Mensa Otabil - A Beautiful Life (10/31/2025)
God wants to make a beautiful thing out of your life. Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 29: «I’ll raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor the shame of the Gentiles anymore.» Ezekiel, whom God used for this prophecy, spoke to Israel during a time of hardship, specifically during the captivity in Babylon. One notable aspect of the people of Israel in captivity, especially in Babylon, was that Nebuchadnezzar had a fabulous garden. While they were slaves in oppression, their master had a beautiful garden. In this prophecy, God is saying, «I’ll raise you up as a garden.» He wants you to know that you shouldn’t just admire Nebuchadnezzar’s garden; He wants to make your life as beautiful as those gardens.
So today, someone may think your life is not beautiful, that your life is wasted. God says, «I want to make your life beautiful. I want to raise you up in an honorable way.» So how does God make us into a beautiful garden? First, He chooses us, just as a gardener chooses the flowers he plans to plant. God’s hand is upon you to choose you; He wants to use you. There is something beautiful about your life; there is something noble about your life. You may not see all the nice things in your life; you may see only slavery, rottenness, sinfulness, hardship, poverty, and fear. But God sees beauty in you, and He chooses you because He wants to do something wonderful with your life.
Not only does He choose you, but He also plants you. When God chooses us, He plants us; He places us in the right spot, a place where we can bloom and blossom. This year, I pray that God will plant you in a habitable spot, a place where your best will show forth, a place where you will blossom, a place where you will flourish, a place where your best will come out. There is something in you that God wants to bring out for the world to notice.
Then, He nurtures us. Every flower goes through nurturing because there will be all kinds of insects and things trying to eat up this beautiful flower, but God is a protector of the beauty He has placed in you. He is making your life into a beautiful garden; He is cultivating you, watering your life. Sometimes even your hardships may be part of the watering, and sometimes the difficulties may be the fertilizer that God is placing in your life, so you will come out, shine, and blossom. Your true colors, your true beauty, will be seen in the world. God chose you; God has planted you in the right spot. There is a place on Earth where you will flourish, and God will put you there. God nurtures you, and then, after He has done all of that, He reveals us, takes us out to show off and says, «Come see my garden! Come and see this beautiful spot! Come and see this beautiful flower!»
May the Lord do that with your life. May He advertise your life and the beauty that He is working in you. May the world come and see the glory of God shining out of you. You know, today all that you see may be the ground where you are planted, and it’s rocky, full of fertilizer, and doesn’t smell or look good. But just give the Lord time with what He is doing in you, through you, and with you, and when He is finished, you will be more beautiful than the gardens of Nebuchadnezzar. That is what He is saying to Israel, and that is what He is saying to you: you will be more beautiful than the most beautiful flowers out there because God wants to bring beauty out of your life.
Today, I pray that everything in you, all the goodness in you, all the beauty in you, will flourish. That where God has planted you, He would cause you to grow in that place, that He will cause beauty to come out of your life. In Jesus' name, let us pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, you have planted me for beauty and honor. Let your beauty be seen through me. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»