Caria linistii ..

Caria principala a linistii este poate nesiguranta …

cel putin eu asa le percep .. in antiteza .. linistea vs nesiguranta …

Sentimentul care imi alunga cel mai adesea linistea este nesiguranta .. nesiguranta rezultatelor, a zilei de maine, a consecintelor … nesiguranta de a face anumite lucruri, de a merge in anumite locuri … frica ca mi se poate intampla ceva … uit uneori ca toate lucrurile sunt sub puterea lui Dumnezeu ..

Ce e drept nu ma confrunt cu sentimentul asta foarte des .. dar cand ma confrunt cu el parca ma acapareaza cu totul … imi acapareaza gandurile, imi limiteaza actiunile, imi afecteaza relatiile ..

Dar bunul Dumnezeu a facut o promisiune celor ce aleg sa se increada il El .. El a promis ca va fi alaturi de noi in orice imprejurare, ca se va ingriji de noi, ne va pazi, ne va intari , ca toate lucrurile sunt in puterea Lui …asa ca eu aleg sa ma incred in Cel care a creat cerurile si pamantul , aleg sa ma incred in Cel ce m-a creat pe mine .. aleg sa ma incred in Cel pentru care nimic nu e prea greu … tu ce alegi?

” Îmi ridic ochii spre munţi… De unde-mi va veni ajutorul?

Ajutorul îmi vine de la Domnul, care a făcut cerurile şi pământul.

Da, El nu va îngădui să ţi se clatine piciorul; Cel ce te păzeşte, nu va dormita.

Iată că nu dormitează, nici nu doarme Cel ce păzeşte pe Israel.

Domnul este Păzitorul tău, Domnul este umbra ta pe mâna ta cea dreaptă.

De aceea nu te va bate soarele ziua, nici luna noaptea.

Domnul te va păzi de orice rău, îţi va păzi sufletul.

Domnul te va păzi la plecare şi la venire, de acum şi până în veac.”

Psalmii 121:1-8

Prefer genunchii juliti !

Se spune ca o problema nu vine niciodata singura .. poate asa este .. poate nu, insa sigur sunt momente in care vin deodata mai multe greutati decat credem ca putem face fata … ne loveste o boala, apar decizii importante, .. sau chiar mici chestii care ne intuneca seninatatea si incepem sa ne ingrijoram .. si incepem sa ne indoim de dragostea lui Dumnezeu … incepem sa credem ca El ne-a uitat ..

Dar asta nu se va intampla niciodata …caci El ne-a facut o promisiune!

Iisus : “iata ca Eu sunt cu voi in toate zilele, pana la sfarsitul veacului. Amin.” [Matei 28:20]

Daca sunt sigura de un lucru pe acest pamant .. atunci este acela ca Domnul nostru este mereu acelasi si ca promisiunile Lui sunt intotdeauna adevarate!

Omul fericit nu este acela care nu are necazuri .. ci este acela care stie ca are un viitor si o nadejde in bunul Dumnezeu, este acela care stie ca este protejat de Cel atotputernic .. este acela care nu se sperie de necazuri .. caci stie ca acestea sunt cele care ii schimba inima …

“Caci Eu stiu gandurile, pe care le am cu privire la voi, zice Domnul, ganduri de pace si nu de nenorocire, ca sa va dau un viitor si o nadejde.” [Ieremia 29:11]

Scopul necazurilor, problemelor, tragediilor nu este sa ne chinuie .. ci sa ne faca sa realizam ca nu suntem atat de puternici pe cat ne credem , sa ne faca sa realizam ca avem nevoie de puterea lui Dumnezeu pentru a trece peste momentele grele , sa ne ajute sa ne apropiem de Dumnezeu …

Cei ce si-au pus viata in mainile Domnului nu sunt feriti de necazuri, nu sunt mai privilegiati din acest punct de vedere .. dar acestia stiu ca dincolo de orice lucru este bunul Iisus care este mereu alaturi de ei, este bunul Iisus care le umple inima de liniste si incredere, este bunul Iisus care iubeste neconditionat !

Chiar daca cadem, chiar daca gresim … stim ca in bratele Domnului intotdeauna gasim iertare , mangaiere, dragoste, sprijin, echilibru, ratiune, bucurie ! ..

