“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:2-3 NKJV

All I can say is WOW….the Lord is amazing! There I was, at our Ladies Bible study kick off on the Book of Ecclesiastes. You are probably thinking “ok, where is this going? This has nothing to do with the above verse!” After the teaching, our pastor’s wife began the instruction on how we will approach this study. Her chosen passage for our practice study was Psalm 1:1-3 (don’t worry, I’m getting there!). So we get into small study groups and begin reading….I was so convicted! The Holy Spirit’s revelation hit me like a wall. You see, I had been slowly neglecting my study of the Word.

It started innocently enough….I got busy and enjoyed other hobbies and activities. I am a bookworm and took up reading again…reading is harmless in itself, but my reading began to take the time away from my time in the Word, my time in prayer, my time with Jesus! I opened my eyes in the morning and the first thing I did was grab whatever book I was reading instead of talking with my Lord and digging into His Word! All my free time throughout the day was spent again reading instead of meditating on the Word, or praising in music….I practically fell asleep every night while reading instead of conversing with Christ about my day, thoughts, feelings and concerns….instead of thanking Him for another day in His blessings!!

As I pondered on the scripture, my heart flutters on verse 2 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2 NKJV. How powerful! My heart tightened; it was painful! This verse spoke to me of joy…the joy and excitement of digging into the Word of God; looking forward to being in the presence of Jesus and to the great discoveries He will surely unveil! I had not been excited and looking forward to spending time in the Word; instead I went through the motions of reading my Bible, but my whole being was not in it….my other activities were on the back of my mind and I was excited and looking forward to those instead! I was heart-broken and ashamed!! But the Lord is so awesome that He filled me with joy right then and there because He exposed the problem and showed me what to do to fix it. Instead of feeling regretful or conflicted, I felt liberated!! JOYFUL-JOYFUL-JOYFUL!!! Praise the Lord!! He is soooo merciful!

Ok. So we move on to verse 3 “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:3 NKJV. I was just ecstatic…I’m feeling on fire for the Lord again! Being the continuation of verse 2, verse 3 affirms why I am so thrilled, elated and overjoyed to study the Word of God! It keeps me alive! It is LIFE! The Word of God is my livelihood, my lifeline, my umbilical cord to the Lord. The Word of God is my nourishment; it is living and essential to our spiritual lives and growth. We pay an extremely high price for neglecting the Word as we NEED every word that God spoke and speaks to LIVE. I felt a growing void inside of me as I neglected the Word. My spirit felt as if it were dying a slow death, without mine even noticing it, I was drying up. I was out of touch with Christ.

As we study the Word, we become closer and more intimate with God; He wants us to put Him First in the day with constant interaction throughout the day….I was letting something so unimportant get in the way of my relationship with Christ! How crazy does that sound?!?! It was so subtle that I didn’t even notice….that’s all it takes; a little distraction for the enemy to grab a hold of it to keep on distracting you! That’s how vulnerable we are when Jesus is not FIRST. So what do we do? We have to be really active and protective in guarding our time with Him because our lives literally depend on it. Just as we rely on food and drink to sustain our flesh, we must rely on the Word to sustain our spirits. Jesus himself fought temptation with the Word of God “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). So it is clearly a matter of life and death to nourish and feed our hearts, minds and souls with the Word! Our lives are not sustained by bread or the food that we eat in the natural realm, but fortified, nourished and empowered with every Word that God has given us.

How about you? Is there anything or anyone getting between you and Jesus? Are you really listening as God’s Word speaks to you?

Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, we come to you so grateful for your amazing love and faithfulness. Thank you for grabbing a hold of us and never letting go, even when we don’t hold on to you for dear life. Lord, please give us an insatiable hunger and an unquenchable thirst for your Word as we seek Your will in our lives. Help us have our focus on the right place: You! You and You alone are our source of life. So we humble ourselves and ask that you continue to speak, sustain and strengthen us through your living and powerful Word. We love you so much….In Jesus name, Amen.

Other verses to ponder:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NKJV)
“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV)
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” (Luke 4:4 NKJV)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Luke 21:33 NKJV)

© 2010 Guillermina Brady.

We will be starting our new Bible study in the book of Ecclesiastes. There is still space available in our small groups. The groups meet on different days of the week at different times. If you would like to see the January – March schedule for our Bible study and a list of the times and days of meeting visit our small groups page by clicking here.

