Donning the full armor of God isn't just a metaphor; it's a necessary strategy in our daily confrontation with the devil's distractions. Reflecting on Ephesians, this episode is an open-hearted sharing of my own spiritual readiness and the enriching connections forged with other believers. Whether you're a seasoned believer or just starting out, there's a place for you here, to offer and receive wisdom. So, grab your spiritual spades and let's dig deep into the soil of scripture, community, and personal growth.
Donning the full armor of God isn't just a metaphor; it's a necessary strategy in our daily confrontation with the devil's distractions. Reflecting on Ephesians, this episode is an open-hearted sharing of my own spiritual readiness and the enriching connections forged with other believers. Whether you're a seasoned believer or just starting out, there's a place for you here, to offer and receive wisdom. So, grab your spiritual spades and let's dig deep into the soil of scripture, community, and personal growth.
Questions, comments, and opinions are welcome and may be sent to adventuresofjenger@gmail.com! Happy Adventuring!
Speaker 1:
Good morning, ginger Adventurers. It is time for another devotional summary with your host, ginger. I am actually working on catching up from where I left off, so even though it is now May, I'm going back to April and reading devotions from there. So today's is actually April the 27th. It is from the Our Daily Bread website, odborg, so if you would like to actually see the entire devotional, you can go to that website and it will have the entire thing on that page for you. Again, this one is the devotional for April the 27th. It is called Pull the Weeds of Worry.
Speaker 1:
The verse that they use for today's scripture or devotional is Matthew 13, 22. They hear the word, but the worries of this life choke the word. So in this devotional the author shares a story about when they planted seeds in their backyard. They were wanting certain flowers to come up, and so they planted these seeds and in a few weeks there began to be sprouts, green leaves, and the author got really, really excited about this, because of course they're trying to grow flowers, and who doesn't get excited seeing new plants springing up? I know that I do. I absolutely love spring for that reason. But the author's husband shared with her that what she saw coming up was not in fact the flowers she was trying to grow. They were weeds. And we all know that if we leave weeds go, they will choke out whatever plants that they are around, especially new, young plants that are trying to come up. So the husband told her she was going to need to pull those weeds so that her flowers would have room to pop up out of the soil and grow.
Speaker 1:
The author ties this personal story to the parable that Jesus shared in Matthew 13, 7, talking about the sower. So the sower was someone who would throw seeds out. He didn't plant them, he just threw them into different areas, right, and some areas that he threw them into were very thorny and the thorns choked out the plants that were trying to grow. Some areas that he threw them into was very dry ground, cracked, dry. The seeds couldn't settle in there and grow. They did not have the nutrients or the vitamins or the water that they needed to grow, or the vitamins or the water that they needed to grow.
Speaker 1:
And what Jesus is trying to help us understand from this parable is that we are like plants. Jesus wants us to grow in the spirit, he wants us to study the Bible, he wants us to pray to God. He wants us to make God our number one focus. But the devil does not want that to happen. So the devil sends all kinds of things to choke out our focus, to choke out our being able to study the word, being able to pray. The devil sends constant distractions to pull us away from that. The devil sends worry, so we're focused on where things are going to go wrong or trying to understand what's happening, rather than focusing on reading the word, praying to God, giving those worries to God.
Speaker 1:
The Bible also shares with us in Galatians, chapter 5, the fruit of the spirit, which includes things like love, joy, peace, patience, and those are all amazing things that can come from us studying scripture, from us praying. Those are fruits of the spirits that can be produced in us. But when those weeds, the worry, the distractions choke out our growing, our plant, those fruits cannot come to bear. So we're told the story of the parable of the sower. We're also told about the fruits of the spirit and how we need to put our focus on God. Our focus should always be on God first. Everything else should come after that.
