A 30-Day Walk through the Master’s Garden E-Book

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Companion devotional to The Master’s Garden where you will learn how to live OUT the Christian life by living IN and THROUGH Christ, the Vine.
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Devotional


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Description

A 30-Day Walk through the Master’s Garden is a companion devotional to The Master’s Garden: An Allegory of Abiding in the Vine.

The Master’s Garden is a wonderful allegory based on the beautiful metaphor that Jesus used to help His followers understand how to live His way. It is a witty tale of a fantasy world called Plantasia, told by a grandmother to help her struggling granddaughter find true significance under God’s care.

It is a story about a spindly rose who yearns to be more than she is. She finds true significance by learning how to abide in the Vine from the Master Gardener and her friends—Mighty Oak, Ginni (the Obedient Plant), and Mr. Bugleweed.

In this 30-day devotional you’ll walk through The Master’s Garden as Rose Noland expounds on the key principles of this incredibly rich garden metaphor. By using her own life experiences with God, the Gardener, this once-spindly Rose will teach you how to thrive, not just survive.

In this devotional you will learn what it truly means to abide in Christ. You will learn how to live OUT the Christian life by living IN and THROUGH Christ, the Vine.

Click here to read the first three chapters of The Master’s Garden for FREE!

Day 3
Grafted In

Now the Gardener loved all the diverse vegetation in his world which He had made and wanted nothing more than for each plant to love Him in return. He gave these unique plants the ability to choose whether to come under His loving care or remain in the wild and live on their own.
     When plants agreed to come under the Gardener’s care, they were grafted onto the roots of the Vine and became permanently His. Now this Vine was no ordinary plant. He came directly from the Master Gardener Himself and there was a special bond between Them. Their union enabled embedded plants to connect with the Gardener in a personal way. [Chapter 1]

I wanted to connect with the Savior of my soul—to be closer to this wonderful God who had saved me from my empty way of living. To do that, I needed to learn what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches” (Jn 15:5). I needed to learn more about grafting. Although I was a gardener, I had very little knowledge of it. What I found out when I researched it blew my mind!

Grafting is a technique used by gardeners to make a unique plant from two separate ones. Once joined, they are to function as a single plant.

One of the plants provides the lower trunk and root system, called the rootstock. The other plant provides the upper portion (stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit) and is called the scion. Both are chosen for a certain set of characteristics. For example, the rootstock might be selected because of its greater resistance to disease or better tolerance to drought. The scion may be selected for its ability to produce more fruit or flowers.

For successful grafting to take place, “the vascular cambium tissues [like the blood circulatory system of animals] of the stock and scion plants must be placed in contact with each other.”2

As the tissues grow, a bridge is formed that allows the circulatory system of the rootstock and scion to be joined together. That means the roots of the stock can provide water and minerals to the scion, and the scion can produce food in its leaves and send it down to the roots of the stock. This creates a functioning plant composed of two genetically different parts.3 The better the connection between the two plants, the better the flow of water and nutrients.

You don’t have to be a horticulturist to understand the implications of this beautiful analogy with our union with Christ.

First, understand that the term Christ the Vine is not referring only to the top part of a climbing grapevine. Christ is the Rootstock into which believers are embedded.

This is a picture of what happens at salvation:

During grafting, a wound must be made on the rootstock into which the scion is inserted. Father God, the Gardener, is the One who makes the cut and does the grafting. Christ willingly allowed Himself to be crucified (cut) in order that any person who believes in His death and resurrection could be grafted onto Him—joined or united with His eternal life.

Those who want this eternal life are in essence saying they are willing to have their roots (their way of living) cut off. They are willing to live through Christ’s roots (God’s way of living).

The Master Gardener is the One who grafts us into Christ. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot access the life-giving roots without the Gardener grafting us in, the Vine being willing, and the Holy Spirit enabling the flow of His life into our system.

He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake…. Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]. (2 Cor 5:15, 17 AMP)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Pet 2:24)

What a beautiful and rich metaphor Jesus has given us! By understanding how grafting works, we will be more equipped to live in and through Christ, the Vine.

Tending Your Own Garden

† Try to picture yourself as a plant. See your roots (your way of living) severed when you said yes to Jesus. See yourself being placed into Christ, the Rootstock. From now on, everything you need for life comes up from Him to you.

† Ask the Gardener to help you understand the implications of this rich metaphor and what it means to be grafted into the Vine.

† If you’ve never been grafted into Christ, would you ask the Master Gardener to do so now?

See the “Extra Nutrients” at the end of the book to learn more of what it means to accept Jesus as your Savior.

Plants belonging to the Master Gardener thrived under His tender care. He knew their exact needs. He abundantly supplied them with light and Living Water and fed them with His Word. His Living Water carried nutrient truths up to all parts of the plant, helping them to absorb the vital minerals. This life-giving liquid not only sustained them but also promoted extraordinary growth. [Chapter 1]

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