pruning

Opening Prayer: Have your way with me, O God.  Take your strong and gentle hands and make me into a garden of your delight.  Grow me where I need to be grown, water me where I need to be watered, and prune me where I need to be pruned.  I belong to you.  Amen.

Scripture: John 15:1-2

Journal: What does God’s pruning look like in your life these days?  How is he cutting away the old in order to make good room for new life and growth?

Reflection: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2, NIV)  

     Contrary to popular opinion, pruning is not a bad thing…in the spiritual life, I mean.  Oh sure, it sounds painful and awful, and I cringe whenever I hear the word, but it is actually a beautiful and necessary thing.  It is not just about getting rid of that which is old and dead and ugly within us—which sounds so hard and shameful—but it is also about taking that which is already fruitful and making space for even more fruit to grow.  It is about letting go of the old (even in the cases where the old has been wonderful), in order to embrace the new.

     The problem is that we like the old.  We have grown used to it.  We are comfortable with it.  And let’s face it, we suck at letting go.  When we have something that is working for us, we hold onto it for dear life, no matter how functional or dysfunctional it may be.  We like the old and the familiar.  We like being in control.  Letting go flies directly in the face of all of that.  So we hold on.  That’s why this pruning is necessary.  We typically will not be able to let go on our own, God has to help the process along. 

     The word for prune in the Greek is kathairō, which also means to cleanse or to purge.  It is a necessary part of growth, both for a plant, as well as a heart and soul.  A thing can only grow if there is room for it.  Thus, space must be made.  The saints of old understood this.  They often referred to this pattern of spiritual growth using the words purgation, illumination, and union.  Thus, the soul must first be purged of the many things occupying it, in order for something new and beautiful to come about.  The old might have indeed been great for a time, or a season, but once a new season begins the old must give way.  The leaves of autumn must fall to the ground before the new leaves of spring can come.  And so it is with a soul.  

     The beautiful part of the image is that we are not solely responsible for this pruning, it is in the hands of the Gardener.  He knows just how to do it.  And thankfully he has very gentle hands.  All we need to do is to be open, receptive, and responsive to his divine touch.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: I am yours, O God, do with me as you please.  Help me to be open and receptive to your strong and loving hands.  Amen.

pursued

Opening Prayer: Thank you, O God, that you pursue me.  Thank you that your goodness and your unfailing love will never stop coming after me until I am held safe in your loving arms.

Scripture: Psalm 23:6

Journal: How have goodness and love been following you lately?  Where and how have you been aware of God’s relentless pursuit of you lately?

Reflection: “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,” say the words of the ancient prayer.  And even as I utter those words something within me comes alive.  For somehow, throughout the course of my days and my years, I have convinced myself otherwise.  Somehow I have convinced myself that it is I who am constantly in pursuit of him, the elusive God, rather than he being in pursuit of me.

     And a careful examination of these words show just how wonderful this pursuit really is.  Goodness is a hallmark of our God, as well as a hallmark of his very good creation.  Thus, the goodness that pursues me is the very good-ness (Genesis 1:31) of his creation intent for me.  Not only is the One who pursues me very good, but the one he intended and designed me to be is also very good.  His very good desire is that he restore me to my very good-ness.  To remake me into the fearful and wonderful creation that he intended me to be.

     The other thing that is a hallmark of our God is his unfailing love.  The Hebrew word is hesed.  It is the word for love that highlights the eternal nature of God’s love.  It is forever, it is unchanging, it is not going anywhere.  Nothing can stop it.  It is a pursuit that will not rest until it captures completely heart of the one being pursued. 

     And finally, there is the word follow, which is not nearly strong enough to describe the picture being painted here.  The Hebrew word is radaph, which is most often translated pursue.  It is used 143 times in the Old Testament, mostly in reference to armies pursuing their enemies.  And on one occasion (1 Samuel 26:20) it is even translated hunt, as a hunter would stalk his prey.  That is the kind of following we are talking about.  It is not a casual, haphazard type of thing, but a relentless pursuit.  God relentlessly pursues me with his goodness and his unfailing love “all the days of my life.”  Thus, my relationship with him is not dependent on my feeble pursuit of him, but on his relentless pursuit of me.  It is not so much about finding him, as it is about being found by him.  It is dependent on him, not on me.  Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to be open and attentive to your relentless pursuit of me, whatever that may look like.

fill me

Opening Prayer: Fill me, O Lord, and then I will be full.

Scripture: John 17:26

Journal: What is filling your heart and soul these days?  How do those things find their way out into your life?  What would it look like if you were full of the love of Jesus? 

Reflection: It is your love, Lord Jesus, that I long to be filled with.  It is your love that I long to have flow in and through my life.  Unfortunately, I am so full of other things—things that make me so much less than who you created me to be.  So fill me, Lord Jesus, so full of your love that there is no room for anything else.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24, NIV)

stubborn

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me not to hang so tightly to the ways I have always done things, that I fail to recognize when you are offering me a new and more fruitful way.  Keep my stubbornness from blinding me from who you want me to be and what you want me to do.  Amen.

Scripture: John 21:1-6

Journal: Where are you hanging on to your way of doing things, in spite of the fact that Jesus might be asking you to do things a new way? 

Reflection: Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

     Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

     He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

     “No,” they answered.

      He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. (John 21:1-6, NIV)

     I can be pretty stubborn at times.  I can keep my head down and plod right along without even noticing that I might have been toiling all night and still have empty nets.  I guess I figure that if I keep doing the same old things, the way I have always done them, that eventually it will work out.  It might never occur to me that I need to do something different, to change my ways.  It seems like I remember someone very wise once saying something about the definition of insanity being to continue to do the same old things over and over and expect to get a different outcome.  Thank you Albert Einstein.  Well, call me crazy I suppose, because I tend to do that a lot.  I fail to recognize—or refuse to acknowledge—that my way just isn’t working.  After all, who is a better expert on my life than me?

