Repentance After the Rain

     We had a really good hard rain on Saturday night where I live. On Sunday morning, I spontaneously found myself out in my front yard, having gone to simply uproot what looked through the window to be a tiny, yet growing and out of place, tree in my front flower bed area. It occurred to me that it would be relatively easy to pull up due of the wet soil and to remove it from where it didn't belong. So, I randomly and somewhat suddenly, stepped outside to yank it, thinking I'd be right back inside momentarily, enjoying the remainder of my coffee.

     Well, you know how that goes. An hour and a half later, I had finally finished pulling up every tiny rooted-in tree that had infiltrated the flower bed (which really only houses landscaping bushes). There were so many, it was crazy. There are a lot of nearby trees in the yard, which inevitably dropped their seeds, or seeds were blown, into the unapproved area. After pulling up the first few with such ease, I couldn't stop myself. It was like popping those addictive bubbles on the bubble wrap that protects fragile items in the mail. There is something mysteriously satisfying about the completion of the task.

     Anyways, as I continued into my diversion of uprooting the multitudes of misplaced baby trees, I couldn't stop thinking about how easily they were coming out, as a result of the night-before rains. Somewhere along the way, I felt Father download a message into my spirit. I heard: "The easiest time to pull out the weeds is after a good hard rain." I know, that's super spiritual, right? But, upon deeper listening, I heard what He meant. It reminds me of the scripture verse that says there is a season for all things. Some seasons are intended for uprooting the stuff that doesn't belong, or is getting in the way of new growth and threatening to overtake the scenery.

     Then my thoughts took me to what my eyes had been seeing just prior to the outbreak of the disease pandemic affecting the whole world. At the top of my radar had been the strong move of the Holy Spirit I was observing, coming from multiple corners of the world, and primarily among the young adult population. It had captivated my heart and attention, as I watched multitudes pouring out their love and affection on their heavenly Father in worship and song. It wasn't just coming from a few sources. Thanks to the internet, I was alerted to its happening in different parts of the country and the world, coming from both large and small venues. I loved watching the adoration and uninhibited love pouring forth as people's hearts seemed to be bleeding for their Abba Daddy. It was a thing of beauty to these eyes, and fueled the fire which had been stoked within my own spirit.

     Well, the Lord seemed to whisper to me that that which I had been seeing, and even personally experiencing, was indeed a form of outpouring: "a good, hard rain" of the Holy Spirit, if you will. Many souls were being awakened to a newly-fanned flame of fire. But, I had also heard within my spirit, pretty early on after all of life got highjacked by the virus, that there was a huge opportunity looming within the chaos, for all persons to repent. I could hear it deep inside my spirit, as if John the Baptist, himself, were declaring to me personally to "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The sentiment only continued to grow, as time marched forward, and things ramped up.

     I feel like we had just gone through a season of new outpouring of the Spirit of God, but that now we would do well to allow God to do a little gardening in our lives. It's a time to let the Lord pull out the "weeds" that seem to have inevitably accumulated in our souls. We have grown so accustomed to this sin-riddled existence, that it is likely that we scarcely know how far off we actually are from His intended purpose and vision for us. I'm sure repentance is the order of the day. I feel it is for me. Hopefully, the soil of our hearts has been saturated with a good hard rain, thereby making it all the easier for Him to painlessly (for us) and somewhat effortlessly (as we cooperate with Him and align ourselves with His higher ways) to uproot even the most well-concealed of our pet sins... say, the ones we've gotten the most comfortable with.

     We have a choice. This can be done the hard way or the easy way. But, one way or another, we will bow the knee to our Maker. Why not take advantage of the opportunity while the soil of our heart is soft and malleable? Let Him root out that which is only holding you back from your freedom, anyways. All of our pet sins come with tentacles attached that we can't see; they serve to keep us bound up, unable to move about freely in our new wineskins. They are working against us, and certainly against Him. For everything that is not for Him is against Him.

     As one will note, the uprooting of the weeds will be an ongoing necessity, demanding our attention until Jesus comes back to this earth to set all things aright. I suppose it is like hair cuts... or nails that have to be repeatedly trimmed. You can let them go unattended for awhile, but it won't be long before you realize that it is actually not working in your favor to let them get out of control. As I contemplated the need to rid the flower bed of "weeds," my mind was drawn for some reason to the act of deliverance. Suddenly, that word took on a simpler implication for me. Deliverance doesn't have to have a bad or scary connotation attached to it, as if to indicate that one must have, in some way, been in the wrong in order to have needed such a thing as a "deliverance." Its need for the Believer may likely be more akin to the concept of pulling weeds out of a garden, so that it can be as beautiful as intended. For a believing follower of Jesus, "deliverance" may well be viewed as somewhat of a routine maintenance involving the removal of unlovely spiritual or demonic (yeah, I used the "d" word) "weeds" that have inadvertently, or otherwise unknowingly, emerged in the garden of our soul.

     Again, I realize that ultimately we all will be delivered, one way or another. But, without my allowing for God's divine deliverance from ugly and damaging growth within my body, which is the Body of Christ, I imagine His garden to be quite overrun and threatened by... well, ... tares I guess, or what looks like them, anyways. Hmm... interesting, that.

     What I know is that if I expect the seed of God's word to be able to fully bear fruit and flourish in the garden of my heart, I better recognize when it has been amply watered and prepared by the Holy Spirit's outpouring. I would do well then to be ready to cooperate with whatever form of deliverance may be awaiting my surrender. My point is, deliverance is a tool God uses to do spiritual surgery. It's just a matter of my letting God pull out the weeds that are threatening to choke the life out of me... and His kingdom.