Remain in Me

How many times I have read these words! But I've never truly
understood them - not fully. But lately, the Holy Spirit is causing
the scripture to be so alive in my heart, that I am eager to search
Jesus' words with these new eyes of mine!
In my ongoing study, the Lord opened up to me one more verse -
John 15:4 "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."
"Remain in me" seems to be the key thought in this verse. What
does it mean to "remain" or "abide" in Jesus Christ? Is it simply a
matter of choosing not to turn my back on my faith? No. It's much
more than that.
"Abide" means "to journey, to be kept continually, in reference to time
- to continue to be, to last, to endure."
The word "endure" caught my attention as I remembered that those
who endure to the end will be saved. And indeed, the word is similar
in the original Greek. For "remain", the word is "meno". For "endure",
the word is "hupomeno". So I'm on the right track.
"Hupomeno" is another fascinating word in meaning. It means, "Under
misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one's faith in Jesus Christ / to endure
bravely and calmly ill treatments."
And what does "saved" mean as used in Matthew 24:13 (those who endure
until the end, the same shall be saved). "Sozo" (saved) means "to rescue from
danger or destruction - to save from evils which obstruct the reception of the
Messianic deliverance."
Suddenly, "abide" took on new meaning. This picture of the vine and the branch
was a picture of true salvation - of being in Christ and remaining in Christ
until the end. "Abide" has true eternal meaning for the Christian.
Now I know that I must abide, remain, endure to the end. How must I, the
"branch", respond while abiding?
No branch can bear fruit by itself... The "branch" or "klema" is a tender and
flexible branch, a vine sprout. I must be tender and flexible as a branch. I must
be willing for the Lord to bend me when necessary. I must be willing to change,
to repent, to listen to His words and obey them. If I'm flexible, I'm a true branch.
When I considered the word "sprout", I had the thought of the sprout being the
same plant as the vine to which it is attached. It has the same DNA, the same
characteristics, the same purpose, the same physical appearance, bears the
same fruit. If that sprout was somehow detached from the vine, it would quickly
die, because all its life-source would be cut off.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me... Again, without the vine
our source of life is cut off. Life is in us only through the vine - Jesus Christ
(as we discovered in verses 1-3). If we are not attached to "life", "death" is
working within us.
A branch cannot bear fruit... Cannot is "dunamai", signifying the power of
the Holy Spirit in our lives being removed if we do not "abide". If we do not
abide, not only is there death produced in us, but we have no effectiveness,
no anointing as a Christian in this world.
And I will remain in you... When Jesus said this, He meant "in" you as a fixed,
unmoveable position within us. What a wonderful promise! He will never
leave us nor forsake us, as His word says!
My final thought is focused on the fruit we will bear when we remain in Him.
The fruit, or "karpos", means "to gather fruit into life eternal (as into a granary),
is used in figurative discourse of those who by their labors have fitted souls to
obtain eternal life."
I immediately asked the Lord what a "fitted soul" was. Our "souls" refer to our
mind, our will, our emotions - who we are humanly speaking. Our "fitted souls"
refers to the fruit we bear - the outward proof that we are His - the works we do
that prove our salvation - that we are a true branch attached to the Vine.
Our salvation is begun by faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith in Jesus Christ is
then proved to be real by the fruit we bear - our works prove that we are His.
Those who are bearing fruit have "fitted souls" - they "bear fruit".
Are you a true branch? Check to see that you are bearing eternal fruit....

