How's the Garden of Your Heart This Morning?

This is the time of year we see a lot of plant problems in our office. People bring in their sickly items and one of our agriculture agents will attempt to diagnose the problem. Sometimes we have to send off the plant sample to the disease lab. They are specialists at diagnosing problems including diseases and insects.

Today we had a tomato sample, a worm identification, two grass samples and a tree sample. The roots of grass from one home’s lawn were completely rotted away. The grass was turning yellow and the entire yard was dying. It had started out in small patches, but over the course of several weeks it had overtaken all the grass.

Insects eat away at healthy tissue until there’s nothing left. If they nibble at the fruit of a plant, the fruit becomes inedible – unusable. If the roots of the grass or other plant are affected by disease, then no nutrients can enter into the green leaves. Without proper nutrition everything dies.

Our faith is a like a plant. Unless our roots are strong and healthy, they cannot extend deep into the soil. If they don’t extend deep enough, then shallow living is what you have. And shallow living makes for problems.

Problems and trials are a lot like worms in the garden. If left unattended we lose the fruit of our lives and faith is eaten away. Once our faith is compromised, we have little hope of producing for the Kingdom.

As believers we must spend time tending the garden of our faith. At the first sign of trouble it’s imperative that we seek the wisdom of the Lord. The quicker we bring our problems to Him, the easier they are to diagnose and repair. If we let it go, the diseases of this world will overtake us. We must also make sure to pick the worms that constantly want to eat away at our faith. Those pests are persistent, so we must always be on watch and always seek God’s help with our weaknesses. 

In this walk of faith, we often want to be so strong that we can handle it all, including the fruit pests and root problems everyone has. But real life in Christ doesn’t ignore our own weaknesses. It admits our need and lets God’s strength be ours. Without the Lord, we cannot hope to be cured and find strength to grow fresh and healthy fruit for the Kingdom.

Oh beloved, how’s the garden of your heart this morning? Are you weakening under the load of pests – the hurts, the sorrows, the fear? Is the fruit of the spirit being eaten away because you’re unable to handle all the problems yourself?  Run to the Lord this morning and let Him have your problems. He knows your weaknesses and He’s more than able to be strength for you! He knows your root problems and He’s able to cure them by His Holy Spirit. God will always be there to help you and never leave you to languish and die no matter what. Let Him dig deep to find the real problems and watch as your healing comes and your fruit returns in greater quantity and quality than you’ve ever dreamed!

God loves you so much that He’s made a way to give you everything you need for a fruitful, faithful life and He’s for you so that even when you get overtaken by pests, He’s there to remove the damages and restore the joy!

Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Colossians 1:10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Ephesians 3:16 I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.

2 Peter 1:8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 92:12-14 But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.  For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God.  Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.