SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/15/2016 8:38 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 The Blessings of Abiding Branches
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 15:2b-5, 7-11
Message of the verses: Now we get to the process of what the Father
does in order to make more fruit from the branches and that process is called
pruning. John MacArthur has a quote on
this subject from a man named “Colin Kruse” and he writes that Pruning “was…an
essential part of first-century viticultural practice, as it is today. The first pruning occurred in spring when
vines were in flowering stage. This
involved four operations: (1) the removal of the growing tips of vigorous
shoots so that they would not grow to rapidly; (2) cutting off one or two feet
from the end of the growing shoots to prevent entire shoots being snapped off
by the wind; (3) the removal of some flower or grape clusters so that those
left could produce more and better-quality fruit; and (4) the removal of
suckers that arose from below the ground or from the trunk and main branches so
that the strength of the vine was not tapped by the suckers.”
Now as we
look at this from a spiritual view we find that the Father (the vinedresser in
the analogy), will prune believers by removing anything that would sap their
spiritual energy and would hinder them from producing fruitful results in their
lives. God desires His children to live
holy and righteous lives and by pruning or cutting in the life of the believer
He uses things like discipline as seen in Hebrews chapter 12, along with
trials, and suffering, and persecution.
Now we know that God gives us trials in order to prove that we are His
children, but He never tempts us for Satan is the one who tempts and Satan can
cause believers to turn the trials of God into temptations if we do not submit
to the trials that God sends our ways.
Let us take a look at Hebrews 12:7-11 “7 It is for discipline that you
endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father
does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have
become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them;
shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For
they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines
us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be
joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the
peaceful fruit of righteousness.” “But when we are judged, we are
disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world
(1 Cor. 11:32).” MacArthur concludes
this thought: “In the Father’s infinite
wisdom and absolute, sovereign control of all of life’s circumstances, He ‘causes
all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose’ (Rom. 8:28; cf. 5:3-5; Gen. 50:20; Deut. 8:16;
2 Cor. 4:16-18; James 1:2-4).”
Suffering
is not the blade of the pruning knife, but suffering is merely the handle of
that knife, as the blade is the Word of God.
Jesus told the eleven that they were already clean, and the reason that
they were clean was “because of the word which I have spoken to you.” The Holy Spirit regenerated the eleven
earlier in their walk with the Lord as they would believe that He was the
Messiah, the Savior of the world. We see
the same gospel found in the Word of God today “Let the word of Christ richly
dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts
to God (Col. 3:16). It is the Word of
God that is instrumental in the process of salvation as the Spirit of God uses
the Word of God to convict unbelievers of their sin in order for them to
confess their sin and believe that Jesus took their place of judgment on the
cross so that they can be saved. Let us
look at Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek.”
We mentioned
that the blade of the knife is the Word of God so let us look at how the Word
of God is used to be able to prune believers “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts
and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12).” MacArthur writes “but He uses affliction to
prepare His people for the Word’s pruning.
The psalmist affirmed the connection between affliction and the Word’s
work in his life when he wrote, ‘Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now
I keep Your word…It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your
statues’ (Psalm 119:67, 71). Psalm 94:12
also makes that connection: ‘Blessed is
the man whom You chasten, O Lord, and whom You teach out of Your law.’”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to quote from 1 Peter 1:6-7 for this
portion of this SD: “6 In this you
greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have
been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more
precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Now James 1:2-4 “2 Consider it all joy, my
brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking
in nothing.” Along with the verses we
looked at in Hebrews 12 we see that God only tests those that are His to prove
that they are His.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: To be able to count it all
joy when the Lord tests me to prove that I belong to Him.
Memory verse for the week:
(Romans 6:8) “8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with Him,”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Peace and holiness” (Hebrews 12:14).
Today’s Bible question:
“How did the wise men find Jesus?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/15/2016 9:26 AM
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