SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1189

“Choke”

but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. – Mark 4:19

‘Encore mort’ (dead again) said the small boy as he presented the lifeless baby chick to his mother.  This story is told about my father-in-law when he was a small child in rural Vermont in the early 1900’s.  He was fascinated with the baby chickens and would pick them up.  As they fluttered and squirmed, he would squeeze tighter to keep control of them, strangling them in the process.

I think about this story whenever I read the Parable of the Sower and how the love of this world and for the things of this world choke the life out of our relationships – first with our spiritual relationship with The Father, and then with our family and other relationships in this life.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. – 1 John 2:15

Satan knows all too well the weakness of our flesh and how to tempt us, capitalizing on our weaknesses.

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. – 1 John 2:16

The pride of life encompasses all that is of this world. It is linked with and drives the lust of our flesh and eyes. It makes us arrogant and boastful thinking that we are in control of our destiny and have no need for God or salvation through His Son, Jesus. It makes us selfish and controlling.

How many of us choke the life out of our relationships by trying to control them too tightly? Husbands and wives strangle the life out of their marriage when they attempt to control each other. Parents stifle their children’s spirit and uniqueness as well as their ability to function independently when they attempt to control their lives well into their teen years and beyond.

Managers and leaders can stifle their organization’s creative spirit and stunt the growth of their company or worse yet, kill it by trying to control it tightly. Nations war against nations because of the pride of life and the lust for the things of this world and for power and control as is evidenced by what is happening in Ukraine today.

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. – Proverbs 4:23

May you guard your heart against the deceitfulness of the things of this world.

May the Holy Spirit show you the relationships that you are choking because of your selfish desire to control them. May He direct and empower you to correct and repair these relationships.

May the desires of your heart stem from the love of the Father and not from your love of the world.

Pray for the people and nation of Ukraine that the Lord will go before them to defeat the enemy that seeks to do them harm. Pray that the Lord will comfort, protect, provide, and restore them to Him and as a nation.