John 15 

3. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”

Words are such powerful tools.  When we speak we can speak life or death because we are not yet perfect.  When Jesus speaks He speaks purity and power personified!  He tells us here that His word cleanses us.  Later in John 17:17 Jesus prays, “sanctify them through your Truth, your word is Truth.”  Sanctification is an ongoing process of pruning.  Sanctification is not so much an effort on our part (that would be dead religion). It is a remaining close to Jesus and his truth so that we are continually changed and conformed into His image.  That ongoing process is sanctification.  If our response to his pruning is current and up to date then we are clean and even perfect in his eyes.  Yet, while we need to see ourselves perfect because of what Jesus did and not our works, we must remain wholly dependent upon ongoing sanctification.  This is a delicate place.  Boldly and confidently walking in His righteousness while remaining humbly aware of ongoing adjustment by the Holy Spirit.  There is a snare that entangles some who come to believe they have arrived and have no more need of adjustment.  That may be the most dangerous place of all.  But what joy there is in total confidence in His keeping power and righteous and a healthy respect for our constant need and dependency upon his moment-by-moment alignment. 

John 1

2. … every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Does the pain of pruning get less painful through time and experience?  Not to my knowledge.  However, the willingness to endure pruning can come to a greater appreciation for, and even joy in the pruning.  There are medical treatments that make you seem worse before you are better.  Patients must weigh the options and choose for themselves.  Once they experience the discomfort of the treatment followed by a better quality of life because of the treatment, the treatment is appreciated.  Hardly a day goes by that I don’t experience the pruning hand of the Lord in some manner.  Maybe I just need more pruning than others!  Any unkind word or silent judgment in my heart brings the loving pruning shears to my thought life and conscience.  I am always disappointed that I need the pruning.  Disappointed in me and not the vinedresser.  I have usually allowed a branch to grow in the wrong direction.  Maybe I allowed my thought life to ramble into restricted areas declared by the Word as off limits.  “Snip, snip!”  Thank you Lord!  Maybe I drifted into the rancid waters of gossip.  It can become a lifestyle that leads to terrible things.  Gossip can even produce disease in the Body of Christ.  Conviction will always come when we yield to soulish and sinful behavior!  Always!  To choose to go ahead and indulge anyway is a dangerous practice.  It weakens the conscience and pushes away the Holy Spirit.  That resistance to pruning will also limit our being used as an instrument of the Holy Spirit in the days ahead.  In those cases, if we are used, we are diminished in our capacity and level of anointing. 

Come Holy Spirit and have your way in every area of my life!

John 15

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”

In this picture that Jesus paints of bearing fruit, He makes it clear here and again in verse 5 that He is the vine.  We are the branches and the Father is the vinedresser.  Since the destiny of both the vine and the branches are dependent upon the vinedresser it would be good to gain a better understanding of the work of a vinedresser.  A vinedresser is a professional agricultural worker who unlike a harvester or other worker in the vineyard, works on the plant year round.  There is cultivating and pruning regularly.  Pruning is very important to fruit bearing and to good fruit in particular.  Grape pruning requires knowledge of each type of grape in order to prune it properly.  Proper pruning focuses the growth of the vine where you want it, and determines how much fruit the vine will have.  Jesus goes on to say in verse 2, “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. If a person is not bearing fruit there can be only one explanation: they are not connected to the vine.  If a branch is connected to the vine it will be producing fruit.  However, even for the Christian, the believer, the branch, there is still an ongoing process of pruning that increases our fruitfulness.  This is where we must leave the analogy and see that as human beings we are different than plants.  Unlike the vine we can resist the pruning.  Ongoing pruning by the Father is an ongoing part of our submission to discipleship.  If we ever stop submitting to the pruning we are starting a process of separation from the vine.  Pruning cuts off a part of the branch that is sapping the life from the main part of the branch and allows for the most productive fruit bearing. 

We must ask ourselves, if along the way we felt we had moved beyond the need for pruning.  Pruning is necessary only so long as we intend to bear fruit.  It is impossible to bear fruit without it. 

The Purpose of Revelation

"that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (‭Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ NKJV)

Revelation can be a wonderful thing. It uncovers mysteries and allows us glimpses into the heavenly realms. It can also be the hidden source of pride and self exaltation. No one had a better vision of heaven and God's Kingdom than Lucifer. With his revelation pride came calling. It turned him out of heaven and led to destruction. Revelation must be accompanied by the spirit of wisdom. Godly wisdom carries with it humility. Wisdom and humility must be sisters walking in mutual submission. Then the major goal of revelation will always bring us to the knowledge of Him. If our revelation does not disclose Jesus clearer in the middle of our storm then there is a problem with our revelation. Knowledge alone causes pride that leads to destruction. When the light of revelation shines into our hearts we must immediately realize it is a gift from Jesus and not from an accumulation of knowledge. As our revelation is born and wrapped in wisdom the result will be a greater relationship with Jesus. 