Speaker 1:
And I'm here to tell you it is an extremely hard thing to do. It is an extremely hard thing for a mature Christian to do, let alone a new Christian to do, and the thing with us mature Christians is we need to get this down pat so that we can set that example for the younger Christians. I'm going to be honest, y'all, it has been a very humbling experience this past year of my life to have a newer Christian constantly setting these fantastic examples for me and reminding me what I, as a mature Christian, should be doing. I have learned so much this past year about prayer, about being a prayer warrior, being reminded of how much of a prayer warrior my grandmother was and wanting to try to follow in her footsteps. I have learned so much about really focusing on putting god first, on having my ego take a back seat, because y'all man that ego. It likes attention and it wants to be answered, and that makes it extremely hard at times for me to focus on God and what he's calling me to do. I have really learned how to take devotionals this past year and collaborate with someone on them, and that's been a really fantastic experience. I absolutely encourage all of you to take time to share your devotionals and your Bible study with someone else, because the perspectives they have are just so different from what you see. It is extremely satisfying and encouraging to have those different perspectives.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so now the questions, which I may have answered already by chattering on the questions that they give us for reflection, are these how is God helping you grow the seeds he's planted within you? God has led some amazing people into my life that are helping grow the seeds that he planted within me. Now, I am a longstanding Christian, so those seeds have been growing since I was a very small child. However, I did really struggle when my grandmother passed away, because she was my number one mentor. But I've had people come into my life in the last several years that have encouraged me to get back on the right track. That have been some beams of light for Jesus that have just really warmed my soul, and it's encouraging me to then reach out and share that same light and joy with others, like I'm doing right now with y'all. So I really feel like it's the people that God put in my life. That's how God is growing those seeds.
Speaker 1:
How can I pull the weeds of worry? I'm going to be honest, y'all. This last couple months has been brutally hard. I am a very high anxiety person, which is fear of the unknown. Anxiety is defined as fear of the unknown, and when I worry about things and I don't understand things, my anxiety can skyrocket. And this past couple months have been extremely hard. When I worry about things and I don't understand things, my anxiety can skyrocket, and this past couple of months have been extremely hard. I've been way more anxious than normal and my best friend has actually been concerned because he's not used to seeing that kind of anxiety from me and he's, you know, been trying to understand it and ask me why are you more anxious? What's going on? How can we fix this? And I appreciate the fact that he's been working really hard to understand my anxiety and trying to help me to fix it.
Speaker 1:
Y'all, one of the best ways to start to fix anxiety, to start to fix your worry, is to give those worries to God. And I know it's hard. It's easy to say it, it is hard to do it. I trust God and at the same time, there are moments where it is very, very hard for me to trust God and I have to pray and ask God to help me trust him. And you know what? Y'all, that's okay. It is okay to pray and ask God to help me trust him and you know what y'all. That's okay. It is okay to pray and ask God to give you faith. It is okay to pray and ask God to help you trust him. It is okay to let God know that you're struggling. He sees it, he knows it. He absolutely wants you to bring it to him.
Speaker 1:
That is how I'm pulling my weeds. I am trying to trust God. I'm trying to give those it to him. That is how I'm pulling my weeds. I am trying to trust God. I'm trying to give those worries to God. I am praying in journals more. I am studying God's word more. When you are studying God's word, then you have his word tucked in your heart. When you have his word tucked in your heart, those verses come to mind when you are in the middle of situations and they are instantly calming. They instantly give you guidance.
Speaker 1:
I've really been focused on putting on the armor of God lately, because when I'm putting on the armor of God, that helps me battle against the devil and the devil wants me to worry. The devil wants me to be anxious, because he knows that's going to distract me from praying. It's going to distract me from studying God's word. It's going to distract me from listening to God's voice. So I have really been focused on Ephesians and learning to put that armor of God on. That is all my thoughts on this devotionals for today. I would love to hear from y'all. If you want to email me, my email is adventuresofjinger at gmailcom. I'm also on Facebook facebookcom slash adventuresofjinger Also on Twitter at Jinger Adventure. I also have my Buzzsprout website, of course, and if you would like to subscribe, you can hit that subscribe button and I would love to do a shout-out on the next episode of anyone who subscribes. I've enjoyed this time with you. Catch you on the wild side.