Weeds in our Lives — George Verwer

A Health Recovery That Reveals the Message

Wow, good to be back with you and this is a weed. Of course, I'm sure you saw that, that I pulled out of my garden. Why have I brought that? Because a year and a few months ago, when I tried to pull a weed out of the garden because of my heart condition, I could not really do it.

That was one of the things that alerted me that I need to go ahead with this angiogram and see what's going on in my heart. And a little over a year ago, I had the triple heart bypass surgery. This is my recovery month, June, a little bit of July.

After that, I've had fantastic health. And I wanted to thank those of you who've prayed for my health. Many of you, some of you sent me WhatsApps and emails and I was not able to answer all of them. But as I was pulling this weed out of the garden, I wasn't breathless, very encouraging.

And then just a few days ago, when I, with my grandson, Jonathan Verwarren Simone, I walked up this long hill to his house, which before I'd have to stop a number of times or even avoid, but I went up the hill without stopping and wasn't very breathless at the top.

So that's a real encouragement. And I wanna thank those of you who prayed. I wanna thank those of you who came to the big anniversary event a week ago and as I was pulling up this weed and thinking, the Lord gave me the message for this week.

Seven Weeds That Hinder Spiritual Growth

Gave me the outline, seven weeds that can creep into our life. Seven of the wrong kind of roots. And it reminds me of this passage in the book of Hebrews chapter 12, there at verse 14. Pursue peace with everyone and holiness.

Without it, no one will see the Lord. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root, no root. That's what we were just looking at, the root. No root of bitterness springs up causing trouble and by it defiling many.

Bitterness and the Roots of Past Hurt

Wow. So of course the first root, the first weed and someone again in preparing this told me that, well, weeds are actually flowers. So I'm not gonna wrestle with that right now. But certainly my wife doesn't like them all over our little garden.

And of course the first weed is that root, that root of bitterness. And how important it is to search our hearts and make sure that some hurtful experience is still not sort of cooking there. It doesn't mean the memory of it will be completely gone, but the negative attitude to it, the wrong reaction to it can even affect your present behavior and your relationship with other people.

One of my favorite books, well, at least in my top 20, I think in the last few years is If You Bite and Devour. It's not a well-known book and you may not agree with everything, but this is dynamite and I'd be happy if you're in the UK, North America or India, we cannot ship all over the world because in Europe now they're charging the customs.

It's a real nightmare. But to those countries we can do it inexpensively, especially India and of course right here in the UK. It's written by a former Omer and a dear friend Alexander Strauch. Years ago he gave another important book that I'm also happy to send you called Leading With Love.

These are dynamite books and this type of book was actually required reading in the very, very beginning of what later in Europe, 60 years ago really, became known as Operation Mobilization. The second weed that I think creeps into our lives, it's been trying to creep into mine, is laziness.

Laziness and the Neglect of Spiritual Work

I remember a group of us in North India, it was hot, we were pressing on in evangelism. We had an open time of sharing and we took a little survey and a high percentage in that meeting shared they were struggling with laziness.

Some people are oversensitive to their laziness and they need to somehow not allow it to discourage them and realize it's a normal struggle for us human beings. I don't think you'll ever arrive at sort of the perfect solution.

When to push yourself, when to maybe take a nap and take a rest, take even a holiday. But I believe laziness is really hindering God's work. I'm convinced one of the reasons I can't get people to distribute books even though I offer them free, I think one of the factors is laziness.

It's work, packing up books, taking them to the meetings. I noticed in places where that used to happen quite a lot, now they don't bother. It's extra work. And many times I've made wrong, I hope small decisions because I didn't want the extra work.

I thank the Lord. Of course, I had an advantage. Hardworking parents, they got me working when I was probably only seven or eight years of age around the house. Yes, weeding. And then I was shoveling coal into somebody's burner.

And I think I struggled at times with it. There are people who struggle and find it almost impossible to work. And so they'd rather receive really, if they're in that kind of country, money from the government than work, especially if it means changing jobs and doing physical work.

The Lord Jesus did physical work. How wrong it is in some societies to look down on physical work. We can't go into detail because we want to get to that third weed, which is mentioned in the book of Revelation.

