The Lord cuts off all the barren branches. But He also prunes the fruit-bearing branches as to insure greater productivity in the future. Being cut back and shaped may be uncomfortable at the time…but totally beneficial for what the Lord has in mind for you in the future.
Month: June 2016
Ezekiel 24: 15-16 ” The Word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears.”
God’s commandments are sometimes very unique…requiring great inner commitment, not merely external or superficial obedience. Many times, there was tremendous cost to serving the Lord. In this verse, God is telling him that He is taking Ezekiel’s dear wife home to heaven, but that he may not mourn her in public. God instructed Jeremiah never to marry…and the Lord told Hosea to take an unfaithful, adulterous woman as his wife. In all cases with these men, God symbolically used their situations to demonstrate His relationship with His people and the changes that needed to be made.
Colossians 1:21 ” Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.”
The sinful nature, with all its evil desires and thoughts can not coincide with God…for sin keeps us separated from Him. The world views God with indifference…but He views it as an enemy.
Psalm 24: 7-10 ” Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is He, this King of Glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of Glory.”
He is the mightiest of all Warriors…the all-powerful King…the Ruler over the entire universe, Who stands at the ready to intervene for His people at a moments notice. He is the King of Glory.
Psalm 46:10 ” Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Though the Lord is too great to be fully understood, knowing Him to the very best of our ability is key in our relationship with Him. For like any loving, intimate relationship…we should do less talking, and more listening.
Proverbs 15:28 ” The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.”
Elsewhere in Proverbs it says, ” The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways.” Sometimes it’s better to just keep your mouth shut than to spout off with whatever’s on your mind. The world is full of foolish nonsense and chatter…as wise Believers, we need to weigh our words.
Exodus 14:14 ” The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”
Sitting still in silence, for many of us is quite a feat in and of itself to achieve. We think we need to be constantly “doing something”. But God simply wants us to quietly watch as He does the battling on our behalf…because if you think about it, He really doesn’t need our help at all!
John 4: 13-14 ” Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
We hear and accept the Word of life…the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence within, and we have the reassurance of eternal life. But we also overflow with that living water, for it says in John 7:38, “Whoever believes in Me, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Our lives spill over with joy, peace and love for others to see.
Psalm 90: 17 ” May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us – Yes, establish the work of our hands.”
When you have favor of God…His kindness, delight, and support in all situations, you will receive something else. Because God’s favor rests on you, you will also have favor before men. And there’s nothing more powerful than to find favor before God and man.
II Corinthians 6:16 ” For we are the Temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘ I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
Life from whom all living things derive their viability and existence only comes from the Lord above. And as the Body of Believers, we not only receive life and breath from the Father, but we also are given the Holy Spirit to reside within us.
Safetypinlove 