Today’s Daily Light

Summary Insights From Our Study … The Search For Significance, by R. McGee

We Must Remain ‘In” the VINE

John 15: 1-4, Jesus said “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes ‘so that’ it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  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.”

A branch produces fruit by allowing the water and nutrients from the vine to flow through it.  The fruit is the natural, spontaneous expression of a healthy branch.

Hebrews 13:15 says that a sacrifice of praise to God is “the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”  Galatians 5:22-23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” – elements of Christian character.  Throughout the New Testament and the history of the church, we see another fruit of those who follow the Holy Spirit to produce the love and power of Christ in their lives: the salvation of many people.

God may prune us by allowing us to experience troubles and difficulties, sickness, failure, or reproof from either Christians or non-Christians.

A branch can’t bear fruit if it is cut off, contracts a disease, is eaten by insects, is placed in poor environmental conditions, and so forth.

Our Christian life can be hindered if our love for Christ grows cold, if we developed an inordinate desire for worldly pleasures, if we sought to gain the approval of others, if we tried to gain our significance from success, if we couldn’t experience the wealth of God’s love and power, or if we pursued a life of abject disobedience.

In your work in this summary of insights…consider the Holy Spirit’s purpose to glorify Christ (John 16:14); what the Holy Spirit can produce in one’s life; and what could hinder the branch from producing fruit and the thirsty person from experiencing the rivers of living water (John 7:38).

Friends…I pray that we will be constantly aware that we are connected to Jesus the True and Only Vine.  I pray that we will feel His ‘river of life’ working inside our spirit man as it supplies us nourishment and feeds us.  I pray that we will present ourselves before the Father to be pruned ‘so that’ we will bear more fruit.   Amen

Today’s Daily Light

Summary Insights from ‘The Search For Significance’ study, by R. McGee

John 4:14   Jesus said “but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 7:38-39  Jesus said “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.  By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.”

To drink of Christ can mean to believe in His love and power, and to enjoy Him, and to be satisfied by Him.

You may be experiencing a sense of thirst for Christ because you feel distant from Him:  You may be grieved because some aspect of your life doesn’t honor Him or because you have committed specific sins of immortality, jealousy, worry, criticism, or anger; you may feel very dry and rigid because you live a rules-dominated life.

Rivers of living water may symbolize the love, joy, and intimacy of knowing Christ; the power to be effective in evangelism and discipleship; love for the unlovely, any expression of the life of Christ flowing through the believer.

This means that the rivers are not externally contrived.  They are from the heart – a spontaneous overflow of the very nature of Christ produced in us by the Holy Spirit.  The sheer strength of the human will can produce changes in a life, but because the source isn’t the Holy Spirit, pride is the result instead of thankfulness and humility.

Father…thank you for Your plan for our maturity…for Your plan for us to be continually renewed…for us to ‘grow’.   I don’t know why You didn’t just make us all perfect and sinless and super heroes….I don’t fully understand why there has to be darkness and pain…but what I do know, for sure, 100%…is that You ARE…that You are perfect and pure and that You love me/us…that You are with us and will never leave us…because if You would leave us in our worst times of failure..then You would have left me/us many times in our growth process…but You say You will never will leave us or forsake us…wow…and I know you keep changing me/us from the inside out…’so that’ we can reflect Your image to the lost and hurting world around us.   Amen

Today’s Daily Light

Summary Insights from The Search For Significance, by R. McGee

You can claim God’s promises and live a life of faith that honors Him if you desire, confess, present, and obey.  Do you honestly desireto honor Christ and minister to others?  If so, confess any sin (or sins).  Remember, confession is agreeing with God that a specific sin is indeed sin; agreeing with Him that you are forgiven by the death of Christ; and repenting – turning to God in obedience to His Word.  Then present all areas of your life to Christ as “instruments of righteousness.”  Paul wrote to the believers in Rome:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  (Romans 6:12-13)

I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  (Romans 12:1-2)

Obey and give thanks to the Lord for His grace and power, and continue to trust Him moment by moment.  Depend on His Word.  Let the Holy Spirit use you in the lives of others, and deal with any sin as soon as you become aware of it so that your fellowship with Him won’t be hindered.

