Ascribing Artists Devotional

Ascribing Artist Devotion - My Plans for You 7) Growing Pains

Greetings!

Continuation from last Ascribing Artists devotional: We discovered the one overarching reason for suffering is for the glory of God. Don’t misunderstand me in thinking all suffering is for the glory of God. Please reread the devotion from March for further understanding. The second of five secondary reasons is related to growth, our spiritual growth. We see this in a set of verses we probably have all heard, but in most cases glance over or don’t fully understand. Romans 5:3-5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

I believe most of us glance over or don’t try to understand these verses because rejoicing in our sufferings does not only seem impossible, but really a foolish response. Who in their right mind rejoices in their sufferings? Don’t we strive as much as possible to avoid suffering and be comfortable? This is our fallen nature’s natural response.

God’s Word says we can rejoice knowing, “suffering produces endurance.” A simple analogy would be the training of a cross-country runner. In the beginning, the work that the runner had to suffer through to run 1 or 2 miles made running 5 or 6 miles easier, until one day a full marathon is achieved and at that point the suffering to run 1 or 2 miles seems laughable. Suffering does produce endurance.

God’s Word says we can rejoice knowing, “endurance produces character.” Out of the endurance of suffering character is produced.

We could chew on the depths of that truth for a long time, but to use another analogy, think of refining silver. Silver in its natural state is filled with impurities. The old process of refining silver was to heat it causing the impurities or dross to rise to the surface and then be skimmed off. When the heat is turned up and the pressure is on, what comes to the surface of your life? Anger? Addiction? Bitterness? Despair? Disbelief? _______? As believers, who still sin, God makes us aware of the dross in our lives not as a way of condemnation, but in the hope of confession and repentance, where He works to skim it from our lives. He knows our sinfulness! The question is, do we?

God’s Word says we can rejoice knowing, “character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” Character builds confidence giving the runner hope that they will win the prize, because of all the suffering that went into training. But listen to this, as Christians our hope in gaining victory is not sealed by our might, but “through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Hallelujah!

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6,7

Peace unto you,

Paul LaBathe
http://www.emptytombgraphics.com/

My Plans for You 6) Suffering Yields Faith

Earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes have captured our attention, changed our lives and shook our world. What are we to think? How does this kind of suffering fit in God’s plan? In the last devotion, we learned one overarching reason for suffering being for the glory of God. Then five secondary reasons for suffering as related to faith, growth, punishment, witness and comfort.

Natural disasters, unforeseen calamity and sudden harm all seem to raise the question of “Why?” The thought today, whether we actually say it or just quietly think it, is no different than in the day of Job. The reason it has not changed in over 3,500 years is because of mans strong, yet limited, sense of fairness and justice. Suffering must be punishment for wrongdoing or sin! Even Job pleaded his case before God.

In the days of Jesus, some Galileans were murdered during worship and Jesus responded by saying, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no!” - Luke 13: 2, 3a. Jesus then went on to add, “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!” - Luke 13: 4, 5a. The lesson here is to never judge someone by their hardships and afflictions.

So then really . . . “Why?” The answer lies in verses 3b and 5b, where Jesus repeats the statement, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” The answer does not lie in whether those who died are more sinful than those who were spared, but in a completely different question. The real question is, “How are you going to respond now that you have been sparred to breathe another day?” These sufferings of life make us either more defiant in our pride or more thankful in our humility. Job ultimately responded to the disasters in his life by saying, “I had heard of you (Lord) by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” - Job 42:5,6.

Suffering causes our faith to be challenged and hopefully strengthened as we learn to trust more completely in Almighty God.

For some it may be new found faith as they trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior for the first time and for others it may be a return to faith or a deepening of faith. Jesus told his disciples on the way to see Lazarus, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may BELIEVE. But let us go to him.” - John 11:14a, 15.

So quit asking “Why?” and instead ask, “Will our breath be filled with repentance turning from sin or will we go on unchanged? Will our lives become filled with spiritual fruit or will we go on centered around self?”

Peace be with you.

Paul LaBathe

My Plans for You 5: Pain in the Plans

Shortly after the last devotion my mother-in-law, who suffers from Parkinson, fell and broke her hip. During the past 4 months she has been in the hospital four times, rehab once and a clinic for evaluation once. She was completely bed ridden, needing 24-hour care, until the middle of January. She has endured a lot of suffering both physically and mentally. She is doing much better, but still weak and bound to a wheelchair.

