Now the only kind of fruit we are asking for is that which will develop God's character in us! We were created for one purpose: to reflect the image of Jesus. We may think a Cadillac parked in the garage will help us reflect His image, but God has a different idea. Would you agree, then, that these verses are not about asking God for things? The are about asking God to use us as branches for what He intended in the first place to perfectly reflect His image. The Cadillac doesn't keep me from being a branch, but neither does the Cadillac make me a branch or cause me to bear fruit. Character is the fruit that God will grant, as we ask for it and as our minds are open to receive it.
It goes without saying that God does not force His character upon anyone, even though we were expressly created to bear the perfect image of Jesus. Bearing the image is very possible, but doing so necessitates willingness to be purged. In order to bear fruit,, God sends us back to the Word that it might have its perfect work in us. That means we do more than just read the Word and then forget about what we have perused. No, we endure the purging as it cuts! The Bible describes the Word as being sharper than any two-edged sword and speaks of it dividing asunder. And that's what it does-- it separates and divides--it separates us from the world and the things of the world, and changes it changes our interest in the world. That Word also puts the desire in our hearts to make God first. Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness," Matthew 6:33 something that is only possible as God dwells in us.
Fruit Bearing, Glorifying God and Discipleship
"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified. John 15:7,8 first part.
This is interesting because verse eight heads right into the fruit-baring business. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit"! Notice that our asking and the Father being glorified through fruit-bearing are connected: "Ye shall ask what you will....Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." So asking whatever you want, then, is asking for God to be glorified, and He is only glorified when we bear fruit.
Reading again, this time notice the last part of the verse: "Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples." Did you notice it said, "So shall ye be My disciples"? Whoever thought discipleship and fruit-bearing were connected?
I think it's pretty clear about Fruit-bearing and Asking what we want. We can ask for any kind of fruit that will glorify God, Happiness, Love, Forgiveness, Grace, Patience, Godliness, all of these and more, anything that will glorify God and make us in the image of Jesus. Grandma Joan
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Saturday, January 6, 2018
'Flawed Mutual Support' and 'Can We Really Ask for Anything?'- Part 39
We find a profound lesson in these short verses: no branch can support another branch! Is't that interesting? Every branch is supposed to bear its own fruit, and the produtction of fruit points back to the Source of that fruit and creates a desire in another branch to bear fruit as well. And when the fruit is recognized, and the Source of the fruit is also known, than another branch is grafted in and receives its ability to bear fruit from the same original Source as the other branches, which of course is not from another branch. Branches cannot support each other. Jesus went on in verse six, "If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." We've talked about this verse before, so we won't spend any time discussing it now.
Can we really ask for anything?
In verse seven we find the verse that we are going to focus on: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, , ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you" John 15:7. These words, "Ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you," are often quoted and taken completely out of context as a promise that can be claimed to cover a vast number of things.
If we carefully examine this verse, w will find that certain limiting conditions are connected with it. What might these limiting conditions be? The production of fruit? Whether one abides or not? Whether we abide in Him, or He abides in us? These are good responses, but it is important to find the right response, since we give so little thought to this promise that is so easily claimed.
It helps to consider the context of this verse--a parable about a Vine, and a branch whose sole purpose is to produce fruit. It also helps to remember that the branch merely functions as a channel through which the Vine produces fruit. Would it be fair to suggest then, that if the branch were to ask for something of the Vine, it would only be asking for one thing: to bear more fruit, which is the only thing a branch could do, and which, accordingly, is all it would be asking? It wouldn't be asking to build a house, or to take a trip, or to do anything else. Would it? The branch would not be concerned about any of these things. It would be saying, "Lord, Produce more fruit in me"--that would be its only request.
Do you see how logical this is? Would you agree that it would be foolish to apply this promise to anything and everything that might come into our minds? How foolish we are. We have stretched God's Word and attempted to make ie encompass everything. Many a preacher has quoted this verse and suggested that God will do whatever you ask, as long as you are sincere and ask in the right way. But God isn't in that kind of business, and neither is the branch. The branch is only going to ask for more fruit, and the Husbandman is going to respond by starting the only process that enables the branch to bear more fruit: purging.