My Time With the Lord

A few weeks ago, a precious man that I've known almost all my
life came to impart wisdom to the body of Harvest Church. This
man mentored my dad when he pastored a church, laid hands on me
and prophesied the word of the Lord before I went on my first
mission trip in my early 20's. I trust him and I value what he
says - so much so that I made a conscious decision to heed his
words when he told our body we would do well to study the same
three chapters in scripture that he had spent countless hours
studying for himself. If it's good enough for a man who has
walked with the Lord many years, it is good enough for me!
So I've been reading John 14-16. Well, in all honesty, the Lord
would not allow me to move past John 14 for several days. I had
to first internalize the fact that I am "not to let my heart be
troubled." I don't mean just read it - I mean "get" it deep into
my heart and soul.
Today, he allowed me to go to John chapter 15, but I was only
prompted to study the first 3 verses! But what a wealth I found
in those first 3 verses.
I saw that Jesus is the "true vine", and that it is His Father who
is the gardener. It is the Father who prunes the fruitful branches
so that they will bear even more fruit.
I noticed that in the Greek, the word for "prunes" is also the same
word for "cleanses". As a matter of fact, the Greek word "Kathairo"
means to cleanse of filth and impurity. So when the Father is pruning
us, He is cleansing us from sin. (Interesting personal note - my oldest
daughter's name is Katherine, which means "pure" - wow...)
The Father is cleansing His Church right now. Have you noticed?
What does the Father use to cleanse us? In verse 3, Jesus says, "You
are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."
It is His Word that cleanses us. How do I know that?
In Psalm 119:9 His Word says, "We keep our way pure by living
according to His Word."
In John 17:17 His Word says, "We are sanctified by the truth."
God's Word is truth - Jesus Christ is truth.
In Ephesians 5:25, 26 His Word says, "...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."
He gave Himself up for us, the church, to make us holy - to cleanse
us.
Why are we being purified? Is it simply so that we will be clean
or is there purpose in us being clean?
According to I Peter 1:22 through 2:12 (please read for yourself),
In verse 22 - now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the
truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers... love one
another deeply.
We are being purified "so that we will have sincere love for one
another." But does the purpose end there?
No. It does not. If you read the above mentioned passage, you'll
see in chapter 2, verse 9 that we are being purified so that we
may love one another and so that we "may declare the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
And in verse 12 - we see the ultimate reason for being cleansed.
"Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse
you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God
on the day he visits us."
ALL of what the Father is doing in cleansing us is to bring glory
to Himself.
So if you are bearing fruit, be cleansed (or pruned) by obeying
His Word. Then you will love your brother. Then the world will
see the glory of the Father, and some will believe...

College preparation

August 23rd is so close!
I'm getting excited - yes, I really am. I know I'll miss
Matthew, but this is the direction of the Lord for his life
so I'm very excited to see what God will do with Matthew
both academically and spiritually over the next four years.
Abigail and I went to Walmart today to buy a few things for
Matthew. We bought a twin XL sheet set with comforter -
army tan in color - nothing "girly"! An extra sheet set in
dark teal - looks so nice with the brown. We got a set of
towels in chocolate brown - 2 bath, 2 hand, and 2 washcloths.
And we found this really neat laundry bag - heavy duty with a
strap for carrying and a pocket to tuck detergent and softener
into.
Abigail was joking around that it didn't matter to get him
two laundry bags to separate lights from darks. She's
convinced that he'll come home with all his clothes the same
color. I told her that he knows perfectly well how to do
his own laundry and that I expect his clothes will be just fine.
What I'm more thinking is how often will he wash his clothes,
towels, sheets, etc.... That's part of why I got two sets of
sheets - to remind him that they should be washed! haha!
Abigail is also pricing little things to finish decorating
Matthew's room once she moves in. She's going with a chocolate
brown and sage green color scheme. Katherine will keep the sage
green and deep purple color scheme in the room the girls share
now.
There's still a good size list of other things needed. But we'll
wait until closer to the time - maybe even until the day we move
him. There's a Super Walmart right down the road for anything it
looks like he'll need once we get there.

Have You Heard?

John 5:25 says, "I tell you the truth, a time is coming
and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of
the Son of God and those who hear will live."
This week, during my quiet time, I came across this
verse and it struck my heart in a strong, prophetic
way. "The dead will hear... and will live."
What an incredible promise of salvation to those who will
believe!
Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come!
One day every tongue will confess, "You are God!"
One day every knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains for those
Who gladly choose You now...

It's official!

Katherine and I are going with a team to Cambodia in September.
We are following what we believe to be the Holy Spirit's
confirmation to "go to the other side of the world", now
that it's been ten years since the prophetic word came.
I'm excited and nervous! I'm already praying, fasting, and
continuing my devotional time so that I'll be more ready to
be a blessing when we get there.
And I'm daily seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that
He will work through us and we won't be guilty of giving to
anyone out of our flesh. How worthless that would be!
We have a verse of encouragement from the Lord as we go...
Proverbs 19:17 He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will reward him for what he has done.

Feeling safe to be honest...

