He is the Vine

“I am the vine; you are the branches,” Jesus speaks. “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John: 15:5-8).

            He is the vine, and I’m the branch. If I seek Him and daily yield my heart to Him, my life will overflow with His purpose and His power. If I don't, I will fail. If I don't, there will be no direction. If I don't seek His heart, my existence is only that–just existence. But if He is the heartbeat of my life, His Spirit brings life-giving power and strength to accomplish what otherwise would be impossible.

            If I bring a heart surrendered to God’s will for my life, then I reap His sufficiency instead my own. However, a heart that believes it has surrendered to Christ, but hasn't, is a heart that doesn’t realize it has its own agenda. If I bring such selfishness to ministry, I’m impotent and purposeless. Instead of bringing life, I bring death. I become a branch that is picked up and thrown into the fire.

            “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener,” Jesus teaches. “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1-2). I don't want to be a branch that is cut off because it bears no fruit. I want to be a branch which bears fruit, and is willing to be pruned in order to bear more. It may hurt, but it is for His best and my best. “Those whom I love,” Jesus implores, “I rebuke and discipline” (Revelations 3:19a). When I bring Him my surrendered heart, I bring a heart that is easily rebuked and disciplined. It is not hardened or self-sufficient. When I listen to His voice instead of my own, I have invited Him, the vine of hope and promise, to be my all-sufficient nourishment and power.

            Jesus is the vine, and I’m His branch. If I remain in Him, He will remain in me; anything I ask will be asked within His will.  He will answer in power and purpose because His work glorifies the Father. He is the vine.

His Light in Me

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your   Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16, NIV).

Some days it is hard to feel like I can be His light in this world. Jesus is the light in my heart, but at times life dulls the brilliance. Circumstances hit hard, and I am called to shine for Him. Pain grips my body, and I must allow Him to radiate through my life. When I allow Him to shine through my life in the midst of my own problems and pain, He speaks encouragement not only to someone else, but to me. He bestows peace as I allow Him to work in me and through me. When I allow Him to shine, His promise of healing peace is not for only me, but for those in my world to experience.

Just as a town built on a hill is there for all to see, so should be the light of Jesus in my life. It is important for me to constantly realize the responsibility of the calling to be His light. His light reveals all that is hidden. Nothing escapes it. His light causes me to face not only what needs to be changed in my own life, but in allowing Him to change me, it gives me a desire to share what He has done. I yearn to share my life so He might make a difference in the lives of those in my world. If His Spirit is alive in me, there will be freedom for His light to shine (2 Corinthians 3:17).

I pray to always let His light change me and shine through me. I pray that in the midst of the struggles of life that I will never hide His light, but will allow it to carry me through those struggles and direct me in the way I should go. My greatest desire is that others will see the Lord living through me, and that, in experiencing His light, they will glorify Him by passing it on. He is the life, the truth, and the way. He is the only healer. He deserves all the praise and all the glory. Without His light, there would be no life.

 

The Promise of Joy

“'Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?' says the Lord. 'Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?' says your God” (Isaiah 66:9, NIV).

Are you going through a tough time? Does each day bring sadness, pain, or even fear? At times each one of us wonders where God is. When so overwhelmed we cry out for a promise of peace in the midst of our storm. We just long for our storm to end. We long for peace.

This verse in Isaiah uses the analogy of birth for the promise of deliverance and new life for Israel. It also speaks promise of deliverance to whatever pain we face or whatever struggle overwhelms us. There is a promise of deliverance that will come. Look at a pregnant woman. After months of pregnancy she discovers the intense pain of delivery, and at the moment when her pain is the greatest, there is release. What is the result? A new birth and a new life. Joy is the result. The months of discomfort, and the intense pain of delivery have been worth it. All along the way, she has anticipated the joy to come. She has believed in her promise, and the months of preparation have been worth the incredible result.

God doesn't close up the womb and hold back your delivery–your deliverance. No! He doesn't stop the release that comes forth from all the pain. The intense joy that comes from your delivery is your promise. You are even protected from the pain that would be too much for you to handle. “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son” (Isaiah 66:7). What we might consider the harshest pain is not really what the most horrible pain might be. God has protected us. He has made our labor easier than it might have been, and has brought us to the joy of delivery.