Needless to say, we have had to make major adjustments to become the primary caretakers for my in-laws who live next door and our two sons who still live at home. Some of you have been caretakers of terminally ill family members and seen first hand the suffering and toll it takes. I now realize in a small way the Lord used what we went though mentally, physically and spiritually to care for our nephew to prepare us for this. All of a sudden that whole event doesn’t seem so random.

Once again the Lord prompts me to write out of life's experiences, but filtered through the truth of His Word. How does suffering fit into God’s plan for our lives? Doesn’t it seem to be completely counterproductive? Surely the time and energy spent could be better used to expand the Kingdom. In prayerful contemplation the Lord has lead me to several passages to summarize how suffering fits into His plans.

Now, it would take weeks to go into all the theological discussion on where suffering comes from, but it boils down to three main sources: the spiritual forces of evil, the wages of mans sin and the decay of fallen nature. Our discussion, however, is how suffering fits into God’s plans. Let me begin by saying there is one overarching reason and we get a sense of it in John 9:2,3 where we read, “And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Also, in John 11:4 concerning Lazarus, “But when Jesus heard it, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” We don’t like to be faced with it, but suffering is a way God shows His glory, character and plan.

The secondary reasons for suffering are numerous, but there are five that I see consistently in scripture related to punishment, witness, faith, growth and comfort . . . all to the Glory of God by making Himself known. Over the next several devotions we will look at them a little closer.

Peace unto you,
Paul LaBathe

My Plans for You: 4) Walk the Narrow Path

This is the fourth devotion in the study titled, "My Plans for You". If you are just now joining us, the previous 3 are posted on the Ascribing Artists blog along with the previous study titled, "Cutting & Pruning."

There are many places in the Bible where the Christian life is described as a walk. If we are truly trying to walk as transformed believers then we have to ask what does that look like and where am I going and how do I get there? We all wonder what is God’s direction or will for our lives. Most people want to know what career they should pursue, where they should live or whom they should marry, but overlook or ignore the more important truths of loving God and loving others. So, how do we learn these most important truths? By reading the Bible. Man, does that sound boring, hard to understand and a waste of time! If you are honest, those thoughts live in the back of your dark sinful heart and mind as well and only proves we need His Word in our lives to light the path.

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Psalm 119:105

To most people the Bible has been boiled down to an impersonal, impractical and impossible book of do’s and don’ts. What a travesty! In the most basic summary, the Bible is God’s story of the redemption of man. From beginning to end, Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells the story of a Mighty Creator who created man for a loving relationship and an Omniscient God who knew in creating man higher than the animals would fall to sinful temptation and a Loving Father who loved man so much that an agreement was made before creation with His one and only Willing Son who sacrificed Himself on a cross to restore that relationship. This story is woven throughout every word and letter of the Bible. The Bible then rightfully becomes God’s personal love letter to His people. How sweet it is!

In our modern age, we run to hear from everybody in our Email, Facebook and MySpace accounts, all the while, the greatest news ever told sits getting dusty. I know many of you receive inspirational and Biblical devotions through these modern forms of communication including this one, but I’m afraid we read them as if they are from just another friend or advice columnist and move on to the next message without God’s Word ever changing our lives. May we all find ourselves curled up in a good reading chair with a warm cup, reading the greatest love story ever written and pondering not only the love it contains, but the impact it should be having in our walk, if we are truly transformed believers.

Paul LaBathe

My Plans for You: 3) Journey of Focus

Greetings all!

In trying to imagine where the time has gone since August, I awake to discover myself wandering in the desert. I think to myself what good am I to God when I am wandering in the desert? Well, my first mistake is thinking that God needs me to do something because I am good. My second mistake is thinking the wilderness is meaningless.

God has detoured me from Paul in Acts to Hosea and there I find the answers to my folly. In Hosea chapter 14, which is an awesome depiction of God’s grace and restoration of the sinner, at the end of verse 8 it simply states, “from me comes your fruit.” Reminds me of our previous Cutting and Pruning devotions. Why do we think that we have something good to offer God when it is of our own making? We want to make our plans and ask God to bless them to His benefit thinking we know what is best. Wow. We can either ask Him to bless our plans and worry if they will work out or we can ask Him about His plans and know they are blessed! I want to find myself living daily in the latter.

