There are so many external factors
that can come into play when planting a garden or growing crop in your
field. It is the farmer’s responsibility
to make sure he plants the seed in the right environment as well as making sure
the ground is suitable for the seed to get into the ground so it can bring
forth what he intended.
Well God is our vinedresser and
He is the greatest strategist. We are
the seed that God has planted in this earth to bring about His desired fruit. When I talk about fruit, I’m talking about
your character, your gifts, your nature, your assignment, your purpose and
destiny. When God planted us, He desired
for us to produce in the earth and to look like Him doing it.
Like a farmer, God will begin to
purge, only to bring forth more fruit (John 15). Purge means to “take away” to lift up or
raise higher. God will take the
unfruitful branch and lift it from the dirt into which is has fallen giving it
a better chance to be productive in another’s dirt. Wow!
Can you see how in your transition of leaving one place to go into
another; it was God moving you into another dirt giving you a chance to bring
forth more fruit.
The word of God tells us that we
are to ABIDE in the vine. Abide means to
remain, stay connected, stay in relationship with Jesus. We abide by remaining in prayer and in
relationship with the Father through His son Jesus. You can’t say you are in relationship with
any one and do not talk to them but once or twice a week. That is not a relationship. As we abide in the vine, we must trust that
the vinedresser, who is God, is carefully watching over our lives; making sure
we are producing and looking like Him in the earth.
God is the one who planted us and
we are His seed so He knows what we are supposed to look like. The branch receives its nourishments to
produce from the vine. All of the nutrients,
vitamins, and sap are in the vine and it is giving the branch life and food to
bring forth; as long as the branch is connected.
Don’t think that you can do what God
has called you to do on your own. Your
supply is only coming from the vine and it is the vinedresser responsibility to
watch over your ground and make sure He plucks up the weeds that would chock out
your life and if necessary move you to another ground so you can produce more
fruit.
Before the foundation of the
world, God has always intended us to bear fruit that would remain. Fruit that is tenacious; bold as a lion and
gentle as a lamb, like our big brother Jesus is what God is looking for. What Jesus started we are to finish; the
paton has been passed to us. What are
you doing with your part of the race?
Stay connected and grow in your relationship with the Father. Trust the vinedresser who sees more and knows
more than you, so He can do what needs to be done in your life so you will
bring forth fruit that remains.
Pastor Karen, www.karenpresley.org