Nu-mi doresc sa nu-mi julesc genunchii … prefer sa explorez , sa lupt si sa iubesc, sa invat ce inseamna sa traiesc intradevar viata alaturi de Domnul meu! .. vreau sa ma implic in viata 100% … Domnul Iisus mi-a dat viata , si nu mi-a dat-o ca sa o irosesc, ci sa o traiesc din plin!! .. sa iubesc din plin, sa iert in totalitate, sa gust bucuriile, sa visez , sa infrunt problemele!…

Crestinismul adevarat nu este o religie .. ci este o realitate transformatoare!.. si daca nu-ti schimba viata .. inseamna ca nu ai parte intradevar de ea .. inseamna ca nu cunosti intradevar cine este Iisus si care este puterea Lui !

Vreau sa fac totul alaturi de El, vreau sa ma incred in El, sa indraznesc stiind ca El este cu mine!

Prefer genunchii juliti ! Dumnezeu nu mi-a promis o viata fara necazuri .. dar mi-a promis ca atunci cand ma impiedic este acolo sa ma ia de mana! El este ocrotitorul meu ! Inima mea se increde in El!

Si aceasta promisiune este valabila pentru toti cei ce isi lasa viata condusa de Iisus! El are puterea sa ne ierte caci a murit pentru pacatele noastre, El are puterea sa ne schimbe caci El ne-a creat, El are puterea ne ocroteasca mereu caci El este cel care a creat totul!

“4 Domnul sa-ti fie desfatarea, si El iti va da tot ce-ti doreste inima.

5 Incredinteaza-ti soarta in mana Domnului, increde-te in El, si El va lucra,

6 El va face sa straluceasca dreptatea ta ca lumina, si dreptul tau ca soarele la amiaza.

7 Taci inaintea Domnului, si nadajduieste in El.

23 Domnul intareste pasii omului, cand Ii place calea lui;

24 daca se intampla sa cada, nu este doborat de tot, caci Domnul il apuca de mana.

39 Scaparea celor neprihaniti vine de la Domnul; El este ocrotitorul lor la vremea necazului. “

[Versete din Biblie - Psalmul 37]

God’s timing :)

Gustati si vedeti ce bun este Domnul!

In cele ce urmeaza este prezentat un psalm scris de David, imparatul lui Israel,aflat intr-o stuatie limita.

Dar intai, intamplarea din spatele Psalmului.
In timp ce inca domnea Saul peste Israel, David a omorat pe uriasul Goliat(cred ca stiti cu totii intamplarea cu David si Goliat din Biblie - 1 Samuel 17:12-58).
Dupa aceasta,David a ajuns in fruntea oamenilor de razboi, si oriunde era trimis, izbutea!
In acest fel a ajuns in atentia tuturor, iar cantaretii si poporul au inceput sa-l laude astfel: “Saul a batut miile lui, iar David zecile lui de mii.”
Inima lui Saul s-a umplut de invidie si ura, asa ca a hotarat sa-l omoare pe David.

Dupa ce a incercat mai multe metode de a-l omori, David a hotarat sa fuga in Gat, de unde provenea uriasul Goliat pe care il omorase. Va imaginati in ce situatie disperata era daca a hotarat sa fuga la dusmani.

Neincrezandu-se in Dumnezeu, David s-a hotarat sa faca pe nebunul cand a ajuns in fata imparatului Gatului, Abimelec. Asadar Abimelec l-a izgonit, David fugind in pustiu intr-o pestera.

Acest psalm este scris de David cand a facut pe nebunul in fata lui Abimelec si a plecat izgonit de el.
Este minunat sa vezi cum un om, intr-o situatie atat de disperata, se uita la Dumnezeu si este umplut de incredere si bucurie!