My second assumption is proved to be folly in hearing God say through Hosea, “It is I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought” That sounds rather basic and broad in God speaking to Israel, but the word “you” is singular in the Hebrew and focuses on the personal covenant relationship with his people or YOU! God not only knows you are in the wilderness as a place, but knows you personally, deeply, intimately, all your thoughts and intentions while in the wilderness. It is there where He works to refocus your heart, soul, mind and strength back on Him and His plans.

If you are found wandering in the wilderness today . . . give thanks, because God is close at hand. He is calling to you and me. May we respond. . .

Paul LaBathe

My Plans for You: 2) Journey of Faith

Greetings All,

First, I need to thank all of you who replied to the last devotion. The Lord seems to have struck a chord in many of us concerning following after Him. I have come to understand more deeply several things from the Lord this summer. One of them being: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

August was a long strange month. After much prayer, planning, preparation and legal issues concerning our nephew, he has gone back to Oklahoma. We believe it to be the Lord’s will, but came away scratching our heads as to what the Lord was doing. A few days after our nephew had gone home the Lord reminded me of Abraham and his journey to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as written in Genesis 22. God instructed Abraham to take a three-day journey to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah. Did he question what he had heard? Abraham knew Isaac was the one through whom all the nations would be blessed. Did he weigh the pros and cons? Abraham had reasoned with Sarah on having a son through Hagar. Did he put it off? Abraham knew he would need to split wood for the offering and prepare for the trip. Verse 3 starts with, “So, Abraham rose early in the morning . . .” Stop for a moment and ponder on Abraham’s quick obedience based purely on faith.

“Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.” – Gen. 22: 9-14

Sometimes the Lord takes us on a journey where the destination is tested faith. Along the way our relationship with the Father deepens as we are drawn closer to Him and we come to understand even more, “The LORD Will Provide”.

Paul LaBathe

My Plans for You: 1) Planning Our Steps

Greetings Artists!

As I reflect over the past two months about all the cutting and pruning the Lord has done in my life to free me up for my plans, I realize my plans are totally secondary to His plans. As sure as the timing was right to fulfill my plans, God showed me His, which has involved opening our home to a 16-year old nephew of ours who was in need. This change in plans has brought on 6 weeks worth of adjustments and wondering how we can provide for him. The words from the last devotion now echo in my mind about this Christian walk. One, God rarely reveals the entire picture to us in a way where we see the path from beginning to end and everything in between. Two, God rarely shows us in a way where we see the provision from beginning to end and everywhere in between.

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul when he was in Ephesus and Acts 19:21 records, “Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” Sounds simple enough, but little did Paul know he would endure riots, arrests, a shipwreck and go to Rome as a prisoner in chains more than 5 years later.

So, if this email finds you today frustrated in plans gone astray, I pray you will turn to the Creator for His perspective. In reading how God worked in Paul’s life it comforts me in knowing even when things are not going as planned . . . maybe they are.

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 12) Marching On

God continues to cut and prune areas that took up time and energy, but were producing little or no fruit. I realize this process is a life-long process of following the Gardener into fields where fruit will grow and may continue to change as life moves on. The idea is not to narrow everything down, so we can say, “OK, from this point on I’m only going to do these things.” The idea is to rid ourselves of fruitless habits, activities and work to free ourselves up to be obedient to God in all things.

Looking back one last time at John 15, verse 14 and 15 reads, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made know to you.” Wow, to be recognized as a friend of Jesus and to know God! Jesus does not have a better or more complete revelation reserved for a special group. Everything Jesus would have believers to know is written in the Bible for us to read. Now the everyday working out is something we have to prayerfully ask and persistently seek to understand as we walk in faith.

Two things we must realize in this walk. One, God rarely reveals the entire picture to us in a way where we see the path from beginning to end and everything in between. Two, God rarely shows us in a way where we see the provision from beginning to end and everywhere in between. He tends to show us small steps without us being able to see where they are leading or how we are going to be provided for along the way. Usually it is just enough to require a step of faith, but not so much as to make perfect sense. Have you been there? Man wants to write down the perfect plan with step-by-step directions, safety net provisions and predictable results before we begin to move in any direction. This is the way of human understanding and the world. We must remember we are soldiers for Christ receiving instructions for a particular duty for a particular day.

Jesus sent out the disciples with the following words, “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support” (Matt. 10: 9, 10) Hmm, how many shoes do we have? Coats? How about dusty Bibles? Yes, those were different times, but the main principles are still the same and they are this: Do not be tied to anything on Earth that would prevent you from following Jesus and know when you do follow that God will provide along the way. The old saying is still true, “The finger that points the way is connected to the hand that provides.”

