from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager
PLUMP GRAPES
Jesus said, “Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.”
My morning quiet time typically flows with this rhythm . . . prayer, a devotional from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, Bible reading, and prayer. On Thursday morning Chambers’ reflection was on Jesus’ words in John 7:37-38, On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone 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.”
Chambers likened the streams of living water to grapes. He wrote, “God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us.”
Ponder the questions like I did. Am I a plump grape or a dried up prune? When I’m squeezed by conflict and troubles – whether in my relationships, health, finances, or ____________ ¬– what comes out of me? Sweetness? Or am I a sour grape?
Remember, there are no such things as coincidences, only God-incidences, and He obviously didn’t want the thought of being a grape to be fleeting. I opened my Bible that I’ve been reading in chronological order. The day’s passage was Isaiah 5. The chapter heading was The Song of the Vineyard. My mouth dropped and my ears opened. OK, God. I’m listening.
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard; My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit (Isaiah 5:1-2). God looked at His vineyard, His chosen nation that was to bear a crop of good grapes, and for all his pains he got junk grapes (Isaiah 5:2b, MSG).
God loved His vineyard; He tended it and watched over it, yet it still bore bad fruit. He asked, “What more could have been done for my vineyard then I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad” (Isaiah 5:4)?
Let’s make that personal. Can you join me in testifying how much God loves us, how faithful He’s been to us, how He has carefully tended and watched over us through His Word, His Spirit, and through His people – including the sisters at GEMS? He can rightly ask, “Can you think of anything I could have done to my vineyard (anything He could have done for you and me) that I didn’t do?” (Isaiah 5:4a, MSG).
He not only knows our deeds (Revelation 3:15-16), He’s in the vineyard checking to see if we are plump or junk grapes.
PASSION Step: Honestly ask God, what kind of grape am I? Then surrender yourself to His pruning.
Matthew 7:20
My morning quiet time typically flows with this rhythm . . . prayer, a devotional from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, Bible reading, and prayer. On Thursday morning Chambers’ reflection was on Jesus’ words in John 7:37-38, On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone 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.”
Chambers likened the streams of living water to grapes. He wrote, “God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us.”
Ponder the questions like I did. Am I a plump grape or a dried up prune? When I’m squeezed by conflict and troubles – whether in my relationships, health, finances, or ____________ ¬– what comes out of me? Sweetness? Or am I a sour grape?
Remember, there are no such things as coincidences, only God-incidences, and He obviously didn’t want the thought of being a grape to be fleeting. I opened my Bible that I’ve been reading in chronological order. The day’s passage was Isaiah 5. The chapter heading was The Song of the Vineyard. My mouth dropped and my ears opened. OK, God. I’m listening.
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard; My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit (Isaiah 5:1-2). God looked at His vineyard, His chosen nation that was to bear a crop of good grapes, and for all his pains he got junk grapes (Isaiah 5:2b, MSG).
God loved His vineyard; He tended it and watched over it, yet it still bore bad fruit. He asked, “What more could have been done for my vineyard then I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad” (Isaiah 5:4)?
Let’s make that personal. Can you join me in testifying how much God loves us, how faithful He’s been to us, how He has carefully tended and watched over us through His Word, His Spirit, and through His people – including the sisters at GEMS? He can rightly ask, “Can you think of anything I could have done to my vineyard (anything He could have done for you and me) that I didn’t do?” (Isaiah 5:4a, MSG).
He not only knows our deeds (Revelation 3:15-16), He’s in the vineyard checking to see if we are plump or junk grapes.
PASSION Step: Honestly ask God, what kind of grape am I? Then surrender yourself to His pruning.
Trees have seasons at certain times of the year when they bring forth fruit;
but a Christian is for all seasons.
Ralph Browning
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