Lukewarmness and Spiritual Indifference

Be hot or be cold. If you're lukewarm, I'll spew you out of my mouth. I'm still wrestling on the full meaning of that, but I understand it enough to scare me. And again, lukewarmness is trying to creep into my life in these senior years, often in subtle ways.

And sometimes I have to roar like a spiritual lion to deal with that lukewarmness, which often gets mixed with wrong attitudes. And with my kind of temperament that I've confessed very clearly in my book, Confessions of a Toxic Perfection is it's so easy.

It's so easy to become cynical. Mike, something funny came on my screen, but I trust you hear me okay. And then there's the weed of irritability. Well, I almost got into that because they're so tied together, but I just know that I have to continue to deal quickly with irritability.

Unbelief, Doubt, and Trusting Scripture

And I just want to be aware of that root, that weed in my life. And then the fifth weed is the weed of unbelief. Again, I guess I've been wrestling with that most of my life. Sometimes it comes combined with doubt.

And I've tried to share in other blogs and in my books that we shouldn't be frightened or put ourselves down because we're wrestling with doubt. As I'm reading some of the writings of Philippiancy, especially about the Old Testament, I realized in some of the things that happened in the Old Testament, it's impossible for us to grasp fully what God was doing and God's purposes and all that.

But I believe the evidence for trusting the Old and New Testament is greater, much greater than some of the arguments, some of which have some validity. And I thank the Lord for that. Of course, unbelief is something, if you're trying to make things happen as I am every day, I'm right in the middle of this big Bible distribution program, trying to get more bore wells dug in places where people don't have pure water.

Some of you support special projects. And we have so many requests, so many needs all over the world. And you need to notice this shirt, of course, 1938 was obviously given to me on my last birthday. And that's July 3rd, I'll never forget.

Celebrating my 80th, now I'm 84, with I guess a thousand or more people in four or five locations coming to spend time with me over a cup of coffee. Those who knew me, of course, in some cases brought cash that I could use to buy more Bibles.

I wonder if you'd like to give me a birthday gift. If so, it will be used 100 for Bibles. You can get through any OM office, just designate it my name or special projects. And I will make sure it gets Bibles in India, where we're trying to distribute another 100 ,000 or Africa, another 25 ,000.

People often now give through my website, georgegrower .com. There it is. I'd love you to email me and tell me if you actually respond to that. The need for Bibles is actually 10 times greater than most people can imagine.

Insecurity, Intimidation, and Spiritual Opposition

And then the sixth we, the sixth root is the root of insecurity. Looking back at my own life, I think for many, many reasons, I always felt relatively secure, but intimidation would come in many different forms.

It was at times quite scary when I was a leader. So I learned how to deal with intimidation and the accusations of the enemy who seeks like a roaring lion to devour us. But I found that many leaders wrestle with insecurity.

It's sad that some books have been written really very harsh towards such people. I think as a human being, it's normal to have some kind of struggle with insecurity, especially in certain situations.

We need to be aware of these kinds of pendulum reactions. And then the seventh root, the seventh weed is the weed of anxiety. Those of you who pray for me, definitely I'm struggling more than I can remember with sort of a low level of anxiety.

Anxiety, Prayer, and Taking Steps of Faith

Even a little anxious when I have to go to another, go to the airport Friday morning to fly to Newark to get to see my dear brother-in-law, Ray Cooper Jr. and others. I'll actually be staying in my hometown of Wyckoff.

Usually I'm staying in their old house in Franklin Lakes. That's now history. And then I'm gonna have the joy of seeing my family, my older son and family in Idaho. Pray spirit of love, power, a sound mind.

I constantly quote the word of God to myself. I constantly engage in singing and praising the Lord and forcing myself to look away, to turn away from things that are making me anxious. But in the end of the day, I have to keep taking those steps of faith.

This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So join with me or let me join with you in taking those big steps of faith as we push into this summer season with our new ship in Malaysia, with Teen Street in Spain, Germany and the UK.

So much is happening all over the world. So let's beware of any many ugly roots getting into our lives. God bless you. Really look forward to hearing from some of you.