1 Voi binecuvanta pe Domnul in orice vreme; lauda Lui va fi totdeauna in gura mea.
2 Sa mi se laude sufletul in Domnul! Sa asculte cei nenorociti si sa se bucure.
3 Inaltati pe Domnul, impreuna cu mine. Sa laudam cu totii Numele Lui! -
4 Eu am cautat pe Domnul, si mi-a raspuns: m-a izbavit din toate temerile mele.
5 Cand iti intorci privirile spre El, te luminezi de bucurie, si nu ti se umple fata de rusine.
6 Cand striga un nenorocit, Domnul aude, si-l scapa din toate necazurile lui.
7 Ingerul Domnului tabaraste in jurul celor ce se tem de El, si-i scapa din primejdie.
8 Gustati si vedeti ce bun este Domnul! Ferice de omul care se increde in El!

9 Temeti-va de Domnul, voi, sfintii Lui, caci de nimic nu duc lipsa cei ce se tem de El!
10 Puii de leu duc lipsa, si li-i foame, dar cei ce cauta pe Domnul nu duc lipsa de nici un bine.
11 Veniti, fiilor, si ascultati-ma, caci va voi invata frica Domnului.
12 Cine este omul, care doreste viata, si vrea sa aiba parte de zile fericite?
13 Fereste-ti limba de rau, si buzele de cuvinte inselatoare!
14 Departeaza-te de rau, si fa binele; cauta pacea, si alearga dupa ea!
15 Ochii Domnului sunt peste cei fara prihana, si urechile Lui iau aminte la strigatele lor.
16 Domnul Isi intoarce Fata impotriva celor rai, ca sa le stearga pomenirea de pe pamant.
17 Cand striga cei fara prihana, Domnul aude, si-i scapa din toate necazurile lor.
18 Domnul este aproape de cei cu inima infranta, si mantuieste pe cei cu duhul zdrobit.
19 De multe ori vine nenorocirea peste cel fara prihana, dar Domnul il scapa totdeauna din ea.
20 Toate oasele i le pazeste, ca nici unul din ele sa nu i se sfarame.
21 Pe cel rau il omoara nenorocirea, dar vrajmasii celui fara prihana sunt pedepsiti.
22 Domnul scapa sufletul robilor Sai, si nici unul din cei ce se incred in El, nu este osandit.

[Versete din Biblie, Psalm 34]

If I Had My Life To Live Over

by Erma Bombeck

If I Had My Life To Live Over…….

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy,I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.”

There would have been more “I love you’s”.. more “I’m sorry’s”

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute…look at it and really see it… live it…and never give it back.

THE VINE

Title:	True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16
Author:	Murray, Andrew (1828-1917)

I am The Vine, Ye Are The Branches—John 15.5
( Eu sunt Vita, voi sunteti mladitele. - Ioan 15.5)

In the previous verse Christ had just said: “Abide in me.” He had then announced the great unalterable law of all branch-life, on earth or in Heaven: “not of itself”; “except it abide.” In the opening words of the parable He had already spoken: “I am the vine.” He now repeats the words. He would have us understand—note well the lesson, simple as it appears, it is the key of the abiding life—that the only way to obey the command, “Abide in me,” is to have eye and heart fixed upon Himself. “Abide in me…I am the true vine.” Yea, study this holy mystery until you see Christ as the true Vine, bearing, strengthening, supplying, inspiring all His branches, being and doing in each branch all it needs, and the abiding will come of itself. Yes, gaze upon Him as the true Vine, until you feel what a heavenly Mystery it is, and are compelled to ask the Father to reveal it to you by His Holy Spirit. He to whom God reveals the glory of the true Vine, he who sees what Jesus is and waits to do every moment, he cannot but abide. The vision of Christ is an irresistible attraction; it draws and holds us like a magnet. Listen ever to the living Christ still speaking to you, and waiting to show you the meaning and power of His Word: “I am the vine.”

How much weary labor there has been in striving to understand what abiding is, how much fruitless effort in trying to attain it! Why was this? Because the attention was turned to the abiding as a work we have to do, instead of the living Christ, in whom we were to be kept abiding, who Himself was to hold and keep us. we thought of abiding as a continual strain and effort—we forget that it means rest from effort to one who has found the place of his abode. Do notice how Christ said, “Abide in Me; I am the Vine that brings forth, and holds, and strengthens, and makes fruitful the branches. Abide in Me, rest in Me, and let Me do My work. I am the true Vine, all I am, and speak, and do is divine truth, giving the actual reality of what is said. I am the Vine, only consent and yield thy all to Me, I will do all in thee.”