That last sentence could be scary if I didn't know another verse that says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
So whatever the purging might be, there will never be put upon us a temptation that will be too hard to bear but will give us an escape from it. Isn't that like our God? So willing to make an escape from temptation that is too hard for us. So we can handle the purging, just need to ask God for strength to get through it and He will help us, that's His job, our job is to trust Him. Don't forget that we must trust Him all the way into His kingdom and we can make it through Him and only through Him.
Grandma Joan
Can we really ask for anything?
In verse seven we find the verse that we are going to focus on: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, , ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you" John 15:7. These words, "Ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you," are often quoted and taken completely out of context as a promise that can be claimed to cover a vast number of things.
If we carefully examine this verse, w will find that certain limiting conditions are connected with it. What might these limiting conditions be? The production of fruit? Whether one abides or not? Whether we abide in Him, or He abides in us? These are good responses, but it is important to find the right response, since we give so little thought to this promise that is so easily claimed.
It helps to consider the context of this verse--a parable about a Vine, and a branch whose sole purpose is to produce fruit. It also helps to remember that the branch merely functions as a channel through which the Vine produces fruit. Would it be fair to suggest then, that if the branch were to ask for something of the Vine, it would only be asking for one thing: to bear more fruit, which is the only thing a branch could do, and which, accordingly, is all it would be asking? It wouldn't be asking to build a house, or to take a trip, or to do anything else. Would it? The branch would not be concerned about any of these things. It would be saying, "Lord, Produce more fruit in me"--that would be its only request.
Do you see how logical this is? Would you agree that it would be foolish to apply this promise to anything and everything that might come into our minds? How foolish we are. We have stretched God's Word and attempted to make ie encompass everything. Many a preacher has quoted this verse and suggested that God will do whatever you ask, as long as you are sincere and ask in the right way. But God isn't in that kind of business, and neither is the branch. The branch is only going to ask for more fruit, and the Husbandman is going to respond by starting the only process that enables the branch to bear more fruit: purging.
That last sentence could be scary if I didn't know another verse that says, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
So whatever the purging might be, there will never be put upon us a temptation that will be too hard to bear but will give us an escape from it. Isn't that like our God? So willing to make an escape from temptation that is too hard for us. So we can handle the purging, just need to ask God for strength to get through it and He will help us, that's His job, our job is to trust Him. Don't forget that we must trust Him all the way into His kingdom and we can make it through Him and only through Him.
Grandma Joan
Friday, January 5, 2018
Ye are Clean Through the Word - part 38
"I am the True Vine and My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in Me, he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples" John 5:1-8
I hope it doesn't seem repetitious that we keep reading through thee verses, for they are vitally important and should be of keen interest to us. Remember as well that this parable comes at the beginning of the final conversation that Jesus had with His disciples, which we find in John 15,16,17.
He spoke these words after He left the upper room and headed out into the night. This conversation, His last conversation with the disciples prior to His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, couldn't have taken more than two hours, during which He shared some of His most important lessons. Have you ever found yourself similarly needing to give a vast amount of instruction to a loved one? Jesus needed to, and in a very short amount of time, and He tried to pack in as much as possible.
He started with the experience of the vine and the branches. He said, "I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman" John 15:1. This was the first time Jesus had ever spoken of this with His disciples, and it came as new information to them, since they were Jews and like all Jews had always looked at the vine as a symbol of themselves. Now Jesus was in effect saying, "that's not correct!" 'I am the True Vine and My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit'" John 15:2.
Jesus probably spoke these words at this time for a number of reasons. For one thing, He knew the disciples were going to soon experience important purging, and they didn't even know what needed purging!
Now recall that the agent of purging for the disciples was going to be the Word, and at this point in their spiritual journey, the disciples had not understood the Word--the teachings of their Master, Jesus--not had the Word accomplished its work yet. There is still the same problem in our day. We have the Scriptures--the Word--but it doesn't do us any good unless we are willing to believe it and allow it to work in us.