May you be blessed today and filled with the joy of following after Jesus!

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 11) True Calling

I mentioned back in January, instead of focusing on the same old resolutions that the Lord had pressed upon me to make 2010 a year of “Cutting and Pruning”. He has been guiding me through this process, understanding how we bear spiritual fruit as summarized in devotion 5. Then back in devotion 7, I invited each of you to join me in writing down the major priorities, affections and labors in each of our lives and to spend time in prayer before the Gardener and take an honest evaluation of the true worth of those items. We then went on to read what true fruit will look like as summarized in devotion 8 and how to gauge our specific activities in devotion 10.

I will testify that God has done an amazing work in the cutting and pruning of my life starting even back in September of last year with SoulStock, after 9 years of helping them promote that event, passing the torch. Here lately, God has affirmed and confirmed a decision I have been struggling with for about 6 months in ways only He could orchestrate and has moved in such a way for me to step down from several positions at our church and more fully pursue what God has in store for Ascribing Artists. I say this not as a “feather in my cap”, but to say that God will guide and direct in ways unimaginable, even for a wretched sinner such as myself, if we will but abandon our nets and truly follow after him, Mark 1:18.

Be aware that a Christian who is too busy to pursue God in prayer and in His Word is an ineffective Christian. Believers who are overworked or caught up in this rat race are no threat to the forces of evil. It is said that Satan is content with letting the Believer become overworked even through church involvement if it will prevent the Believer from praying for and pursuing that which he is truly called to do resulting in spiritual fruit. Satan will even convince us that the more we do for a local church the more righteous and effective we are, so we sign-up for this committee and that committee, keep the kids, sing in the choir, teach a class, tend to the building, etc., all the while producing no spiritual fruit. Now I am by no means suggesting any of the above is wrong or not a true calling, because I Corinthians 12:14 states, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.” So, the question is not the part itself, but if you are called to be that part. Even good things, when they are not a true calling, can produce the wrong results such as burnout, lack of faith and disillusionment.

May you focus on your calling and move forth in God’s power . . .

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 10) Driven

The Lord has seen fit to add nine Ascribing Artists in the past two weeks! May we all rejoice in His grace and be encouraged by one another. Now, whereas the Lord is Faithful, I am not so much and apologize for not being able to send out a devotion during the past several weeks. My inability to do so is evidence of the fact that I still need cutting and pruning! From the email responses I have received the devotions are deeming to be fruitful, because the Spirit has taught us and made them effective. I am thankful for all you who have replied with comments.

Now, we left off seeing Jesus leave the masses to cross the sea and visit the one. A demon-possessed man who became the first Gentile missionary in a place where pigs can’t fly or swim. A place where Jesus is quickly rejected and begged to leave. So, what drove Jesus to go so far out of his way only to leave? We established two reasons, one it was the will of the Father and two Jesus told this man to “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mark 5:19b, preparing the area for the future spread of the gospel. We also see in the Gospels, Jesus proving He was God’s Son through miracles that showed his total authority over creation, the spirit realm and physical flesh. So, the reasons behind the trip and healing this one man are multi-faceted.

As I look back in John chapter 15, where we have been learning about cutting and pruning, I find another primary reason for this one man mission. In verse 16, we had just discovered that our “fruit should abide” and on either side of this verse are two punctuating verses. John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” and John 15:17, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” Jesus was driven to that particular man, yes because of the reasons mentioned above, but also out of his great love and compassion for this tormented individual. When gauging the activities of our lives, love is a good measuring stick. Abiding fruit is best ripened when watered with love. So the question becomes, are these activities that occupy our lives driven out of a love for self or a love for others? Ouch . . . I like all this talk about love as long as self has a large part. I will be the first to admit that if we really desire to walk the talk then this will become a daily battle, because self is so evasive and sometimes difficult to discover as a motive and even more difficult to suppress. We must be diligent all the while praying for forgiveness, grace and a Spirit-filled walk.

Our lives will produce abiding fruit when our activities:

1) have eternal significance

2) are directed by the will of the father and not the masses

3) are driven by our love for one another

Passion week is coming . . .

