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Have Thine own way,
Lord! Have Thine own way,
Lord! Have Thine own way,
Lord! Have Thine own way,
Lord!
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Practical Pruning A climbing rosebush grows in a barrel by our garage. It bloomed so much, we bought another barrel and planted a second bush. At first our new bush looked tiny in its big barrel. But by mid summer it was much bigger than our original bush beside it. Bigger, but not prettier. Like a gangly teenage boy, it had wild limbs growing in all directions. Our older, smaller bush was covered with beautiful roses all summer. But our new bush had no roses. Not even a bud. Just a lot of green leaves. God created rose bushes to produce roses. The name is our first clue! But our new bush used all its energy growing bigger, and failed to grow roses. People sometimes do that too. We get distracted by what's not important. We get busy and fail to do the things God wants us to do. Before we know it, our lives are filled with lots of leaves - but no "roses." God wants fruit from His people and His earth. When we fail to produce, God does a little practical pruning. We don't like it, but we've all felt it. To prune means "to cleanse" and "to cut away." Jesus used Israel's vineyards to teach us how and why God prunes. In Israel, vines grow on the ground so bugs, dirt and disease are constant threats. The vine dresser keeps a constant eye on his vines. With his own hand he cleanses dirt from the leaves. His hand removes bugs and filth to prevent disease. He lifts weak, nonproductive vines off the ground and props them up to help them be fruitful. He cleanses the early fruit before it ripens, to protect and encourage it to grow. His hand tends the vine and he picks the fruit with joy. Jesus said God is the Vinedresser, Jesus is the true Vine, and we are branches in Jesus. Our purpose is to bear "fruit" for God, the Vinedresser. Try to visualize this beautiful spiritual analogy in your life. God's practical pruning begins by cleansing. By His own hand, God cleanses the world's dirt and junk from our hearts so we bear fruit for Him - but like children getting dirty faces washed, we don't like it! By His own hand, God cleanses our hearts from the disease of sinful choices - but like cranky patients, we don't like it! We're so busy squirming that we forget the amazing truth - God's own gentle hand does this work in us. Then God cuts away anything that infects hearts and keeps them from bearing fruit. Unnecessary things. Immoral things. Whatever competes with Jesus for our affection. God snips, reshapes and redirects. God humbles us as He prunes. And it hurts. But we begin to bear fruit, then more fruit, then much fruit! Jesus said, "This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit." (John 15:1-8) Remember a time when God's hand did some practical pruning in our lives. It hurt! It was humbling. We didn't like it much and we complained a lot. But we smile now because we see the results. We learned that God's pruning does good work in our hearts. He makes us able to produce much fruit to His glory. So following God's example, Harry grabbed his pruning shears and pruned our young bush. It looks better already. I'm confident the pruning will result in lots of red roses next spring. And each rose will remind me to glorify God, Who generously provides everything needed for all things to grow - sunshine, nutrients in the soil, gentle rains, and air to breathe. God makes it happen and He gets all the glory. While Harry was pruning, our dog Wyatt did a little pruning of his own. He "pruned" one of our rose bushes right down to the ground! It looks humbled and a bit scruffy now. But I won't be surprised next spring when that scruffy bush which was pruned the most, produces the most beautiful roses of all. God's pruning sometimes makes us feel humbled and a little scruffy - but the results are always worth it.
"I am
the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. NEW!
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Blessings Mailed Ministries, Teaching Ministry of Barbara Markland. Christian Women's Retreats, Retreat Speaker. Time For A Blessing ministry .Christian resources: Christian self-help, Christian encouragement, Bible devotions, Bible study books, Devotionals, Spanish resources, Spanish Bible studies, Scripture note cards, original design matted prints, Christian Women's Retreats with Women's Retreat Speaker Barbara Markland. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. © 2005 Blessings Mailed Ministries, a Virginia 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Website designed and maintained by SHEA Technologies.
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