The disciples had listened to the Word many times and responded, "That's interesting! That's wonderful!" But they didn't understand the wonderful words they were hearing. We often find ourselves in the same boat. Thousands of people read the Word, believe they will get something from what they are reading, gain a little, but don't understand it at all. The disciples were like this, and Jesus therefore instructed them. As a result, they were going to be able to soon experience the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was to accomplish one thing: dwell on the Word in order to enlighten the disciples, helping them to understand and apply it.
Now He said, "Ye are clean through the word" John 15:3, and meant they were clean by believing in the lessons that He had spoken to them. The only way to be cleansed is through the Word, which is a spiritual cleansing; that's the only way a human being can be cleansed! Cleansing does not come by way of baptism, for baptism is only an outward symbol.
Then Jesus continued, saying, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" John 15:4,5.
Have you found out that you can do nothing to make yourself spiritually clean? I have. I'm a hopeless case when it comes to my spiritual life, without Jesus. Yes, when I was really into studying the Word and spending time in prayer every morning, my life was so much better. Then we moved and were living in a motorhome with four people. Really hard to find a place to study and pray and I lost my experience. I could have found a place because we were volunteering for a Television station and there were lots of places that I could have found to be alone and not bothered. I guess to be truthful with you, I never thought of it. It was a Christian station and I guess I thought I was working for God and that counted for my righteousness, but I've found out through these little studies that we cannot work our way into heaven and it doesn't count at all what we do. We must abide with Him daily, hourly, then we will know what work He wants us to do, because He can impress our minds with what duties we can do and can't do. It's that simple, yes, I know it sounds simple but saying it is simple but doing it after a lifetime of habits is another story, we have to have His help. If we abide in Him and He in us, we have our help all cut out for us, we just need to obey He Word when we are reading it and repent when we slip up and get up and go on in our abiding. I pray that you are catching on to this wonderful truth. Grandma Joan
I hope it doesn't seem repetitious that we keep reading through thee verses, for they are vitally important and should be of keen interest to us. Remember as well that this parable comes at the beginning of the final conversation that Jesus had with His disciples, which we find in John 15,16,17.
He spoke these words after He left the upper room and headed out into the night. This conversation, His last conversation with the disciples prior to His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, couldn't have taken more than two hours, during which He shared some of His most important lessons. Have you ever found yourself similarly needing to give a vast amount of instruction to a loved one? Jesus needed to, and in a very short amount of time, and He tried to pack in as much as possible.
He started with the experience of the vine and the branches. He said, "I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman" John 15:1. This was the first time Jesus had ever spoken of this with His disciples, and it came as new information to them, since they were Jews and like all Jews had always looked at the vine as a symbol of themselves. Now Jesus was in effect saying, "that's not correct!" 'I am the True Vine and My Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit'" John 15:2.
Jesus probably spoke these words at this time for a number of reasons. For one thing, He knew the disciples were going to soon experience important purging, and they didn't even know what needed purging!
Now recall that the agent of purging for the disciples was going to be the Word, and at this point in their spiritual journey, the disciples had not understood the Word--the teachings of their Master, Jesus--not had the Word accomplished its work yet. There is still the same problem in our day. We have the Scriptures--the Word--but it doesn't do us any good unless we are willing to believe it and allow it to work in us.
The disciples had listened to the Word many times and responded, "That's interesting! That's wonderful!" But they didn't understand the wonderful words they were hearing. We often find ourselves in the same boat. Thousands of people read the Word, believe they will get something from what they are reading, gain a little, but don't understand it at all. The disciples were like this, and Jesus therefore instructed them. As a result, they were going to be able to soon experience the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was to accomplish one thing: dwell on the Word in order to enlighten the disciples, helping them to understand and apply it.
Now He said, "Ye are clean through the word" John 15:3, and meant they were clean by believing in the lessons that He had spoken to them. The only way to be cleansed is through the Word, which is a spiritual cleansing; that's the only way a human being can be cleansed! Cleansing does not come by way of baptism, for baptism is only an outward symbol.
Then Jesus continued, saying, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" John 15:4,5.
