Pearls of Great Value

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.  Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.  I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:1‭-‬5 

 

 God is into fruit! Why? Because He wants to manifest who He is through His people and fruit does that. So when He sees a life submitted to Him and yielding to His Word, He prunes so that even more fruit will appear. And He prunes the healthy ones that bear fruit! I found myself thinking that's strange..why would He do that? Well,because those are the ones yielded to Him. He can work through a willing and obedient heart. 

  He's here in every moment to love us and save us...but He also longs to shape and create and mold us into what we were in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. He wants to restore and bring transformation to our lives, so that more and more we display the image of Christ. Why? This life is not about my feeling good or my circumstances going the way I hope...it's about Him. About looking through His eyes, being more like Him, living through His heart, seeing Him glorified. Magnifying Jesus Christ. Speaking the good news to the lost. Waking up each morning and living for the reason He paid for. He paid the price to set us free from the bondage of the enemy and in setting us free, He now says,” Freely you have received, now freely give!” He wants us to show and bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. His Mercy and grace should change us - we're paid for to be different!  So different that the world sees and wants what we have. 

 I think about the early church in Acts..they displayed the kingdom of God so much they turned the world upside down! May we come to see and to know deep within us the same transformational power of Jesus. May we display the fruit of the Holy Spirit in abundance: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness,faith,gentleness and self control. May we too be known as a people that turned the world upside down.

There’s a reason why we don't give up. Not on ourselves and not on those around us. Why we never stop praying and believing, because we know there is so much more - people are living less than what they are created for. So we hang on to Jesus, He is where we draw and receive strength to bear fruit and to grow. Why? To bring others to know Him. To bring His name honor and glory. To showcase the kingdom life. I praise God we serve the One who restores and makes new! The One who is constantly at work in and around us. He is a faithful gardener!

 And I stand sure of this, if He loved me while I was yet a sinner..He will certainly love and work through me now that I am saved! I pray we may be the fragrance of Christ to all people, in every place we go, bearing so much fruit we have more than enough. Enough for our daily lives and then still have plenty left over to share with every soul we meet. 

 

I pray this:

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

 

Instead you thrill to GOD ’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭1:2-3‬ ‭MSG‬‬