Greetings my friend ...

Ready to dig in and get rid of more weeds? Look behind you at the four STEPPING STONES that you’ve already put down. Pretty cool huh? Soon you’ll have a lovely pathway that winds all through your garden. It may seem slow at first, but don’t forget, important TRUTHS are soaking into the soil (your subconscious mind) ...

Before we get down to the nitty gritty today there’s a weed that has runners on its root system called ...Blame. This word Blame is an ugly word and it’s an even uglier weed. Nobody likes to be blamed for anything bad. Whenever problems arise, or if we have long existing problems, one of our first reactions is to blame somebody else. Now, granted, chances are there are other people involved in your problem, but are they to blame?

If we were to ask them why they did whatever they did to contribute to your problem, it’s likely that they have others to blame for their actions too. And those people have yet others to blame, and the chain of blame would probably go back in time all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Now, that may sound like a joke at first, when in fact, we really CAN trace the blame back to that time, when an angel named satan, who out of jealousy toward God, CONvinced Eve to disobey God, and she passed the deceit on to Adam, and as a result we all inherited what is called:

So, in all TRUTH, the thing that we can trace the blame for bad seeds to … is the devil. There! Now we’ve identified the source of the problem … So what? So we found out that we’re not to blame, and others aren’t to blame either … It is NOT our sin. BUT we did CHOOSE it and when we choose to continue to entertain the evil that the devil started, and is constantly distributing to mankind … that’s when we become responsible for it.

You know, just to make sure we pulled all the roots of the ‘blame weed’ let’s talk about some of the reactions that are related to blame … some of the other weeds in the blame family.

Revenge is a common one.

Anger is another.

Mistrust, hatred, fear … The worst is PRIDE ... 

Because anger is one of the devil’s seeds, and when it’s planted in your mind and you go to sleep, it thrives in the darkness of sleep. That seed will nestle itself into your subconscious mind and grow into a monstrous weed, without your even knowing it. Eliminate your anger by bringing it into the light of the TRUTH.
 

One more scripture to kind of sum them all up:

In other words, don’t ever get tired of being righteous, because you will be rewarded accordingly. As you can plainly see, any retribution for things that we blame others for, belongs to God.

Now, just relax, because I know you’ve learned that if you don’t address those feelings, they’ll eat you up inside and if you don’t “express” them, it could be detrimental to your mental health. I’ll be showing you the Christian way to deal with those feelings in a STEPPING STONE down THE PATH called:

CONTROL YOUR THOUGHTS.

THE NITTY GRITTY

Now, back to your problem itself. “The devil made me do it,” is not a valid identification to any problem. Let me point out to you the word “source.” We found out that the devil is the source of all problems, but the devil can’t MAKE anybody do anything. He is only allowed to suggest or present temptation (unless he has God’s permission, as it was in Job’s case). Once his temptation is introduced, my friend, the ball is in your court. God has given us all free will, which is the freedom to choose what to do. Remember, we discussed that when we learned about God’s Grace, but let me give you a little deeper insight.

When God, in His infinite wisdom created us in His image ...

He gave each of us this neat little thing called a conscience. Remember in the story of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket encouraged the little marionette to “Let your conscience be your guide.” What exactly is your conscience anyway? It’s the awareness of obligation to do the right thing. You may have heard people use the expression, “He/she has no conscience.” Oh, everybody has one, they just don’t always use it. Whenever Pinocchio didn’t listen to his conscience, that’s when he got into trouble.

BECOME CONSCIOUS OF YOUR CONSCIENCE!

When we ignore our conscience and don’t resist the candy coated offers and ideas that the devil has for sale … the blame then passes from the “source” of the problem to the “purchaser.” Then my friend, you just bought yourself some bad seeds for your garden. Sometimes it takes a while for them to germinate, but once they do . . . Well, you know what happens.

Remember back at THE GARDEN GATE, when we said that admitting you have a problem is half the battle? At this point on THE PATH, it’s time to be more specific. Identify the weeds.

I have crabgrass in my garden.

I have clover in my garden.

I have milkweed in my garden.

I have thorns.

I have briers.

I have stickers.

I have poison ivy in my garden.

Tell God exactly what your problem is. It’s just between you and Him. Make a sincere plea to Him and ASK Him to help you weed it out. I’m going to help you out on this one a little bit because you’re my friend … and we’re in this together, remember.

This is an example of what you’ll do, and by accomplishing this we’ll be pulling the weeds necessary to put this fifth STEPPING STONE in place.

Anyone who has a problem, affects those who love them in one way or another. Your choice not to pull the weed that caused your problem when you first recognized it, allowed it to grow, and seeds from that weed have blown into others’ gardens too. Sooooo, part of your problem is a weed called selfishness. Go ahead and say it:

I AM SELFISH

That’s how you do it! You’ve just identified (part of) a problem. Of course, yours will include your specific problem and the “I am selfish” part. Don’t be ashamed. Everyone has problems and everyone who is on THE PATH right now is saying:

And everyone is feeling the same twinge of embarrassment that you’re feeling, and it’s normal. It’s even GOOD! It’s part of being repentant and that my friend is what entitles you to that wonderful gift and miracle that you learned about in STEPPING STONE #3, God’s Grace.

Remember not to hang on to those feelings of embarrassment by forgiving yourself.

Check out this song on the C-O-O-L CD player ...

As you can see, the Christian approach to identifying your problem is not to “get in touch” or “allow” your problem, or the emotions that may accompany it to dwell within you while you just "accept" it. Identifying your problem should be a means to an end, not a door that let’s other problems in. Strength and the resolution to your problem will come from the Lord. As your friend, and as a Christian, my advice to you, is “get in touch” with GOD! “Allow” HIM in and "accept" His TRUTH.

LET GO (of your problem), AND LET GOD (remove it)!

You may have been looking at the problem from a worldly point of view, instead of a Christian viewpoint, and my friend that’s exactly what the devil’s purpose is. Anything he can do to blind you from the TRUTH is his mission. Simply by taking these first few steps on THE PATH, you’ve begun to thwart the devil’s mission because you’re already starting to pluck up the weeds that he’s planted and replace them with seeds of TRUTH.