\u201c\u2026and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.\u201d \u2013 John 15:2<\/p>\n
So we bear some fruit and look up to get a commendation or a blessing.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Heaven is like on the other side of a sheet of brass.\u00a0 God is silent.<\/p>\n
What did we do?\u00a0 Did we do it wrong?\u00a0 Are we being judged for pride in our achievements?\u00a0 Why do we feel so chastised and even worthless?<\/p>\n
Blessed is the soul who reaches that point in their relationship with God.\u00a0 It is the fellowship of Christ\u2019s sufferings.\u00a0 When He had given all, paid the ultimate price, He felt that God had forsaken Him.<\/p>\n
Someone may ask, \u201cWhat do you mean by \u201cblessed\u201d?\u00a0 I know, it doesn\u2019t seem blessed, but don\u2019t worry.\u00a0 No one will ever reach that point in their experience with God unless they have been faithful in bearing fruit.<\/p>\n
Think of it this way.\u00a0 What do you do with a glass when you wish it to be clean?\u00a0 (The wrong answer is, \u201cPut it in the dishwasher.\u201d)\u00a0 You take a dishrag or sponge and you scrub and purge the inside of it.\u00a0 You want it to be clean and fit for use. (Psalm 51:7)<\/p>\n
The fact is, when you become fruitful God will prune and purge you so that you will bear more fruit.\u00a0 Having been raised with a peach orchard a few feet from our house, I have seen the pruning in action.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t feel good to us spiritually.\u00a0 It is not happy time in victory camp, but there is joy.<\/p>\n
But why doesn\u2019t God reward us?\u00a0 Have we not read His word?\u00a0 He has promised us a reward in eternity, but down here we are His vessels.\u00a0 We are on this earth to be used by Him.\u00a0 The first Christians recognized this fact and rejoiced when they were beaten and imprisoned for doing His will.<\/p>\n
The blessing is in knowing that God is going to do a greater work through you.\u00a0 That is why He is pruning and purging you.\u00a0 Besides, a pruning and purging do not always follow a significant bearing of fruit. (Proverbs 10:22)\u00a0 But there are those moments when you are ready for it.\u00a0 God knows that you are submissive and faithful, that you trust Him with your life.\u00a0 Like Job, you may not understand it, but you refuse to deny Him.<\/p>\n
Therefore, don\u2019t pray to be used if you have not counted the cost.\u00a0 If you are unwilling to suffer, or to have things removed from your life by pruning, or to endure the painful process of purging, you are not ready to be in service.<\/p>\n
But what other choice do you have?\u00a0 If He can\u2019t use you, are you \u201cusedmore\u201d or useless?<\/p>\n
I remember reading a biography about a man greatly used by God.\u00a0 He was coming down the stairs after a morning session of prayer.\u00a0 Tears were streaming down his face.\u00a0 They were tears of joy.\u00a0 But his friend asked him what was the matter?\u00a0 He replied, \u201cGod said, \u2018Smith, I\u2019m going to break you\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He was rejoicing even though he knew he was headed for suffering.\u00a0 Blessed is the individual that will rejoice in suffering because he or she knows that God is making him or her into a more productive vessel.\u00a0 Such a person is as focused as one can be on what really matters in this life.<\/p>\n
It is not about my comfort, my satisfaction, accolades of people, or any other thing important to the flesh.\u00a0 It does not matter if I am rejected, thought a fool, or demoted to the bottom of the social heap.\u00a0 It only matters if I am pliable and malleable in the hands of God.\u00a0 The reward of being the piece of clay He chooses to use for whatever task, lofty or menial, must be the blessing and reward.\u00a0 All else is froth and stuff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201c\u2026and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.\u201d \u2013 John 15:2 So we bear some fruit and look up to get a commendation or a blessing.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Heaven is like on the other side of a sheet of brass.\u00a0 God is silent. What did we do?\u00a0 Did we do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-the-remnant","category-the-importance-of-prayer","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paIm2N-hl","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1420,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions\/1420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}