Wheat and Tares

Remember always the wheat and tares. Jesus gave that story which is deeper than you think. He was explaining things people today wonder about. God is the gardener, the master, who told His servants to leave the tares to grow up with the wheat, lest they uproot the wheat while pulling the tares.

Not only do the tares look much like the wheat and growing side by side, their roots are in the same soil and by pulling them too soon could loosen the soil and destroy the shallow roots of the wheat, not giving the wheat time to grow and set down strong roots. By harvest time, the wheat will be so deeply rooted that pulling the tares will not destroy them.

Why does the believer need the adversary? A true believer will see the difference and cause them to grow deeper into the faith. God's people have always needed the opposition in order to see the line drawn in the sand. The more clearly they see that line, the more they pull away from it and the tighter the relationship with the Father. We can see the evil on the other side of the line, hopefully clearly enough to walk away from the evil on the other side.

The Lord does not want us ignorant. He wants us to see that line. It gives us clear choices in the life. The closer we come to the end of this church age, the bigger the tares and easier to see the numbers and where they are. It also causes a division; there are tares in the church.

My first real experience with a tare was when I married one and lived with oppression for 7 years which helped me understand what Lot was going through. Then in the mid 90's I got my first taste of what was to come. Not so far from me, a 12 year old and a couple of his friends murdered his grand parents because they wouldn't allow him to bring beer into their home. Then around the same time our favorite retired doctor had to shoot and kill his own son who was trying to break down his bedroom door to kill his father. Then not so long after, a mass murder in a school by one of the students.

People would ask 'how can this be? What happens to these people to make them act that way"? And my answer is simple; they are not one of us, they are demonic, they are tares. I know you've asked the same questions in the past, the same thoughts: it seems they are not human at all! Well, that's the truth in some cases and in others it is demonic.

Can a true believer be forced by evil to commit murder? Can a true believer be forced by evil to steal? to lie? to rape?...The answer is no. Not if a washed in the blood believer.

You've read it in the Bible that the life is in the blood. Not long ago, the Holy Spirit told me 'He is in the blood." Then as I pondered that He said again "He is in ALL blood"...I began to see the significance of Jesus' blood and why He had to come through a particular blood line in order for Him to manifest as a human. It had to be untainted blood. NOT messed with, not tainted by the fallen ones. It's God's bloodline. Once Jesus is accepted, your blood is changed if it were tainted. It is changed to blood God recognizes as His own. You heard that old time song 'are you washed in the blood'...there's a high significance in that song. If you have truly accepted Jesus as your Lord, your blood is changed and on top of that, spiritually you are covered in His blood and guess who cannot cross that blood.

As a child, I always wondered why my grand parents, before a trip in the car anywhere, would pray over the car and ask it to be covered in the blood. It seems to 'dramatic', so 'old fuddy duddy', so 'silly' to me. Now I understand. You know my grand parents never had a wreck? The blood of Christ was pled over EVERYTHING! The house, the food, the cow, their kids......

Jesus said he came to 'perfect' the law. I understand now what He meant. Through His blood, the law is alive and working. In other words, instead of stone tablets, the law flows through your veins and you are covered in it.

"I plead the blood of Christ over this car" sounds so mortal and way too simple but in truth, it is an act of faith which pleases God. You will NOT have a wreck in a car covered by the blood. Your house will NOT be invaded while it's covered in the blood. You can walk into anything as long as your path is covered in the blood. Do not waste that blood on things or people wrongly. Such as 'lay hand on no man suddenly'. What does THAT mean? It means don't cast your pearls before swine. His name and His blood are the same thing. Don't use it in vain.

We have come to the time when the tares (which look just like the wheat until grown) have grown taller than the wheat and easier to recognize. You are to be a peculiar people...totally apart from the tares. Just as Jesus said to satan himself 'tempt not the Lord' it also means using wisdom and discernment. You don't walk into a pit of vipers unless the Lord has prepared you and sent you. To do so is to waste your time and His and possibly your life but if He sends you, there is a harvest waiting and worth the trial to come. You are to be as harmless as a dove but wise as serpents. Keep your eyes open but do not fear the evil that is in this world

Walking and Talking

Things I've learned while growing in and then healing in the Lord. 

Skipping through quickly just to let you see how I came to ruin, after a daughter came dragging back to her home town with a 6 month old baby, and knowing that baby would need me (won't explain all that) I first allowed my daughter to run my business into the ground and then eventually wound up back out on the road driving truck to support them both. There's the stupid part.