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 9) The Will of the Father

Greetings,

Recently I have been reading through the gospel of Mark. I am one who firmly believes that God speaks to us primarily through His Word and being sovereign knows where we are going to be in His Word on any given day to speak directly to where we are in life. Many times when we are convicted or challenged by His Word we dismiss it, because it is not what we want to hear, but anyone can search the scriptures until they find the answer they want.

This past week as I went back to the “list” all I could think about was how do we gauge spiritual fruit? When it comes to the fruit of our personal lives as transformed believers, we see it in the fruit of the Spirit as mentioned in Galations 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” These fruits come forth as the Spirit transforms our old sinful nature. We can look at the list and see how we used to be one way by the flesh, but are now another way by the Spirit. This transformation is a life-long process that will never be complete this side of heaven.

In gauging the fruit of our activities though, my mind went to understanding it must be the activities that seemingly have the biggest impact or largest movement or greatest gathering. In the gospel of Mark, he wastes no time describing the mass movement gathering around Jesus. “Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.” Mark 4:1. This is the same crowd as mentioned in chapter 3 that where “from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.” A modern day preachers wildest dream! Let’s see, the disciples need to pass an offering plate, we need to start a building project, form some committees and do this thing right! Well, Jesus did just that . . .

Nope, he sailed his boat away from the crowd to the other side of the sea to meet with a violent, demon-possessed man, living in the tombs, an outcast of society, crying out and bruising himself with stones. A modern day preachers worst nightmare! Well, Jesus casts out the demons, heals the man and said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mark 5:19b. Believe it or not this unlikely man becomes the first Gentile missionary and unlike all the other times where Jesus told people to keep silent about being healed, he sends this man on his way to prepare the whole region for the future mission of the church.

May the Lord direct you . . .

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 8) Eternal Significance

This past week I began to write down all those priorities, affections and labors in my life and quickly became overwhelmed. I began by writing down the obvious, that I’m called to be a husband and a father as well as a son and son-in-law. Followed by church work, activities and committees. Then there is work that puts food on the table, Ascribing Artists, other community organizations and finally personal goals. Eight major categories that make up were I find myself in life right now. They are probably not much different from the ones you have in your life.

Next, I began to list the activities under each of those categories that occupy my time. Some of them overlapped, but many did not. Some were obvious like committees I’m on and some were not so obvious like time spent watching TV. The exercise was to truthfully discovery what it is that I spend my time doing. Honestly, after I wrote them all down I got up and walked away. How do we determine what God would have us cut and prune especially between things that are seemingly “good”? Back to God’s word . . .

Just a little farther in John chapter 15 in verse 16 Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you.” What? Our fruit should abide! Well, that brings us full circle doesn’t it. Jesus is telling us that the fruit of our lives should:

Reflect us dwelling in the presence of the LORD through His Word, prayer and worship

Reflect us accepting or acting in accordance with the commandments and will of the LORD

Reflect us knowing the Spirit of the LORD will never fade and we will never be lost again

Bottom line, our fruit as Christians should have eternal significance.

Back to the list . . .

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 7) Before the Gardener

The devotion last week may have struck a strong chord in you of agreement or agitation. It was definitely not my intent to upset anyone, but bring food for thought so that we may “come now and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). I agree the Bible contains verses of God’s plans to prosper (Jeremiah 29:11) and of Him giving you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). The problem is when people measure righteousness by worldly possessions and prosperity or even worse make it the focus of Christianity and look down in pity on those who don’t measure up. Yes, God may prosper you and then again He may not, He is God. I am certain though that He calls us to see the worth in every individual no matter what their worldly status.

We must remember the main blessings of being a Christian are spiritual blessings like forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7), peace with God (Romans 5:1), an inheritance (1 Peter 1:3), access to God (Hebrews 4:16), a helper, teacher and reminder through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) and a new covenant of grace through the blood of Jesus (Luke 22) to which material things have no comparison. I’m afraid we overlook some of the most Godly people, because they don’t stand out in this culture of materialism.

Back to cutting and pruning . . . Do you feel like you are running into a brick wall with this cutting and pruning stuff? Are you distracted and deterred? I will admit this past month has been one of great expectations with little real progress. The forces of darkness and my own flesh cry out NO! They are comfortable with the old and take pleasure in their rebellion. They don’t want new life to spring forth that will produce fruit.

If that sounds familiar, you might want to join me this week in writing down the major priorities, affections and labors in your life. Then spend time in prayer before the Gardener and taking an honest evaluation of the true worth of those items. How? Based on eternity. Do you see the Lord looking upon that branch in your life and saying in the end, “well done my good and faithful servant” if not it probably needs to be cut. Maybe this exercise will help move us in the right direction. It is my prayer we will persevere and not grow weary.