Dear Father…I ask you to lead us to your Word…lead us into Your presence ‘so that’ we will continue to renew our mind ‘away’ from the worldly mind that so influences our activity and behavior.  Renew us ‘so that’ we can be used to help others see Your light and love ‘so that’ we can bear much eternal fruit for Your eternal Kingdom.   Amen

• Christ will never leave us (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)
• He will abundantly provide for our needs (Philippians 4:19)
• We will be in heaven with Him (John 14:1-3)
• We will reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12)
• He will strengthen us (Isaiah 40:29)
• He will give us His peace (John 14:27)
• He will accomplish His purposes (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
• He will enable us to give generously (2 Corinthians 9:6-11)

• You are completely forgiven by God (Romans 3:19-25; Colossians 2:13-14)
• You are righteous and pleasing to God (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• You are totally accepted by God (Colossians 1:19-22)
• You are deeply loved by God (1 John 4:9-10)
• You are absolutely complete in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 2:10)
• The Holy Spirit dwells in you (Romans 8:9-11)
• You are God’s child (Romans 8:15-16)
• You are a fellow heir with Christ (Romans 8:17)
• God works all things together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28)

Today’s Daily Light

You and Your Heavenly Father…It’s all about the relationship…love and joy 

(This is just straight from my heart and emotions this morning…no edits…no real thought…just is happening in real time 😊)

As is my custom…I was sitting in the first light of this new day…at my kitchen island…cup of coffee in hand…and spending time with my Heavenly Father.   What I wish to convey to you this morning…relates to what I perceive as the God-intended ‘joy’…. and ….’enjoyment’ in the relationship between you and the Father.

On this morning, for whatever reason, Father grabbed my heart and attention early…grabbed control of my spirit mind..and pulled me straight into His lap to just snuggle and talk.

The scene of this I wish for you to feel and see…would be best portrayed in your personal understanding of that of a small child doing what small children do…they stir awe, love, and wonder in the eyes and hearts of their parents.   I think of the power of love that exists in the parent-child relationship…the ongoing experience of awe and wonder.   I had that when my children when were small…and all throughout their years and it continues for me today when I see them on any and every occasion…if I were a dog…my tail would wag sooo hard and fast that it feels like it is going to tip me over 😊.   It is the same for me these days when I see my grand kids…to share in their time of innocent inquisitive natures…to have them yell my name …” ‘Pa-pa’…watch me do this…watch me …’Pa-pa”…let’s ride the ____…’Pa-pa..why is ______”     and the new little guy..Sim..not yet 2…OMG…still has tons of that sweet baby sugar-cream smell and feel to every inch of his cuteness….and he has knows my name and knows that I am something that belongs to his little heart…and he squeals with delight when he sees me…and he gets sooo excited to be the center of my attention……   and it is ‘all of THAT’…friends… ALL of THAT  experience of love-joy…mutually shared between two individuals…. which I speak of in this morning that expresses exactly the type of relationship that our Heavenly Father…our Great Poppa God…desires between ‘you’ and Him…exactly!

Point is….your Heavenly Father…your eternal Poppa God…loves you more than you love your kids, your parents, your siblings, your grand kids…   He created you to hear you say… “Father…I love You…I want to just climb up into Your lap and snuggle…as I sit there this morning watching the work of Your hands…Your amazing power on demonstration in another amazing sunrise…watching the colors and hews of nature and light explode before me…listening to the morning chorus of bugs and birds that Your summertime season always brings…my sense are overwhelmed with the reality that it is You…my Father…my eternal loving Poppa…and i run and dance before you and say to you that I ‘see’ You and I just love You sooo much and want to climb into your arms because I know You are always there with Your arms wide open…that your eyes gleam with excitement to know that I want to have Your attention and be with You and have You watch me..enjoy me..that great big lap of Yours always ready and waiting and always has a place just for me…and I know that You get more excited than I do when I think of You this way..when I desire to be with You this way…BECAUSE…You are the one that created all of these ideas, feelings, senses, emotions, realities…It is You in ‘All of That‘…and I will forever run into Your arms because I know that is what You desire the most from me/us.  And especially when I am weary and worn and have sinned…when I hurt…when I am confused or lonely…on every occasion when I am at my worst…I WILL run to You because I know that is what You created me to do…to be in Your arms..to be ‘with’ You eternally.

Oh…Poppa…Oh…Poppa….I see You…I feel You…and I hear You say… “and I see you and feel you and love you more than you can possibly understand or know.”       Ahhhhhhh   

Today’s Daily Light

Con’t…final thoughts stirred up from our study…The Search For Significance..by R. McGee

Life In and By and Through the ‘Spirit’…   

John 7:37-39… Jesus said .. “If a man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.    

