Pruning

Everyone has events in their lives that shape us into who we are.  Some are minor, other are major and life altering, but they all make us learn.  Whether it's is washing a red t-shirt in a load of whites, or the loss of job, birth of your first child, or a life threatening disease they all will teach you something.  How we react to that teaching often determines the outcome of the lesson as bad or good. 

God's allowance of both good and bad events is often how He chooses to teach you and me.  Is it pleasant?  Some times...but sometimes (and often) it is not.  Even in the bad, or even evil events we face God is present and using these events to make you grow. We see this in John 15;1-6

 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 

Pruning is how a plant is made healthy, allowing it to grow to be bigger and more fruitful.  Now I know plants can't talk but what if they could.  Would they tell us it felt good being pruned? I thinking no, it hurt, but what about one, two or three months later at Harvest time? Hey vine now that you have an abundance of big, juicy and sweet grapes as a result of that pruning back then, was it worth it? YES.

God it that way with us!  Trimming not only the dead but also the good "branches" to make us better fruit bearers.  We as Christian know that the dead (evil, non-producing, sin...) branches need to be cut but what about some of the good branches.  Sometimes the "good branches" things like a job, health, money, and family cause us to not grow the "fruit" we are intended to produce.

As I have been reading a book "Jesus in the Present Tense: The I AM Statements of Christ" by Warren W. Wiersbe.  This morning I was reading his words on this chapter in John.  Here is what he said about pruning;

"Fruitless branches prove they have no living connection with the vine and they must be cut off, and fruitful branches must be pruned so they produce more and better fruit (15:1-2.  Please note that when the vinedressers prune the fruitful branches, they cut away living wood, not dead wood, so the branches will produce better grapes.  The vinedresser must know what wood to cut, how much to cut, and at what angle." 

Another passage from Mr. Wiersbe..."As your read Scripture, note how the Father had to prune away good things from some of His servants so their ministries would be more fruitful and glorify the Lord in a greater way."   And God does this to us, sometimes cutting things that are, or seem to be good in order to bring us back to full fruitfulness in Him.  I know I'm being pruned during this time of my life!!

So hang in there during these times, It hurts, but I know the outcome will be great!!!

Listening

Have you ever read something several, maybe even five, six (or in this case least 20) times and all of sudden a different viewpoint or realization of what is said just come seeping into the old noggin?  This happened to me a couple of days ago while having my quiet time.  I was reading in Mark 4 and verses 21 through 25, and God showed me something new.

In this chapter Christ had just finished telling the parable of the sower/seeds and followed it up by explaining this passage to His disciples.  At the end of explaining the parable, Jesus told them the following:

 ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ²⁵ For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.     

As Christ told this parable to the crowd and He begins with "Listen to this"  and ends with  “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  He later tells the disciples of the lamp and basket/bed ending with the same statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”, and now in versed 24-25 we see “Take care what you listen to." Hear, Listen...Take care what you listen to!  Am I listening to God as I need to be?  Or am I listening to myself or the world?  If I am listening to God and what He is telling me then the more that will be revealed.  The more God wants to talk to me and the more I will benefit!  Other similar verses (Matt. 25:14-30) deal with using your talents, money, skills and abilities for work in God's kingdom. However these verses in Mark deal with listening to God and His words. The more time I spend in prayer and meditation allowing God to talk to me, the more I want to delve into the Bible and my prayer life.  If I don't listen to God then I lose out. 

Don't misunderstand me, studying and meditating on the Word of God is paramount to our growth as a Christian, but as I worked through these verses I discovered there are many more verses in the Bible that tells us to listen/hear vs study/read.  Are we too absorbed in reading (Christian books, study guides, devotionals etc..) to hear Gods voice as He speaks to us? To me these two verses are telling me the more I apply myself to prayer and listening, combined with a daily walk in His Word, the more He is going to say.  If I stray and pursue false or misleading teachings then God's blessing, and if I understand properly, even His word "...shall be taken away.".  