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 6) Receiving

Before we leave this section of God’s Word I have to address verse 7 of chapter 15, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” In my early Christian walk I stumbled all over verses like this and I John 3:22 “and whatever we ask we receive from Him”. I stumbled because my flesh cried out for comfort and pleasure and possessions. So, the “whatever” I was asking for really was whatever “I” was asking for.

If you happen to look those verses up or know them you realize I wrote only a portion of each verse. The first verse is, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” And the second verse is “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.” The key is we will receive whatever we ask for when we are abiding and keeping His commandments, because our will is in submission to His will.

Here is my version of a story I heard a long time ago that may help our understanding. There was a little boy who was anticipating the coming of Christmas. He knew presents were involved and had even asked for some. His father thought he was old enough to own a bicycle, so weeks before Christmas day he went out and bought a red BMX off-road bicycle with wide knobby tires for his son and hid it in the garage. From that day forward the father subtly began to talk to his son about, “how nice it would be to have a bike” and “how exciting it would be to have one with wide knobby tires that he could ride off-road ” and “how fast a red one would look”. Well, his son was finally convinced that was exactly what he wanted and so asked for it for Christmas. When Christmas day came guess what he received, a red BMX off-road bicycle with wide knobby tires!

Prayer has little to do with swaying God to give us our wants and desires. Jesus taught to pray, “give us each day our daily bread” . . . not cake. Many people would say, well you just don’t have enough faith to obtain the comfort, pleasure and possessions God wants to give you, but it doesn’t have anything to do with whether I can muster up enough faith, because even my faith is from God. Just ask those first century Christians who were mocked, imprisoned, tortured and put to death. Hebrews says they went about in sheepskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. Can we honestly say they just didn't have enough faith? Hebrews says they were, "men of whom the world was not worthy". Prayer has everything to do with having faith in Christ who is able and allowing the Spirit to transform our desires to that of the Father, so that "whatever we ask we receive from Him", because it is already in the garage!

Have a blessed week!

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 5) Everlasting

I have come to realize that it might take me the first 6 months of 2010 just to discern the areas of pruning and cutting the Lord is wanting to do in my life and then a lifetime to surrender them. This is mainly due to placing myself on the throne of my life instead of submitting to the Lord and in some cases offering up reasons to keep those unfruitful and dead branches. I make excuses like, “that branch might produce fruit if I work a little harder” or “I might need that dead branch as a cane when I grow older” or “that dead branch doesn’t really interfere with my relationship with the Lord.” Crucifying self is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour and moment-by-moment intentional act, an act of obedience as we learned even in the last devotion.

If you will bear with me one more time concerning the word “Abide” you will notice in some translations the word is translated “remain” and means “to continue without fading or being lost.” Now that’s good . . . talk about security! Think back to that moment when you surrendered your will to Christ, believed and repented. The burden of your sin was lifted and all things became new. God the Father and Jesus his son made their home with you through the Holy Spirit and not a temporary home until you mess it up, not a summer home until your love wanes or a rental home until another spirit takes up resident, but a permanent home until we are welcomed into glory. To “abide” means their indwelling will continue and never fade away! The security deposit of the Holy Spirit places us in the kingdom to never be lost again!

So far, how are we to bear fruit?

To live dwelling in the presence of the LORD through His Word, prayer and worship

To live accepting or acting in accordance with the commandments and will of the LORD

To live knowing the Spirit of the LORD will never fade and we will never be lost again

Have an awesome week!

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 4) Freedom

In the last devotion, we discovered the word “abide” means to dwell and we all love the thought of God indwelling us through the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at another meaning of the word “abide”, which is to “accept or act in accordance with”, usually pertaining to a rule, decision or recommendation. OK, I like this God indwelling me stuff, but don’t give me any rules. We like the benefits, but don’t want any restrictions. If we look at verse 10 though of John chapter 15 it is painfully clear, “If you keep my commandments, you will ABIDE in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and ABIDE in his love.”

What most don’t understand is living within those rules or commandments there is great freedom and joy. It is like so many other spiritual truths that go against our natural understanding . . . “the least will be the greatest”, “it is more blessed to give than receive”, “bless those who persecute you” and we could go on and on. Spiritual matters require Faith. If the spiritual made perfect sense to our natural fallen minds and God said, the greatest will be the greatest, get all you can and you will be happy and hate those who persecute you, where would Faith be? Maybe even more important who would receive the Glory?