And so it sometimes comes that souls who have never been specially occupied with the thought of abiding, are abiding all the time, because they are occupied with Christ. Not that the word abide is not needful; Christ used it so often, because it is the very key to the Christian life. But He would have us understand it in its true sense—“Come out of every other place, and every other trust and occupation, come out of self with its reasonings and efforts, come and rest in what I shall do. Live out of thyself; abide in Me. Know that thou art in Me; thou needest no more; remain there in Me.”

“I am the Vine.” Christ did not keep this mystery hidden from His disciples. He revealed it, first in words here, then in power when the Holy Spirit came down. He will reveal it to us too, first in the thoughts and confessions and desires these words awaken, then in power by the Spirit. Do let us wait on Him to show us all the heavenly meaning of the mystery. Let each day, in our quiet time, in the inner chamber with Him and His Word, our chief thought and aim be to get the heart fixed on Him, in the assurance: all that a vine ever can do for its branches, my Lord Jesus will do, is doing, for me. Give Him time, give Him your ear, that He may whisper and explain the divine secret: “I am the vine.”

Above all, remember, Christ is the Vine of God’s planting, and you are a branch of God’s grafting. Ever stand before God, in Christ; ever wait for all grace from God, in Christ; ever yield yourself to bear the more fruit the Husbandman asks, in Christ. And pray much for the revelation of the mystery that all the love and power of God that rested on Christ is working in you too. “I am God’s Vine,” Jesus says; “all I am I have from Him; all I am is for you; God will work it in you.”

I am the Vine. Blessed Lord, speak Thou that word into my soul. Then shall I know that all Thy fullness is for me. And that I can count upon Thee to stream it into me, and that my abiding is so easy and so sure when I forget and lose myself in the adoring faith that the Vine holds the branch and supplies its every need.

EXCEPT YE ABIDE

Title:	True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16
Author:	Murray, Andrew (1828-1917)

As the Branch Cannot Bear Fruit of Itself, Except It Abide In the Vine; No More Can Ye, Except Ye Abide in Me—John 15.4

( Dupa cum mladita nu poate aduce rod de la sine, daca nu ramane in vita, tot asa nici voi nu puteti aduceti rod, daca nu ramaneti in Mine. Ioan 15.4)

We know the meaning of the word except. It expresses some indispensable condition, some inevitable law. “The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye, except ye abide in me.” There is but one way for the branch to bear fruit, there is no other possibility, it must abide in unbroken communion with the vine. Not of itself, but only of the vine, does the fruit come. Christ had already said: “Abide in me”; in nature the branch teaches us the lesson so clearly; it is such a wonderful privilege to be called and allowed to abide in the heavenly Vine; one might have thought it needless to add these words of warning. But no—Christ knows so well what a renunciation of self is implied in this: “Abide in me”; how strong and universal the tendency would be to seek to bear fruit by our own efforts; how difficult it would be to get us to believe that actual, continuous abiding in Him is an absolute necessity! He insists upon the truth: Not of itself can the branch bear fruit; except it abide, it cannot bear fruit. “No more can ye, except ye abide in me.”

But must this be taken literally? Must I, as exclusively, and manifestly, and unceasingly, and absolutely, as the branch abides in the vine, be equally given up to find my whole life in Christ alone? I must indeed. The except ye abide is as universal as the except it abide. The no more can ye admits of no exception or modification. If I am to be a true branch, if I am to bear fruit, if I am to be what Christ as Vine wants me to be, my whole existence must be as exclusively devoted to abiding in Him, as that of the natural branch is to abiding in its vine.

Let me learn the lesson. Abiding is to be an act of the will and the whole heart. Just as there are degrees in seeking and serving God, “not with a perfect heart,” or “with the whole heart,” so there may be degrees in abiding. In regeneration the divine life enters us, but does not all at once master and fill our whole being. This comes as matter of command and obedience. There is unspeakable danger of our not giving ourselves with our whole heart to abide. There is unspeakable danger of our giving ourselves to work for God, and to bear fruit, with but little of the true abiding, the wholehearted losing of ourselves in Christ and His life. There is unspeakable danger of much work with but little fruit, for lack of this one thing needful. We must allow the words, “not of itself,” “except it abide,” to do their work of searching and exposing, of pruning and cleansing, all that there is of self-will and self-confidence in our life; this will deliver us from this great evil, and so prepare us for His teaching, giving the full meaning of the word in us: “Abide in me, and I in you.”