Whatever trial you are going through holds the promise of peace. “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36). Hang on and find His will. Believe the promise is very real. During your time of preparation, you will discover the biblical truths that make your faith stronger. “Weeping may stay for the night,” He promises, “but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b). The birth of your promise will come. The pain you know now will bring the greatest joy then!

His Never-Ending Wealth

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38, NIV).

Even though I may not be rich in what the world considers rich, I am rich in the greatest way. The love of Jesus Christ has made me rich. I can't contain this wealth, and I do not want to contain it. His love in my life overflows. He calls me to give all of myself away–my heart, my thoughts, my possessions, my time, my prayers–for His sake.

Jesus is the greatest giver, and He is my greatest example. He gave all of Himself for me–His perfect life for my sinful one. He gave of His time, so I will give of mine. He gave up personal comfort, so I will give up mine. He gave time to each one who asked. He still gives all of Himself for my comfort, for my healing, for my understanding, for my sorrow, for my weakness, for my need.

I am called to be broken and spilled out for Him. Out of my brokenness and surrender, flows the richness of what He has given me. Because of what He has done for me, and what He continually pours into my my life, I also give. And in giving, I receive. I receive more joy and more peace and more love to give away. What I give comes back to me in a wealth that can never be measured. In giving myself away, I have discovered a never ending cycle of richness that only comes with complete surrender to the Savior who died for me.

You Are Home

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a, NIV).

Don't obsess on the little problems that come up each day on this journey of life. Recognize each struggle for what it can be–an opportunity and a lesson to carry you further to the goal. When you climb a mountain and concentrate on the hardship of each step, you never see the beautiful reward waiting for you at the summit.

Regard each step up your mountain as a springboard toward the top, and don't dwell on each struggle or pain. Keep your eyes on your goal, and then as you climb, each step will become another solid foundation of growth. If you consider each step as a means to carry you to the promise at the peak, your climb will not bring despair, but great hope of the reward that awaits. Never forget that the Lord is your strength. He makes your feet like the those of a deer, and enables your climb (Habakkuk 3:19).

At the end of your climb, God waits with open arms. There are no more problems or pain. The struggle to the top has been worth the rewarding view–the hardship of each step no longer remembered. You have arrived at your destination. You are home.

An Open and Teachable Spirit

As a believer in Christ, I must have an open and teachable spirit to the Lord's instruction. I do not have the option to ignore the transformation the Holy Spirit wishes to continually bring in my life. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers,” the apostle Paul declared, “in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).


My whole life should be one that is a “spiritual act worship” to the loving God who became a living sacrifice for me. If I live a surrendered and holy life, my obedience pleases God. My life becomes one of worship. If I worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24), I offer a yielded heart and mind that seeks to be more like Him. I yearn to grow spiritually. Spiritual transformation is discovered in the renewing of my mind. A willingness to be renewed means that I am open to learn something new in my walk with the Lord. It means that I don't have all the answers, but that I am continually seeking Him. “You were taught,” Paul also wrote,” with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4: 23-23).


I may be created to be holy as God is holy (I Peter 1:15), but I cannot be like Him until my attitudes and desires are what He wishes. As I am taught and transformed by His Spirit, I discover God’s holiness, and strive to live it. If something is not right in my life, the Holy Spirit reveals it, and I immediately repent. If I also need to grow spiritually in an area, the Holy Spirit reveals it, and I choose to change. As I add His virtues in my life, (2 Peter 1:5-7), my heart and mind are open to His sanctifying presence. When my heart and mind are constantly renewed, I am able to put off the old self and put on the new one.


God seeks the whole earth for those whose hearts totally belong to Him. To such a person God gives His strength which empowers personal change (I Chronicles 16: 9). When David’s sin with Bathsheba was brought to his attention by Nathan, (Psalm 51), David hit the ground in repentance. There was no hesitation in his humble heart. His example teaches that I need to be spiritually open to the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit. David experienced God’s immediate forgiveness because of his repentant heart. If his heart had been calloused, David never would have realized at what point the Holy Spirit had left him. 


When I repent God cleanses my heart, and washes away the sinful impurities that separate me from His love. He promises, “I will give you a clean heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36: 26). Where once my heart was as hard and unyielding as stone, now he promises it shall beat with the pulsating blood of His living sacrifice. Where once calloused inner pain held back God’s spiritual growth in my life, now I shall be energized by His living presence. A new heart and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit fills me with the desire to keep His laws and commandments- not because they are rules to be followed, but because I love Him above all else. His law shall be my delight, and in every way He shall be my God and I shall belong only to Him (Ezekiel 26: 27-28). 


