Fruit: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

                       Fruit

                        A glimpse here and there

                        of Spirit’s fruit shining

                        light sprinkles into our

                        darkened hearts showing a

                        new way of life.

                       

                        A purity both strong and fragile

                        hunger for fulfillment

                        groan at long road ahead

                        seeming so distant yet

                        must not let go.

Reflection: Groan: Listen: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Do you see glimpses of God’s fruit of work in you? In others? How?

2.     Does it draw you closer, or do you retreat to the mundane because His fruit seems so out of reach?

3.     What first fruits would you like to live by right now?

4.     Do you find longing and waiting to be the same or different?  How? What actions would each require according to this verse?

Share: What fruit has another shared with you when you needed it?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Genesis 8:15-15, “Then God said to Noah, ‘Go out of the ark…so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply.’ So Noah went out with….”

As we read and share the story of Noah, we often stop there in complete amazement. And yet there is more. We often stop short of Your purposes, Lord. Or I do. I sometimes reach a point, an experience that is so amazing that I stop and stay.

Yet, You do not always call us to one plan, or one purpose only. Sometimes there is another stepping-stone to take. Perhaps not for ourselves, but maybe for another, that together we might be fruitful and multiply. Despite the long years of building the ark, Noah’s work did not end there; perhaps it only began there.

And if our destination is eternity, then we really do not have an end, a stopping point. We are to be ready to follow, to take new adventures, to accept new responsibilities each day.

Please help us to recognize and complete the task You assign, and then be willing and prepared to be moved onward to the next. May it be more important to stay the course with You than to linger with satisfaction short of Your intent.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 111:7-8

“The work of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure.

They are upheld forever and ever; they are performed in truth and uprightness.”

Kingdom Manna

Yoke

Matthew 21:43, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

A harvest is expected, hoped for. To a vine grower no fruit means hardship; there are bills to pay, taxes due, workers to compensate, a household to feed. But a successful harvest results in plenty. Provision for all and extra to share.

God planted Israel as His vine. He dug, seeded, watered, shaded, and nurtured His people. A covenant gift. They produced wild grapes. “I am the true vine,” Jesus says. “Abide in Me and you will bear much fruit.” But if not fruitful, the branches are pruned.

A harvest is eagerly awaited. To God a fruitless vine means suffering children. They sit in darkness, despair, and hopelessness, fed falsehoods, deprived of His true word. But a kingdom harvest results in salvation. Abundance for all and life to share.

Gift of love to permeate all our days. We are never separated from His love. His resources are never depleted. Forgive me for being so meager with Your words, Your message, Your manna, Lord. Through them You give me life new each morning. Hope restored. Help me to share Your fruit. To abide in Your true vine.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 119:93

I will never forget your precepts,

for by them you have given me life.

Tabernacle

Rod

Under the line of

Melchizedek alone

can true measure be taken, a

rod that bears fruit.

Carefully nurtured from

bud to blossom to bounty.

Under the line of

Melchizedek, Christ alone,

can true discipleship bear

eternal fruit.

Cultivated by love

Spirit to heart to witness.

Revelation 11:1, “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff…”