Our blessed Lord desires to call us away from ourselves and our own strength, to Himself and His strength. Let us accept the warning, and turn with great fear and self-distrust to Him to do His work. “Our life is hid with Christ in God!” That life is a heavenly mystery, hid from the wise even among Christians, and revealed unto babes. The childlike spirit learns that life is given from Heaven every day and every moment to the soul that accepts the teaching: “not of itself,” “except it abide,” and seeks its all in the Vine. Abiding in the Vine then comes to be nothing more nor less than the restful surrender of the soul to let Christ have all and work all, as completely as in nature the branch knows and seeks nothing but the vine.

Abide in Me. I have heard, my Lord, that with every command, Thou also givest the power to obey. With Thy “rise and walk,” the lame man leaped, I accept Thy word, “Abide in me,” as a word of power, that gives power, and even now I say, Yea, Lord, I will, I do abide in Thee.

Abide

Title:	True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16
Author:	Murray, Andrew (1828-1917)

Abide in Me, and I in You—John 15.4

( Ramaneti in Mine, si Eu voi ramane in voi. - Ioan 15.4)

When a new graft is placed in a vine and it abides there, there is a twofold process that takes place. The first is in the wood. The graft shoots its little roots and fibers down into the stem, and the stem grows up into the graft, and what has been called the structural union is effected. The graft abides and becomes one with the vine, and even though the vine were to die, would still be one wood with it. Then there is the second process, in which the sap of the vine enters the new structure, and uses it as a passage through which sap can flow up to show itself in young shoots and leaves and fruit. Here is the vital union. Into the graft which abides in the stock, the stock enters with sap to abide in it.

When our Lord says: “Abide in me, and I in you,” He points to something analogous to this. “Abide in me”: that refers more to that which we have to do. We have to trust and obey, to detach ourselves from all else, to reach out after Him and cling to Him, to sink ourselves into Him. As we do this, through the grace He gives, a character is formed, and a heart prepared for the fuller experience: “I in you,” God strengthens us with might by the Spirit in the inner man, and Christ dwells in the heart by faith.

Many believers pray and long very earnestly for the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, and wonder that they do not make more progress. The reason is often this, the “I in you” cannot come because the “abide in me” is not maintained. “There is one body and one spirit”; before the Spirit can fill, there must be a body prepared. The graft must have grown into the stem, and be abiding in it before the sap can flow through to bring forth fruit. It is as in lowly obedience we follow Christ, even in external things, denying ourselves, forsaking the world, and even in the body seeking to be conformable to Him, as we thus seek to abide in Him, that we shall be able to receive and enjoy the “I in you.” The work enjoined on us: “Abide in me,” will prepare us for the work undertaken by Him: “I in you.”

In—The two parts of the injunction have their unity in that central deep-meaning word “in.” There is no deeper word in Scripture. God is in all. God dwells in Christ. Christ lives in God. We are in Christ. Christ is in us: our life taken up into His; His life received into ours; in a divine reality that words cannot express, we are in Him and He in us. And the words, “Abide in me and I in you,” just tell us to believe it, this divine mystery, and to count upon our God the Husbandman, and Christ the Vine, to make it divinely true. No thinking or teaching or praying can grasp it; it is a divine mystery of love. As little as we can effect the union can we understand it. Let us just look upon this infinite, divine, omnipotent Vine loving us, holding us, working in us. Let us in the faith of His working abide and rest in Him, ever turning heart and hope to Him alone. And let us count upon Him to fulfill in us the mystery: “Ye in me, and I in you.”

Blessed Lord, Thou dost bid me abide in Thee. How can I, Lord, except Thou show Thyself to me, waiting to receive and welcome and keep me? I pray Thee show me how Thou as Vine undertaketh to do all. To be occupied with Thee is to abide in Thee. Here I am, Lord, a branch, cleansed and abiding—resting in Thee, and awaiting the inflow of Thy life and grace.

