Disclaimer: The following is not about working to obtain spiritual salvation but is only intended to educate readers on the symptoms and causes of wrong choices, and to direct them to the Great Physician who administers healing.
Your life is made up of one choice after another. Even if you do nothing, that in itself is a choice. You have chosen to just let an opportunity pass, you have chosen to ignore a threat, or you have chosen to take the time to examine the choices that are available in the situation.
Choices are like seeds. There are so many kinds of seeds, and seeds do what they like to do most--grow. What, how, when and where determine the beauty of the landscape or the harvest you will reap.
It may be that you absent-mindedly toss out some seeds, with no intention of growing anything, as in the case of tomato or pepper seeds. Sometimes there is a moist area where water drains from your kitchen sink and it can be a fertile area for discarded seeds to spring up. Soon you are surprised to find some lovely tomatoes ripening on the vine. Some of your life's choices follow that pattern. In your daily activities, because of your personality, you dish out smiles and a few encouraging words in an environment that feels damp and dreary. Very soon it takes root and one more person begins to see life in a different light. It is as if the sun has begun to shine.
At times you deliberately decide to plant--maybe a mango, coconut, palm, or some other sturdy tree. You may wait many long years before the manifestation of your dream. Likewise, some of your choices do not produce their results until later on in life, even after you have forgotten about them. For example, recently I took a group of kids to visit an elderly friend and had them read to her. She remarked that it was interesting how the same thing she did when she was younger (take kids to visit the elderly and read to them) was the same thing that was happening to her in her senior years. Similarly, the fruits of rebellion may take a long while to mature.
Sometimes you are horrible to someone. Perhaps you just don't like the individual so you refuse to help him or her. Maybe you don't even know what it is about the person you dislike but you try to put pressure just to make his or her life miserable.
Seeds are an interesting subject to study. It is fascinating to watch an ant struggle with a seed much bigger than itself. From where the seed fell in your yard it is carried away and deposited among the nearby weeds and abandoned when the ant is disturbed by a broom sweeping across the yard. The plant shows up in an unexpected place. In much the same manner the results of your choices can manifest generations down the line in your family, whether they were positive or negative choices. That's one of the reasons why you cannot understand why certain situations keep recurring as a pattern in your family's life. The tree continues to bear fruit after its kind in its season.
What should you do when you realize that you, in a moment of stupidity, have dispersed seeds that are producing an undesirable harvest in your life or in your loved ones' lives? What do you do with the weeds and the thorns that are choking the life out of your happiness and prosperity? What strong weed killer, or what kind of tiller would you use to uproot the unwanted plant?
The first step is to admit that there is a problem. Next, ask God to show you the original location where you planted the seeds of destruction. Tell him you are sorry about that mistake. Ask him to apply the blood of Jesus to that area and to cast out the devil who has gained an entry point into your life. Ask him to destroy the seeds and their subequent harvests so that they will no longer exist and multiply.
Thank him for the good seeds you have planted and ask him for the wisdom to propagate even more. Finally, using that knowledge, plant some more good seeds and joyfully await the harvest for yourself, your family and for others.
Your life is made up of one choice after another. Even if you do nothing, that in itself is a choice. You have chosen to just let an opportunity pass, you have chosen to ignore a threat, or you have chosen to take the time to examine the choices that are available in the situation.
Choices are like seeds. There are so many kinds of seeds, and seeds do what they like to do most--grow. What, how, when and where determine the beauty of the landscape or the harvest you will reap.
It may be that you absent-mindedly toss out some seeds, with no intention of growing anything, as in the case of tomato or pepper seeds. Sometimes there is a moist area where water drains from your kitchen sink and it can be a fertile area for discarded seeds to spring up. Soon you are surprised to find some lovely tomatoes ripening on the vine. Some of your life's choices follow that pattern. In your daily activities, because of your personality, you dish out smiles and a few encouraging words in an environment that feels damp and dreary. Very soon it takes root and one more person begins to see life in a different light. It is as if the sun has begun to shine.
At times you deliberately decide to plant--maybe a mango, coconut, palm, or some other sturdy tree. You may wait many long years before the manifestation of your dream. Likewise, some of your choices do not produce their results until later on in life, even after you have forgotten about them. For example, recently I took a group of kids to visit an elderly friend and had them read to her. She remarked that it was interesting how the same thing she did when she was younger (take kids to visit the elderly and read to them) was the same thing that was happening to her in her senior years. Similarly, the fruits of rebellion may take a long while to mature.
Sometimes you are horrible to someone. Perhaps you just don't like the individual so you refuse to help him or her. Maybe you don't even know what it is about the person you dislike but you try to put pressure just to make his or her life miserable.
Seeds are an interesting subject to study. It is fascinating to watch an ant struggle with a seed much bigger than itself. From where the seed fell in your yard it is carried away and deposited among the nearby weeds and abandoned when the ant is disturbed by a broom sweeping across the yard. The plant shows up in an unexpected place. In much the same manner the results of your choices can manifest generations down the line in your family, whether they were positive or negative choices. That's one of the reasons why you cannot understand why certain situations keep recurring as a pattern in your family's life. The tree continues to bear fruit after its kind in its season.
What should you do when you realize that you, in a moment of stupidity, have dispersed seeds that are producing an undesirable harvest in your life or in your loved ones' lives? What do you do with the weeds and the thorns that are choking the life out of your happiness and prosperity? What strong weed killer, or what kind of tiller would you use to uproot the unwanted plant?
The first step is to admit that there is a problem. Next, ask God to show you the original location where you planted the seeds of destruction. Tell him you are sorry about that mistake. Ask him to apply the blood of Jesus to that area and to cast out the devil who has gained an entry point into your life. Ask him to destroy the seeds and their subequent harvests so that they will no longer exist and multiply.
Thank him for the good seeds you have planted and ask him for the wisdom to propagate even more. Finally, using that knowledge, plant some more good seeds and joyfully await the harvest for yourself, your family and for others.
