Pulling weeds from the garden can be hard work especially in the hot Australian summer but it is enjoyable and rewarding. Today I spent 30 minutes outside pulling many flat-weeds that are close to flowering and dropping more seeds. It is a hot day here, about 35C or 95F in the shade, so out in the hot sun I was pretty hot and sweaty!
We rent this house from a landlord. Normally I am on top of the weeds with regular mowing but our lawn mower died about 3 weeks ago and I have not fixed it yet. So the weeds have spread and are taking over. If you drive up our street you will see that almost every yard has the same problem. But not all.
Some front yards (as we call them here) are totally free from weeds, not one appears in their lawn.
The picture is of the yard two blocks away from us. Notice the next block is full of weeds and they have gone to seed(the white bits on top).
How do they have such a weed free lawn?
For starters, that house has it’s own water bore so they water every day whereas the rest of us are on permanent water restrictions. We are only allowed to water twice a week with fixed sprinklers.
Because they give the grass heaps of water the grass grows so well that there is not any room for the weed seeds to get into the soil and take root. Even if one did take root, the grass will choke out the weed rather than the other way around.
Spiritual lessons
We can learn a lot from weeds.
Weeds generally have very good root systems with a large tap root. Grass has a shallow root system. The practice we use here is to simply mow the weeds every year but not many people bother getting the roots out, it requires either a lot of effort or poisonous sprays.
Here is a picture of one type of weed we deal with here in Western Australia.
If we do not get the roots out the weeds will continue to reappear every Spring. The roots will get deeper and stronger. The longer we leave them the harder they are to pull out.
Before we came to faith in Jesus there were already weeds growing in our garden- mind and heart. We got born again and may have had a few roots pulled sovereignly by God but in His wisdom He has left most of the roots in us for us to overcome
The roots have their anchor point in a wound from our past or even further back than our lives. Some of the roots we have embedded in us are anchored in the wounds and sins of our ancestors.
Whatever the case may be, God knows.
My Father is the Gardener and I am His field. He is aware of the weeds growing in my field but HE needs my permission to begin pulling them out.
In order to pull these weeds out we must first locate them.
Ask the Lord to reveal the patterns of destructive words or behaviour in your life. Can you see a pattern of things you always say about yourself, others, places, groups, nations? These are vows or oaths we make. They are judgements we speak which set up walls around us and others blocking the flow of divine life and blessing.
While I was weeding the Lord reminded me how I have sworn that “I would never go into debt to a bank again”. I would often, over the years since selling our house and giving the money away, be heard denouncing banks and the whole debt system as being a part of Babylon.
I had often made it clear to my wife and kids and others that I would never borrow money again but would trust God to provide.
That may sound spiritual but what it is is a vow or an oath I had made. It is also spiritual pride. And it is also held to compensate against having given away the house we had.
Jesus clearly taught that we are not to swear at all, but let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Anything more than that is from the Evil one. This goes back to the Law in Leviticus 5:4,5 where it says:
4 Or if anyone swears an oath thoughtlessly or impulsively aloud that he will do either evil or good, in whatever manner a person may speak thoughtlessly or impulsively with an oath, but he is unaware of it, when he recognizes it, he will be guilty in one of these.
5 So it shall be when a person is guilty in one of these, that he shall confess the sin he has committed.
Speaking rashly, thoughtlessly or impulsively with our lips about something or someone including ourself or God, is something that Leviticus 5 above says can be hidden from us. This is much the same as weed seeds and roots under the soil. Out of that oath we have sworn long ago grows a plant to match the vow.
If we said for instance like I have I will never borrow money again from the banks then it effectively blocks one way God may wish to bless us. How do I know what God wants for us? He may want us to borrow money so that He can bless us with a home and also teach us certain things along the way. But my vow says to God, I am in charge of my life NOT YOU GOD!
The result is that we continue renting house after house as people who own them sell them. Since 2008 we have had to move house 3 times. Spiritual pride in my life says God will give us a house some day because I trust in Him. What this is is holding God to ransom to make Him give us a house. It is far more humbling for me to accept that God may want us to borrow money even in the current climate of financial uncertainty. It would take a lot of faith to borrow money at this time, so which is greater: God giving us a house or God providing for us in a financial time of famine in the land to make the payments on a loan?
Who are we to tell God how He must provide for us? It is the same with healing. I may swear that I will never use conventional medicine if I get seriously ill. This is a rash oath and is sin.
Because it is sin, it gives Satan legal right to afflict me with some disease if God permits it.
I do not want to have to use drugs for healing….but swearing that I never will is not the way God wants me to live. Rather He wants me to draw near to Him and trust Him for my life instead of swearing oaths about what I will and won’t do.
These oaths are all weeds and roots that need to be recognised and pulled up through repentance, confession aloud before a witness and then receiving forgiveness by faith. After that we ask God to break the vow we made and to set us free from the demonic attachments to those words. The demons involved no longer have a legal right to enforce our vow, so we tell them to go for good.
On the positive side we then begin to thank God for His faithfulness and His wisdom and His ability to look after our lives. After all, we died on the cross with Christ. Now we live unto God as new creations. But these roots keep us locked into the old life trusting in ourselves to be our own god!
Once the vow is broken off in prayer we can expect to see things change pretty quickly. Our vows have been like walls holding back all these accumulated blessings and people and things and ideas and opportunities etc etc.
To stop new weeds from growing the best way is to water your lawn regularly, to fertilise it and mow it properly. A healthy lawn will make a barrier to any weeds coming in. In the same way we are to regularly worship in the Word and in the Spirit, meditating upon His word, reading with our spiritual mind. We fertilise our spiritual life by listening to the messages of others who have an anointing that God wants us to receive from. Fertiliser is extra help, so also the five fold ministry gifts are there in the body to fertilise God’s people.
The mowing of the grass to cause new fresh growth is God’s pruning process, where he tests each new revelation and faith understanding with some appropriate pressure to cause our faith to grow.
There are as many vows with weeds attached to them as their are people.
Here are some, think of your own life and make your own list. Then take it before the Father and pray through it.
I wish I was dead
I promise to serve you God
I will never watch TV
I will never marry
I will never get fat
I will always be a….
I am just like my father he was a ….
I am just like my mother, she always….
Typical! I always get sick in winter
I hate cities, I will never live in one.
I hate the country towns I will never live there.
America is the best nation I will never live anywhere else.
Australia is the best nation in the world, I will never live anywhere else.
I hate people, they always let you down.
I will never go into debt
My dad died young, so will I.
Get the idea? There are many many vows we may have made, I know I have. With each vow or careless word demons take full advantage and attach themselves to your life and anyone else you have made the statement about.