Do you ever feel like your life is spinning out of control and God can’t get there quick enough to save the day? Ever wonder why God hasn’t shown up yet, or wonder if He is even planning to show up?
I’m starting to shift my thinking. That is how I used to feel but now I’m really beginning to appreciate how God works. His timing is perfect!
… If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.
Habakkuk 2:3
GOD is so on point!
This week’s Lifegroup was a testament to that fact. It was a breakthrough night for the United Nations Frederick.
You see, for a while now, I’ve been feeling that we’ve reached a bit of a plateau, so I started taking a deeper look into our group. When I started doing that, I started sensing that we haven’t been paying much attention to our own “gardens” lately, but I didn’t know how to address that to the group. Do I tackle it head on? Do I run the risk of offending people by showing them what I see? Do I let it go and just hope the problems go away? I didn’t know what to do.
Then, God answered my prayer by speaking through pastor Dale’s message this past weekend. He talked about identifying weeds in our life that will ultimately choke out our plant from being fruitful (Mark 4:7). It was the confirmation I needed to move forward, and it gave me a framework to address this issue AGGRESSIVELY, just like we should be aggressive about pulling weeds from our gardens. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that the “Watch out for weeds” sermon came at the time that it did.
We were in desperate need of gardening.
God used Tuesday night to speak to us individually about the weeds in our lives. Here are the weeds that people identified:
- Self-righteousness (“I have a hard time seeing other people’s point of view…”)
- Self-centeredness (“I like to do things MY way…”)
- Pride (“I’m not going to be the one to apologize…”)
- Resentment (“I can’t believe they haven’t reached out. And why did they do that? And then…”)
- Anger (“I’m not even going to listen to you anymore. In fact, I might just leave”)
- Fear/worry (“It prevents me from doing things”)
- Complacency (“I find myself saying I’m going to do it, but then it doesn’t get done”)
- Stubborness (“I just can’t do that unless they meet me halfway”)
- Busy-ness (“I find myself making excuses (even if they are legitimate) for not doing certain things”)
- Gossip (“I find satisfaction in knowing that I have information other people don’t have”)
- Lip service (“I call myself a christian, but then I curse a lot when I’m around my co-workers”)
- Lust (“It’s a constant battle for me to keep my thoughts pure and to fight from feeding my eyes”)
Then we took that a step further, and we talked about the weeds that are growing in our “Lifegroup garden”. Has our Lifegroup (plant) been choking and has its ability to bear fruit been affected as a results of weeds that have been growing in our garden?
Our group was quick to identify a prevalent weed:
Cliques
It’s ironic, because this is the one “weed” that our group had prided ourselves on not having. What initially drew people to our group was our warmth, our openness, and our welcoming atmosphere. But somehow, over time, we have become a clique. Even within our own group, cliques have formed.
It just goes to show that in the same way that weeds grow fast in a real garden, and it’s a constant process of keeping your garden free of weeds, we must constantly assess our spiritual health by pulling weeds from our life, even if we think we don’t have them. We almost always do – sometimes even the same types of weeds we’ve pulled before.
It was an intense night for us all. We were all convicted on some level. But as we identified and confessed our weeds to each other, burdens were lifted, hearts were softened, and love prevailed. There is no doubt that God’s presence was felt that night.
Praise God for intervening and convicting us ALL and softening our hearts to hear His message.
Think your garden is weed free?
Think twice. Those things grow faster than you think…and they are more destructive than you could imagine. What weeds do you have in your life?
The Calm Before the Storm 
Great blog Nathan, How funny is this. I just tilled up a new garden in the front of my house, mixed in lots of compost I’ve been working on, and planted lots of bulbs. Only about 2 weeks later the whole garden is COVERED in lots of weeds!! Apparently the owner before had a garden there also years ago, so some of the weeds really look like they could be plants, (what if they are, what if they arent’?) I realized I need a good gardening book that will help me to identify more plants and weeds. With that thought, it made me think of how weeds (sin) in our life will deceive us, and make itself look like something good….and how can we know for sure? Staying in the word, the truth!! So I just thought it awesome, how I’m still sitting here, dirt still in my nails from pulling weeds, just opened and read your email 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts through the holy spirit 🙂
Wow…that’s really cool. Thanks for sharing that Melissa! And that’s a great point about how the weeds can often look like the plant in the beginning stages.
They can be so conniving and crafty. They will literally masquerade themselves as budding plants, until they are big enough and strong enough to overpower the good plant.
Sin is definitely like that, isn’t it? They can often look like the real deal. Take a job or even “serving God” for instance. Those are good things, and God wants us to do them…but even those good things can get in the way of our relationship with God, and then suddenly they are no longer good things, but rather weeds in our life.
I love how God can and will speak to us on a daily basis…if we are just poised to listen. Even in your chore/hobby of gardening, God used that to teach you something. Very cool!
I’m so thankful; for how God speaks through you to so many people.