Tested Faith

The only real faith is tested faith.  President Teddy Roosevelt struggled with whether or not he would be able to fight when the battle came.  Would he stand and be courageous or would he cower and run?  Once he found himself in the middle of the fray in Cuba he performed admirably.  He felt great assurance but only after his swelling words of courage was actually confirmed by heroic actions.  Courage isn’t courage in the talking; it is only courage in the doing.  The great “ace of aces” Eddie Rickenbacker, Word War I aviator, lived in turmoil within until finally, during his first “dogfight”, he found himself performing well and with great distinction.  How do we know if we have the right stuff?  Only time can tell.  Time is the great test of all things.  The prophet Habakkuk struggled with several things.  First he struggled with the sin of Judah and God not dealing with it.  Then as the Lord tells him that he would deal with it through the wicked Babylonians, he struggled with God’s plan.  How could such a righteous God use a group more wicked than Judah, to discipline Judah?  To his credit, after challenging God strongly he ends with joy and faith in God and His works.  Habakkuk struggled with what is often  our greatest struggle; “what do we do when God acts outside our understanding of who He is?”  There is only one correct answer to this question.  We WAIT!  We wait, and in the waiting our faith is purified and proven.  Faith is not faith until it is tested faith.  Faith not tested is only conjecture.  It can be talked, preached and testified to but until it is tested it is only talk.  Tested faith can be trusted and walked upon.  Preached faith is a hypothesis that awaits proving by being challenged and standing the test of time.  Maybe today the Hand of God confronts you with circumstances that need intervention.  Wishing, hoping and confessing won’t bring the victorious end to your dilemma.  Only waiting on God in faith and acting on His direction will bring about the answer. 

Wannabe

Wannabe is a real word! It is defined on Wikipedia as, "a person who wishes to be or do something, but lacks the qualifications or talent."  We have rock star wannabes, athlete wannabes, and even cool wannabes!  A wannabe is different from a real person of ambition or drive.  Those people are on a track to accomplishment because they have chosen a field for which they are qualified to achieve.  I have written before about the limitations which we have. The gifting of God and His grace creates a sphere in which we are pretty much contained. I know we don't like it but there are limitations for all of us.  There are giftings or talents as the Scripture says.  For one to live their life struggling to accomplish outside of their "talents" is wasted effort and can actually rob them of the energy to be successful within their own God given sphere.  A person who is gifted to be an assistant manager but not a manager is programmed to want to be a manager.  They might be a tremendous assistant manager but would be a failure at the senior position.  Please understand that I am not saying it is better to "settle".  We should all seek to live to our full potential within our sphere of ability.  

For a Christian, the desire to "wannabe" something other than their God given measure is really a self image problem.  It is unrealistic!  It is in fact an anger and energy directed to God, not willing to embrace His creation in us.  We want to be something different than God intended.  Certainly, most people live far below the plan of God but some waste their lives dissatisfied with their spiritual DNA.  As I write this I am thinking of many wannabe preachers I have known. A lot of Bible School towns are filled with preacher wannabes delivering pizzas awaiting the Church world to recognize their anointing.  Some waste their lives and their families suffer from this identity problem.  If they could have embraced their sphere earlier in life they could have avoided a lot of struggle and heartache.  

There are also doctrinal wannabes. These are the folks that think the grass is greener at a different church.  There are Jewish wannabes who really want to be Messianic Jews.  I talked to one Messianic Rabbi who said confidentially, "why do Gentiles want to be Jews? Why can't they just be Gentle believers."  I remember one denominational pastor who struggled to be accepted by the contemporary spiritual movement of his day.  He was so much of the movement that he was rejected by his denomination and so much denominational that he was rejected by the movement.  The end result was his entire career he was greatly limited in his effectiveness.  He suffered and his family suffered as well.  Find out who you are in Christ and live in that role as successfully as you can. You may not be waiting on God so much as you may be fighting your identity wherein lies your station of success.

