I absolutely love spending time in my garden. I just grow some basic fruits and vegetables, I can’t seem to keep flowers alive, but I do what I can.

One of the reasons I love to garden, is I find the Lord often speaks to me there. He has revealed many truths to me about His provision, the implantation of His word and just how amazing, miraculous, and creative He is.

And one of my favorite parables is the story in Matthew, chapter 13 — the story of the scattered seed or the seed sower. The seed being God’s word and the various types of soil it can land on, and the soil representing the conditions of our hearts.

As I was in my garden recently, I was reminded of verse 22, where it specifically talks about how the seed lands on what probably was otherwise good soil, but it ends up getting choked out. And it gets choked out by the cares and desires of the world, the illusion of riches, or various different things. To me, it gets choked out by the lies of the enemy, that’s how I interpret that.

So, as I was working in my garden recently, I felt the Lord re-remind me that I don’t just plant what’s in my garden and walk away believing in faith that it’s going to do what it supposed to do — that it’s going to produce fruit all on its own.

I have to tend to it! I have to water it, I have to make sure it’s getting enough sunlight...but I also have to monitor for things that would come to choke out the life-giving plant that I have put there.

And I have to monitor for pests, invasions and diseases on the trees or plants. So, it isn’t just something that I can blindly do and walk away from.

And isn’t that so true with the condition of our heart?

Proverbs 4:23 tells us that we need to guard our hearts above everything else, for from our hearts, flows our life.

So friends, I just want to remind you...be diligent about guarding your heart. Yes, watch what you take in — watch what you listen to, the music, the books, the movies...all of that matters. But also, monitor your thought life.

Because it’s the words spoken over us, and the words we speak to ourselves, or the words the enemy’s whispering to us, that often will plant a seed in the garden of our hearts. These seeds could try to grow alongside the promise of the Lord and choke the life out of it.

So, we have to be thinking about what we’re thinking about. And we identify any of those lies, any of those thoughts that do not come from the Lord — and like my spiritual mama taught me, you can say, I do not receive that! That is not a word from the Lord!

We don’t have to give place, and in fact, we have to identify where those weeds, those lies, might be and get those puppies out by the root!

So I hope this encourages you to monitor your hearts, think about what you’re thinking about, and let God’s word grow richly in you.