After a few years of driving, discovery the hard way while on the road that I had emphysema and then giving my back its final blow, I wound up having to quit. Another $15000 for her benefit and then another $9000 toward my daughter and I was coming in for a landing. Soon on disability that only paid about $500 a month and suddenly I was considered a moocher, living rent free, worthless and no need to worry about her packing up and moving off to another state hoping to just dump me with $975 month rent.

That particular journey started there when the Lord let me know I had 3 days to find a place to live. 3 days? On $500 a month? How was that going to happen?

The Lord had provided a way, ahead of time. A long distance customer I had been doing designing and mold making for, had also become as close to an adopted son as one can get and guess who backed me up all the way. I will always love that young man and never be able to repay him.  I searched and searched and could find nothing nearby and I finally gave up, called my sister who lived in a country town area and asked if she wanted to go with me while I checked bulletin boards in the small town. She did and wanted to stop at the post office first, to check her mail. While she headed for her mail box, I noted an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper on a bulletin board and went to see what it was. It was my new home.

I called then met the owner of this place I live today, made him an offer and he took it. It was like everything was paved before me and before I knew it, I was running about moving boxes and trying to make this old gutted trailer out back into my new workshop.

One year. That's what it took for the Lord to heal my heart and straighten out my mind. This place had no curtains or rods and I wound up using part of the money my newly adopted son sent to help, just covering the windows. I sorted and cleaned and even spent 3 days scrubbing the stove. It was SO bad, I went through every chemical I could think of, every type scrubber and just kept at it. By the time I was done, I had to take a pic as it was just shining where before it looks creepy.

I had work that lasted me a year and all the while, I was dumping on the Lord. One minute I was mad at my daughter and the next minute mad at myself and then diving into depression thinking somehow it was my fault the way she had turned out. Along the way, while I wailed or stormed, the Lord brought a memory. Something that made me stop and ponder. Almost daily, these memories were being brought to mind and each time I looked at it, examined it and realized it wasn't may fault. Through that year, I was in solitude and I think constantly talking to the Lord while I worked. There was a storm in me and I didn't really understand it but I kept talking. I was telling the Lord how it felt, how I was feeling about this or that, crying or storming and every time, He brought back another memory. Each memory brought me closer to an answer and a closing. Then the wild night in the shower after a hard day of working, He brought 'the big one' out and I just stepped back. Oh my! Oh my! I WASN'T me. I had raised a narcissist who was born that way. Bringing that to light to a mother is quite a revelation and shocking. I was seeing the truth, facing the truth, hurting from the truth and healing.

No wonder there was so much stress around her. No wonder the way she is acting. No wonder my brain was fried!! A year....a whole year but He eventually worked me around to the point of the whole problem. I was healed.

Now what did I learn, aside from the fact you can have a 2 way conversation with the Lord? I learned to take Him on as my best friend, who can listen to anything and everything without getting His feeling hurt about something. I learned that when you take the time to simply walk and talk with Him, He will walk with you. For sure I learned is was about TIME I made closer friends with Him.

Now I carry that message. When someone is going off the deep end or so depressed they want to hurt themselves or the world has gone nuts on them and they can't find peace....my mouth flies open and says' Walking and Talking'...that's your answer.

You don't just TELL the Lord how you're feeling, you explain why your feeling that way and why it hurts so bad. It's not a time to pray for the government or the world or your friends...it's a time to be alone with Him. While you're working, while mowing the lawn, while driving, while sitting on a rock somewhere, it doesn't matter. What matter's is that you talk to Him the same way you'd talk with a VERY best friend. Not only is He a great listener, He remembers things you've forgotten and when it's time to remind you, He will bring it to mind and wait. He gives you time to reflect on it, ponder it, come to realize a truth about it. He's the only friend Who will wait as long as it takes before He presents you with yet another memory. One by one those memories compound one on the other until you finally see a picture so clearly, you never would have believed it.

You see...most of our answers are already in you but putting it all into place until you've come to see clearly and accept it sometimes takes a long time like it did me.

So if you're laid up with pain or struggling in a relationship or confused about your direction or wondering why it seems you're chasing your own tail...remember..Walk and Talk with your best friend. No need for a special time. No need for knees and solitude. No need for any formalities. He IS your perfect friend and will meet you when and where you are at all times and in every way. Give Him enough credit to be with you in the tub, the car, the mountains, the valley's, washing dishes, changing a diaper...what ever! If you feel your friend isn't there, keep talking, keep walking. He's there...you just haven't waited long enough for Him to speak.