Also tied into this is the warning to "Take care what you listen to".  I believe Christ was warning His disciples to be careful to what and who they listened to.  The religious leaders of Christ day were willing to "bend" God's word for their benefit, and later in the 1st century church many heresies were being introduced. I see the same thing spreading like a cancer through the church today. Jesus was warning His followers to listen to His truth, not the world's.  Jesus wants us to listen to Him!


 

His Quietness

While reading Zephaniah 3:17 this morning, my attention was caught by the middle of the verse.  In the NASB it is:

¹⁷ “The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. 

Nestled in between the two dynamic statements “He will exult over you with joy” and “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy”, you have a passive “He will be quiet in His love”.  Some older manuscripts have “He will renew you in His love”, while other translations say “He will bring you quietness with His love” (HCSB), or “he will quiet you by his love;” (ESV), but the phrase “He will be quiet” in the NASB intrigued me. 

I am NOT a very good student of English grammar much less a Hebrew scholar, but these four words, at least to me, imply that God is going to do something to me, not do something for me as other translations elude.  So I looked up this verse on the Blue Letter Bible app (Sandra found this phone app and it is awesome.  Within it are several translations of the bible and even options to see the original Hebrew and Greek along with the definitions of what a word or phrase means in those languages) and discovered that the phrase “He will be quiet” is the Hebrew word חָרַשׁ charash (khä·rash') and it means to cut in (as in a stone tablet), plough, engrave, devise.

 

And it hit me like a 2x4 upside the head!!  God is in my life (midst), He is victorious in whatever He does. He rejoices, is glad (exults) over me. He cuts in, engraves His love on my heart and He will rejoice over me with His shouts.  God wrote His love on my heart! 

I am a valued possession of the King and He etched His name on my heart and on yours as well!!

Building Walls

What purpose does a wall serve?  They support the roof/ceiling of a structure. They keep the elements out. They protect us.  Without walls we would be at the mercy of nature and those that intend to cause us harm.  In ancient times the walls of a city was what determined the survival of that city and it's inhabitants.  Many cities of olden time were famous for their walls.  Constantinople (Turkey), York (England), Carcassonne (France), Xi'an (China), and the ancient city of Jerusalem.


Every one of the these cities have, in their histories, been subject to attack by those bent upon conquering. In most cases these cities have been protected by their walls, but at one time or another each has fallen to an attacking army.

Such was the case of Jerusalem, which fell to Nebuchadnezzar, to Rome two times, and to countless other invaders over the centuries.  The wall did not keep the city from harm, due to treachery, weakness or just sheer might of the attacker.

As I have been reading during my devotional time the last week or so, I finished up with Ezra (the rebuilding of the Temple) and decided to go right into Nehemiah which deals with the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. This morning I began chapter 3.  In this chapter a list of men and their families is given outlining what section of wall each was family group was responsible for.  As I read of Eliashib (the High Priest), the men of Jericho, the sons of Hassenaah, and many, many more that were rebuilding the wall and gates of the city, my mind began to wonder, much like it does when going through Leviticus or Deuteronomy, one verse stood out.  It was one of those versed that jumped off the page because of one word.  Nehemiah chapter 3 and verse 20 says (I will include vs 19 for continuity)...

"¹⁹ Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, the official of Mizpah, repaired ^[i]another section in front of the ascent of the armory at the Angle. ²⁰ After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the high priest."

Did you catch the word in verse 20?? (emphasized)  Zealously!! Zealously means "full of, characterized by, or due to zeal, ardently active, devoted or diligent".  In other words, Baruch kicked into high speed and got the job done. He built his section of the wall zealously!! Why?  To protect himself, his family and the rest of the Jews that had come back to their holy city, from an attacking enemy.

With this one verse, God got my attention!  Am I building the right kind of walls to protect me and my family?  Am I repairing/building walls to fend off Satan and his attacks?  Do I pray for and ask God to help me "build walls" around that and those that I love so they will survive attacks? And most importantly am I doing it "zealously"?  Having a vibrant, daily relationship with my God is the only way I, or anyone else, will be able to accomplish building walls, and I pray God will help me become a master stonemason!

