A Natural Thing With A Spiritual Truth...

Read John 15:1-9

As we all know, there are many things in the natural world the Lord uses to get across a spiritual point. If you ever want to get a revelation about God's relationship with us study gardening. I happened across this book one day when I wanted to learn about pruning. What I got was a real spiritual blessing from reading this old book. Here are some of the highlights of the book.

Pruning is the art of cutting and otherwise removing unwanted plant growth to make the plant grow the way you want it to grow. You can prune to increase flowering or fruiting or to remove an injury or disease.
The basic reasons for pruning are: to train plants into desired forms, to rejuvenate old plants, to increase flowering and fruiting, to prevent future damage, to remove injury and disease, and to produce special forms are some of the reasons to prune.
To sum up, there are many kinds of pruning for many purposes, and how you prune depends to a very large extent upon what you are trying to do. All of them have one thing in common, however. They remove from a given plant some portion that interferes with our plans-our ideas of how the plant should look or behave, not nature's. God will prune off from us what interferes with His plan-His idea of how we should look or behave not the natural mans.
Pruning is usually done when the tree is dormant, not growing.
These are only a few of the highlights from the book "Pruning Made Easy" by Edwin F. Steffek I found something spiritual throughout the book. You could probably get any book on gardening and learn a lot of spiritual truths from it.

A Borrowed Blog on Proverbs...

So many of us Christians are very knowledgeable of God’s Word, few of us have attained wisdom. In case, you are not aware, there is a huge difference between KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM. Knowledge means we have the facts. For instance, know the books of the Bible and some of the main characters, can quote a few scriptures ("what thus said the Lord"), recite the commandants ("the thou shalt nots"), and is fluent in church jargon (Blessed & highly favored in the Lord); however, WISDOM is when you apply those facts to our daily life. In other words, not just talking about it but being about it and/or practicing what we preach.

Solomon summarizes in Chapter 1 the purpose of the Proverbs, which are to teach people wisdom, discipline and understanding so we will do what’s right, just and fair.
Solomon also tells us of the benefits of being wise (Proverbs 3-4)-
Long, prosperous life-
Favor with God & Man-
Good Judgment-
Success-
Health & Vitality-
Wealth, Honor-
Peace & Protection

Solomon also discusses in Proverbs 6, the seven things God HATES-
Haughty eyes (Arrogance or conceit)-
Liars-
Hands that shed innocent blood (murderers)-
Schemers (always plotting evil)-
People quick to run to do evil-
False witness (lying snitches)-
Messy folks who keep drama going. (gossiper's)

Stages of a Marriage...Too Funny!

The stages of a marriage as described by a husband's reactions to his wife's cold:

1st year: "Sugar dumpling, I'm worried about you, baby girl. You've got a bad sniffle. I'm putting you in the hospital for a general checkup."
2nd year: "Listen, honey, go to bed. I've called the doctor to rush right over here."
3rd year: "Better lie down, nothing like a little rest when you feel bad. I'll bring you something to eat."
4th year: "Look, dear, be sensible, after you feed the kids, and get the dishes washed, you'd better lie down for awhile."
5th year: "Why don't you get yourself an aspirin? And stop complaining so much!"
6th year: "If you'd just gargle or something instead of sitting around and barking in my face like a seal, I'd appreciate it."
7th year: "For Pete's sake, stop sneezing. What are you trying to do, give me pneumonia?!"

Ain't that the truth...

A rose can say I love you,

orchids can enthrall.

But a weed bouquet

in a chubby fist-

oh my, that says it all!

-unknown

Beware

Of preachers who always have an answer on how to be free but never mentions the cross. They are exploiting you, not spiritually developing you. No matter how eloquent the preacher may sound if he leaves the cross out, he has left the power out.

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. ICorinthians 1:17

Weight Loss Pt 5

How do you win any battle with sin? It has already been won. Jesus won the battle for you at the cross. You have to by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, nail that sin to the cross. Remember Paul's battle in the book of Roman's? History shows that Paul's battle could have been as long as 10 yrs. If it took the apostle Paul that long before he gained the victory, why do you think it would be any less for you? Yes, God does deliver and heal immediately, but that is not always the case. I have seen good christian people suffer long illnesses and others be miracously healed. I have seen people in bondage to alcohol and drugs be delivered immediately never to go back and I have seen people spend what seems like an eternity praying and fasting over their sin and not get victory.
For myself I was instantly delivered from smoking 24 yrs ago. The food addiction was not as easy, it was a lot of suffering and pain. I still deal with it on occasion. Why? I don't have that answer. I can tell you once you get a revelation about something, it changes the way you think and act. I will never look at food the same since that day in the buffet restaurant (see earlier blog) many years ago.
The important thing is don't give up. When you win the food battle you really win. Your health improves, you feel better about yourself. When you decide to use your body as a way to worship God it will open up a spiritual experience for you like you have never experienced before. You will get a new closeness to God. When He is so important to you that you choose what you are going to eat, or that you are going to exercise for Him, blessings are sure to follow. Be so thankful to Him that you take care of the temple that He resides in. Be determined. Get up every morning and choose whom you will serve for that day. I think it is interesting how much the Bible says about TODAY. Take it day by day. Getting started is the hardest part, so get started today. Don't put it off any longer. Ask God to strengthen and help you, He will.

The Greatness of America

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there;

in her fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there;

in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there.

Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.

America is great because America is good.

And if America ever ceases to be good,

America will cease to be great.

-Alexis de Tocqueville