Let’s continue with our field trip. Do you know what a tare is? It's a weed found in a grain field. Kinda like a weed in a garden, something ya do not want. As you read through this parable, think about all the things in life that can be weeds. That's an overwhelming thought isn't it? Pretend your mind is the garden. The weeds could be anything. From the commercials on television to bad thoughts we have. Well, just remember, if you keep pulling them, or poisoning them with TRUTH, you can keep things in control, but just like any garden, if you let things get out of hand and let too many weeds grow, you'll end up with a mess that will definitely take time, effort and pain that could have been avoided. We'll talk about that as we go on, but for now, let's get to our story.

Jesus said, The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man that planted good seed in his field, but while his workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and snuck away.

Isn't that exactly how it happens too? Sometimes it's when you're asleep -- maybe you'll have a dream where a bad seed is planted. Sometimes in the morning you'll remember the dream and sometimes you won't. On the days when bad seeds were planted in your dreams and you don't remember the dream, you can just feel it the next day, that something is wrong, but you don't know what. When that happens, always pray for God to remove any evil that may have been planted in you without your knowledge in your dreams. On the mornings when you do remember your dream, pull that weed right away by telling the dream out loud, which exposes it to light (remember, weeds or lies or anything evil likes darkness). Then expose the TRUTH about the matter.

I'll give you a simple example, just so you know how to do this because this technique of pulling weeds is different than putting on your gardening gloves and wielding your rake and shovel to the dirt. Let's say you had a dream that you robbed a bank. I know it's silly, but go with me. You wake up, and the first thing to do would be to say, "In my dream I robbed a bank. Now, let's tell truth, You wouldn't do that. You probably don't even believe in stealing, it's wrong. Sooooo, the first thing ya do is expose this weed to the light of TRUTH ... Tell your enemy something like "The eighth commandment says, Thou shalt not steal" or "That dream was a ridiculous lie" or "The Bible says Jesus clothes the fields and feeds the birds and I am more important to Him than a bird so He will surely take care of me" ... That should pretty much take care of it. You go on with your day and things go well.

Now let's look at what could've happened if you didn't pull that weed. You wake up and remember the dream. You go on with your day and you sigh heavily when you remember you have three overdue bills. Suddenly the dream pops into your head. You start to ponder on all the things you could do with a lot of money. You get depressed. You shake your head to bring you back to reality. While you're on your way to work you see a wallet fall out of someone's pocket in the elevator. You normally would pick it up and immediately give it back to them, knowing how you'd feel if you were the one who lost it. This time, you pick it up and hesitate, wanting to keep it. Finally you give it back to the person it belongs to and you see the grateful expression in their eyes. They tell you what a righteous person you are and you smile but inside ... You KNOW.

Now you feel doubt about your righteousness, which makes you do poorly at work. Your mind seems preoccupied with things for the whole day and you get a speeding ticket on your way home because you weren't paying attention to your driving. See how a seed can grow so quickly if you don't use truth to kill it? And all this because of a tiny little seed in a dream. Yank that rascal quick because as we all know a little seed that becomes a weed can become a tree and they are much harder to pull up.

We'd better start back at the beginning of the parable now. Jesus said, The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man that planted good seed in his field, but while his workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and went his way. But when the seed had sprouted and began to produce grain, then the weeds appeared too. So the field workers came and said to the field owner, Sir, didn't you plant good seed in your field? Why is it full of weeds? He answered them, An enemy did this. The workers asked, Do you want us to go and pull them? But he answers, No, because while you're pulling them, you might pull the wheat up along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, then I'll tell the reapers, First pull the weeds and tie them in bundles and burn them, but gather the wheat and put it into my barn.

Jesus sent the crowds of people away who were listening and went into the house. His disciples asked Him to explain the parable of the field and the tares. He said, The one who plants the good seed is the Son of man, the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the Kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy who planted them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the Angels. Just as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, it will be the same in the end of this world. The Son of man will send His Angels and they'll gather out of His Kingdom all things ungodly and those who do wrong and will throw them into a furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

Now, just in case this is confusing, Jesus didn't mean that you should leave bad seeds in you and then at the end of the world, gather them all up and burn them. His point was that the weeds were already so thick that it would hurt the good crop to go trampling around pulling weeds.

If you don't remove the bad seeds within you and you let em grow into a weed and then a tree ... Your tree of bad will soon bear bad fruit and drop seeds which may affect others. In other words ... YOU WILL BECOME THE WEED. Jesus says that you'll be gathered with the rest of the weeds and . . . well, you know the rest. Pull those weeds of the mind early.

You've seen how weeds can grow from a little seed planted in a dream. Just think of all the seeds that are planted in us in a normal day from all different places and things and people and evil. Always pull them as soon as you can. The best weed killer is TRUTH. Use the same method as you would for a silly dream. It may be a bit embarrassing at first to say things out loud to yourself (as if we don't for other things) while you're weeding the unwanted stuff, but be assured, after you do it a few times, the weed planters aren't as likely to plant as readily as they would cuz they know it's a waste of their time. Don't be ashamed to keep your garden free of weeds for your Father. He's proud to hear you proclaim the truth.

By the way, when the weeds are gone, watch the good things grow more abundantly! You'll be blooming in no time!