPT)

• Plants need space. Overcrowding increases the risk of pest infestations and diseases. Without enough room, plants can become stunted or too small.
  You need to have space, time away from everyone else, to be alone with the Lord. In His presence, you will learn to trust Him. The more time you spend with Him, the more confidence you will have in Him. Then you will not need those who are so close around you to validate you. Nor will you allow them to restrict your growth and kill your dreams.
  Matthew 14:23 After He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was there alone. (Amplified Bible AMP)

• Plants need water to survive. It is used to carry moisture and nutrients back and forth between the roots and leaves. Without it, the plant will die.
  What is your water? It is the rain. Also called the trials and tribulations that come into your life. God uses rain in two ways. One way is to punish, correct, and teach you. The other way is to bless you. He uses the same trials and tribulations in both ways. You use what you experienced to bless others. Your tests produce a testimony to the favor and protection of God. They also increase your faith in God. Without rain, you will not be strengthened, and your faith will die.
  Deuteronomy 11:17 And the Lord’s anger be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit, and you perish quickly off the good land which the Lord gives you. (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition AMPC)
  Leviticus 26:4 I will grant you plenty of rain in the seasons when you need it, and your land will produce abundant crops and your trees will be filled with fruit. (The Voice TVT)

• Plants need time; they do not grow overnight. It takes some more time than others; therefore, it also takes patience to grow plants.
  You need to wait on the Lord. Allow Him the time He needs to prepare you for the task He created you to do. Remember, it takes some plants longer than others. It might seem as if you have been waiting too long. Don’t fall into the comparison trap. When you get that attitude, the enemy has an open door to torment you. He will whisper in your ear and tell you God loves this one and that one more than He loves you. That is why they have received their blessing and you have not. He will try to make you think there is something wrong with you. Ultimately, he will try to convince you, you will never receive what God promised. The same tests and trials that watered you will also create a plant that’s ready to be harvested in God’s time.
  James 1:4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

• Plants need to be harvested as soon as they are ready. If not, the crop dies.
  God knows when you are ready to fulfill what He ordained for you to do. You don’t get to determine if you are the one; ask Gideon (Judges 6:14-23). You don’t get to determine your assignment; ask Moses (Exodus 3:11-15). You don’t get to choose who he will send you to; ask Jonah (Jonah 1-3). Most importantly, you don’t get to decide you will not speak at all.
  Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, I will not make mention of [the Lord] or speak any more in His name, in my mind and heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot [contain it any longer]. (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition AMPC)

According to His plan, when the time comes, God will harvest you, affirm you, assign you, and your gift will make room for you.

Please agree with me as I pray:

Father, I am Your planting. I am grateful. I repent for the times I thought I was ready, and I really wasn’t. Thank You for holding me until You were ready. I repent for thinking I knew what You called me to do. I repent for deciding I wasn’t the one for the task You picked for me and then trying to pick my assignment. I repent for thinking I could choose where I would go. I realize now, all of those wrong ideas amounted to me deciding I would not speak at all. Thank You for shining Your light on me and showing me what was in my heart. Thank You for keeping me and forgiving me. Now I live my life like the sunflower. I turn to greet Your light and it allows me to examine myself. I bask in the word. Without it, I diminish my ability to flourish. Thank You for calling me away to be alone with You and away from all the people speaking to me. I appreciate the rain because it makes me appreciate the sunshine much more. It used to be difficult because I thought I knew. It is not difficult anymore because I accept You know what’s best. Not only am I Your plant, I also allow You to be my Gardner and I wait for You…

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Ask the Lord what He wants to say to you about today’s devotional and journal His response as described here.