Weed
by John Berry
We have a lovely lake at Glyndley Manor, stocked with fish. Visitors and staff enjoy going for a walk around the lake, or simply sitting in the quiet atmosphere watching God’s creation – especially when the fish feed. However, we have a problem with weed. Every summer the lake gets lots of blanket weed on the surface and pondweed in the water which spoils the look of the lake and definitely reduces the fishermens’ enjoyment when they come from our holiday cottages for a bit of gentle ‘angling therapy’!
There are some special fish whose purpose is to eat the weed, but they are a bit small as yet. Instead our Site and Facilities manager has come up with a 2-pronged plan of attack. Firstly he regularly travels the perimeter of the lake and as he does he prays for Jesus to take authority over the weed so it will be reduced. We were amazed recently when a family of ducks suddenly appeared one day and within a short time most of the pondweed seemed to disappear. Was this God’s intervention? Now it’s the grass carp who are at work maintaining the control of the weed.
Secondly our manager commissioned one of the team to go down every few days and pull out as much of the blanket weed as possible with a net. This was quite successful as long as the process was kept up. Once it lapsed however, the weed increased dramatically. The manager kept on praying but netting was needed as well.
The Apostle James makes the statement in James chapter 4:7 ‘resist the Devil and he will flee from you’. Resisting is also a two-pronged matter. Firstly we need to pray that Jesus will intervene so Satan will leave us alone and his schemes and plans will come to nothing. Secondly we must remember to put in our own effort, as we ourselves resist the devil. This will mean examining ourselves regularly and pulling out the weeds that we find there – such as ungodly thoughts and actions.
Living holy lives needs our input as well as that of Jesus, as we pray and seek to be godly disciples. Weed control should be part of our normal practice, for we can be sure that if we lapse the enemy will try and increase his influence within us. Jesus wants us to be ‘weed free’ and beautiful for him, a delight for all to see.
Prayer: Help me Lord to recognise the weeds that grow up in my life, and then to take whatever action is necssary - both spiritual and practical - to resolve the problem. In Jesus' name, Amen
John Berry entered the Baptist Ministry more than 40 years ago, and joined the Team at Ellel Glyndley Manor in 2007 with his wife Jennie. They have both now retired from the team but remain as part of the Teaching and Associate Ministry Teams at Glyndley. John and Jennie have seven Grandchildren.
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