Let God be the Gardner

“But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”‭‭Matthew‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭NKJV

Can you believe that we are already half way through the year? It feels as if this year has just been flying by. The days are just going by so fast. Before you know it summer will soon be over and the fall weather will be among us. (I actually love the fall).

So before the summer arrived, I noticed that a few plants that I had planted last year began to grow beautifully. But, there was one problem! The weeds also started growing. My flowers were covered with weeds.

I know nothing about gardening, I do know how to throw seeds in the ground and water them, but to actually keep up with the gardening such as uprooting weeds and keeping up with the garden has not been an easy task for me. The weeds had invaded my beautiful flowers.

A couple of months ago, I was led by the Holy Spirit to revisit all my journals. Journals that I have dating all the way back to 2010. I have been journaling for 7 years now and I love to journal my journey with God. In one of my journal entries from 2011, I had a bible verse that I had written down that just grabbed my attention.

“But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”‭‭ Matthew‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭NKJV

As I read the Bible verse in my journal it just drew me in and I knew God was getting ready to show me something in His word. When you visit the book of Matthew chapter 15, Jesus spoke the above bible verse to the disciples when they approached Him regarding what He spoke when He addressed the crowd that was surrounding Him. He was speaking in regards to the purity of the peoples hearts. Matthew chapter 15 is a great chapter that helps us understand the condition of ourselves from the inside, (inside our hearts) and how it effects what comes out of our mouths and how it effects our way of thinking and behaviors.

In my own personal journey with God, God has been doing a lot of uprooting and planting in my own life. What God was showing me with Matthew 15:13, was that certain ways of thinking and behaving had to be uprooted by God himself in my life. God was showing me that I am His garden and any weed or plant that is not or was not planted by Him he was going to uproot it and remove it so that all that is left is the plants that only God planted. God wants us flourishing from the inside out, as you know weeds are very destructive and unattractive, and if not taken care of it will destroy and ruin any other plants near them to the point that it will just take over and be very difficult to get rid of.

So what are the plants that God was uprooting in me?

Generational Curses, wrong and negative thinking, rejection, selfishness, fear, insecurities, self-image issues (how I viewed myself),unbelief, and anger. These are just some of the weeds planted in my life by the enemy. The enemy has been doing his own gardening by planting his own seeds of destruction in our lives. Since we were young he has been busy planting seeds of rejection, fear, doubt, and unbelief to keep us from the purpose and destiny that God has planted in us from the beginning of time. Each season of my life in where I have faced certain trials has been about God uprooting the weeds that were planted by the enemy.

God loves us so much that once we surrender our hearts and make the commitment to allow Him to change us He is faithful in making sure that He roots out anything that is destroying us. Like a gardener, God grabs his tools, and He begins to work on us. In order for the new me to flourish and grow beautifully, God needed to remove all the weeds of fear, anger, and rejection from me so that God could plant with His word, His love, and the help of the Holy Spirit new seeds of Joy, courage, self worth, value, and allow a new plant of my new identity in Christ to grow.

(I will say that the uprooting process is not an easy process.) So one day I decided to take some time out to root out all those ugly long weeds, because every time I got home it just looked so unattractive to see my beautiful nice flowers bombarded by dozens of weeds. I went outside and began to uproot the weeds. Can I just say, WOW! Those weeds were so deeply rooted, that I almost fell back on the ground while trying to pull the weed out. I uprooted a few before I finally gave up and ran back in the house. The next morning, my arms were sore! I’m thinking to myself, geez those weeds were hard to uproot.

Once God begins to show you certain destructive ways about yourself, it becomes very hard to change. We develop certain destructive behaviors and grow up with them for so many years until finally there comes a point in where we are faced with something that will cause us to change. Whether it be you becoming a wife, or a mother, or you begin a new career. Becoming a wife really exposes certain areas in where you can’t do what you use to do before you were married. Even when you become a mom, certain ways about yourself must change so that you can raise your child the right way. In our own marriages God has to uproot certain weeds out as well, even in our parenting also. (I will share more on this in more posts to come).

One destructive way about myself was that God had to help me with my way of thinking. We develop certain destructive ways of thinking when we allow the world to invade our thoughts, and not the word of God, we begin to have a worldly mindset filled with unbelief, and lies about ourselves and about what Gods word says. I at some point believed that I wasn’t good enough, that no matter how nice I was to people, I just wasn’t accepted no matter what I did right; I thought that if I pleased people, people would love me and accept me. It took a while for God to uproot that lie from the enemy, out! God had to first expose the root by showing me through prayer, reading his word, and fasting, that I don’t need people to approve of me. God began planting seeds of love and acceptance in me so that as I seek God more, those seeds will grow into beautiful plants of love and self value, knowing that I am loved by my heavenly father is all I need to be accepted. Not only does our ways of thinking affect us, but it also affects those around us. We are always sharing our thoughts with others. We influence people around us everyday with our good ways and not so good ways.

That is why God has to root out all negative ways of thinking and behaving in us, that we can influence people in the right ways of God, so that they can see Jesus in us and question, what is that hope and joy that you carry?

God is working in me, each day, in each trial, and in each season of my life, God is uprooting and planting in me everyday. We are His beautiful gardens, and all he wants is our obedience, time, commitment, and trust in Him so that He can do the work in us, so that in return we can honor Him with our pure hearts.

The weeds in our life, defile our hearts and God is a healer of the heart. Has God uprooted anything in your own life that has been destructive to you or others? Do you feel as if God is tugging at your heart to help you change certain ways about you? If so, surrender in prayer and make a commitment to change those destructive ways so that you can live your new life in Christ and be free. Let God be the gardener in your life, He knows exactly how to take care of it and make it flourish.

““I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