Happy Tuesday!

It is once again long Tuesday for me. I don’t get home until nearly 10:00. From 5:15 AM to 10:00 PM is a really long day! Tonight in class someone suggested that we do classroom introductions once again due to our long absence (two weeks) from class due to the icy, winter weather. That, coupled with Minister’s Week when we do not have class, and we have missed three weeks of classes. Minister’s Week is lovingly called “Reading Week.” I am just not sure reading really gets done.

Prayer: “Father, as I begin this day, I submit to You as the Vinedresser. Prepare me for fruitfulness. Prune me if necessary. I welcome Your sovereign activity in my life. Thank you for providing the power of the Holy Spirit within me. Produce eternal fruit in me today, I ask. Amen”

John 15: 1-2 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Years ago I used to teach in a private school. There were two of us who taught first grade. Joann was wonderful with plants while I was sort of a “plant them, water them and watch them grow” kind of gardener. I had some type of plant that was (to my eyes) was full, green and pretty. To Joann’s eyes, there was too much in the pot and it needed to be thinned out. By the time she finished thinning out this plant there was not much left. She saw the look on my face when she was finished as it registered sort of a disbelief. Joann assured me that it would come back better than before. It did come back fuller, stronger and more beautiful than it had been before.

As God prepares us for use in His kingdom to bear fruit He may have to do some pruning in our lives. Just as the plant needs to be thinned out so that it may receive its full sunlight and nourishment from the soil, we must be pruned, taught and forgiven, so that we have room in our lives to receive the fullness of God’s wisdom. God removes all of the things in our lives that will keep us from being the servants he has called us to be. I know the saying is old, but it still is quite true and appropriate; “God does not call the equipped, God equips those He has called.” We must be willing to offer up the unhealthy parts of our lives and surrender them for His correction and forgiveness so that His teaching and leading will have lordship over our decisions, thoughts and actions. The action of the pruning may be painful, but the healing and our growth in God’s wisdom will enable all of us to serve in the Kingdom.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us continue to lift each other up in prayer remembering that each of us is fighting some sort of battle. Love you all so very much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.