I was in the kitchen doing the dishes yesterday afternoon when suddenly a huge yellowjacket flew up into the kitchen window trying to get out!
Scared the daylights out of me! I grabbed my electric mosquito zapper, and I fried the life out of it!
Yellowjackets are not allowed in my house!
How did it get in?? Just 2 days ago another yellowjacket wound up in the window right next to hubby as he was working on the computer. How are they getting in?? The bathroom ventilation fans??
Are they coming from the planter box on the back deck?
I went out onto the back deck and turned my phone to “selfie” mode and was busy looking underneath the planter box searching for a nest … when up flew a huge yellowjacket to crawl inside.
Gotcha!
Ok this will not do! I immediately went and got the wasp/hornet spray from the workshop. I unleashed the can on the crack where the yellowjacket had just crawled in! I couldn’t see anything and I don’t know if I actually got the nest … but I sprayed for all I was worth!
Last summer my son and daughter-in-law had problems with yellowjackets getting in their attic. My son put out a yellowjacket trap, and in less than 24 hrs. he had captured this many!
They had an exterminator come out to take care of the problem.
This year my son has put the trap out again … and he is already catching yellowjackets. Now that yellowjacket is massive! That might be the queen!
My son sent me this devotional thought for the blog: “If you capture the queen, you eradicate the colony. The Bible says to ‘take every thought captive.’ We need to take every thought captive before it ‘builds a nest’ in the crevices and attics of our life.”
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:5
Just like I was standing there in my kitchen minding my own business doing the dishes, and a huge yellowjacket flew up into my window … so also, each one of us goes about our normal everyday life, minding our own business, and an ungodly thought flies up into our mind.
Perhaps it’s a thought of bitterness against that person who has been really mean to us. Perhaps it’s a thought of jealousy over something nice that person has that we don’t have, and it’s just not fair. Perhaps it’s an inappropriate sensual thought.
That right there is the “queen.” If you capture the queen, you eradiate the colony.
Our immediate “blink” reaction should be to grab our electric mosquito zapper (aka: the name of Jesus / and the Word of God) and fry the life out of that ungodly thought. Just like I fried the life out of the yellowjacket in my kitchen. Yellowjackets are not allowed in my house!
If we don’t take immediate action, that ungodly thought will start to build a colony.
That thought of bitterness against that person who has been really mean to us will grow. We’ll rehearse all the meanness they’ve done. We’ll relive all the ways they’ve hurt us. We’ll have imaginary conversations in our mind of how we would confront them and what we would say to them. etc. etc. etc. …
A “colony” of bitterness is growing. A “yellowjacket nest” of bitterness is growing in our mind.
Or … that thought of jealousy over something nice that person has that we don’t have will grow. We’ll start to think how our life is just not fair … and how much better everyone else’s life is. We’ll think of all the things we wish we could have but can’t. We’ll resent them for the good things they have that we can’t have. A “colony” of envy and jealousy is growing. A “yellowjacket nest” of envy and jealousy is growing in our mind.
If you capture the “queen” thought, you eradiate the colony!
Or … that inappropriate sensual thought grows. The mind dwells on inappropriate things it should not be dwelling on. Pretty soon we are taking actions we never should be taking, because of the “colony” which has been growing in our mind.
That thought was a “yellowjacket” flying into our life … no different than a huge yellowjacket flying into our house. None of us wants a huge yellowjacket building a nest in our house.
The way we each would respond to a huge yellowjacket flying around inside our house … that is how we should respond to ungodly thoughts which fly around inside our mind.
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” – Matthew 15:19
“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” – Proverbs 23:7
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” – Proverbs 4:23
If you capture the “queen thought”, you eradiate the colony. Don’t tolerate ungodly thoughts in the mind. Don’t allow ungodly thoughts to circulate and “play on repeat.” This will “build a colony.”
When a “queen thought” shows up … fry the life out of it! (with the name of Jesus / and the Word of God).
