Heart Gardening 101

My garden right now is a wreck!  I have not tilled it, prepared it, or even planted it for this season.  It is filled with a grand assortment of weeds and mostly overtaken by dandelions.  In order for me to have any hopes of fresh fruits and vegetables in my garden this year, I am going to have to put in a large amount of hard work to get it back into the shape it needs to be in for planting.  I have quite a job ahead of me and I have been avoiding it for the last couple weeks because I know I am going to be exhausted, aching, and dirty once I am done.

My garden was not always this way.  For the past few years I have done a good job of preparing it for planting and successfully gathering quite a bounty.  I know what my garden is capable of producing and I can instantly remember all the wonderful sights, tastes, and smells from my gardens of years past.  I long for my garden to be like the years before but know that accomplishing this task will be both challenging and worth while.

Sometimes our own lives are like my garden.  We have great times of fruitfulness and bounty and then other times where we let ourselves go.  There have been many times that the garden of my heart has been desolate and filled with the weeds of sin and the world.  Sure, I still had a fruit or vegetable plant here or there but none of them produced what they were capable of and some even where snuffed out by the weeds surrounding them.

Each day is an opportunity to prepare, care for, and cultivate our soul.  We are given the choice to plant the seeds of wisdom from the Bible in our hearts or the seed of sin.  We can choose to shine the light of the Holy Spirit on our heart, which will bring growth and nourishment, or we can cloud our hearts with things that don't matter and have no eternal value.  We can water our hearts with Jesus' living water or starve our hearts by filling it with the tainted waters of the devil, which may appear clear and pure and yet will always leave you wanting and leave you needing more than when you started.

Are you on a path that will produce the fruits of the Spirit in your heart or is your heart being strangled and tangled in an abundance of weeds?  Jesus spoke of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:1-23.  In this parable He talked about some seed falling on the path and being scavenged by birds, some falling on hard ground and being scorched by the sun because they had shallow roots, some falling amongst the thorns and weeds and being choked out, and those that fall on fertile ground.  Of the seeds that fall on fertile ground Jesus said that some seeds would produce thirty, some sixty, and some even a hundred times what was planted.

As I consider my own garden, I have learned that how I take care of it determines the harvest I have.  I have to provide good soil, proper water, a proper amount of sun, and even make sure that the plants don't get over crowded by weeds and similar plants.  There is so much more that also contributes to the bounty of my garden and much of it depends on my input into it.

In my blog last night i spoke about Faith or Works, in this parable Jesus shows how they go together.  The seed that falls on fertile soil is given life and you will notice that Jesus did not talk about the seed produce nothing.  The life is faith and is what you are saved by but the produce is the works that are created through your life and faith.  I hope you will allow the Lord to prepare your heart today.  There is so much blessing in the fruits He will create in your life.  Paul speaks of the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 saying, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control."  May you see these wonderful fruits in the garden of your heart and in the example of your life this year.

Blessings   

Greg

My wife and I feel an intense calling on our lives for missions and full-time ministry.  We have created a fundraiser to help us overcome one hurtle to us being able to go to the mission field.  I pray that you will take a moment and check out this link.  I thank you for your consideration and ask that you seek the Lord's guidance in considering contributing to this fundraiser.  Thank you.

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=3437&url=roadtofreedomforproclaimingchrist

Attacks of the Devil

I sometimes struggle with temptations in my dreams.  I have felt shame from the desires that are presented in my dreams though I have escaped the life they represent.  I thought it was an interesting point today when the speaker, during chapel at my job, talked about going to sleep and waking up being your most vulnerable time for attacks from the devil.  They went on to explain that this was so because it is the time that your mind is most passive.

First off, I have to say that I was comforted to know that I am not the only one who struggles with temptations within my dreams.  Second, I realized how much shame I would feel from these dreams though I do not many times have the control over my thought life during my dreams that I have when I am awake.  I realized today that temptation dreams have been used by the devil to raise my vulnerability to sin while I'm awake due to the shame and regret I feel from them.

The speaker went on to explain that the temptation dreams you experience when you fall asleep of are just waking up are not a sign of your underlying sinful heart but the vulnerability of your soul to attack at those times.  I have a choice to wake up and believe that I am the person I perceive myself to be in those dreams or I can choose to acknowledge that those dreams are attacks from the devil to try and weaken my daily walk in Christ.  During these moments, the devil is striking at a question many of us struggle with daily.  Am I good enough to have Jesus in me?  The answer is, no, but the beauty of this is that Jesus' purity washes over our sin for us.

When you are a follower of Jesus, it is important that you sift out the attacks of the devil on your heart and the truth of the Holy Spirit within you.  The devil wants you to believe that you have not changed through belief of Jesus Christ.  He wants to convince you that you will always succumb to temptations and that sinful thoughts you had before will always enslave you the rest of your life.  HE wants you to believe that the grace of Jesus is not enough to allow you to stand in heaven with Jesus.  These are lies!

Here are some truths from the Bible to help you be able to identify attacks from the devil and the works of the Holy Spirit in your life.  In the Galatians 5:22 and 23, it says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Ephesians 6, which speaks about the armor of Christ speaks about the devils arrows in verse 6.  It tells about the importance of the shield of faith to protect you from these arrows.  Ephesians 1:13-14 says, " In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."  The final piece of evidence that clenches the rest is also found in Ephesians 2:8-9 saying, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast."


So through these scriptures we can see that there will be attacks from the devil.  That our faith in the the Trinity will help shield us from those attacks.  That we have the Holy Spirit, who guarantees our inheritance, in us if we hear the gospel and believe in Jesus.  That we know that the works of the Holy Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  And finally, we see that we are not good enough but Jesus is and that our faith in Jesus truly is enough to receive all the rest.  So this helps us to know that anything that does not help us produce and develop the fruits of the Spirit in our lives is not the Holy Spirit but in fact an attack from the devil on our hearts.  


So next time you feel tempted, whether awake or in your dreams, use these truths to help focus you back on the Holy Spirit in your heart.  Also use these truth to renounce the attacks upon your soul and claim the strength of the spirit within you to protect you through your faith.  Jesus has already won against the devil so do not allow the devil to take any more victories from you but rather allow the Holy Spirit continue to help reign victorious through you.


Blessings,


Greg