THE PRUNING KNIFE

Title:	True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16
Author:	Murray, Andrew (1828-1917)

Already Ye Are Clean Because of the Word I Have Spoken Unto You—John 15.3

( Acum voi sunteti curati, din pricina cuvantului, pe care vi l-am spus. - Ioan 15.3 )

What is the pruning knife of this heavenly Husbandman? It is often said to be affliction. By no means in the first place. How would it then fare with many who have long seasons free from adversity; or with some on whom God appears to shower down kindness all their life long? No; it is the Word of God that is the knife, shaper than any two-edged sword, that pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is only when affliction leads to this discipline of the Word that it becomes a blessing; the lack of this heart-cleansing through the Word is the reason why affliction is so often unsanctified. Not even Paul’s thorn in the flesh could become a blessing until Christ’s Word—“My strength is made perfect in weakness”—had made him see the danger of self-exaltation, and made him willing to rejoice in infirmities.

The Word of God’s pruning knife. Jesus says: “Ye are already clean, because of the word I have spoken unto you.” How searchingly that word had been spoken by Him, out of whose mouth there went a sharp two-edged sword, as he had taught them! “Except a man deny himself, lose his life, forsake all, hate father and mother, he cannot be My disciple, he is not worthy of Me”; or as He humbled their pride, or reproved their lack of love, or foretold their all forsaking Him. From the opening of His ministry in the Sermon on the Mount to His words of warning in the last night, His Word had tried and cleansed them. He had discovered and condemned all there was of self; they were now emptied and cleansed, ready for the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts, and men’s thoughts of what is religion, and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit. Let those who would know all the Husbandman can do for them, all the Vine can bring forth through them, seek earnestly to yield themselves heartily to the blessed cleansing through the Word. Let them, in their study of the Word, receive it as a hammer that breaks and opens up, as a fire that melts and refines, as a sword that lays bare and slays all that is of the flesh. The word of conviction will prepare for the word of comfort and of hope, and the Father will cleanse them through the Word.

All ye who are branches of the true Vine, each time you read or hear the Word, wait first of all on Him to use it for His cleansing of the branch. Set your heart upon His desire for more fruit. Trust Him as Husbandman to work it. Yield yourselves in simple childlike surrender to the cleansing work of His Word and Spirit, and you may count upon it that His purpose will be fulfilled in you.

Father, I pray Thee, cleanse me through Thy Word. Let it search out and bring to light all that is of self and the flesh in my religion. Let it cut away every root of self-confidence, that the Vine may find me wholly free to receive His life and Spirit. O my holy Husbandman, I trust Thee to care for the branch as much as for the Vine. Thou only art my hope.

More Fruit ; The cleansing

Title:	True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16
Author:	Murray, Andrew (1828-1917)

And Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth, That it May Bear More Fruit—John 15.2

(si pe orice mladita care aduce rod, o curata, ca sa aduca si mai multa rod. - Ioan 15.2)

The thought of fruit is so prominent in the eye of Him who sees things as they are, fruit is so truly the one thing God has set His heart upon, that our Lord, after having said that the branch that bears no fruit is taken away, at once adds: and where there is fruit, the one desire of the Husbandman is more fruit. As the gift of His grace, as the token of spiritual vigor, as the showing forth of the glory of God and of Christ, as the only way for satisfying the need of the world, God longs and fits for, more fruit.

More Fruit—This is a very searching word. As churches and individuals we are in danger of nothing so much as self-contentment. The secret spirit of Laodicea—we are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing—may prevail where it is not suspected. The divine warning—poor and wretched and miserable—finds little response just where it is most needed.

Let us not rest content with the thought that we are taking an equal share with others in the work that is being done, or that men are satisfied with our efforts in Christ’s service, or even point to us as examples. Let our only desire be to know whether we are bearing all the fruit Christ is willing to give through us as living branches, in close and living union with Himself, whether we are satisfying the loving heart of the great Husbandman, our Father in Heaven, in His desire for more fruit.