     I guess that’s why this passage haunts me a little bit.  The disciples did the exact same thing.  They worked and worked and worked, all night long, and caught absolutely nothing. The only difference is that when someone made a suggestion that they might want to try another way, at least they listened.  They didn’t even recognize it was Jesus until after they had taken his advice and caught a massive amount of fish.  And it wasn’t the first time this had happened.  But give them some credit.  They weren’t so hard-headed that they refused to acknowledge that their way just wasn’t working, and were willing to embrace a new way of doing things.

     I need to follow their example.  For it is quite possible that I get so busy toiling all night long that I, like the disciples, fail to recognize that Jesus is standing on the shore telling me to throw my nets over the other side of the boat.  It is quite possible that when someone brings up the possibility of doing things in a little different way, that it might actually be Jesus trying to open me up to the possibility of a new way of seeing or being or doing.

     The beautiful thing is that even if I do not always recognize Jesus, he always recognizes me.  Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to recognize you today, however you might come to me, and whatever you might ask of me.  For only then can I experience the life and the fullness you offer.  Amen.

taken hold of

Opening Prayer: Take hold of me, Lord Jesus, by your grace and your love, that I might take hold of the life that you have made me for.  Help me to settle for nothing less.  Amen.

Scripture: Philippians 3:12-14

Journal: What does it mean that Jesus has taken hold of you?  What have you been taken hold of for?  What is the life for which Jesus has taken hold of you?

Reflection: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12, NIV)

     At times I can misguidedly convince myself that my relationship with God is dependent upon my ability to hold on to him, when the truth of the matter is that he is the one who has a hold on me, and he will never let me go.  Thus, it is the strength on his grip, and not my own, that is the key.  The simple and beautiful fact is that Jesus has grabbed hold of me by the power of his grace.  He has seized me with the power of his great affection.  He has firmly grasped me with his righteous right hand, and he will not let me go.

     But Paul doesn’t stop there.  He goes on to remind us that we can’t just sit idly by.  We must then take hold as well.  We must take hold of the life for which we have been taken hold of.  We have been seized by the power of grace and now must respond to the very grace we have been seized by.  It is a response of love: Therefore, I forget what is behind, I strain toward what is ahead, and I press on toward the goal to which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have taken hold of me and will never let me go.  May my life be an expression of gratitude for having been seized by the power of your great affection.  Amen.

come

Opening Prayer: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1-3, NIV)

Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-3

Journal: Where do you really believe life comes from?  Be honest.  What would your life say as far as what you believe about where life comes from?  What do you spend most of your time and effort pursuing?  Is it bringing you the kind of life you hoped it would?  Is it bringing you the kind of life God offers you?  How will you come and eat and drink of God? How will you listen to him and give ear to what he says, that your soul may live?

Reflection: It seems to me that we spend so much of our lives trying to manufacture and produce a result that can only come about organically.  We invest so much time and energy trying to create, or defend, or maintain a way of being that can only be given to us by a hand far greater than our own.  The life of the Spirit cannot be controlled or manipulated; it cannot be taken by force.  It can only be received.  But that has never stopped us from pursuing and trying to find life on our own.  We do it all the time.  Where do we really believe life comes from anyway? 

     The reality is that real life—true life, abundant life—comes only from God.  Everything else is just a cheap imitation.  He is the giver of life and we are the receivers.  Oh sure, there are certain things we can do to ensure that the soil of our souls is fertile and receptive to whatever God may want to plant within us, but the growth of it is all up to him.  The fruitfulness—as opposed to productivity—of our hearts and souls and lives is up to God.  It happens at his discretion and his control, not our own.  All we can do is heed the words of Isaiah 55 and come, listen, give ear, and hear.  The rest is up to him.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: “Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway—buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything’s free! Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest. Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.” (Isaiah 55:1-3, The Message)

weakness

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to truly believe that your grace really is sufficient.  Help me to truly believe that your power really is made perfect in my weakness.  Help me to not be afraid to risk doing the things that are beyond my power to do, in order that your power might be on display for all to see.  And I can only do this, Lord Jesus, if you give me the strength and the courage to do so.  Lord Jesus, give me the power to be weak.  Amen.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Journal: How do you deal with your areas of weakness?  Have you ever viewed them as an opportunity for God’s power to be revealed?  How can you allow your weaknesses to be an avenue for God to manifest his power?

Reflection: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

     I don’t know about you, but I go to great lengths to try and hide my weaknesses.  I even go so far as to try and never operate outside my areas of strength.  I do this, I suppose, because my goal in life is for everyone to think the best of me.  The problem is that when I live my life trying to make everyone think the best of me, I leave one significant thing out—God!  I forget that this life is not about me at all, but about him.

     Paul got that.  I guess that’s why he could make this outlandish statement about gladly boasting about his weaknesses.  I mean, who does that?  Someone who cares more about God’s glory that his own, that’s who.  Someone who realizes that God’s power is on full display when we are completely out of the way.  Someone who understands that we actually block people’s view of God when we are trying to get them to look at us.  Someone who realizes that when he is operating out of his own strength, he is actually keeping God’s power from being made perfect.

     O Lord, help me to be more like Paul.  Help me to embrace and celebrate my weaknesses, because they are opportunities for you to show your power.  For when I try to hide my weaknesses, I am actually hiding—or denying—the sufficiency of your grace.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, help me to be more like Paul.  Help me to embrace and celebrate my weaknesses, because they are opportunities for you to show your power.  For when I try to hide my weaknesses, I am actually hiding—or denying—the sufficiency of your grace.