Have you found out that you can do nothing to make yourself spiritually clean? I have. I'm a hopeless case when it comes to my spiritual life, without Jesus. Yes, when I was really into studying the Word and spending time in prayer every morning, my life was so much better. Then we moved and were living in a motorhome with four people. Really hard to find a place to study and pray and I lost my experience. I could have found a place because we were volunteering for a Television station and there were lots of places that I could have found to be alone and not bothered. I guess to be truthful with you, I never thought of it. It was a Christian station and I guess I thought I was working for God and that counted for my righteousness, but I've found out through these little studies that we cannot work our way into heaven and it doesn't count at all what we do. We must abide with Him daily, hourly, then we will know what work He wants us to do, because He can impress our minds with what duties we can do and can't do. It's that simple, yes, I know it sounds simple but saying it is simple but doing it after a lifetime of habits is another story, we have to have His help. If we abide in Him and He in us, we have our help all cut out for us, we just need to obey He Word when we are reading it and repent when we slip up and get up and go on in our abiding. I pray that you are catching on to this wonderful truth. Grandma Joan
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Striving and Bearing Fruit - Part 37
"'But,' you will ask, 'does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and warfare, and a fight
"'But,' you will ask, 'does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and warfare, and a fight?" Yes, it certainly does. 'Are we not told that we must strive to enter in?' We surely are. 'Well, what then? Only this, that we should be sure for what we are fighting, and for what we are to strive,"--which is to abide in the Vine.!
We are not to worry about the fruit, which is receiving God's character. When God's people perfectly reflect His character, Jesus will come to claim them as His own. There is only one thing God is waiting for, and that is for the perfection of the fruit which He imparts to the human body, the human mind, and the human person, through, the process of sanctification--which is simply imparting His character to us. Sanctification is His gift, just as justification is His gift, both are gifts from first to last.
We need to also recognize that hindering factors can prevent us from enjoying these gifts. Did you ever try to give someone something but were deterred due to some hindering factor? It
is the same for God. He can impute His character in the process of justification regardless of your past life as long as you simply say, "Lord I am sorry; please forgive me." He responds, "That's all right," and credits to you His character. But from that moment, He begins literally imparting to us His own character, which isn't an easy thing, and takes a lifetime to complete. Any time I object because the purging/imparting process is too painful, and therefore desire to take the driver's seat, He lets me take over and I soon find myself in the ditch. "Oops, I goofed again Lord, please take over," and He takes over and drives away. But it isn't long before I say, "I think I will take over again--it seems like easy sailing--and I do and soon we find ourselves in the ditch, again! This is the ongoing process which God pursues in His anxious desire to impart to us His character. This process is only possible as we remove the hindrances. God doesn't send trials and temptations, but He permits them. Nevertheless, our challenge isn't with the trial or temptation, but with what the Word says about the problem--any trial, any temptation, any hardship--the devil confronts us with, to point us to the solution, which is always Jesus in way or the other. But we prefer other answers. In my studies with people I've heard them say, "Don't you have any other answers? No, the answer is Jesus." "Don't you know of any other solution?" No, the solution is Jesus."It is so much easier to accept human solutions to our problems. If I can do something to solve the problem on my own, I will certainly take that route first--which is why the religions of the world are so much more attractive to the human mind.
Is it hard to say, "I'm sorry, please forgive me". Of course we must mean it when we say it. I guess it is hard for some people, but I find it hard to keep going in my own sinful way and saying, "I'm sorry is not hard when you learn to hate sin and love righteousness. It's easy to goof because we have been so long living a life of wrong doing, but when we see the love of God that He has for us, it does make a difference. God is real and Christ is real and both are waiting for us to abide with them day by day and hour by hour and sometimes minute by minute. Can we surrender to Him our lives and give up on our selfish way of life? It's not easy but Christ will do it for us if we just give in to Him and abide with Him all the time. If we fall, we get up and repent and go on as if we had never sinned. I believe ti will get easier and time goes on. Because we will be forming a new character and new habits that will be a blessing to us and to others, so hang on and give in to His loving pleading for you and for me. Grandma Joan
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"'But,' you will ask, 'does not the Bible speak about soldiers, and warfare, and a fight?" Yes, it certainly does. 'Are we not told that we must strive to enter in?' We surely are. 'Well, what then? Only this, that we should be sure for what we are fighting, and for what we are to strive,"--which is to abide in the Vine.!
