All Things For God's Glory

T hese verses in 2 Corinthians have been a precious reminder to me that my current pain and suffering (and yours as well!) is all for God's good purposes not only for me and Dave and our kids, but also for God's church, which means the church we are members of and all its members. And because of that, He is giving all the grace and blessing needed to sustain me on my "sick bed" so I don't have to sin as I suffer; nor do I have to complain or fear or have anxiety or just live with the attitude that, "I just wish it would all go away." And when I do these things, I have access to the powerful perfection of Jesus Christ and can repent, turn my heart and attitudes and words around and get back in alignment with the Spirit of God.  2 Corinthians 4:5-18 says, " For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.   For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts...

I want to encourage you to pray and not faint if the Lord has you in a season of waiting (Luke 18:1). I have cucumber plants in my little front garden, and I couldn't figure out why it was taking so long to produce cukes because I couldn't see them under the vines, primarily because I can't bend over to look. But them my sister came and looked under there and found a whole bag full of very large cucumbers under those vines!  Oh, my friends! God is always growing fruit on His vines because we are rooted in Jesus Christ His Precious Son, the Vine's lifesource; and He says He will bring to fruition and completion what He has started when He chose to give us life in His Son (Eph. 1:1-6; Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:27-29). We often cannot see even the tiniest fruit but that's when faith in God's Word and promises must kick in and grow roots downward even as it's God's job to grow fruit upward, ever flowing in the powerful Ocean of His grace which ends in the very thr...

I 've been thinking about the process of pruning today.  As I was meeting with ladies this morning on the front porch, I noticed how overgrown my tomatoes and cucumbers have become with lots  of lush greenery way above the tomato cages, but few blossoms or tomatoes setting.  So after my sweet Mama's left, I got my walker into the patch so I wouldn't fall over pulling weeds and pruning and went at the tomato plants with a vengeance, removing all the green stems that were not putting on blossoms, and now I have a huge pile of stuff to be burned or trashed. John 15:1-2 says that Jesus is the Vine and the Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more  fruit." Verse 5b says, "for apart from me, you can do nothing ." And nothing means nothing...not even just a little.  The warning then sounds forth loud and clear: "If anyone  does not abide in me he ...