Week Four: Master Gardener Day 24: Pruning April 19, 2016

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"Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of

unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground;

for it is time to seek the LORD, until He comes

and showers righteousness upon you."

(Hosea 10:12)

Day Twenty-Four Devotions:

MORNING MEDITATION

AFTERNOON DEVOTION

EVENING PRAYER

MORNING MEDITATION

Glean the Word: John 15:2-3

Glimpse of Glory: "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." (v. 3)

The heavenly Father is the Vinedresser, the Master Gardener who tends to the Vine to make sure that it is producing much fruit to His glory. The most important work in the care of His vineyard is that of pruning. Of all the trees that He has planted in His garden that produce shade, or beauty, or fruit - that require fertilizing and watering for their care - the vine requires only one thing in order for it thrive and fulfill its purpose - pruning. Without pruning the vine cannot bear fruit. Pruning is unlike the care of a garden which requires the uprooting of weeds that come from outside to suffocate the plants; rather, pruning is a process of cutting off the long shoots that have grown from the previous year. It is the removal of life that has been produced from within the vine itself. These growing shoots may appear to be good, but they draw necessary life from the vine that could be put to better use producing higher quantities and quality of fruit. Our divine Husbandman will cut away what is good so that we can produce what is best for our lives. He will repeat the process year after year until He achieves the quantity and quality of the fruit He desires.

The pruning knife the Lord uses is His Word (Hebrews 4:12). "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you" (John 15:3). The Word of God is what He uses to purify and cleanse His people. "...just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:25b-27). The more we abide with God the more we grow spiritually. It is important that that new growth be purified and refined so the fruit we produce is holy and divine. "Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17). Let us pray and ask our heavenly Father for the added grace we need to endure those seasons of painful pruning; and while it hurts, it is helpful; not only for our spiritual growth, but also because it will yield a better crop that will bring glory to the Lord. May He enable us to let go of those "good" things that He has removed to make room for His "best" in our lives; and help us to patiently wait on Him as He heals our hurt and prepares us for the harvest that is to come.

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AFTERNOON DEVOTION

Glean the Word: Matthew 10:34-39

Gift of Grace: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24)

The heavenly Vinedresser works to prune and cleanse away all new growth that is of the original fleshly nature and self, and cuts us all the way down to the tiniest stem, so we will be close enough to the Vine to receive the life of the Spirit. Anything in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ that hinders the work of His Holy Spirit in our lives must be cut away and cleansed. Our lives are to be entirely taken up with Christ, and He will keep us very low so that He alone gets the glory for our work. The pruning He does in our lives is not entirely about sin, it is also about all the religious activity that produces confidence in ourselves and robs God of His glory. Sometimes after we have enjoyed a season of productive ministry we can grow overly confident in ourselves or our abilities. God has given us our gifts and abilities to be used for His glory; however, when these get in the way, or we begin to trust in them rather than God, it becomes necessary for the Vinedresser to apply His pruning knife to bring us back to that place of utter helplessness and dependence on God. He will not allow anything to get in the way of our wholehearted devotion to the Lord. This is when He will apply the pruning knife and perform a circumcision of the heart. "...and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God" (Romans 2:29).

When Jesus taught His disciples, His words convicted and cleansed them and prepared them to receive the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is living and active. It is a sharp double-edged sword that cuts and divides - exposing our hidden thoughts and humbling our pride. The life of a disciple is one of self-denial. These seasons of fasting are meant to keep us before the pruning knife, so that our lives will be uncluttered and unhindered by those things that rob us of our spiritual life in Christ. We submit to the Lord with prayer and fasting, not so that He will take notice of us, but so that we will be in a position for God to do His work in and through us. The spiritual discipline of fasting is God's instrument in the time of His grace to cleanse us and consecrate us to Himself, so that all new growth will be sanctified by His Word, and the way opened up in the inner life for the Holy Spirit to come with power. When the trials come to test the character of that growth, it will be shown to be: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD" (Zechariah 4:6). May we continue to yield to the cleansing power of the Word of God during this season and lay ourselves completely at the disposal of the inner working of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to fill us with all that is lacking in us, so we can produce His heavenly fruit and bring glory to the Father.

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EVENING PRAYER

Glean the Word: Hebrews 4:12-13

Fruit of Repentance: "...God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:10b-11)

Evening prayer focus: Prayer for the pruning process. (click on the image below for our evening prayer).

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him..." (Philippians 3:7-9a)

This evening, draw close to the fire and experience the warmth, love and light of Christ as we come boldly before the Throne of Grace and join our hearts together in prayer:

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