Author: marquitabp

Cutting off the Dead Part 

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”  John 15:2 

Have you ever noticed if you prune the dead leaves off of a plant how much it grows and blossoms?  Or for you ladies, if you cut your hair (for maintenance) how it seems to grow much faster?  Even in diabetic patients that have to have an appendage amputated, how they seem to do much better physically after the part that has died is gone?  I know that ever since I have been on a “search and destroy” mission for my split ends how much faster my hair grows. 

Death, or in this case, negativity infects everything it touches. It starts at one point and then it spreads. Like cancer if untreated, it spreads to the next most vulnerable spot.  Split ends in hair can eventually cause baldness if ignored. So imagine what happens if you are spiritually dead and ignore your need for God. If you are not nourishing your heart and soul, if you do not know Jesus and love Him, do you really want to know what the consequences are?  Do you really want to know what kinds of social, physical, financial, moral, and spiritual ills you leave yourself to become a victim to? You cannot be physically well without being spiritually well too. We were made to be fruitful—to blossom and produce good fruit—in particular here the good fruits of the spirit. (Genesis 1:28)  We are also to allow our seeds to be shared with others (the Word of God), thus planting good fruit in them and continuing the cycle. 

Jesus says above that the dead parts—the parts that don’t produce fruit are cut off, taken away.  And even those that produce fruit are pruned—perfected—in order to bear more fruit.  But in the very next verse Jesus says that by receiving His message, we have been pruned.  “You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.”  John 15:2   But it does not end there:  we must stay alive—stay spiritually well by continuing to seek Him and abide in Him.  So stay alive, keep allowing God to prune you, and grow you for His divine purpose. 

"Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a pruned branch and dries up. People gather such branches, throw them into a fire, and they are burned up. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and you will receive it. This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”  John 15:4-8

You Don't Know Me NOW

 

' "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.'  Mark 6:3

 

I'm going to bed but I had to finish this.  My own personal devotion mentioned this today, actually the reference in Matthew.  But its so relevant, because I am not the person I used to be, not in high school, college, last year, last month, last week or even yesterday. As living beings, we are in a constant, ever-changing state. Anyone who is in Christ becomes a new person, born of His glory.

 

I am not the same Marquita.  Through countless trials and situations, I have become a different person.  Therefore, you cannot hold me to things I did before, you cannot assume that I still like the same things, you cannot believe that I think the same.

 
Take Paul for example.  He was one of the BIGGEST persecutors of Christians ever mentioned.  Saul, as was his name before, used to go around to the synagogues and "wrangle up" Jews that believed in Christ and deliver them for imprisonment and execution.  Christians had to hide and live in secret places.  They could not worship God publicly. When I visited Turkey, I got to walk through part of one of their underground cities in Cappadocia.  Can you imagine living UNDERGROUND so that you can freely practice your faith?  Constantly hiding and fearing for your life, unless you were caught?

 

Here in Acts 9:21 the Jews we baffled at his preaching and zest for Christ:  'All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?"'  Then he himself says in Galatians 1:13-14 of his former life:  "You heard about the way I once lived when I followed the Jewish religion. You heard how I violently persecuted God's church and tried to destroy it. You also heard how I was far ahead of other Jews in my age group in following the Jewish religion. I had become that fanatical for the traditions of my ancestors."  But then the most important part–the part that matters is this: "But God, who appointed me before I was born and who called me by his kindness, was pleased to show me his Son. He did this so that I would tell people who are not Jewish that his Son is the Good News…" Galatians 1:15-16  And because people did not know the new Saul also known as Paul anymore, they still went back to his past.  But because he was a convert, because Jesus himself intervened and revealed Himself to Paul, many were brought to Christ and gave Him the glory. 'The only thing they kept hearing was this: "The man who used to persecute us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy!". Galatians 1:23 Because if God can change the very person that tried to and succeeded in killing His followers, then turn around and use him to bring others to Christ, what can God do for you!

 

You don't know me anymore.  There is a new me.

 

"So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me."  Galatians 1:24