Weeds

WEEDS
We are surrounded by weeds in this world. Weeds may even be flowering, but they can carry poison just the same. The dandelion is a pretty flower but it is none the less a weed. We think that just one or two weeds in our garden will be fine, but we come out to find that they have overtaken the garden and now we have more weeds than we have healthy crops. Anything we attempt to cultivate is choked out, robbed of nutrients and water because the weeds in our garden are being fed. Weeds do not bear fruit. Weeds harbor insects that will destroy crops. Weeds are so powerful a poison that they can damage foundations.
Do you find yourself distracted by the weeds in life? Do you allow them to grow in your garden, in your spirit, in your heart? Do you confuse them for flowers or crops? Do you feed them? Are they overtaking your life, your time with your family or your time with God?
Do you concentrate more on the money you make or the material items you can accumulate than the relationships and love you can cultivate in life? I held tight to my job and felt I ‘needed’ the money even though I was persecuted for more than 3 years for turning from my sins. I ignored the compelling desire to leave. I ignored the prompting of settling for a lesser job. I allowed that job and the darkness to almost choke the life out of my spirit. All my praying did little to alleviate my situation because I held onto the job/money more than I trusted God to bring me through it. Even when God strongly prompted me to leave, I doubted the guidance and clung. Until I was finally forced to act upon His will… but by then I could not receive the full blessing because I failed to act in His timing instead of my own.
Luke 16: 13 “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Do your addictions override your need to fill your spirit? Are you a slave to temptations such as sex, alcohol, diet pills, food, sweets, caffeine, pain pills, uppers, downers, gossip, pot, porn, money, gambling, negativity or other addictions? It is a weed that chokes the life out of your spirit because you feed it and think that you need it. The emptiness you are trying to fill will never be quenched by anything of this world. We all have our thorns to bear but God gives us the strength to overcome. I can look back and see the times that I cried out to God but continued to sin and He could not bless me. Then He showed me that if I trust Him and say “No” to sin, He will bless me and give me the strength to eradicate it from my life. But I must be diligent in my ways and recognize each aspect of sin that I had held onto. I must avoid the sin by removing myself from those temptations in the world. You are never strong enough to say no on your own. You must lean to Him for the power to overcome.
1 Corinthians 10:13 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
God could not bless my life because I continued to feed the weeds in my life instead of Him. The more I talked and prayed to Him for my strength and the more I said no to sin, the more that I saw Him bless my life with peace and joy. I could not have sin and God in the same place. As I chose sin, I moved God from my world because He cannot be where there is sin. But as I chose Him, I moved closer to God and He was able to bless my life. I know to remove the weeds from my mind before they begin to grow. I don’t feed them at all. When they come, I say, “Get behind me satan, I am not yours to play with. I am God’s child and you shall not have your way with me.” Or in those most urgent times, I simply say “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” over and over until the thought is gone.
James 1: 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
Get rid of the weeds in your garden. Feeding the weeds cause them to grow and overtake you until that is what you become. They cloud your mind and judgment and relationship, not just with each other, but with God. As long as you allow that sin to have dominion over you, God will not have dominion over you. He will not be able to pour His blessing into you until you turn from sin and worship Him.
Will you be the weed or will you be the wheat?
Matthew 13 The Parable of the Weeds-24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”