This past Saturday, December 12th, was our annual CCk:Ladies’ Christmas Event. This year we hosted a breakfast at the Westin Colonnade in Coral Gables. The hotel was the perfect setting for our joyous occasion. As the doors opened we were instantly welcomed with jolly smiles and warm greetings. The buffet breakfast was a sweet and delicious treat. Following breakfast came a magnificent time of worship which was nothing short of glorious. As the ladies joined in on the worship, their voices traveled through the halls of the Westin Colonnade with what sounded like Heaven. Lourdes Garcia shared a message entitled “Do you Hear what I Hear” and focused on Psalm 4 and Revelation 2-3, the Seven Churches.

Our day was like unwrapping a wonderful gift: the fellowship was like unraveling the beautiful bow around the gift, the time of worship was the unwrapping of the Christmas paper and the teaching of the word was the precious gift that God planted in our hearts that day. It was a wonderful time where every heart was reached by God’s word and lives were blessed by the ultimate Christmas gift, Jesus Christ.

Abide in Me, and I in You—John 15.4

When a new graft is placed in a vine and it abides there, there is a twofold process that takes place. The first is in the wood. The graft shoots its little roots and fibers down into the stem, and the stem grows up into the graft, and what has been called the structural union is effected. The graft abides and becomes one with the vine, and even though the vine were to die, would still be one wood with it. Then there is the second process, in which the sap of the vine enters the new structure, and uses
it as a passage through which sap can flow up to show itself in young shoots and leaves and fruit. Here is the vital union. Into the graft which abides in the stock, the stock enters with sap to abide in it.

When our Lord says: “Abide in me, and I in you,” He points to something analogous to this. “Abide in me”: that refers more to that which we have to do. We have to trust and obey, to detach ourselves from all else, to reach out after Him and cling to Him, to sink ourselves into Him. As we do this, through the grace He gives, a character is formed, and a heart prepared for the fuller experience: “I in you,” God strengthens us with might by the Spirit in the inner man, and Christ dwells in the heart by faith.

Many believers pray and long very earnestly for the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, and wonder that they do not make more progress. The reason is often this, the “I in you” cannot come because the “abide in me” is not maintained. “There is one body and one spirit”; before the Spirit can fill, there must be a body prepared. The graft must have grown into the stem, and be abiding in it before the sap can flow through to bring forth fruit. It is as in lowly obedience we follow Christ, even in external things, denying ourselves, forsaking the world, and even in the body seeking to be conformable to Him, as we thus seek to abide in Him, that we shall be able to receive and enjoy the “I in you.” The work enjoined on us: “Abide in me,” will prepare us for the work undertaken by Him: “I in you.”

In—The two parts of the injunction have their unity in that central deep-meaning word “in.” There is no deeper word in Scripture. God is in all. God dwells in Christ. Christ lives in God. We are in Christ. Christ is in us: our life taken up into His; His life received into ours; in a divine reality that words cannot express, we are in Him and He in us. And the words, “Abide in me and I in you,” just tell us to believe it, this divine mystery, and to count upon our God the Husbandman, and Christ the Vine, to make it divinely true. No thinking or teaching or praying can grasp it; it is a divine mystery of love. As little as we can effect the union can we understand it. Let us just look upon this infinite, divine, omnipotent Vine loving us, holding us, working in us. Let us in the faith of His working abide and rest in Him, ever turning heart and hope to Him alone. And let us count upon Him to fulfill in us the mystery: “Ye in me, and I in you.”

Blessed Lord, Thou dost bid me abide in Thee. How can I, Lord, except Thou show Thyself to me, waiting to receive and welcome and keep me? I pray Thee show me how Thou as Vine undertaketh to do all. To be occupied with Thee is to abide in Thee. Here I am, Lord, a branch, cleansed and abiding—resting in Thee, and awaiting the inflow of Thy life and grace.

© The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, written by: Andrew Murray, Moody Press

Already Ye Are Clean Because of the Word I Have Spoken Unto You—John 15.3

What is the pruning knife of this heavenly Husbandman? It is often said to be affliction. By no means in the first place. How would it then fare with many who have long seasons free from adversity; or with some on whom God appears to shower down kindness all their life long? No; it is the Word of God that is the knife, shaper than any two-edged sword, that pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is only when affliction leads to this discipline of the Word that it becomes a blessing; the lack of this heart-cleansing through the Word is the reason why affliction is so often unsanctified. Not even Paul’s thorn in the flesh could become a blessing until Christ’s Word—“My strength is made perfect in weakness”—had made him see the danger of self-exaltation, and made him willing to rejoice in infirmities.

