To nurture or neuter 

‘“Didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?” “An enemy did this.”’ Matthew 13:27-28 NIV 

During times of upheaval, the enemy will try to slip into your field and sow weeds. It could be debt or divorce, abuse or abandonment; it’s not so much what you’ve been through but what you’re left with – terrible self-doubt. Unless you want your future to be a second helping of your past, stop nurturing what needs to die. If you don’t, it’ll continue to live off your strength and suck up all your joy, like the hungry mouth of a nursing child. Neuter it! Anything that’s neutered loses its ability to a) threaten you, or b) reproduce in your life. ‘But how?’ you ask. By forgiving, ‘just as in Christ God forgave you’ (Ephesians 4:32 NIV). That means forgive and keep on forgiving until it loses its power to infect your words or influence your thoughts. God says, ‘Remember ye not the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing’ (Isaiah 43:18 KJV). God doesn’t just command this; He enables you to do it. He says you can start again. You can nurture your problem child through this crisis or your partner through this illness and your part-time job into an executive position. The reason you can do it is ‘because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’ (1 John 4:4 NIV). 

Prayer Point:

Lord, help me to listen to Your voice and nurture the good seed that You are sowing in my life because I want to bring forth a harvest for You. The trouble is, Lord, that sometimes I listen to other voices as well as Yours. Help me to quickly realise when this is happening so that weeds of unbelief, anger, fear or bitterness have no time to take root.