We are not to worry about the fruit, which is receiving God's character. When God's people perfectly reflect His character, Jesus will come to claim them as His own. There is only one thing God is waiting for, and that is for the perfection of the fruit which He imparts to the human body, the human mind, and the human person, through, the process of sanctification--which is simply imparting His character to us. Sanctification is His gift, just as justification is His gift, both are gifts from first to last.
We need to also recognize that hindering factors can prevent us from enjoying these gifts. Did you ever try to give someone something but were deterred due to some hindering factor? It
is the same for God. He can impute His character in the process of justification regardless of your past life as long as you simply say, "Lord I am sorry; please forgive me." He responds, "That's all right," and credits to you His character. But from that moment, He begins literally imparting to us His own character, which isn't an easy thing, and takes a lifetime to complete. Any time I object because the purging/imparting process is too painful, and therefore desire to take the driver's seat, He lets me take over and I soon find myself in the ditch. "Oops, I goofed again Lord, please take over," and He takes over and drives away. But it isn't long before I say, "I think I will take over again--it seems like easy sailing--and I do and soon we find ourselves in the ditch, again! This is the ongoing process which God pursues in His anxious desire to impart to us His character. This process is only possible as we remove the hindrances. God doesn't send trials and temptations, but He permits them. Nevertheless, our challenge isn't with the trial or temptation, but with what the Word says about the problem--any trial, any temptation, any hardship--the devil confronts us with, to point us to the solution, which is always Jesus in way or the other. But we prefer other answers. In my studies with people I've heard them say, "Don't you have any other answers? No, the answer is Jesus." "Don't you know of any other solution?" No, the solution is Jesus."It is so much easier to accept human solutions to our problems. If I can do something to solve the problem on my own, I will certainly take that route first--which is why the religions of the world are so much more attractive to the human mind.
Is it hard to say, "I'm sorry, please forgive me". Of course we must mean it when we say it. I guess it is hard for some people, but I find it hard to keep going in my own sinful way and saying, "I'm sorry is not hard when you learn to hate sin and love righteousness. It's easy to goof because we have been so long living a life of wrong doing, but when we see the love of God that He has for us, it does make a difference. God is real and Christ is real and both are waiting for us to abide with them day by day and hour by hour and sometimes minute by minute. Can we surrender to Him our lives and give up on our selfish way of life? It's not easy but Christ will do it for us if we just give in to Him and abide with Him all the time. If we fall, we get up and repent and go on as if we had never sinned. I believe ti will get easier and time goes on. Because we will be forming a new character and new habits that will be a blessing to us and to others, so hang on and give in to His loving pleading for you and for me. Grandma Joan
/
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Doing My Part - Part 36
Notice, however, what normally happens; We come to recognize an evil in our lives, come under conviction about it, and accept God's correcting; but instead of letting God continue dealing with it, we take it back into our own hands to manage, and fall back into temptation again. How did the person respond? "You can wait until you will accept that food gladly;" and victory was eventually gained. When we turn away until it becomes a joy to obey God in whatever area He is bringing conviction, we too will gain the victory.
We find the following instructive quotation in W.W. Prescott's book, Victory in Christ:
"For a long time I tried to gain the victory over sin, but I failed. I have since learned the reason. Instead of doing the part which God expects me to do--which we have learned is abiding in the Vine, to use the imagery and language we have been utilizing in these discussions--and which I can do, I was trying to do God's part, which He does not expect me to do, and which I cannot do. Primarily, my part is not to win the victory--and produce the fruit--but to receive the victory-receive the Holy Spirit and let Him produce the fruit--which has already been won for me by Jesus Christ"--when He took the place of Adam and day by day developed the character which Adam failed to acquire. Jesus won the victory; He won the victory over Satan and sin.
