GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 6

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES:

JESUS, YOU………WILL WIPE AWAY EVERY ONE OF MY TEARS…Rev 7:17;  21:4

JESUS, YOU………..WILL SEE THAT I NEVER HUNGER OR THIRST ANYMORE—Rev 7:16-17

JESUS, YOU………..ARE MY LOVING HUSBAND..Is 54:4 &  5;Hosea 2:16 (Ishi, not Baali) Hosea 2:19 & 20; Jer 3:14;

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THE WORD FOR TODAY

John 15:2

“Every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

We are beginning the chapter entitled, “In Affliction and Trial” in the book Abide in Christ by the great teacher of the 1800’s, Andrew Murray

In the whole plant world, there is not a tree to be found so specially suited to the image of man in his relation to God as the vine.  There is none of which the fruit and its juice are so full of spirit, so quickening and stimulating.  But there is also none of which the natural tendency is so entirely  evil — none where the growth is so ready to run into wood that is utterly worthless except for the fire.  Of all plants, not one needs the pruning knife so unsparingly and so unceasingly.  None is so dependent on cultivation and training, but with this none yields a richer reward to the husbandman.

In His wonderful parable, the Savior, with a single word, refers to this need of pruning in the vine and the blessing it brings.  But what streams of light pour in upon this dark world from that single word, so full of suffering and of sorrows to believers!   What treasures of teaching and comfort to the bleeding branch in its hour of trial:

“Every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”   And so He has prepared His people, who are so ready when trial comes to be shaken in their confidence and to be moved from their abiding in Christ, to hear in each affliction the voice of a messenger that comes to call them to abide still more closely.  Yes, believer, most especially in times of trial, abide in Christ.

Abide in Christ!  This is indeed the Father’s object in sending the trial.  In a storm, the tree strikes deeper roots in the soil; in a hurricane, the inhabitants of the house abide within and rejoice in its shelter.  So, by suffering, the Father would lead us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ.  Our hearts are continually prone to wander from Him;  prosperity and enjoyment all too easily satisfy us, dull our spiritual perception, and make us unfit for full communion with Himself.

It is an unspeakable mercy that the Father comes with His chastisement, makes the world around us all dark and unattractive, and leads us to feel our sinfulness more deeply and, for a time, lose our joy in what was becoming so dangerous. He does it in the hope that, when we have found our rest in Christ in time of trouble, we will learn to choose abiding in Him as our only portion; and so that when the affliction is removed, we will have so grown more firmly into Him, that in prosperity He still will be our only joy.  So much has He set His heart on this, that though He has indeed no pleasure in afflicting us, He will not keep back even the most painful chastisement; He can thereby guide His beloved child to come home and abide in the beloved Son.  Christian, pray for grace to see in every trouble, small or great, the Father’s finger pointing to Jesus, and saying, “

Abide in Him.”

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