Bearing Fruit

 

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

—Colossians 1:9-14

 

I want you to imagine with me for a moment that you are a farmer. Can you do that? Of course you can. And, on your farm you have a very large field. Your field stretches from way over there to way over here. All through this very large field you have planted fruit trees.

Now planting those fruit trees was only the beginning. Starting in the very early days of spring, you would have to put fertilizer around those trees. You would have to make certain the trees have enough water. You would have to carefully remove any weeds that might grow up around the trees and steal nourishment away from them. You would have to work very, very hard. All through the summer months and into the fall, you would have to care for those trees in the hope that when the time of harvest comes they would produce beautiful, juicy, delightfully tasting fruit.

Now imagine if you were that farmer and you went out into the field at harvest time expecting to find fruit and the first tree you came to had not one piece of fruit on it. Why you would look that tree up and down. You would move branches aside. But no matter where you looked, no fruit.

So you would move on to the next tree. You would look up and down, move branches, but—wait a minute—no fruit. Hey, what’s going on? At the third tree, no fruit. At the fourth tree, no fruit. Not one tree in all of your orchard has fruit. What a terrible disappointment. All that work, and nothing to show for your effort.

In the Bible, Jesus tells us that we have to make certain our lives do not become like trees that do not bear fruit. We have to respond to the love of the Christ that occupies our hearts by living out that love in our service to others.

Through acts of kindness to others, by doing what we know is right, by sharing what we have with people in need, we show that Christ’s love lives in our hearts.

We have to always remember that because God loves us so much, He sent His Son Jesus to be our Savior. Our response to this great act of God’s love is to make certain we show His love to the people with whom we come in contact.

Every time you say a kind word to someone or give someone a cheerful smile, you show them Christ’s love. Every time you give someone less fortunate than you part of what God has given you, you show them Christ’s love. Every time you tell someone that “Jesus loves them, too,” you show them His love.

Will you pray with me?

Thank You, God, for loving me. Thank You for sending Jesus. Thank you for helping me show that I love You by being kind to others. Help me to be a person who does what You want me to do. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

Through Christ our Lord...

 

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer 1662 (translation)

 

What does it mean when we acknowledge all of the above requests we make in prayer to God by using the phrase “through Christ our Lord?” And, what impact does this acknowledgement have on our daily walk of obedience with Him?

Jesus told his disciples in John 14:6:

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

In these few words, the Lord Jesus Christ declares Himself the sole means by which we connect with God. The use of the definite article, “the,” leaves room for no other way to God. Jesus is the way!

As bold as this declaration may seem, and as disappointing as it may appear to followers of all other religions, the Son of God declares Himself the definitive point of contact. In the reality of our daily lives, this confirms that—as we strive to obediently follow the pathway God has laid out for us—everything we do, everything we say, everything we accomplish, in fact, everthing we are comes through Jesus. He becomes the enabling pathway.

In John 14:26, Jesus declares:

²⁶ But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

So, God gives believers in Jesus the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to become an internal counselor who will strive with us as we seek to enter into all things through the Lord Jesus Christ.

No matter what kind of trial or difficulty we may have to face, our sustaining encouragement and our exit strategy comes through Jesus. He is the One who enables us to draw sustenance from Him to face the time of trial. He is the One who directs our pathway along the road of obedience to His will and His Word. He is the One who will protect us from the onslaught of our enemies and confirm for us the support of our friends.

And, part of the beauty of His Abiding Presence is the reality that He fulfills, moment-by-moment, His promise from John 15:5-8:

⁵ “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. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

We must remain in Him. We must move through Him. We must experience through Him. We must enjoy through Him. We must love through Him. We must obey through Him.

God accomplishes His will and purpose in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we accomplish God's perfect will for us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we have and all the we are comes as a precious gift from God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

To walk the pathway of obedience, we must follow the writer of Hebrews' instruction in Hebrews 12:1-3:

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Join me, won't you, in living this day in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Allow the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to carry you along the pathway of true obedience that God has laid out before you. Release every obstacle that arises into the protective arms of Jesus. And, experience the joy of His peace.

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

That we may perfectly love Thee...

 

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer 1662 (translation)

 

What does it mean when we ask God to help us “that we may perfectly love Thee?” And, what impact does this request have on our daily walk of obedience with the God who loved us enough to send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on Calvary’s cruel cross in our behalf?

