Monday, February 18, 2013

Keep Those Weeds At Bay!


You can tell spring is approaching by the occasional buds popping out on warm days and the jonquils beginning to bloom. There are also the errant weeds trying to take over the yard. Funny isn’t it that weeds are the first to green up.  They encroach into every area they can. From the climbers to the bloomers, weeds love to grow. Even in the garden plots. Last year’s weed free garden becomes this year’s weed laden beds. What you did to remove, prevent and dislodge last spring’s weeds doesn’t apply to this year’s crop of nuisances.  Your flower beds may have been pristine to the onlooker, but you or your lawn service know what it took to get it that way.  It was a continual removal of anything that doesn’t belong in the landscape. 

It only takes a few days for new weeds to appear and attempt to take over.  Even in homes that are well established and have had landscaping and gardens for many years it must be continual. Watch a home where the family has gone and it sits idle. It’s not long before small trees pop up in flower beds and huge thistles push through the soil in the gardens. What looks beautiful and brings a bounty of flowers and vegetables becomes an eyesore and quits producing within a few weeks without constant care.

Our lives are like this. We come to the Lord and we get a clean slate, but without constant care, the weeds of life begin encroaching on our fresh new soil. The weeds of the past -  those habits and desires we left at the altar of our hearts when we came to the Lord - they want to return. The weeds of the present -  fresh hurts, new problems, unresolved situations -   will come in and take over quickly. The weeds of the future – fears, indecision, ignorance, angers- may lie dormant, but unless we keep them at bay they too will bound through the soils, sooner or later marring the landscape of our lives.

Oh beloved, God has a wonderful plan for your life! He is the specialist in weed control and He freely gives you everything needed to keep the landscape of your life pristine and presentable! How do others seem to be so full of joy and peace, you may ask? Because they spend plenty of time working the ground of their hearts. You too, beloved, must work your fallow ground – it is imperative that you fill your mind and heart with God’s loving Words! It is the ultimate weed killer! Without God’s Word, implanted firmly into your heart – the enemy of our souls can come in and ruin things. He will try to sow discord, animosity, fear, sin and more. It is a continual, daily event that you spend time with the Lord to fill your heart and mind with His words so that the weed producer cannot fill you with untruths and half-truths! Time with God will produce much fruit – love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control and these things will root out the weeds that may try to steal God’s place in your heart!

Rejoice that God Himself wants to speak into your life! Everything you and I need is found in His Word. If you let Him, He will make your life and beautiful living example of His watchful care, His eternal love and His rich blessings!  Spend plenty of time with your Savior – let other things go, but do not neglect your time with Him! The rewards are out of this world!

Hosea 10:12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,  and you will harvest a crop of love.  Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come  and shower righteousness upon you.’

Mark 4:20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

Psalm 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. KJV

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