Last week I got the amazing privilege to spend the week up at Indian Hills Camp with 10 amazing girls. I'm pretty sure I had the best, most mature, respectful group that made every moment so fun. As I have been reflecting on it, over these last few days, most spent in bed recovering from the nasty flu bug, I was realizing just how alive God was that week in everything I did. Besides the devotion time with the girls, my favorite part of the week was my devotions in the morning. I want to share a couple things I noted and pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you through these truths as well. (Thanks Festus for sharing your heart and all God is teaching you!)
Categories of life...
1. Bearing fruit.
* The fruit is not the works or the good deeds, but rather Galatians 5:22. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
2. Find fulfillment
3. Glorify the Father
4. Proving your His disciples
5. Sharing the heart of the Father
6. Friendship with Jesus
7. Cost of discipleship
8. Power of the Holy Spirit
*After mountaintop experiences, we go back down to the valley, but in the valley is where the water is. water=life=Jesus (Rev 22:1-6)
*The Holy Spirit grows the fruit, not us.
*Power of the Holy Spirit flows thru the vine and into the branch. (John 15:4)
*Asking for the fruits of the spirit. if you remain in me and my words(Scripture) remain in you, ask whatever you wish(fruits), and it(fruits) will be given to you. (John 15:7)
Big idea: You are not going to smile naturally unless the flow of the Holy Spirit is coming thru the vine into the branch and the fruit that's coming out is kindness. -Festus, 7.5.12, IHC
I am a branch. And I do bear fruit when I abide in the vine. Jesus is the vine. A branch cannot bear fruit unless it is attached to a vine. Anything and everything the branch needs flows from the vine and into the branch. There is nothing the branch can do alone. If the branch does not abide in the vine, it will not bear fruit, therefore it will wither and die. I am a branch and I abide in the vine, what kind of fruit am I going to produce? It's not the salvation of souls (Jesus does that), it's not feeding the starving around the world (Jesus does that too), and it's not whatever work I will do in the future(aka missions field), it's the fruits of the Spirit. Jesus alone accomplishes the works, yes He uses me, but that is not what fruit I produce. The Holy Spirit gives me the nutrients I need so that the outflow is love towards others, joy no matter what I'm facing, peace at all times, patience even when I should not be patient, kindness even when someone is rude to me, goodness in doing the right thing, faithfulness unto Jesus even if I don't understand what He's doing, gentleness in my actions and words, and self-control against the unknown.
I cannot produce these fruits on my own, they are not natural, especially in this hard, sinful world we live in. Only when I abide in the vine, will these fruits flow out, and therefore the light of Jesus is being glorified. As Festus was talking about this, the Holy Spirit began to come up with another analogy that I really liked. Take a pitcher that holds water, or juice, or tea. The container is me. I can't pour out the contents of myself unless I am "picked up and tilted" so that the contents spill out by someone. But I can't spill anything out unless, first, something has been poured in. I am the container. The hand on the handle is God. The contents filling me up are Jesus, the Holy Spirit. As I, the container, am filled up with Jesus, God can choose to pick me up and pour out the contents of His Spirit when He chooses, to who He chooses to pour into. See water, juice or tea doesn't get poured out into nothing, it's usually poured into a cup for someone to drink (and therefore receive the contents of myself, the container). I am a container, and I don't decide when and where God is going to use me. By abiding in Jesus, the only thing that can fill me up is Himself, and therefore the only thing that is going to flow out, is the fruits of the spirit.
Two questions I want to constantly ask myself:
1. Is my pitcher full?
2. Who is God pouring into through me?
God moment at camp: God gave me an opportunity to share with my 10 campers what He had been teaching me in the mornings. (set the scene: I wake them up, get them ready, and then go to my own devotions while they remain back to clean up and decorate the cabin for points, great system I must say...now the rest happens during afternoon devotion time for them) I was telling them about how in the mornings, I read my bible, I worship through music and hear a short message that fills me up so that I can pour into them. I shared John 15, and abiding in the vine means getting the nutrients into the branch (myself) to bear fruit to them through out the day. I was trying to get them to see this pitcher idea, but I wasn't saying it, instead trying to use the words of John 15. As I'm saying this, one little girl raises her hand, I call on her and she says, "Cinnamon, it is kinda like a pitcher where you have to be filled before you can pour out into us"...goosebumps and tears overwhelmed me. I had received that picture that morning at devotions, and here this little girl who had received the Holy Spirit only days before, was getting the same picture. Only Jesus can do that. :) This was one of many throughout the week, I serve an amazing God!
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