By Brenda Groves
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
Grass should not “crunch” when you walk across it!
Yet our lawn crackled with every step as I made the familiar trek toward the water hose. My hubby and I are trying to keep our landscape alive during the drought so every other day we scurry out at dawn, he grabs the water hose in the back and I tackle the front yard.
We are being conservative when it comes to watering, we mainly stick to our flowers and shrubs, having decided it will have to be a “survival of the fittest” as far as the lawn is concerned. But I can’t resist giving the brown spots in the lawn a quick dousing before darting back into the house.
One day last week as I was finishing up giving our plants a drink, I turned my attention to the dead patches in the yard and began applying a light shower. I moved my arm back and forth in a sweeping motion watching as the spray of water cascaded over the lawn, when suddenly the Lord began speaking to my heart.
“Brenda, this is how My word works when you apply it to your life.”
He began to show me that every one of us has brown patches in our lives, those areas that are lacking the “abundant life” that the Lord promises we can have here in this life. (John 10:10.) Whether it is in the area of health, or finances, tormenting thoughts/fears, relationships, loving others more, forgiveness, hearing the voice of God (in our spirits), knowing the love of God and the list goes on.
Many years ago when I first started really seeking the Lord with all of my heart, I was still carrying around a 20 year drug addiction and a 32 year cigarette addiction. I had come to a place in my Christian walk where I started applying/acting upon these verses in James 4:6-8 “… But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
For the sake of space, I can’t go into all the details, but as I have mentioned before, I came to a time in my Christian walk where I made a heart decision to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just “saved and stuck.”
So, I began in earnest to try and quit the addictions, yet in my own strength, while at the same time pleading with God to take them from me. I knew they were of a demonic origin and I felt powerless to fight them. But after I chose to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the gift of speaking in tongues I felt the power of God rise up within me from my born again spirit, and I could hear the voice of God so much clearer through His word and in my heart. (You will know when it is His Holy Spirit guiding you because the Holy Spirit will ALWAYS exalt the Lord Jesus and the finished work of the Cross.)
For example, I recall one particular moment during my struggle that I distinctly heard the Lord tell me, “My child, you have already been delivered, you just don’t know it. Go to my word.”
So I began the process of submitting to God (yielding my time and thought life to His word, and very importantly the correct teachings of His word that agreed with His Holy Spirit within me), and I stopped trying to quit doing drugs and smoking. Yes, you read this right … I STOPPED trying to quit the addictions.
Instead, I humbled myself (my own will power) and submitted my life fully to the power of His word. The 20 year drug addiction left with only one verse. I felt the spirit leave my body and I have never thought about that drug again. Except as a testimony to Him. Praise Jesus!
Now, the cigarette addiction had much deeper roots in my heart for some reason. This “brown patch” in my life needed more watering.
I applied the rest of James 4:7 as I began resisting (actively fighting against) the devil (strongholds in my heart/mind) by using my tongue/word of God to watch him flee (run away in terror).
Instead of believing/speaking out how much bondage I was in with smoking, I began to “declare those things that are not, as tho they are …” (Romans 4:17)
By declaring what God says about me, who I really am now in my born again spirit, as opposed to what I thought, felt like, was seen happening day after day for so many years.
I began watering this brown patch in my life … “I am a child of God, I am a non-smoker. I speak death to the root of nicotine and addiction in my body in Jesus name. Nicotine you will no longer bear fruit in my body! I am free from smoking, I walk in freedom from cigarettes …etc. etc.”
Over a period of about 2 months of speaking/declaring God’s word over myself without seeing much of a difference something was happening in the spiritual realm that I couldn’t see. Those good seeds I had planted and watered in my heart had taken root and were sprouting. I had gotten down to smoking about 1/2 a pack a day, but I could tell that the root of addiction was still there/I still desired to smoke.
But this verse in Proverbs 23, was coming to pass “… how a man thinks in his heart so is he.”
Instead of seeing myself as a smoker and identifying with this lie from the devil, and by declaring/replacing God’s word (watering my soul) I changed the picture I had in my heart to reflect what God says about me. “You shall KNOW the truth, and this knowledge of the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32)
“My child, you have already been delivered, YOU just don’t know it.”
Well, praise God, on January 11, 2009, I felt that the root of addiction left my heart as if I had never smoked. After 32 years of smoking on average 1.5 packs a day, that demonic spirit left my body and the Lord instantly healed my lungs, He took the hacking cough away and my raspy voice was restored . Praise Jesus!!!
You know, these are just two testimonies of the miraculous power of God’s word, and His good will toward each one of us to live “in the fullness of God.”
But if you are not humbling yourself – putting aside your own beliefs/attitudes/mindsets/other people’s opinions/diagnosis of your brown patches- then God’s word won’t work for you.
You have to be deliberate about seeking and allowing His word to dominate your life. (Not in a religious sense) but just making a decision to let God be true but every man is a liar. As it is written: “That you may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” Romans 3:4 The world and circumstances and people are trying to place a judgment on your life. But when you take God at His word instead, you are heading in the right direction.
At the same time, you need to let God give righteous anger inside you to rise up against the devil and kick him out of your life. Actively resist his lies, suggestions and areas where he has been stealing, killing and destroying your life, or the lives of others around you.
We need to stop agreeing with Satan with our words- talking about how brown the areas of our life are- pitying those dry areas where there has been lack.
Instead, we need to speak about life over those situations or persons. “God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:6-7)
For example, if you have a loved one living in addictions, like I was, start speaking life over them. Find out what God says about them, and declare that truth in their life.
“Blessed is _____ who hungers and thirst for the righteousness of God for they too shall be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. They shall live and not die and declare the works of the Lord. Where the god (Satan) of this world has blinded their minds, I command those blinders to come off, and their spirituals eyes and ears be opened to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, send laborers across their paths to share the truth of Your word, with grace and love. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and I declare they have been set free and are walking in freedom in Jesus name!
Even if you don’t see immediate results, people have free will to accept or reject the leading of the Holy Spirit, but keep watering and don’t give up! So, whatever and wherever your brown patches exist, the blood of Jesus speaks a better word!
PS. Dear Readers, if you are looking for a scriptural prayer book, there are many good ones out there, but for many years now I have used a book called “Praying With Fire” by Barbara Billet. Every prayer consists of scriptures alone- mostly King James/New King James versions. I highly recommend this book.)
(Matt. 5:6, Psalm 118:17, 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 9:38, 18:18-20; 2 Cor. 3:17-18)
Contact Brenda Groves at bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