Jesus wants to give us His victory, but He's having an awful time getting us to accept it. Why? Because we are unwilling to do our part, which is abiding in Him, and allowing Him to accomplish the pruning, which will result in the development of His character in us. It doesn't sound too difficult, but it is, because as He grafts us into the Vine, and we begin growing, little sprouts have a way of appearing that look suspiciously like the old life. He determines these need to be cut off and proceeds, but we find the cutting exceedingly painful, object to it, which results in His relenting and responding, "I'm not going to continue pruning if you don't allow Me." But the outcome is a turning away, the impeding of His life being lived out in us, and the reemergence of the old life' He can only live in us if we permit Him to!
I want Him to prune away all the bad stuff in my life, it is painful sometimes. We have habits that are strongly implanted in our hearts and mind that are hard to give up, but the joy of giving them up outweighs the pain of hanging on to them and knowing we will be lost eternally if we hang on to them. The results of hanging on to them is not worth losing out on eternal life. Not at all.
Don't give up, we will live eternally with Christ and His Father if we keep letting Him prune out the bad stuff and we get the victory. Please don't give up!!!! Grandma Joan
We find the following instructive quotation in W.W. Prescott's book, Victory in Christ:
"For a long time I tried to gain the victory over sin, but I failed. I have since learned the reason. Instead of doing the part which God expects me to do--which we have learned is abiding in the Vine, to use the imagery and language we have been utilizing in these discussions--and which I can do, I was trying to do God's part, which He does not expect me to do, and which I cannot do. Primarily, my part is not to win the victory--and produce the fruit--but to receive the victory-receive the Holy Spirit and let Him produce the fruit--which has already been won for me by Jesus Christ"--when He took the place of Adam and day by day developed the character which Adam failed to acquire. Jesus won the victory; He won the victory over Satan and sin.
Jesus wants to give us His victory, but He's having an awful time getting us to accept it. Why? Because we are unwilling to do our part, which is abiding in Him, and allowing Him to accomplish the pruning, which will result in the development of His character in us. It doesn't sound too difficult, but it is, because as He grafts us into the Vine, and we begin growing, little sprouts have a way of appearing that look suspiciously like the old life. He determines these need to be cut off and proceeds, but we find the cutting exceedingly painful, object to it, which results in His relenting and responding, "I'm not going to continue pruning if you don't allow Me." But the outcome is a turning away, the impeding of His life being lived out in us, and the reemergence of the old life' He can only live in us if we permit Him to!
I want Him to prune away all the bad stuff in my life, it is painful sometimes. We have habits that are strongly implanted in our hearts and mind that are hard to give up, but the joy of giving them up outweighs the pain of hanging on to them and knowing we will be lost eternally if we hang on to them. The results of hanging on to them is not worth losing out on eternal life. Not at all.
Don't give up, we will live eternally with Christ and His Father if we keep letting Him prune out the bad stuff and we get the victory. Please don't give up!!!! Grandma Joan
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Gladly Accepting - Part 35
Now if I find it hard to accept the pruning process, I may have to follow the same course that one person followed when God convicted her that meat was not the best food. Initially she ignored the counsel and continued eating meat. This went on for quite some time, and in fact God brought the same message to her three or four times. Eventually she was convicted that meat was to be given up and determined to get rid of it from her diet. She decided she was going to stop eating meat come what may, and told the cook to only serve vegetables and fruit. Coming to the table for the frt time she was repulsed by seeing only vegetables and fruit, and her stomach became upset--so much so that she couldn't eat. So she left the table and went about her business. The next time she came to the table the same thing happened again. Again she was repulsed and her stomach rebelled. "You can wait stomach until you will gladly accept this," and again turned back to other duties. This sent on for three days, until she was finally so hungry that she gladly ate the food that was served. So we see that she willingly accepted Gods purging in spite of the hardship of temporarily going without food. Not only did she accept the purging, she accepted in joyfully--gladly! It was anything but easy, but it worked, and we can follow this same purging process with any of our besetting habits.