Do I feel safe in being honest because there is probably no one
reading this? Partially :) - ha! But what if someone does
read what I've written? Maybe it will encourage them in their
fears...
A lot has happened since we last "talked". Jeff was praying
a few mornings ago, then mentioned to me that he was asking
the Lord about me going to Cambodia with Katherine. I want to
go, but I know the trip will not be an easy one. Am I "up"
for the trip? Yes, by God's grace, I can do all things.
So now the consideration is for both of us to go. Jeff
talked to our missionary friend to ask if a middle-aged woman
and a 15 year old girl would be of benefit to him in Cambodia.
He said, "Yes!". As a matter of fact, he said they'd been
praying that an older lady would go to help with the younger
girls and their adjustments outside the country - among other
things.
So, am I (are we) going?
We don't know yet.
We just came back from Honduras and will not be sending out
support letters AGAIN. So if we're to go, the Lord will have
to show us from where the money will come.
The last trip was about $6,000 for the four of us that went.
This one will be about $4,000 for just the two of us.
The money doesn't concern me as much as the very long
plane ride does - 20-something hours in the air. I do not
sleep on planes... so I was awake last night for a good while
considering not sleeping on the plane - silly, I know!
Oh well - if it is the Lord's plan that we make this trip, He
will confirm it.
So I wait...
Will you please help us pray?!

My heart is unsure...
Letting go of your kids is sometimes hard, sometimes a
little easier.
Today I'm faced with something that is harder for me.
Our daughter Katherine came to Jeff and me last night
and asked us to pray about something with her. She
wants to make a trip to Cambodia in September with a
team from our church. She wants to submit to our
authority as parents. It wasn't my 15 year old
daughter that we talked to last night. It was a young
woman who is called of God and passionate for seeing
others serve Jesus Christ.
We've known for years that the call of God was on her
life in the area of evangelism and missions. I'd just
hoped she'd be older before she left the country
without me!
Let me back up a little. At the age of 5, Katherine
came to me. I was reading my Bible, having my daily
devotional time with the Lord. Usually the kids knew
not to interrupt, but truth is that when they're little
they do interrupt. And if we're good parents, we smile
and listen to them, knowing that an interruption is no
big thing to God.
She came into the room with an announcement. "Mom." she
said, "In ten years, I'm going to the other side of the
world as a missionary." She was FIVE, so I started to
dismiss her with a laugh. But the Holy Spirit stopped
me short, telling me to listen to what she was saying
because she was prophesying. So we went to the globe
and looked together to see what was on "the other side
of the world." I saw China. But as I looked at a map
of Cambodia again this morning, guess what I noticed?
Yes, Cambodia is directly south of China. Cambodia is
on the "other side of the world".
Sigh... I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I know and
trust the missionary she would be traveling with, but
she seems so young.
Lord, not my will, but Yours. She is yours after all.

I am NOT losing my mind... I hope... :)
Most of you know I had surgery April 15th - a hysterectomy.
It took me about 7 weeks plus to begin to feel better physically.
As a matter of fact, I was concerned that my health would not
be at full strength for a recent mission trip to Honduras with a
team from my church. But God, always faithful, saw fit to give
me renewed strength and health just days before our team left.
But what about my mind?
Ha! It's still a little "foggy". Is it premenopause? Is it stress?
Is it a busy life? Probably "yes" to all.
A friend recently pointed out to me that my mental state is
probably also being affected by the fact that my 17 year old son
will be leaving to go to college on August 23rd. Leaving... gone...
I haven't wrapped my mind around that one yet.
I know he's ready. I know he has heard the Lord on where he is
to go to college, and Jeff and I are both confident this is the time
and the place for Matthew's continued physical and spiritual
education. I'm excited for him.
But I think I haven't come to terms yet with the fact that my
first-born is leaving home. He is going away and will become
the young man God has called him to be. And I will miss him.
I'll miss his smile, his hugs, his silly humor, his gentle way, and
yes, even his aggravating arguing...
I'm sure his leaving won't fully hit my heart and mind until we come
home Saturday afternoon after having moved all his possessions into
his dorm room.
I'll stay busy, I'm sure. I have my husband to hang out with. I'm one
step closer to it being just the two of us, which I do look forward to in
many ways.
I have two more children at home who are in a season of very much
needing their mom - my two girls who are almost 13 and 16.
And as we laugh and say often "WE are best friends!"
But the adjustment will be strange. They will miss Matthew.
I will miss him. Jeff will miss him.
I'll get back with all of you along about November to let you know
how the family is adjusting to having one less member living
here - and to let you know how Abigail and Katherine are
enjoying each having their own room for the first time ever!