You see, that’s the point. God has literally poured out His love toward us. Scripture makes that crystal clear.

Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:8:

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God always makes the first move. He draws us irrestably into His love, mercy, and grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of human life on this earth, God gave mankind an opportunity to remain obedient in the Garden of Eden. In response, Adam chose to sin. That sin condemned all mankind to eternal death.

But, God’s love would not leave us in that dreadful state. He made provision to reconcile us to Himself through the precious blood of His Son. Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin. And, Jesus’ resurrection from the grave secured our eternal home in heaven once our life on this earth comes to an end.

Can you conceive of any response to the overwhelming love of God more appropriate than loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? No, of course not.

Even in this matter of loving God in return, He has not left us to flounder our way along without help.

Once again, the Holy Spirit enables us to love God with the sinless perfection that can only come by way of His cleansing. Moment by moment, day after day, as we yield our will to His, He sweeps away the natural, sinful evil that permeates our beings. As a result of such cleansing, we can now perfectly love God.

In Galatians 5:6b, Paul writes:

...The only thing that counts is faith expressing
itself through love.

We express our faith principally through love. Love for God and love for our fellow humans.

Several times in this series of blog posts, I have made reference to Jesus’ own words in Mark 12:28-31:

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Again, you can see how important love is to an obedient walk with God. The authors of the Book of Common Prayer have expressed a very critical truth. God desires our love as a fitting act of obedience and also as a fitting expression of our gratitude for His magnificent love for us.

I don’t know about you, but I take enormous comfort from knowing that He has already made provision to faithfully keep me on the pathway of obedience that He has laid out for me each day. And, I am quite certain that the best way to begin, and to end, my day with God is to simply speak these words to Him:

“I love you!”

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts...

 

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer 1662 (translation)

 

What does it mean when we ask God to “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts?” And, what impact does this request have on our daily walk of obedience with God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?

In the deep recesses of our hearts, we harbor a great deal of information. The Bible often uses the word “heart” to refer to the centrality of our being. You might say that our heart represents the core of our self. So, holding all this information—or dare I call it “data”—in our hearts, makes inspecting the nature of that data quite important to our well-being.

The data we hold, or harbor, in our hearts affects all the modalities of our self: emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical. Every aspect of our lives receives influence from that which we harbor in our hearts.

If we hold things of beauty, grace, charm, and holiness in our hearts, our being will reflect those positive qualities. If we harbor evil thoughts, evil desires, evil memories, evil intentions, then our being will reflect those negative qualities.

By asking God to “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit” we invite our Precious Father to sweep through the core of our being and brush out all that’s evil and sinful. Since what’s removed must be replaced with something else, as the Holy Spirit sweeps out the evil and sinful, He sweeps in the holy, righteous, and good.

We get a strong sense of this activity from Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Part of what happens, when we receive the gift of salvation through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed on Calvary’s cruel cross, is that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within our hearts. He, then, can respond to our request to “cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” We don’t have to do anything, but ask Him. Just ask!

I encourage you to begin each day—even before you get out of bed—by praying the simple prayer you will find by clicking here. My dear friend, Dr. David R. Mains, wrote this prayer many years ago and shared it on his radio broadcast, The Chapel of the Air. Letters he received from listeners indicated that this prayer has helped thousands of people begin their mornings by confidently stepping out on the pathway God has laid out for them that day.

Please join with them, and with me. I’ve prayed this prayer for over 30 years. And, while I have often fallen short of God’s best for me, He has never, ever proven Himself unfaithful. I have learned to trust God implicitly. And, you can learn this important truth, as well.

Why not start today, right now. Just bow your head, pray the simple prayer I’ve suggested in the paragraph above, and watch how God will “cleanse the thoughts of your heart by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

You’ll be really glad you did.

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

No Hidden Secrets...

 

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer 1662 (translation)

 

What does it mean that from God “no secrets are hid?” And, what impact does the reality of this truth have on our daily walk of obedience with our God of Love, Mercy, and Grace?

Do you remember how you felt as a child when someone told you a secret? Most of us learn pretty early in our lives the power that comes from knowing something that others don’t know. In fact, most of us also learn pretty early in our lives that secrets offer a most powerful way to manipulate others.

“I know something you don’t know!” chanted that nasty little tike that lived around the corner from the home in which you grew up.

