This afternoon late, I took a little break and decided to go out and play in my garden/yard for a while. One of my flowerbeds was just full of Johnson grass and weeds.
As I began to pull those weeds, and some of them were just plain old stubborn I want you to know, it dawned on me once again how we sometimes get weeds growing in our lives. You know what I mean; don’t pretend you don’t! There are the weeds of gossip, of discontent, of envy, pride, jealousy. . . . need I go on? I didn’t think so!
While trying to uproot one particularly difficult weed without annihilating a lovely little woods violet that was smiling up at me, I started taking an inventory of what weeds might be growing in my heart right now. Hmmmmmm, well there were a few. Perhaps not as many as a few years ago, or even a few months ago, but still, I spotted several.
Kneeling there in my worn out black sweat pants and tattered old shirt, with the sun shining on my shoulders, I began to pray, yep, right out loud, to my heavenly Father; asking Him to begin pulling and getting rid of anything that was not of Him.
Now, asking Him to pull those weeds out, to begin a new work in me, wasn’t hard at all. However, knowing that He will do as I asked is the hard part. Some weeds have only taken a little root and won’t hurt all that much. But others, oh those have dug in deep and they will likely sting and burn just a bit.
But oh the joy that comes though, when we know that we have given everything to Him; when we have released all those feelings of guilt, anger, hurt, unforgiveness, or whatever else may be hiding deep in our heart. As He washes the dirt away, just like the water hose washing away the dirt from my strawberry plants after I’d mulched them, we can be fresh and clean again; watered anew and afresh with the precious healing touch of the Holy Spirit.
If you haven’t asked the Lord to pull your weeds in a while, to cleanse your heart, I encourage you now to do just that. Don’t be afraid, don’t let Satan hold you back. Just reach out and ask and it will be done.
You will feel amazing afterward! I promise.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Corinthians 5:17