Yielding to the Vinedresser

This devotional was written by Sylvia Gunter. I receive a weekly devotional from "The Father's Business, you can sign up for them here.


Fruitfulness

Listen to God's purposed fruitfulness for you in John 15:16. "You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last."

Beloved one, your Father chose you and appointed you to bear the fruit of the nature of his Son within you. The more you abide in him, the more fruit you will bear. His Spirit is working in you his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Do not be discouraged when you feel that the fruit of your life is barrenness or ugliness. Jesus is the seed of God planted within you. He prunes, feeds, and nurtures you to your full potential of the beautiful fruit of the Spirit and all the full qualities of Jesus in you. You do not produce this fruit alone; he does. Rest in his nature and his power to live through you. He is the Fruit of the Spirit. Every good and perfect fruit is him living his life in you.

Receive this truth in 2 Peter 1:3-4. "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

You already have within you everything you need to bear the fruit that remains. In him you can choose to step into those inner qualities commanded in 2 Peter 1:5-7. "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love." All these are spirit qualities that the Spirit of Christ Jesus works in you with your obedience and active participation. And you have God's promise that you are blessed if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, because they will keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
(1 Peter 1:8)

Be blessed as you let your Vinedresser take you through the process to be fruitful. God is tender to give the right amount of sun and rain for the branch that you are. He must fertilize, tend the soil, and prune you for maximum fruitfulness. Be blessed with fruitfulness in his determined and appointed place and time for you. Be blessed in your unique identity, legitimacy, authority, anointing, and birthright in the Spirit of liberty, for with him there is full freedom and fruitfulness. "The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth"(Eph 5:9) That's the harvest of the nature of Jesus in you.

Paul poured out his heart for his friends in prayer in Philippians 1:11 that they would bear the fruit of their salvation. That's what the fruit of the Spirit is. Hear him praying this for you. "[I pray that you will be] filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." He prays again in Colossians 1:10. "[I pray that you will] lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Receive this promise in Psalm 92:12-15. "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, 'The LORD is upright; he is my Rock.' "

Be blessed in the Lord,
in whom you flourish and bear fruit even to old age
(Ps 92:12)


As I was meditating on this, I realized yet again, that it is ALL God. He chose me. He gives me all I need to accomplish what He has called me to do, how He has called me to live. He even does the work in me that is needed to change me. I cannot even take credit for that. Yes, I need to be willing, to participate, but the actual heart change comes from God.


Here's my constant struggle. I fight it, I fight Him! I do not like the process, it is painful. But think about a vineyard that is left to it's own. The jumble of branches, weeds, that grow all around and below the vine. There may be a hoard of showy leaves, but there is not much fruit!! The branches must be pruned, it must be fertilized, the soil must be tended for it to flourish.


I want to flourish.

Two new journal pages

Sometimes you just gotta laugh at what life throws at you

What a day, I had yesterday. Well it began Sunday. My sweet daughter called Sunday morning, (the morning after homecoming) where all the girls had landed after the dance. All the senior girls slept on the floor. Meg woke up and could not turn her head without intense pain, and when she got up she passed out. When I got to her she could not hold her head straight. Of course it was Sunday, and our Chiropractor was out of town. I knew it was some kind of terrible kink, or pinched nerve. By the time we got home she could at least hold her head upright. We iced it off and on and it helped. Monday morning I took her to the Chiropractor and he new what is was, tortacholis - not sure I have spelled that right. Well it's really a bad kink/muscle thing. He took ex-rays to get a clear picture of what was going on and we were scheduled to go back in the afternoon after he read them. Well, we were on the way to another appointment, and I said, "well at least you don't have to wear a neck brace!" Yep, you guessed it!! When we got back and he adjusted her, he said, "now I want you to wear this for a few days, it will speed up the healing." We looked at each other, I tried not to laugh but could not!! She just groaned!! Now thankfully they are a little better than what I had remembered. They are now black, much better than cream colored. They are also fabric and adjustable. We joked about how we could dress is up for her. She opted for simple, no additional baubles! She was upset she did not have a great story to go along with it - telling everyone she hurt it by sleeping on it wrong just does not have any zing!! I am thankful it was from sleeping on it wrong instead of some horrible accident - but she is 17. I had to drive her to school, since she cannot turn her head all the way, oh to have your mom drive you again!!! :) As she got out of the car I told her black was really very flattering on her, she did not appreciate the comment!!

Here again - swirling emotions!

Has your heart ever felt like this? Mine has, mine is. I posted these paintings a bit ago. I have a feeling they will be posted again. It seems God gives me times of rest, then boom!! Another issue, sin, wound, something to deal with. "Deal to Heal" I am not even sure what this one is!!! There is just something lurking under the surface of the cauldron that holds the junk in my life. And I am dealing with another whopper of a headache!!! :/ Are those related I wonder?? Or it could be the rain - a change in the weather has been known to bring one one!! Whatever the cause, may I just say it sucks!!!
And then the reason for the swirling of the stinky filled cauldron. God longs to make me whole. I have asked him to do so. So he must from time to time bring up the issues so he can. If I do not see them, if I am not even aware of them, how do I take them to him for healing?? So, even though they are hard, I am thankful for them. I know God will be with me every step of the way, has been with me from the beginning.

So my sweet precious blogging family, I covet your prayers. For seeing, for hearing for willingness and obedience.

Blessings!

Number 9 won!!!

This is my oldest son Brian, and my daughter Megan. Can you tell where they were yesterday?
My husband, Greg, Bri and Meg were at the Atlanta Nascar race yesterday. My daughter is a huge Nascar fan. She would be driving if she could!!! lol The yellow truck is hers!

I was home with another headache, though I was not planning on going anyway.

Going Deeper with God

Hey, Create by Faith, a ning site that I belong to just began doing weekly journal prompts.
They are designed to take you deeper into your heart, and deeper into your relationship with God. Come on by and check them out. When you get to the site, just click on "groups".

Hope you all are having nice, refreshing long weekend!