The Word of God’s pruning knife. Jesus says: “Ye are already clean, because of the word I have spoken unto you.” How searchingly that word had been spoken by Him, out of whose mouth there went a sharp two-edged sword, as he had taught them! “Except a man deny himself, lose his life, forsake all, hate father and mother, he cannot be My disciple, he is not worthy of Me”; or as He humbled their pride, or reproved their lack of love, or foretold their all forsaking Him. From the opening of His ministry in the Sermon on the Mount to His words of warning in the last night,
His Word had tried and cleansed them. He had discovered and condemned all there was of self; they were now emptied and cleansed, ready for the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts, and men’s thoughts of what is religion, and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit. Let those who would know all the Husbandman can do for them, all the Vine can bring forth through them, seek earnestly to yield themselves heartily to the blessed cleansing through the Word. Let them, in their study of the Word, receive it as a hammer that breaks and
opens up, as a fire that melts and refines, as a sword that lays bare and slays all that is of the flesh. The word of conviction will prepare for the word of comfort and of hope, and the Father will cleanse them through the Word.

All ye who are branches of the true Vine, each time you read or hear the Word, wait first of all on Him to use it for His cleansing of the branch. Set your heart upon His desire for more fruit. Trust Him as Husbandman to work it. Yield yourselves in simple childlike surrender to the cleansing work of His Word and Spirit, and you may count upon it that His purpose will be fulfilled in you.

Father, I pray Thee, cleanse me through Thy Word. Let it search out and bring to light all that is of self and the flesh in my religion. Let it cut away every root of self-confidence, that the Vine may find me wholly free to receive His life and Spirit. O my holy Husbandman, I trust Thee to care for the branch as much as for the Vine. Thou only art my hope.

© The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, written by: Andrew Murray, Moody Press

Join us for our annual Christmas event. This year we will host a breakfast at the Westin Colonnade Coral Gables, located at 180 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables. The cost is $15* and includes buffet breakfast. (Valet and self-parking are available at the hotel for an additional charge of $8.)

Registration forms are available at the CCk:InfoCenter.

* Registration Deadline: December 6. After that date, registration will be upon availability and subject to a $5 late fee.

And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.
— Isaiah 64:8

In Luke 17, Jesus told a parable about servants who were given a task to fulfill. At the end of the story, Jesus said, “And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty’ ” (verses 9–10).

You see, true servants of Jesus want to do what God wants them to do. We are just doing our duty. And as God’s servants, we need to remember that everything we have is on loan from Him: our lives, our health, our careers, our ministries, our possessions, our families, and our future. It all belongs to God.

So the idea is not finding out how God can bless our dreams and ambitions and goals. Rather, our objective is to discover His goals, His purposes, and then align ourselves with them. Why? Because we are His servants.

Some people just want Jesus along for the ride. But God does not want to be our copilot. He is the Master, and we are the servants. He is the Potter, and we are the clay. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you become His: “You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

We like the fringe benefits, if you will, of being a follower of Jesus. But our Master, the one we are following, is not only a Friend who loves us, but a Potter who is molding us. And the more we know of Him and His plan and purpose, the more willing we will be to do what He wants us to do.

Copyright © 2009 by Harvest Ministries. All Rights Reserved.

Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth It, That It May Bear More Fruit—John 15.2

There are two remarkable things about the vine. There is not a plant of which the fruit has so much spirit in it, of which spirit can be so abundantly distilled as the vine. And there is not a plant which so soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs the most merciless pruning. I look out of my window here on large vineyards: the chief care of the vinedresser is the pruning. You may have a trellis vine rooting so deep in good soil that it needs neither digging, nor manuring, nor watering: pruning it cannot dispense with, if it is to bear good fruit. Some tree needs occasional pruning; others bear perfect fruit without any: the vine must have it. And so our Lord tells us, here at the very outset of the parable, that the one work the Father does to the branch that bears fruit is: He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.