Now I don’t claim to know what areas of your life God is calling to your attention or dare try to be the Holy Spirit for you, but I know we are all sinful, “for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” Romans 3:23. We all have areas of our lives that need repenting, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8. None of us are perfect and if you think you are you just sinned at least twice by lying and being prideful.

God will show us His will as we remain in the Word and in prayer this week. Have a great week!

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 3) To Dwell

The call to me this year and the challenge is to submit myself to the cutting and pruning of God as He reveals those things in my life that are not fruitful that I might bear more fruit. I pray it might be a call and challenge to you as well.

In the last devotion, we discovered the repetition of the phrase “remain in” or “abide” as key to producing fruit. Here is the entire passage. "ABIDE in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear 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. Whoever ABIDES in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not ABIDE in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you ABIDE in me, and my words ABIDE in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. ABIDE in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will ABIDE in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and ABIDE in his love.” John 15:4-10

Now, I know that was long and hopefully you didn’t just skim over it. I have a bad habit of doing that when I have heard something before, but then I miss seeing something fresh and anew. We as artists are supposed to be those that see things fresh and anew, so if you don’t have time to read it thoroughly right now, maybe come back to it when you do.

As mentioned last week, one of the meanings of this rich word "abide" is to dwell, which takes me to John 14:23 where Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and the Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our HOME with him.” Ponder on the words, “make our home with him” . . . with you, with me! Think of having your best friend sitting with you on a cold winter morning, sipping coffee, looking out at the world and seeing it with new eyes, spiritual eyes. This takes place as He indwells us and we continue to dwell in His Word and spend time in prayer.

Have a blessed week!

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 2) Abiding

Thanks to those who responded with encouragement and affirmation concerning the devotion on cutting and pruning. I hope it did not discourage any of you from the goals and resolutions you had already set, but challenged each of us to look at the big picture of life.

I always find the list making and goal creating part much easier than the applying part. I can agree in my soul on so many things that my flesh refuses to do. As a people in general, we tend to put more on our carts than we can possibly carry making us drop items off the sides that we have to stop and pick up, loose items off the back that we never notice and forget about and bear so much weight that we slip instead of walk, crawl instead of run, fly instead of soar! This year instead of putting more on our cart let's take Jesus at His word . . . "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My load is light." Matthew 11:28-30

What does this mean? How do we obtain this rest and take on this easy yoke, yet still be fruitful? Lets look back at John chapter 15. "Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15: 4, 5. Hmm, do you think he wants us to remain in him? "Remain in me" is also translated "abide" and it is used 10 times in verses 4 through 10. So, bearing fruit must be connected to abiding in Christ where we not only bear fruit, but find rest as well.

One of the meanings of this rich word "abide" is to dwell. So, in order to make 2010 a year of cutting and pruning we must dwell in God's Word and spend time in prayer to see what He reveals to each of us that needs cutting or pruning.

Have a blessed week!

Paul LaBathe

Cutting & Pruning: 1) Being Fruitful

I'm excited about the new year. This year the Lord has pressed upon me instead of adding goals and resolutions, to make it a year of cutting those things in my life that are not fruitful. I have come to realize if I focus more on cutting and pruning, then I will have a much better chance of reaching those goals and resolutions that seem to be the same every year.

Jesus stated, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be more fruitful." John 15: 1,2

Wow, did you notice the "in me"? Of course that applies to a specific group in Christ and it goes on to say in Verse 5 "I am the vine; YOU are the branches." Jesus does not say, God "cuts off every branch in those around me" even though He will or "cuts off every branch in my church" even though He will. His focus is on you personally dear precious ones!

Now the fruit primarily discussed in this section of scripture has to do with love and refers more to the fruit of living a Christ-like life produced by the Holy Spirit as discussed in Galatians 5:22,23, but it also refers to obedience. We know God is Sovereign and able to accomplish His will in us, but He also gives us responsibility in the knowledge He reveals. We can't just sit and wait on God to accomplish those things in us once He has shown us what actions to take. So, maybe this week spend some time before the Lord in prayer and in His Word and see what He reveals to you that needs cutting or pruning, then move into 2010 knowing He is able to accomplish those goals and resolutions in you.

Abiding,

Paul LaBathe