DOING MY PART
Notice, however, what normally happens: we come to recognize an evil in our lives, come under conviction about it, and accept God's correcting; but instead of letting God continue dealing with it, we take it back into our own hands to manage, and fall back into temptation again. How did the person respond? "You can wait until you will accept that food gladly;" and victory was eventually gained. When we turn away until it becomes a joy to obey God in whatever area He is bringing conviction, we too will gain the victory.
We find the following instructive quotation in W>W> Prescott's book, Victory in Christ.
"For a long time I tried to gain the victory over sin, but I failed I have since learned the reason. Instead of doing the abiding in the Vine, to use the imagery and language we have been utilizing in these discussions--and which I can do, I was trying to do God's part, which He does not expect me to do, and which I cannot do. Primarily, my part is not to win the victory--and produce the fruit--which has already been won for me by Jesus Christ"--when He took the place of Adam and day by day developed the character which Adam failed to acquire. Jesus won the victory; He won the victory over Satan and sin.
Jesus wants to give us His victory, but He's having an awful time getting us to accept it. Why? Because we are unwilling to do our part, which is abiding in Him, an allowing Him to accomplish the pruning which will result in the development of His character in us. It doesn't sound too difficult, but it is, because as He grafts us into the Vine, and we begin growing, little sprouts have a way of appearing that look suspiciously like the old life. He determines these need to be cut off and proceeds, but we find the cutting exceedingly painful, object to it, which results in His relenting and responding,"I'm not going to continue pruning if you don't allow Me." But the outccome is a turning away, the impeding of His life being lived out in us, and the reemergence of the old life' He can only live in us if we permit Him to!!
Yes, it is difficult to surrender the old life to Christ. We are so ingrained in our habits that they are hard to let go of, but we must if we want to continue abiding in Him. We may have to fall and get up many times and repent of our sin, but wonder of wonders, he is always willing to forgive, pick us up and start on our way again. I know, I have been there and still have trouble abiding all the time, the
devil knows just what to do to trip us up and he is very sneaky doing it and we don't realize what he is doing until we end up in the ditch. I am so glad we serve a loving God who forgives over and over again and again and again. So don't give up we have an eternity with Christ to look forward to and it will be so much more beautiful and perfect than we can even imagine. Grandma Joan
DOING MY PART
Notice, however, what normally happens: we come to recognize an evil in our lives, come under conviction about it, and accept God's correcting; but instead of letting God continue dealing with it, we take it back into our own hands to manage, and fall back into temptation again. How did the person respond? "You can wait until you will accept that food gladly;" and victory was eventually gained. When we turn away until it becomes a joy to obey God in whatever area He is bringing conviction, we too will gain the victory.
We find the following instructive quotation in W>W> Prescott's book, Victory in Christ.
"For a long time I tried to gain the victory over sin, but I failed I have since learned the reason. Instead of doing the abiding in the Vine, to use the imagery and language we have been utilizing in these discussions--and which I can do, I was trying to do God's part, which He does not expect me to do, and which I cannot do. Primarily, my part is not to win the victory--and produce the fruit--which has already been won for me by Jesus Christ"--when He took the place of Adam and day by day developed the character which Adam failed to acquire. Jesus won the victory; He won the victory over Satan and sin.
Jesus wants to give us His victory, but He's having an awful time getting us to accept it. Why? Because we are unwilling to do our part, which is abiding in Him, an allowing Him to accomplish the pruning which will result in the development of His character in us. It doesn't sound too difficult, but it is, because as He grafts us into the Vine, and we begin growing, little sprouts have a way of appearing that look suspiciously like the old life. He determines these need to be cut off and proceeds, but we find the cutting exceedingly painful, object to it, which results in His relenting and responding,"I'm not going to continue pruning if you don't allow Me." But the outccome is a turning away, the impeding of His life being lived out in us, and the reemergence of the old life' He can only live in us if we permit Him to!!
