He throws you away!

For many saints, John 15 verse 6 seems to clinch the argument that God can pluck you out and throw you away. Now, all serious students of the Scriptures will find out soon enough that we can use a parable or a metaphor of Jesus and give it all kinds of fanciful meanings. We should understand that Jesus uses them to drive home a point and we cannot afford to find ten different points from them. In this portion where Jesus is teaching on fruit bearing, it is very interesting to note that the branch was cut away not because it dried up but because it did not bear fruit. Jesus says that it was thrown away and therefore soon dries up. Now we all know that if the tree is healthy every branch will be healthy and the tree in no way can find fault with the branch because the life flows from the tree!  If Jesus was trying to bring a teaching on God destroying you or sending you to hell, He would have said that you were cut away as a branch after you dried up and not the other way round. God is surely not so wicked as to cut you off when you still have some life left. We just cannot stretch that metaphor to include a teaching on our final destiny too.

So the lesson that Jesus is teaching here is not on the security of your salvation but on fruit bearing.The branch should see to itself that it is bearing fruit or else it has lost its purpose. The emphasis is that just some kind of life is not enough but the whole purpose of our life is to bear fruit. If we are bearing some fruit, He will work on us to bear more. If we bear nothing and live solely for ourselves, it prevents Him from working more in our lives and that is the warning we have to heed to.

Curse God and die!

I find it very surprising that many believers take a long time to understand God's way regarding sickness and disease. I know of a brother who is fond of saying that God does not sanctify through sickness. True, but to say that God does not make use of it is a misnomer. He uses evil kings to further His purposes. He uses the devil himself and turns his schemes over to bring glory to Himself.
For many people when they are sick, all they want to know is how to come out of it as soon as possible. And that too, with least effort on their part. Someone else has to do the praying. Believers find out to their horror that all sickness does not disappear when an anointed person prays over them or by casting out the demons of sickness and disease. If only we could see it as a place where our spiritual muscles can be built up. A place where we can check our spiritual thermometer. A place to war and challenge our invisible enemies. A place where sometimes it is the only way to be still and know that He is God. 

Our spiritual ancestors had an interesting word which they used when they went through trials in the physical body. They called it - mortification. And sometimes it is a certain kind of purgation. A purgation of the soul. A place where we can either give glory to God. Or curse God and die !

Behold, he prayeth!

It is not possible to judge a believer's spirituality by looking at his prayer life alone and measure them by the duration of their prayers. Some believers see prayer just as a voicing of various physical needs to God and the length of their prayers increase as they add many more to their prayer lists. Now this list may include praying for others too but it still need not be selfless prayers. When we begin praying for our own difficult situations, it is not very difficult to sympathize with similar needs in others. Even when most of our praying may be for others, it may just mean that we have had most of our own needs met and our prayers can still be shallow.
            The more important question is regarding the content of our prayers. What are we praying for when we pray for others? Do we sense a lack of spiritual understanding in our own lives and in the lives of others? Are we praying that we be filled with the knowledge of God's will and that we walk in spiritual wisdom and strength? Do we search the Scriptures and find out more clearly regarding the grand purposes of God for His people? Does our prayer life deepen based on revelations we receive as we seek His will against our own? To truly judge prayer, we need to see how much our prayers are based on the Word of God. That and only that can reveal if our prayers can bear much fruit and bring glory to God. When Paul began to pray for the will of God after his encounter at Damascus, God said about him - 'behold he prayeth'.

The cup of blessing?

The cup that we drink during the Communion Service is called the cup of blessing. The table is meant to be a table of fellowship. It is not just that we fellowship with each other over the Lord's Table but our fellowship is with Him and with each other. It is meant to denote the intimacy that has wrought for us through the cross. It is an unparalleled thing. The closest to compare it with is how food enriches our physical body. Many churches however seem to make it a table of confession of sin. Instead of rejoicing that sin has been dealt with and we are enjoying the life of God that sanctifies, it has become a place of dealing with unconfessed sin. We walk away after an outer court experience.

                                             
      I think a wrong understanding of the 1st Cor chapter 11 reading can be at fault. Paul was not bringing a teaching that the Lord's table meant confession of sin. He was trying to address a problem in the Corinthian church. When I teach my son to do something and I find him doing something else, I will address the problem. But the problem is not what I want to focus on. It was when I noticed the wrong that I addressed it. It was not meant to be part of my original lesson. It is almost as if sin has to be dragged out and given a fresh coat of paint whereas the real reason for the Table is that sin has been dealt with once and for all !