God’s pruning.
When too much energy goes into foliage and not enough energy goes into fruit,
prune it.
To prune ~ removing dead or living parts to increase fruit or flower production.
(A prune ~ is a dried plum!)
Pruning moments ~ when we are cut, it bleeds.
Acts 5:33 Cut to the heart and infuriated and wanted to kill.
Acts 7:54 Cut to the heart and infuriated and wanted to kill.
Stephen was cut too, but his response was not a desire to kill.
He was full of the Holy Spirit and was controlled by Him.
He wanted to preach! He wanted to gaze into heaven!
Think about the timing for this activity ~ it is nothing short of incredible!
As a result of Stephen’s eye-ball direction, where he chose to concentrate his gaze ~
he moved into the realm of the incredible (by the Holy Spirit) and saw the Glory!
Stephen “pruned” every option not controlled by Holy Spirit and his resulting fruit was like
The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior who saves!
He will rejoice over you with joy:
He will rest in silent satisfaction and in His love He will be silent
and make no mention of past sins, or even recall them;
He will exalt over you with singing.
Most of you have had a season that was/is not as easy as it could be. I believe most of us would agree that this spring has brought unusual turmoil and even hard situations to our life.
Recently, while worshipping at a Valley Harvest conference I “saw” a birdbath. It was solid and firmly set in the ground, able to host a multitude of birds. Soon a bird came to dip in it ~ playfully bathing ~ although the wetness masked his individuality so that I could not tell, by color, what kind of bird it was. Then many birds came, showing many colors when dry, but by the time they finished bathing they were all the same wet-gray. (could be significant in telling me how I will look like Christ and like my neighbor who is also looking like Christ…and we will have a family resemblance!) The birds took turns, careful to sound an alarm if an enemy lurked by. As I watched them bath, I felt a renewed, personal sense of refreshing, of bathing, of being washed of all grim and disillusion. I felt as joyful as the birds who played! All false expectations fell, which then eliminated all looking around, all analyzing my own motives washed away. This was leading to severely judging myself and others, although I did not realize I was doing that. I experienced this change in my nature ~ a growing moment ~ a cleansing, refreshing, refocusing moment.
Next, I saw the barn cats, slinking around the base of the birdbath, eyeing me like I was in ice cream from Baskins Robbins. Like the other birds, robin-sized, all gray with wetness, I had to be vigilant ~ to avoid being eaten. Bathing grew riskier and it was hard to remain ~ but the joy in being cleansed was so deep I couldn’t leave.
Suddenly, I grew ~ from a chubby robin, very worried about the barn cats (especially the tame ones!) I grew into a huge eagle! Magnificent and strong ~ I felt my weight settle on the bird bath ~ and it wasn’t large enough for me anymore! I needed a lake, a river ~ an ocean ~ to bathe and play in!
The barn cats, so deliciously and maliciously licking their lips a moment before, now ran in terror! I laughed out loud ~ with joy! Just who is worried about who now? The hunter became the hunted, the fear-inducing became the fear-filled. The guy who was looking at me like dessert is now on the run for his own life.
But ~ I am not chasing him, he is too small to bother with. HO!
I cannot tell you how free I felt after this! My enemies running from me in 7 ways! I also felt complete and total approval to be who I am ~ a spoon! I am created to stir and stir I will, to the best of my ability and with joy emerging frothy all around me.
Next, I felt a waterfall in the Valley Harvest sanctuary, with vines growing from places worshippers had danced. The vines grew up the walls to where the ceiling and walls meet. There were centers of various kinds of grapes, clusters hanging lusciously from their ceiling branches. A Mogan David center, a Concord center, a White Grape center.. many, many kinds ~ even an Annie Greenspring center! Most of the grapes received harvesting joyfully ~ it was a very joyous vineyard. However, some hung onto the vine long past their ripe stage. They refused to go to the wine press. They hung on and on, pretending to be baby grapes but in reality becoming raisins. As these raisins lived past their plump sweet fruity stage, they had no choice but to drop to the ground ~ old, hard and dry… like little stones. They didn’t want to drop, but the branch would no longer held them on.
I took this as a warning.
Once we’ve learned a principle, experienced a precept, we must walk in it.
I remember John Scotland talking about offences… “Oh! Fences!”
Also he spoke at length about the seed principle.
Since then, one of the biggest seed principles God has reminded me about has to do with rejection.
The key to defeating rejection (a spirit so huge in our region and responsible for so much devastation in our vineyards) the key is to be so full of Jesus that you have no desire to look for approval from others. So full there is no room in you to hold their approval. You can receive it ~ you can hear it ~ you can be blessed by it ~ you can laugh at it ~ you can even reject it ~ but you are too full for it to do you any damage. Praise from man is very addictive. Once you start drinking there, you become addicted for more. Soon we compromise, do things we never thought we’d do, just to receive this phantom fullness. Be very careful, dear friends of God, do not bow to this desire to be recognized and win approval from people. It is the “seed” of rejection and control and it will kill you (kill your beautifully receptive God-spirit).
More God ”sightings” ~
Last week I went to garden center and was thrilled with the attitude of the owner. She wasn’t fancy. She wasn’t clean (:^) She wasn’t fashionable. But she knew her flowers. As I made my purchases, she took one pot and exclaimed “Oh! This is set crooked. Let me take it over here and set it straight.” Instantly she was back and ringing up my total. Then I notice an extra flower, set into the pot I just bought. I looked at her, amazed because she charged me so little for it and said.. “This plant? It wasn’t in here before I bought it.”