Yes, it is difficult to surrender the old life to Christ. We are so ingrained in our habits that they are hard to let go of, but we must if we want to continue abiding in Him. We may have to fall and get up many times and repent of our sin, but wonder of wonders, he is always willing to forgive, pick us up and start on our way again. I know, I have been there and still have trouble abiding all the time, the
devil knows just what to do to trip us up and he is very sneaky doing it and we don't realize what he is doing until we end up in the ditch. I am so glad we serve a loving God who forgives over and over again and again and again. So don't give up we have an eternity with Christ to look forward to and it will be so much more beautiful and perfect than we can even imagine. Grandma Joan
Monday, January 1, 2018
Accepting the Purging - Part 34
The purging only goes on as the branch accepts the purging. If the branch refuses to be purged, there is nothing that can be done to help it. If you will not accept the purging brought about by the Scriptures to correct your life and bring it into harmony with the teachings of those Scriptures, there is nothing that can be done. You will be deceived and continue to be deceived the rest of your life.
Abiding in the Vine does not force the branch to unwillingly bear fruit. The fruit appears because the branch has become a channel, and has subjected itself--we might say permitted itself--to be pruned or purged in order to bear more fruit. Unfortunately, we sometimes create temptations for ourselves and get ahead of the Lord, creating situations and problems God never intended us to face. But if we are abiding in the Vine, we won't have to worry about these problems, since He will solve them through the abiding process in us. I'm not the one making decisions, then, for the purging process works as I permit myself to be subjected to it. That purging process is the Bible cutting out habits from my life and cutting me away from the world. Then it becomes a matter of judging all temptations and activities that Satan brings through the lens of God's Word, and not through my wisdom.
Trusting God through this process becomes a pleasure. Why? Because you will b pleased with the transformation that occurs through the pruning process. It isn't a pleasure if the pruning process isn't taking place. It isn't a pleasure if the pruning process isn't taking place.
Finally, do you recall the statement quoted earlier, where it talks about why so many people find the Christian life so deplorably hard?
"The reason why many find the Christian life so deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is, they try to attach themselves to Christ without detaching themselves from....cherished idols."
This detaching is what makes the difference. If I am not detached, the detaching takes place through the purging or pruning process. And if this pruning process detaches me from the world, then the bearing of the fruit is a joy and a pleasure.
Detaching is hard, and I have found it hard to detach from some things that I am use to doing, nothing bad but nevertheless it needs detached. These studies have answered so many questions about the Christian life that I have wondered about for years and didn't understand. I have been blessed abundantly every day as I type these up and post them. Such a wonderful blessing, I am so thankful to have come across this little booklet, I just have to share the blessings with others.
Grandma Joan
Abiding in the Vine does not force the branch to unwillingly bear fruit. The fruit appears because the branch has become a channel, and has subjected itself--we might say permitted itself--to be pruned or purged in order to bear more fruit. Unfortunately, we sometimes create temptations for ourselves and get ahead of the Lord, creating situations and problems God never intended us to face. But if we are abiding in the Vine, we won't have to worry about these problems, since He will solve them through the abiding process in us. I'm not the one making decisions, then, for the purging process works as I permit myself to be subjected to it. That purging process is the Bible cutting out habits from my life and cutting me away from the world. Then it becomes a matter of judging all temptations and activities that Satan brings through the lens of God's Word, and not through my wisdom.
Trusting God through this process becomes a pleasure. Why? Because you will b pleased with the transformation that occurs through the pruning process. It isn't a pleasure if the pruning process isn't taking place. It isn't a pleasure if the pruning process isn't taking place.
Finally, do you recall the statement quoted earlier, where it talks about why so many people find the Christian life so deplorably hard?
"The reason why many find the Christian life so deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is, they try to attach themselves to Christ without detaching themselves from....cherished idols."
This detaching is what makes the difference. If I am not detached, the detaching takes place through the purging or pruning process. And if this pruning process detaches me from the world, then the bearing of the fruit is a joy and a pleasure.
Detaching is hard, and I have found it hard to detach from some things that I am use to doing, nothing bad but nevertheless it needs detached. These studies have answered so many questions about the Christian life that I have wondered about for years and didn't understand. I have been blessed abundantly every day as I type these up and post them. Such a wonderful blessing, I am so thankful to have come across this little booklet, I just have to share the blessings with others.
Grandma Joan
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