Friends… if we have believed on Jesus as our Savior..if we have put our faith in the redemptive work that He provided for us on the cross…then we have ‘The Spirit of God’ living inside our inner being in our internal human spirit that is given to us to lead us into the ways and paths of God’s intention for all of our behaviors and activity in the temporary life we live in this body on this planet .  We as humans, have desires…we thirst.    Key is to learn to discern between Godly thirst and ungodly thirsts.   Godly thirst come from the best and highest of God’s schematic for right-living (righteousness)…which in my personal basic analogy means: living in a right relationship to the design and plan God created for living rightly.  😊

As we talked about in yesterday’s DL…God designed us to ‘need help’ to live rightly.   Thus we are designed to need, must have, God’s Spirit living inside us to help us identify the ‘right’ thirst …those thirst that align with God’s highest and best for us…so we can live ‘rightly’ in accordance with His design, will, and ways.

All of the highest and best of God’s intention for us…for our thirst, can only be fully satisfied ‘in’ Him…in His supply…within His prescription and design for ‘righteousness’.   We must come to totally trust and believe that the type and kind of ‘supply’ that God provides is perfect and good and was designed to be of type and supply that truly fills and satisfies our thirst.

So when we hunger and thirst for things…analyze what it is you are hungering and thirsting for….what ‘need’ is it that you are trying to fill?  God given needs are designed to be supplied from and in God given supply.  The ‘right’ formula is ‘Godly thirsts can only be filled with Godly supply”.   We have to analyze and identify the work of the sin nature and the dark side as it seeks to infiltrate our supply source and stream and install its ‘false’ temporary and often fatal formulas and doses of false supply…deceptions…delusions/illusions….all that attempt to keep us from gaining and experiencing God’s perfect and good and faithful supply.

To have our thirst filled by God’s supply…we must align our desires/thirst with the God given desires and things that are okay and good for us.   The best of all things good, of peace, that bring full joy…are all desires/thirsts/things that were designed by God to be good for us…things that align with His principles for the most-right, good and best in all things created.   So we must learn to analyze our thirsts and desires to see if they align with God’s design and purposes for good, peace, and joy.   If they do not align with God’s design…then they are most likely thirsts and desires that can never truly fill our real needs and never bring eternal satisfaction.

Our real need…our deepest need…is to be satisfied by living life through working/walking in tandem with God’s Spirit.  The Spirit can guide and lead and direct us into all truth and fill us with full and deep and eternal streams of supply that never leave us thirsty.   And Jesus said…’if you are thirsty, come to me and let me be your supply.”   (And for sure..all of us are thirsty…our design package came with plenty of thirsts 😊).   The best analogy I come to in my picture mind as to ‘in tandem’ is a tandem bicycle…you and the Holy Spirit riding a tandem bicycle together through the journey of your life….key is to let Him sit on the forward seat and have control of the handle bars.

So I pray today that we will listen to the voice of the Spirit inside us and let it be our guide to lead us to the true and eternal supply that can only be found in the will and way of God…as God has prescribed to us in His Word.   We must live this temporary life totally depending on ‘help’ from God’s Spirit that lives inside us as we allow the Spirit to be our guide ‘as we’ spend time in God’s book of truth…’as we’ learn to identify our thirsts and only allow our wonderful heavenly Father to fill our thirst.

Jesus said.. Matthew 5:6…”Blessed are you who hunger and thirst after righteousness…for you will be filled.”

Today’s Daily Light

Con’t…summary thought from …The Search For Significance..R. McGee.  

Learning to Listen … The Work of the Spirit ‘Inside Us’ …. Conviction of sin is to lead us to confession ‘so that’ we can experience the forgiveness that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Final thoughts on ‘Confession’.

True confession involves repentance.  Repentance means turning away from sin and turning instead to God.  When we truly repent, we have a change of attitude about sin.  In fact, because repentance involves recognizing the gravity of our sin, it should grieve us as much as it does God.

True confession may involve restitution.  In confession , it may be necessary to make right a wrong.  You may need to confess your sin to a fellow believer to ask for his or her forgiveness.  You may need to pay back something you stole or replace something you broke.  Christ taught us that we should be reconciled to one another before we can move on (Matthew 5:23-24)

Dear Father…how well I know the path and process of confession.   And how much I know the healing and restoration in our heart, mind, and spirit that occurs when we genuinely confess our sins as we our led to do so by the Holy Spirit.   I have this knowledge ‘because’ I sin and I know the burden and heartache and pain that sin brings ‘because’ our sin interferes with the full flow…full volume…of the relationship stream of all things light, love, joy, peace, that only come from Your fountain and is intended to flow to us.   Protect us and empower us to keep that stream flowing fully ‘so that’ we can be all that we are intended to be in light and love to the lost world.   Amen