Looking Back

Today in our morning service our pastor, Byron Williamson's sermon was from Exodus chapter 14.  This passage deals with God delivering the Israelites from Pharaoh and his army by dividing and leading His chosen people through the Red Sea.  Byron was preaching on how the Israelites wavered between trusting and following God, and looking at the "enemy" and their possible destruction as Pharaoh's army bore down on them.  As the sermon progressed, we were taught that when we look at Satan and his plans we often forget who and how powerful our God is.

While thinking about the points of the sermon, several of the verses jumped out at me and a thought was given to me that paralleled Byron's points.  As I read vs. 10-12 the historian in me came to life.  These verses are as follows:

  ¹⁰ As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

As I read these verses it occurred to me that the nation of Israel had lost sight of God, their protector.  They looked back and saw the Egyptian army and sat in fear of what was going to happen, in their eyes.  They looked back to the splendor of Egypt, even though it was a false, secular splendor and wanted to go back.  They looked at their "certain and stable" life as slaves and longed to return.  All of this was rooted in fear because they took their eyes off of God!

They remembered the splendor and grandeur of the tombs in Egypt, forgetting that as slaves they built these ornate tombs for their taskmasters,  and died and were buried in unmarked and even mass graves dug in the dirt, because they were expendable.  The Israelites wanted to return and serve their former masters, forgetting the oppression and misery that they prayed to God to be freed from. They were looking back at their old lives.

Before we chastise the Israelites to severely, are we not a great deal like them?  Don't we often take our eyes off of our great Provider, forgeting the hand of protection and guidance God offers, just to look back at our sinful past.  To succumb in fear to Satan and his attacks.  Unfortunately, all to often I do. I start complaining about events and "things" going on in my life.  How often do I look back to "Egypt"?  How much fear do I allow into my life because of looking back?  After events that have occurred over the last several weeks, I find myself not keeping my eye on God as I should.  I keep looking back and the fear and uncertainty creeps in.  I have to force myself to stop, look to my "pillar of cloud" moving before me, and wait on my God to protect and guide me.  Only then can I be a part of those "who were going out triumphantly" (vs. 8) because they were looking to God their Deliverer!

Aromas

We all like things that smell good.  Fresh roses, homemade bread or cinnamon rolls, the smell of fresh cut hay (though that smell invokes a nasty round of hay fever with me) a good cologne or perfume, or any of a thousand of other scents that bring us pleasure. 

The other side of that coin are the things that offend out sense of smell.  Rotten food, a boys locker room or teenagers room, and the one that gets me, a dead animal decaying.  Any of the smell makes you recoil and back away to different degrees, but we do not want to be around them. 

This last week a passage out of 2 Corinthians has been twirling around in my mind.  I have contemplated verses 14 - 17 of chapter 2.  Read these verses with me.

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. ¹⁵ For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; ¹⁶ to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? ¹⁷ For we are not like many, ^[d]peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

As I have meditated on these verses especially in light of the events of Easter week and the profound realization that Jesus Christ died and was raised from the dead, paying the price I owed for my sins.  I would be dead if not for His sacrifice, dead with the "aroma of death".  That smell of rotting flesh and decay!

Thinking of this, verses 14 - 16 jumped up at me.  We as believers should have the sweet aroma of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  That aroma should be "sweet and enticing" as we live our lives for Christ, spreading this among the people around us.  In the real world I have come to see that verse 16 is so true.  As I go through my daily routines, work, home, errands, and even church there are two responses to our "aroma".  To many it will be the "aroma from life to life", but to many more we will be the "aroma of death to death".  Unfortunately to many of those around us our witness will turn them away.  They have or will reject God and Christ for a multitude of reasons and whether consciously or not we will be the smell of death to them.

The reaction of those individuals is at the least indifference and to the extreme persecution of believers.  They smell the aroma of death and instinctively back away with revulsion as they head down the path to destruction and judgment due to their rejection of Christ, often striking out in various ways at those who bring the truth of God's word to the world.  This is a sad situation but we should not take it personally.  Rejection from those around us will happen. Christ told us through Luke 10:16 "“The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”  We can only hope that those we do come in contact with will smell the "sweet aroma of life"