Pull From The Root
It started on a Sunday and carried through Friday, what used to be beautifully blossoming flowers had now become a few flowers (dying from lack of hydration) and bunch of “grass-like”weeds camouflaging the flaws. Over the course of 5 days I saw my flowers dying right before my eyes. Each day as I pulled in and out of my drive way I had the exact same thought, “man, my flowers are dying, I really need to water them”. As I drove away each morning the first 5 minutes of my ride was spent in deep concern about how I would bring these flowers back to life. And just like clockwork, by the time I hit I-96 my mind was on to the next thought and those flowers were the furthest from my mind. So early Saturday morning I began tending to my flower garden. There were so many weeds that needed to be pulled, I really didn’t even know where to start. I blasted my newly updated iTunes music, feeling SUPER accomplished to even have one eye open at 7am, and just jumped in; vigorously pulling away at an infinite amount of weeds. As I began to pull the weeds I thought, “wow this is easy!” And then I had a vivid memory of when I was a kid. My mind flashed back to about 10 years old when my grandmother would make me pull the weeds in our yard, and just like this particular morning I would think to myself, “this is easy”. But with my grandmother’s supervision she would quickly notify me that I was doing it all wrong. Granny would say, “you can’t do it like that, they’re gonna come right back…you’ve got to pull from the root”. She would then visually instruct me on how to properly pull a weed. She explained to me how her technique was effective and permanent, while mine was merely giving an illusion and that my weeds would surely reappear in a couple of days.
So here I am awaking from my day dream and I began to apply this “pull from the root” technique to my own flower garden. Even with the right technique most of the weeds were still fairly easy to pull, but there was this certain type of weed that gave me the most trouble. This particular weed didn’t look like your typical weed, it was prettier, it blended in with the grass much more than the rest, and even though it was much smaller than the rest of the weeds, it was MUCH stronger than the rest. These little weeds gave me so much trouble to the point of complete frustration. After struggling with a few I decided that I would leave them there; after all, they blended in with the grass so no one would be able to tell(insert sarcasm here). As I made progress, skipping over the trouble makers I just couldn’t get over the fact that these little weeds were defeating me. I attempted at one more and was determined to get rid of this weed. As I yanked at the weed trying to find the root, I realized that the root was spread out much wider than what was shown above ground. I began digging the dirt around the weed and I felt several tiny roots that were connected to the big root. I discovered that in order to pull up the big root, I had to break all the tiny roots first. I was deeply amazed at the fact that these tiny little roots were giving me such a hassle! Even though there were a lot of them, these little roots were so easy to break and as soon as I cleared them, the big root came right up!
I’m assuming at this point you know where I’m going with this…if not let me make it plain.
As I successfully conquered this trouble weed, God gave me a vision.
These tiny roots connected to my trouble weeds represented the strongholds present in our lives.
So now I’m like really God?! All I’m trying to do is pull these weeds and get back to bed, now you wanna get all deep and give me a revelation?! lol
But seriously it was so clear…..
There are so many areas our life that we struggle with, some things seem so difficult to overcome we decide to just skip over them. Most of the time these areas of struggle consume us with fear and instead of facing it, we ignore them– allowing them to be blended into our destiny. We are defeated before we even attempt to solve the problem. Just like the tiny roots in my flower garden we have to take a little more time and get to the real root of the problem. These tiny weeds(strongholds) are making our frivolous problems seem impossible to overcome. But if we dig deep into God, he’ll reveal alllllll the tiny connections that are holding us back from our victory.
In 2 Corinthian 10:3-4(Amplified) Paul says, 3″For we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not crying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction strongholds.
It was so clear, I wasn’t fighting with the physical weed in my garden, I had to dig deep and break all those tiny roots that were creating a strong barrier around the actual weed. And just like that, we have to identify and combat the strongholds in our lives. The decision to follow Christ automatically enlists you into a spiritual war, the devil’s sole purpose is to hold us captive and eventually destroy us! Just as in Ephesians 6 we must put on the Full Armor of God and prepare to win this war!
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
We can not be deceived by the weeds in our lives! No matter how stubborn that weed seems to be, we must remember that we are more than conquers! With the power of God; there is no battle, no struggle, no obstacle, no sin, no addiction, no person, no negative thought, and no spiritual stronghold that we can not over come.