Daily Weeding of Our Hearts

I have to admit this week the Lord has done some “uncovering” of some of  my unsurrendered areas. The good thing about Him uncovering areas like this is that it preps our heart like a garden, so it is ready for His good seeds to be planted and take root. Unless we surrender to Him and allow Him to pull the weeds of our own will, selfishness, and pride, we will never be able to grow His fruit in our hearts and lives for others to see or pick (taste). Without the tilling of the soil, the weeds will continue to grow and choke out the seedlings He has planted and wishes to grow in our lives. When someone wants to plant a garden it takes time, planning, and a lot of hard work, so do the changes God wants to do in our hearts and lives. But we must remember it is His time, His planning, and His hard work; “all” we need to do is surrender to His will for our lives.

When there are times we feel we are unable to hear clearly from the Lord or that He seems distant, perhaps it is due to weeds we have allowed to grow in our lives that blocks our communication with the Lord. It could be something as simple as a weed of allowing ourselves to get too busy, or maybe getting puffed up in pride, or maybe allowing the enemy to get us all worked up over issues. We need to stop and ask ourselves whether we are taking time to be with the Lord, quiet at His feet…Are we sitting with Him each day allowing Him to weed the garden of our heart? Sometimes He may pull a weed Himself and it is over quickly, other times He may use someone else in our life or experiences in our life (circumstances) to pull the weed and it is not so easy and may be quite painful to our flesh. I believe the weeds with shallow roots are the quick and easy ones, and the ones we allow to grow and create deep roots are the ones that are painful and take a long time to get out of our lives. This is why surrendering to Him and allowing Him to “weed” us daily is so important, it prevents the deep roots from forming, keeping our hearts clean and ready for daily communion with Him.

Matthew 13:22 describes what happens when God’s Word is sewn among the thorns (weeds), “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” (NKJV) If we allow Him to “weed” us daily, he can pull out the small issues before they grow into big issues. He will point out areas of unforgiveness, resentment, pride and any other sin in our lives, before it becomes a wall between Him and us. By having a weeded garden, we can grow well developed, good and healthy fruit of the Spirit that we can use to minister to those around us. In Matthew 7:17-20 it says that an unhealthy tree cannot bear good fruit and that a healthy tree bears good fruit…and we will be known by our fruit (whether good or bad). We want the world to see our good fruit of Christ, so they will want what we have and be saved…right? If so, then we must make sure the garden of our heart is weeded daily, so we are able to bear good fruit.

“17 Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit. 18 A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration]. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. 20 Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:17-20 (AMP)

 

And in Matthew 15:18-20 Jesus says that it is what comes from the heart that makes us “unclean”[i.e. – the unpulled weeds left to grow in our hearts.]

 “18 But whatever comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what makes a man unclean and defiles [him]. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech. 20 These are what make a man unclean and defile [him]; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him unclean or defile [him].” Matthew 15:18-20 (AMP)

 

Have you ever tried to pull dandelions from your yard? I can remember as a child working with the special tool that was supposed to “pop” the root of the dandelion out of the ground. My grandfather taught me how to get under the leaves and right up against the largest part of the root, otherwise it would not work. It was a lot of hard work and a slow process, but if done correctly it would get the entire root and THAT dandelion would not return. I learned two lessons about dandelion pulling that summer which can also be applied to the weeds of our heart: 1) no matter how many you pull, there will always be more trying to grow in the yard (and our hearts), and 2) it was much easier to pull the weeds when they were little and keep on top of it, than it was to ignore the weeds and have to pull them when they were bigger, had deeper roots, and there were more of them.

Surrender and prayer are the special tools for pulling the weeds in our heart. We must take time daily to surrender our will to our Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to pull the weeds in our hearts. He will reveal the weeds in our lives that are choking out His Word and power in our lives, we must be willing to surrender those areas to Him and allow Him to pull (remove) them. Remember it is easier to weed your garden daily, than to let it get overrun by weeds; and surrender is the only “weed-b-gone” the Lord will use in our hearts.

May you surrender to Him daily and keep your heart weed-free!

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