Secrets have the power to hurt. Secrets, sometimes, also have the power to heal.

When a dear friend comes to you with a very serious problem and, in confidence, shares with you. Holding that information in strictest confidence, while you pray earnestly for God to help your friend deal with his or her problem, can offer a healing balm to soothe a wound of the soul.

Even in our own lives, in the deepest recesses of our hearts, we often harbor secrets that we feel we can share with no one. That’s the beauty of this declaration from The Book of Common Prayer. The same God “to whom all hearts be open, all desires known” is also the God “from whom no secrets are hid.” When we become a child of God, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. No longer do we have the ability to harbor secrets from God. He knows us in the most intimate manner possible. He knows our thoughts, He knows our hearts, He knows our desires, and He knows our secrets.

Today, as you continue to journey along the pathway that God has laid out before you, take courage in knowing that the God who knows your secrets will grant you wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to deal with whatever circumstances occur in your life. The power of the indwelling Holy Spirit will enable you to face every challenge and overcome every obstacle. So, breathe a sigh of relief. You can rest in God’s love, joy, and peace all through this day.

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

All Desires Known...

 

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer 1662 (translation)

 

What does it mean that to God “all desires (are) known?” And, what impact does the reality of this truth have on our daily walk of obedience with our Heavenly Father?

In our increasingly secularized society, the word “desire” has taken on a lascivious twist. When most people hear this word, they immediately think of matters sexual. But, desire has a much deeper, much richer meaning in our everyday world.

King David, in writing a prayer on behalf of his people in Psalm 20, speaks these words about God:

⁴ May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

God has a decided interest in our desires. Because our hearts are open to him, He knows our desires. One truth flows to the other. God has a complete awareness of that for which we have a “conscious impulse toward something that promises enjoyment or satisfaction in its attainment.”

As you make your way along the pathway of obedience that God has laid out before you this day, take comfort, even joy, from the reality that He knows your desires. And, be ever aware of His promise through the pen of King David who wrote Psalm 37. Take special note of verse 4:

⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

The sense of this particular verse—in an acrostic poem, where each stanza begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet—intends to have two distinct yet interwoven meanings. God will place into your heart the desires He wants you to have. Once He does that, He will then give to you that which you desire.

God has made provision for our redemption through the precious blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He then enables us to receive this gift of salvation by drawing us irresistibly into His grace through the power of the Holy Spirit, as He convicts us of sin. In this same way, we can begin each day praising God that He both gives us the desires in our hearts, and then gives our hearts' desires to us.

He is, indeed, a God to whom all desires are known.

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

To Whom All Hearts Be Open...

 

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer 1662 (translation)

 

What does it mean that to God “all hearts be open?” And, what impact does the reality of this truth have on our daily walk of obedience with our Great King?

In creating this acknowledgement, the editors of the Book of Common Prayer displayed an understanding that all human beings are known by their Creator. The One who formed each one in the womb of his or her mother most certainly stands in a state of intimate knowledge with regard to each one of His human creatures.

We are made in His image. Thus, we bear the Imago Dei—the Image of God. Therefore, God understands us as no other can or will.

We, as His human creatures, stand in a state of being as “Known By God.” We are known by Him. No aspect of our being remains a mystery to Him.

Just as Jesus acknowledged, in Mark 12:28-31, that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, so God knows each of our modalities with a surety and thoroughness of divine knowledge. He knows our emotional being, our intellectual being, our spiritual being, and our physical being. He knows us deeply and thoroughly.

Should this frighten us? By no means. We should draw great comfort from the fact that the very God of the universe knows each of us. “God knows me! He really knows me!” You may speak these words with certainty.

Because God knows each one of us, we can rest in the welcoming arms that He holds open to us. No matter what our circumstances at any moment in time, we are not alone. Instead, we are known. We are known by God. And, in that great day when we pass from this life to eternal life in His Presence, we will also know with the same surety.

1 Corinthians 13:12 explains that in that day “...we shall know even as we are known...”

So, when you begin each new day as a follower of God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, be assured that the Holy Spirit, who comes along side you to lead you and guide you through every moment, has an intimate knowledge of who you really are.

Put your trust in the reality of this truth and you will come to rest in the fact: “The One who know you best, loves you the most!”

_{Copyright © 2011 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}