Consider a moment what this pruning or cleansing is. It is not the removal of weeds or thorns, or anything from without that may hinder the growth. No; it is the cutting off of the long shoots of the previous year, the removal of something that comes from within, that has been produced by the life of the vine itself. It is the removal of something that is a proof of the vigor of its life; the more vigorous the growth has been, the greater the need for the pruning. It is the honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away. And why? Because it would consume too much of the sap to fill all the long shoots of last year’s growth: the sap must be saved up and used for fruit alone. The branches, sometimes eight and ten feet long, are cut down close to the stem, and nothing is left but just one or two inches of wood, enough to bear the grapes. It is when everything that is not needful for fruit-bearing has been relentlessly cut down, and just as little of the branches as possible has been left, that full, rich fruit may be expected.

What a solemn, precious lesson! It is not to sin only that the cleansing of the Husbandman here refers. It is to our own religious activity, as it is developed in the very act of bearing fruit. It is this that must be cut down and cleansed away. We have, in working for God, to use our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence, or zeal. And yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed, and then trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the helplessness and the danger of all that is of man, to feel that we are nothing. All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the power of the life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit. What is of man must be reduced to its very lowest measure. All that is inconsistent with the most entire devotion to Christ’s service must be removed. The more perfect the cleansing and cutting away of all that is of self, the less of surface over which the Holy Spirit is to be spread, so much the more intense can be the concentration of our whole being, to be entirely at the disposal of the Spirit. This is the true circumcision of the heart, the circumcision of Christ. This is the true crucifixion with Christ, bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus in the body. Blessed cleansing, God’s own cleansing! How we may rejoice in the assurance that we shall bring forth more fruit.

O our holy Husbandman, cleanse and cut away all that there is in us that would make a fair show, or could become a source of self-confidence and glorying. Lord, keep us very low, that no flesh may glory in Thy presence. We do trust Thee to do Thy work.

© The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, written by: Andrew Murray, Moody Press

And Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth, That it May Bear More Fruit—John 15.2

The thought of fruit is so prominent in the eye of Him who sees things as they are, fruit is so truly the one thing God has set His heart upon, that our Lord, after having said that the branch that bears no fruit is taken away, at once adds: and where there is fruit, the one desire of the Husbandman is more fruit. As the gift of His grace, as the token of spiritual vigor, as the showing forth of the glory of God and of Christ, as the only way for satisfying the need of the world, God longs and fits for, more fruit.

More Fruit—This is a very searching word. As churches and individuals we are in danger of nothing so much as self-contentment. The secret spirit of Laodicea—we are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing—may prevail where it is not suspected. The divine warning—poor and wretched and miserable—finds little response just where it is most needed.

Let us not rest content with the thought that we are taking an equal share with others in the work that is being done, or that men are satisfied with our efforts in Christ’s service, or even point to us as examples. Let our only desire be to know whether we are bearing all the fruit Christ is willing to give through us as living branches, in close and living union with Himself, whether we are satisfying the loving heart of the great Husbandman, our Father in Heaven, in His desire for
more fruit.

More Fruit—The word comes with divine authority to search and test our life: the true disciple will heartily surrender himself to its holy light, and will earnestly ask that God Himself may show what there may be lacking in the measure or the character of the fruit he bears. Do let us believe that the Word is meant to lead us on to a fuller experience of the Father’s purpose of love, of Christ’s fullness, and of the wonderful privilege of bearing much fruit in the salvation of men.

More Fruit—The word is a most encouraging one. Let us listen to it. It is just to the branch that is bearing fruit that the message comes: more fruit. God does not demand this as Pharaoh the task-master, or as Moses the lawgiver, without providing the means. He comes as a Father, who gives what He asks, and works what He commands. He comes to us as the living branches of the living Vine, and offers to work the more fruit in us, if we but yield ourselves into His hands. Shall we not admit the claim, accept the offer, and look to Him to work it in us?

“That it may bear more fruit”: do let us believe that as the owner of a vine does everything to make the fruitage as rich and large as possible, the divine Husbandman will do all that is needed to make us bear more fruit. All He asks is, that we set our heart’s desire on it, entrust ourselves to His working and care, and joyfully look to Him to do His perfect work in us. God has set His heart on more fruit; Christ waits to work it in us; let us joyfully look up to our divine Husbandman and our heavenly Vine, to ensure our bearing more fruit.

Our Father which art in Heaven, Thou art the heavenly Husbandman. And Christ is the heavenly Vine. And I am a heavenly branch, partaker of His heavenly life, to bear His heavenly fruit. Father, let the power of His life so fill me, that I may ever bear more fruit, to the glory of Thy name.

© The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16, written by: Andrew Murray, Moody Press