And she smiled at me so shyly, so sweetly… almost apologetically. “I know,” she sighed, “ but I couldn’t let it go without filling that empty spot with something of beauty.”
I gave her a how-much-is-it look and she simply responded, “Oh, I just tucked it in.”
Does that preach or what?
That night I barely made it to the Kris Vallenton meeting at Baptist meetings in Green Lake.
Once there I was so free to worship, so glad I made the effort to come. In the midst of that thankfulness, Father reminded me of a word I got at Su C.’s Waupaca study long ago. It was from Eilene, a gal from Racine. She said that I was a mare, pulling a plow in fields that were not mine. That it was hard, dirty, lonely work, but it was what He wanted me to do. (I wasn’t particularly thrilled with this word, but it has proved accurate and wonderful.. just like Father.)
After reminding of that word, Father said He was shifting my assignment. I am still a mare, and still in fields not my own ~ but my tool is not a plow anymore. I have graduated to pull a manure spreader. (Oh dear Father, are You kidding?) I got over the shock (for being a Heavenly Father He can sometimes get pretty earthy.) and saw the honor. To fertilize His fields means to increase and improve His crop. An unglamorous assignment that I accepted with joy!
During the ministry time that same night, I “saw” again the garden center I visited earlier that day. The same owner was there, still unfashionable, still with much dirt under her nails… Father replayed the scene where she whisked away my purchase, to fill the empty spot with beauty. And He said,
“What she did was a prophetic act over your life. See it and be encouraged!
This is an example of what I have raised you for. (I felt the “you” here was plural)
I desire that you keep filled continually, that you never run dry, so that whenever I show you an “empty spot”, you silently and without bringing attention to yourself ~ fill it. I say you will fill each hole with something of beauty, something of Mine that I will give to you ~ for you to give away.
I am creative in all things. I will be creative also in this. The things you will give include much more than money. It may be friendships, it may be ideas, it may be time, smiles, energy, ministries. Be open to hear My thoughts on what each empty spot needs before you fill it. Filling it on your own will create deeper problems for all.
You may find it necessary to spread manure on some of these “empty spots”. You will know what to do.”
I can’t help but think this word is for all of us.
It can only be fulfilled through a spirit of abundance ~ to just “tuck one in”.
which means we must ignore, deny and expel the spirit of lack.
Operating in the opposite spirit of the world is such a God thing!
His timing, His filling, His thoughts, His gifts. He never runs dry, never is too busy.
Operating in the Opposite Spirit (The OS Principle)*
A spirit is a personality. It influences our attitudes and conduct. Just as Holy Spirit is personal, so is Satan and his fallen angels. You can never win a spiritual battle until you are free from the spirit of darkness you are up against AND moving in the opposite direction!
The spirit of greed ~ move with the spirit of generosity
The spirit of independence ~ move with the spirit of interdependence
The spirit of immorality ~ the spirit of purity
The spirit of religious controversy ~ the spirit of humility
The spirit of rejection and alienation ~ the spirit of love and acceptance
Every time we agree with the fallen angels, we empower Satan.
Sin is the will of the devil and sinning helps secure his throne.
Sin most often occurs in our minds first, with our considering he may be right.
Every time we agree with something dark, everytime we think or speak a dark word ~
we empower the very one we fight!
It is like we have driven a supply truck right into his starving camp!
Hence, be OOS.
Phil 4:4, 7, 9-13 (Message Bible)
Celebrate God all day, every day ~ and I mean ~ REVEL in Him!
Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries
into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when God displaces worry at the center of your life.
Revel ~ TRUPHE ~ (triumph) a luxurious, absolute riot!
Webster's ~ make merry, noisily festive, take much pleasure, celebrate
Right before Revel is Reveille ~ a wake up call.
A bugle to signal those who watch. To call and assemble, gather.
Right after Revel is Revelation ~ uncovering something unknown before.
Something disclosed, God showing a piece of Himself ~ a striking secret made known.
It is a good place to revel and hang out, between the R’s.
I saw that we are the “clang-ers” in His bell.
We can ring out worship, ring in dinner, ring for crisis or ring for celebration.
A bell without it’s clapper is a sad and sorry sight.
A church without it’s celebration is a sad and sorry sight.
Living in the OS Principle.
The Opposite Spirit, to the natural world we live in, is to Just Tuck One In.
The challenge is to begin in our own backyard (the hardest ground of all sometimes)
and begin to pull your manure spreader. Fertilize, fertilize, fertilize. Just Tuck One In.
And as you tuck, tuck one in for yourself too. It is impossible to give what you don’t own,
so own the joy and abundance that He provides for you.
I pray for deep revelation and Stephen-like wisdom as we prune our foliage to produce more fruit.
I pray for deep awareness when it comes to opportunities to tuck one in.
Father, we want to make joy-filled everyone that comes across my path today.
Let us truly be Your light in the darkness!
Like that beautiful messenger at the greenhouse ~
who just couldn’t let something pass through her hands with an empty spot ~
let us be people who choose to continually “TUCK ONE IN”.