More Fruit—The word comes with divine authority to search and test our life: the true disciple will heartily surrender himself to its holy light, and will earnestly ask that God Himself may show what there may be lacking in the measure or the character of the fruit he bears. Do let us believe that the Word is meant to lead us on to a fuller experience of the Father’s purpose of love, of Christ’s fullness, and of the wonderful privilege of bearing much fruit in the salvation of men.

More Fruit—The word is a most encouraging one. Let us listen to it. It is just to the branch that is bearing fruit that the message comes: more fruit. God does not demand this as Pharaoh the task-master, or as Moses the lawgiver, without providing the means. He comes as a Father, who gives what He asks, and works what He commands. He comes to us as the living branches of the living Vine, and offers to work the more fruit in us, if we but yield ourselves into His hands. Shall we not admit the claim, accept the offer, and look to Him to work it in us?

“That it may bear more fruit”: do let us believe that as the owner of a vine does everything to make the fruitage as rich and large as possible, the divine Husbandman will do all that is needed to make us bear more fruit. All He asks is, that we set our heart’s desire on it, entrust ourselves to His working and care, and joyfully look to Him to do His perfect work in us. God has set His heart on more fruit; Christ waits to work it in us; let us joyfully look up to our divine Husbandman and our heavenly Vine, to ensure our bearing more fruit.

Our Father which art in Heaven, Thou art the heavenly Husbandman. And Christ is the heavenly Vine. And I am a heavenly branch, partaker of His heavenly life, to bear His heavenly fruit. Father, let the power of His life so fill me, that I may ever bear more fruit, to the glory of Thy name.

THE CLEANSING

Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth It, That It May Bear More Fruit—John 15.2

(si pe orice mladita care aduce rod, o curata, ca sa aduca si mai multa rod. - Ioan 15.2)

There are two remarkable things about the vine. There is not a plant of which the fruit has so much spirit in it, of which spirit can be so abundantly distilled as the vine. And there is not a plant which so soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs the most merciless pruning. I look out of my window here on large vineyards: the chief care of the vinedresser is the pruning. You may have a trellis vine rooting so deep in good soil that it needs neither digging, nor manuring, nor watering: pruning it cannot dispense with, if it is to bear good fruit. Some tree needs occasional pruning; others bear perfect fruit without any: the vine must have it. And so our Lord tells us, here at the very outset of the parable, that the one work the Father does to the branch that bears fruit is: He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.

Consider a moment what this pruning or cleansing is. It is not the removal of weeds or thorns, or anything from without that may hinder the growth. No; it is the cutting off of the long shoots of the previous year, the removal of something that comes from within, that has been produced by the life of the vine itself. It is the removal of something that is a proof of the vigor of its life; the more vigorous the growth has been, the greater the need for the pruning. It is the honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away. And why? Because it would consume too much of the sap to fill all the long shoots of last year’s growth: the sap must be saved up and used for fruit alone. The branches, sometimes eight and ten feet long, are cut down close to the stem, and nothing is left but just one or two inches of wood, enough to bear the grapes. It is when everything that is not needful for fruit-bearing has been relentlessly cut down, and just as little of the branches as possible has been left, that full, rich fruit may be expected.

What a solemn, precious lesson! It is not to sin only that the cleansing of the Husbandman here refers. It is to our own religious activity, as it is developed in the very act of bearing fruit. It is this that must be cut down and cleansed away. We have, in working for God, to use our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence, or zeal. And yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed, and then trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the helplessness and the danger of all that is of man, to feel that we are nothing. All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the power of the life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit. What is of man must be reduced to its very lowest measure. All that is inconsistent with the most entire devotion to Christ’s service must be removed. The more perfect the cleansing and cutting away of all that is of self, the less of surface over which the Holy Spirit is to be spread, so much the more intense can be the concentration of our whole being, to be entirely at the disposal of the Spirit. This is the true circumcision of the heart, the circumcision of Christ. This is the true crucifixion with Christ, bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus in the body.

Blessed cleansing, God’s own cleansing! How we may rejoice in the assurance that we shall bring forth more fruit.

O our holy Husbandman, cleanse and cut away all that there is in us that would make a fair show, or could become a source of self-confidence and glorying. Lord, keep us very low, that no flesh may glory in Thy presence. We do trust Thee to do Thy work.