I long to always hear, “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear” (Matthew 13:16). The only way that I will continually discover this promise is to have a teachable spirit and mind that are constantly transformed by the hand of God.

Without Delay

Without Delay

“I will hurry, without delay, to obey all your commands” (Psalm 119:60, NLT).

Today's verse from Biblegateway speaks to me this morning. How often, when instructed by the Lord, do I procrastinate or even become disobedient to His command? If the Lord instructs me to do something, He expects my obedience. If He speaks to my heart about an attitude, He expects my obedience to change that attitude. If He speaks to me about something in my life that is wrong, He expects my obedience to repent and stay away from it. He expects my obedience to live a righteous life that glorifies His name, but often I, like others, can find a reason not to listen. If I am not careful, the excuses will keep mounting to the point when my calloused heart no longer hears His voice. If I don't want to lose His close presence in my life, then I must allow Him to change me.

Obedience is not an option, and it does not just happen. It is born of deep commitment to God. It certainly calls for personal sacrifice. When it is born of sacrifice, obedience speaks of my willingness to submit to God’s desires instead of my own. Disobedience stems from pride. Longing for personal acceptance by others, it says “no” when the sacrifice involves humility. Often obedience contradicts the desires of my own heart. This is where obedience really begins–in my willingness to say “no” to me, and “yes” to God. When I put Him before everything else in my life, I discover the peace and joy found in surrender. Surrendering to the Lord's will reveals my respect for the cost of Jesus’ sacrifice, and goes where disobedience never will— into the very heart of God. This is where I can discover the fulfillment of a surrendered and obedient life.

The Lord yearns for you and for me to have an obedient heart—one that listens to the conviction and direction of the Holy Spirit and follows His will without argument. He longs to hear, “ I will obey, Lord, and, without delay, follow the direction you have for my life.” Are we pliable in His hands? Do we allow Him to mold our life or are we rigid and unyielding? To discover the fulfillment that a surrendered life offers, we make our life pliable in His unchanging hand. That sure and constant pressure brings forth a beauty of character that is unsurpassed and a life that knows His peace no matter what comes.

“I surrender, Lord, without delay.”

There is Deliverance

In the “The Battlefield of the Mind” Joyce Meyer lays out the enemy's mission to destroy our faith in Christ. “He begins,” she writes, “by bombarding our mind with a cleverly devised pattern of little nagging thoughts, suspicious, doubts, fears, wonderings, reasonings, and theories. He moves slowly and cautiously... He knows what we like and what we don't like. He knows our insecurities, our weaknesses, and our fears. He knows what bothers us most. He is willing to invest any amount of time it takes to defeat us.”

He is willing to invest whatever time it takes to defeat you! Do you want to defeat him? Are you ready to invest your mustard seed of faith in Jesus Christ, read the Word until it becomes His power in your mind, live obediently, and fight this battle by choosing to believe in God's truth? The mind is where Satan attempts to play his games–to tell his lies–to build his lying strongholds, and destroy the faith that Christ has placed within you. You cannot sit on the sideline and hope it will go away. You cannot cover your ears, and pretend it is not there. That voice can be silenced. But it can only be defeated when you choose to fight with the Word of God and the power of Holy Spirit.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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 10:4,5), NIV). Just as in a battle on a physical battlefield, you want to choose your best ground, and define your terms of combat. In the battlefield of the mind, you also make choices that are advantageous to you. You have the ability to choose doubt or to have faith. You choose to believe the Word or not believe the Word. You choose the power of the Holy Spirit to stand strong against Satan's lies (Ephesians 6:10-17). You choose to place your faith in the Lord's promises instead of those lies. You choose to take captive your thoughts. You must continually practice choosing to believe. What you practice again and again, you learn.

The Holy Spirit will give you the strength to stand strong and believe in His promise instead of believing in the lies of the enemy. When you give all of this to the Lord with thanksgiving in your heart that He will take care of you, you will find His rest and peace in your mind (Philippians 4:6-7). Stand strong in the Lord, and the enemy will be silenced. Don't despair. Stand and continually make your choice. There is deliverance.