Praying For Your Pastor

Just before Christmas I wrote a blog about praying for your congregation.  Today we will deal with the topic, "Praying for your Pastor."  I guess I had to retire from serving as a pastor to write this blog.  Otherwise it might have been said that I was self-serving! :)  I have served as a church member who worked in the church while working a secular job.  I have served as  part time staff member who was working a secular job.  I have served as an Associate Pastor and most of my ministry years I served as a Senior Pastor.  Then there was the times I served a small or medium sized congregation alone without a staff and finally a larger congregation with a staff.  What was the most difficult of all?  Without a doubt it was being the only staff pastor.  Even if the church is mobilized and people are serving in ministry roles it is still a very hard job.  I can tell you from experience that no one can ever understand the load of responsibility and just plain hard work involved as serving as a pastor.  I know you may be thinking of some pastor that makes you think, "I wish I had that job!"  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Certainly, like all professions and jobs there are lazy people in all walks of life.  However if a pastor is doing his job he almost never stops.  It is a 24/7 commitment.  Remember, when you are enjoying your weekend, pastors usually aren't.  Even if they are not doing their normal weekend of funerals and weddings, they are still carrying the God-entrusted weight of the Sunday service just before them.  It is also an unseen weight on the marriage and the family as a whole. It is vital to the welfare of the Church that the Pastor and his family are healthy in spirit, mind and body.  You can play a big part in keeping your church healthy by praying and caring for the Pastor and his family. They are truly a gift to your Church.

Here are some things you can do and pray to assist your Pastor:

1.  Pray for him regularly.  As you pray be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and pray specifically for anything that comes to your mind while in prayer.
2.  Let him know that you are praying for him on a regular basis.  I have people who pray for me every day.  What a joy it is for me to know that.  What a strength it brings to me.
3.  Pray for his family individually and by name.  Don't tell the children that you are praying for them,necessarily, as that could intimidate them.  They need to live in as much of a normal environment as possible. One of my children told me that they couldn't even attend a children's birthday party in a normal way because they were "the preachers kid."  One time someone told them, "you should know better, you are the pastor's child!"  Oh great!  My child told me that story after they were grown!  Still carrying the marks from the words of an immature and unenlightened church member many years before.
4.  Pray for abundant provision for the pastor and his family.  They struggle with financial matters like everyone else.
5.  Try to help the Pastor and his family to get away from the church and ministry on a regular basis.
It will create a healthier atmosphere for everyone as well and release a new creativity and freshness in the Pastor.
6.  Practice spiritual warfare for the Pastor and family.  Ephesians 6:10-18
The enemy would like nothing better than to take him out.  If you "smite the shepherd the sheep will scatter."
7.  Find a need in the Church and fill it.  One of the heaviest loads of leadership is trying to find people to help carry the load.  The more menial tasks you can take off the Pastor's list the more he can give himself to his primary calling of ministry in the word and prayer.
8.  Seek to be a peacemaker in the Church family.  Too much time is spent by the pastor trying to put out fires that should never have been started.  Be a supporter of the Pastor among the people.

These are just a few suggestions but I believe will help you in your desire to see your church grow and thrive in the Lord.  Certainly there are many more things you will learn as you go.

Blessings to you today!

L. A.

Environment of Empowerment

Ephesians 4: 1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, 3endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is designed and destined to be the most powerful army in the earth.  It is equipped and empowered to wage war in the Spirit against all enemies of heaven and earth.  It has been given the power to overthrow demonic powers and evil schemes of all kinds.  Yet, this powerful army is a very delicate assembly.  In the natural world an army can operate with a motivation of hate, conquest or revenge.  History has proven this to be true.  The Church however, the Army of God, will come to ruin operating in the same motivations.  We are called to carry on the mission and motivation of our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.  That mission is redemption and that motivation is selfless love. 

Living in the Body of Christ, the Church, requires daily and sometimes moment-by-moment adjustment to maintain the environment of empowerment.  In 1 Corinthians 5 we read of the Apostle Paul’s instructions to the Church regarding a sinful member of the church who is living among them in terrible sin without repentance.  It is shocking to us to read, maybe for the first time, that Paul tells the church to put this member out of the local congregation until repentance and restoration takes place.  Being a part of the church is a privilege.  There is a proper lifestyle and attitude that leads to an environment to empowerment.  There is also an environment that reduces or even stops the flow of power to the church.  That is what Paul was trying to avoid.  In Acts chapter 6, in the middle of the greatest revival in history following Pentecost, the church came to a standstill when complaining and division occurred.  Once church authorities dealt it with in a proper way, restoration of the situation as well as resurgence of spiritual power resulted.  May we remember that the church atmosphere of unity and love is our responsibility.