Yesterday was a great day of shaking off residue of past seasons for me. It is amazing to me how as we go through life we pick up “nettles” (that was the word the Holy Spirit spoke to me) and those “nettles” attach themselves to us. We may not longer be in that season, that situation or that location, but the “nettles” hang on to us. I looked up what a nettle is, for it is not a word I use. Nettles = having toothed leaves; stinging hairs that cause irritation; to arouse to sharp or transitory annoyance or anger. Nettles, various shapes and sizes, stuck to you and you don’t always know its there until something irritates you. We should not be ashamed that we picked up “nettles”, but we do need to let the Holy Spirit and others remove them from us.

That was yesterday, now this morning, the Lord is very near and I can see a root He is digging up inside of me. It is a glass root, I can see Him, I let Him see me, but this root was creating a glass barrier between us and I wanted it removed. With tears running down my face, I allow the Master Surgeon to remove the root of pain, for every root affects our fruit. I don’t want any roots that will alter the fruit He wants me to produce. Once the root is removed, I open my Bible to Isaiah 55 which is where I left off in my reading yesterday and here come the word “nettles” again. The Holy Spirit is a Master Teacher, He leads us into all truth, all the time.

Here is what Isaiah 55 says, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire,

And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, And it will be a memorial to the LORD, For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.” We have entered the instead of season! What we have experienced up until now has been hard, but we are entering an instead of season. We know what “nettles” feel like, but we are about to know what the myrtle looks like. We are in a new season, says the Lord, who does not lie!