God's Love is Your Hedge of Protection

God’s Love is Your Hedge of Protection 

by rebekahbeene

I saw a news report on a new threat that may soon be growing in our yards. It is called the giant hogweed. It is listed as an invasive species of concern in Arkansas and many other states. The agriculture specialist speaking about the plant said that a slight touch combined with sweat or any other form of water will give huge blisters. Contact with the eyes can cause temporary and sometimes permanent blindness. An ordinary looking plant with pretty white flowers and huge green leaves can prove a terrible nuisance and danger. 

Most research indicates that five years of intensive management is required to attempt to eradicate it. Five years! Much work must be done to remove the threat of the plant by digging, mowing, cutting, and herbicide application. The person eradicating the plant must wear protective clothing and gloves as well as facial protection. This is a seriously dangerous plant that is highly invasive.

Life can be like an invasive plant at times. Things that normally wouldn’t bother us cause whelps of pain if it comes via the hand of one you thought was a friend. There are also areas of our life that we feel should have no problems –our families, our ministries, our jobs and our homes. Yet all our territory is subject to the invasion of the enemy of our souls. Without proper eradication methods, we are hopelessly embroiled in his dangerous tactics which leave us wounded, blinded and without hope.

Life in Christ however, will make things wonderful. Even when we’ve had contact with noxious things of the world we can be healed. We don’t have to live injured by the things that come our way. We are protected by divine right by God Himself. The King of Kings is our antidote for all of life’s poisons. 

God wants you to know that He is your protector from the noxious weeds of life. The closer you get to Him, through His Word, prayer and fellowship, the less affected you will be by the things around you. He protects your life, your heart, your mind and your faith. Poisons from enemy territory can’t touch you as long as you know what God says about things. His peace passes all understanding – what you know about the world, what you feel about the problems and what you perceive as truth. As you begin to dig into the Word, it will uproot the enemy’s thoughts, poisonous weeds of doubt and fear will have to flee! Application of the Word over all the lies and half-truths will cause them to shrivel away.

Oh beloved, how loved you are! Someone may have sowed seeds of untruth into your life – that you are unworthy, unlovely or unneeded. God says the opposite – Christ has said you are valuable to Him, you are beautiful in His sight and you are useful and have great potential for the Kingdom of God. It’s time to eradicate the untruths and replant God’s truth! Everything you are in Christ is perfection. Every Word you speak with the Father is heard. Every hope you have is being turned toward God so that He will give you the very desires of your heart! You walk in blessings, you stand in faith, you kneel in prayer and you step forward in victory – because the noxious things of life cannot overtake you.

God loves you and He’s for you – that is a hedge of protection against which no enemy can encroach! Rejoice as you live loved and walk in His blessings all the days of your life. 

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 10:17 O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear

Ephesians 4:24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

2 Peter 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Psalm 3:3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. KJV

Jude 12 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

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