Just Get Off Your Fence

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).


Do you have an area of your life where you sit on a fence because you are afraid to make a commitment or because the cost of it might be too great? You might regard your fence as a place of safety, but it is not. You sit on the fence because not sitting on the fence means that you must make a decision one way or the other. If you get off the fence, you will be forced to commit to something. You will either believe or not believe. You will either have faith or not have faith. You will either accept or reject. You are afraid to commit one way because you might be wrong. On the other hand you are afraid to commit the other way, because you might be wrong. So you sit on the fence because you presume it is easier and safer than letting go of it. It is not easier and it is not safer. It has taken a lot of energy to keep yourself on that fence. You may think your fence of non-commitment is safe, but all it does is keep you in prison without any hope of rescue. You have to risk in order to believe. 


What you might not realize is that staying on the fence is really a choice. It is a choice to remain in bondage instead of discovering the freedom found in letting go. "Now the Lord is the Spirit,” Paul imparts, “and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). The Holy Spirit will liberate you from your fence, but you must be willing. You must choose to let go of its false protection, and make a commitment to believe in His faithfulness. The fence does not protect you. It is a place where non-commitment will destroy what little faith you have. 


Before his death Moses spoke to the Israelites and instructed them to choose prosperity and life instead of destruction and death (Deuteronomy 30:11-15). They had remained on their fence afraid to go into their promised land, but now was the time for them to choose. Not stepping out on faith to claim their promise was choosing death over life. Choosing to get off their fence and move into their promise was going to cost them something. They would have to overcome the barriers to their promise. Letting go of the fence means that you must face your own giants. But you do not face them alone. Just as the Israelites moved forward in faith with God's protection, so will you. Getting off the fence does not mean you will fail. It means that you have chosen to trust Him and His promises. It means you have risked in order to believe. You have chosen life.


Your promised land waits. It is a land where walking by faith in God's faithfulness is all that you need. It is a land where you face the unknown with the assurance that all is well in His protection and providence. So let go of your fence. He will not fail you. He will carry you through pain, fear, and doubt to your own promised land because you have chosen to believe Him. Sacrifice your fence, and trust in Jesus Christ who sacrificed all for you. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Just get off the fence so you can live!

To "Feel"

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5, NIV).

“I am tired, Lord, and my mind has no peace. There is so much that I don't understand, and I'm sorry that I 'feel' like I need to see something in order to believe in your faithfulness. But that is where I am. I long to believe, but I just can't grasp it. I know that I should have enough faith to trust you. But everything has overwhelmed me.”

“Child,” he whispers, “I am here. You must choose to put your hope in me. In the midst of all the pain, of all the questioning, of all the wandering of your mind, you must choose to believe me even though you may not 'feel' it. Don't allow your thoughts and mind to wander. This morning your mind is bombarded with all kinds of thoughts that are not from me. I will take care of all the concerns of your mind and heart. There is rest in me. To rest in me means that you are captivated by me. It means that you choose to dwell on me instead of the lies that claim your mind. You must see those lies for what they intend to do, and that is destroy who you are in me. Those lies are sent by the enemy of your soul to rob you of my peace and joy and faith in me. Choose to believe me. Say you believe even if you don't 'feel' it. Your choice to believe is an act of will. I gave you the freedom to choose or reject my salvation. You also have the freedom to accept or reject the work of faith I wish to accomplish in your life. It is your choice. Determine to have confidence in what you hope for and to have assurance about what you do not see. Put your hope in me. Fight for your faith just like I died for yours.”

“Lord Jesus, I choose you! I choose to believe you. I might not 'feel' it at this moment, but I put my hope in you. I choose to shut down the wandering and terrible thoughts of 'what if” that explode in my mind. I choose to focus on your positive, Lord, and not the enemy's negative. I tell myself over and over that I choose to believe in what your Word tells me–that I can have perfect peace when my mind stays focused on you (Isaiah 26:3). I tell the enemy that he is defeated and he has no right to my life. I praise you, Lord Jesus, vocally, again and again and again until the lies of the enemy are silenced.”

“Child,” He responds, “it is at that moment those lies are silenced, that your sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15) heralds the beginning of my healing in your life. You shall know in the very depths of your soul what you have chosen to believe. And you shall 'feel' it!”