Speaking LIFE here. Does your heart hurt?
"Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants."
"Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Matthew 13:7-8
This morning I went out to feel nature on my skin, the soft warm air and breeze. As I glanced around to see if my flowers needed watering, I saw this weed/crabgrass! If flourishes better than my flowers even in dry spells! The first picture shows how the roots go down deep. Well, I immediately pulled it up! You know it's easier to pull up weeds when the soil is damp from rain? Where am I going with this?
Here is the soil after I pulled the weeds. The weed came right up and the soil crumbled all around. So it reminded me of some truths. When we go through some tough stormy seasons, our hearts are like that damp soil. They are ready for the weeds to be pulled! Usually I have to use my entire body to pull one crabgrass clump, but it just came up! I took advantage of the soft soil and pulled several other weeds.
Do you see what I see? During and after storms/trials, our hearts are softened up and primed for weeding! I won't spend a lot of time on this because it's obvious! But I will say, its not the outcome of the storm, its what the storm does to the soil that makes it release the weeds easily. When we go through hard times, God is gentle and softens our hearts. He gently pulls out the weeds, no big pointed garden tool needed!
It says in Hebrews 4:12 that "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." When we feel the storms it helps if we have "pre-treated" the soil against weeds, steady immersion in the Word of God at all times. But if we have not been cautious, it's not too late! Get out the Word of God and fill your heart with truth!
Jesus that HE IS THE WORD! IT SAYS SO IN John 1:1-5. THAT'S POWER!
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
I am confident that we must constantly fill up on the Word, be in prayer, be in relationship with Jesus. There is a passage in Matthew 12 that says,
"Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. "Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. "Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
I am not suggesting a Christian can be in dwelt by an evil spirit at all! If we are a Christian, Jesus dwells in us and the enemy flees! But there is a picture here that drives the point home. The point I want to make of this passage is, that when we see a sin/weed and God deals with us, helps us empty our hearts of weeds, it is time to fill fill fill with the Word of God. Matthew 13:8! Don't just let that soil sit! Let it produce a good crop! Multiply! Share your life! Don't just empty your heart, and stop a behavior. Go a step further and fill that space with God and His grace! Too often we trade one sin for another. I know I do. Have you ever played that arcade game where you have a big hammer and you keep hitting those big buttons that pop up? One goes down and another goes up? We can prevent bad hi-jacking our hurting hearts by staying close to Jesus. I will end this blog post with one of my favorite "power of the Word" passages. Jeremiah 23:29,
"Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"
Let the first place we turn be Jesus and His Word, and Lord please let the first words we speak into each other's lives be about you and your grace, not our own "fix it words." Thank you that Your Word is living and active and that,
"In You we live and move and have our being."
Acts 17:28
It's not always about sin either, often just the hurts of life and wounds that need stitched up. Still, the salve is Jesus. I'll leave you with this flower, this is who we are in Christ, loved, redeemed, forgiven, accepted, adopted, blessed! Ephesians 1 tells us this! We can be a fragrant flower...don't be alarmed by the turned over soil, it hurts, but it can be a good hurt, a healing hurt! Peace be with you!
Flame, Start Over
Toby Mac, Speak Life
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