I am confident in this that he who began a good work in me will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. – Phil 1:6
I’ve been a frustrated this week that I can’t get back in the groove of preparing for meeting with the girls at the high school. The first time I went through this Bible Study I did this particular thing on this particular day and God told me exactly what He wanted me to say and do with the girls. This time around it hasn’t been like that and I was convinced I was doing something wrong.
This morning I was reading a chapter of Who I Am In Christ on Philippians 1:6 and the author says that God desires for us to bear fruit and that accusing voice pointed out all of the things I’m not doing, both in ministry and my personal walk with the Lord, and I immediately felt discouraged. So I asked the Lord, to speak louder than that accusing voice because I knew that wasn’t Him. I started praying and my neighbor, Rodney, came up to my window and waved and pointed to my front door. Of course the first thing I thought was “Can you not see I am praying?” I knew this wouldn’t be quick because Rodney is one of those who will corner you and talk your ear off. Rodney begins talking about the weather and then our garden behind the house he is taking care of.
“Did you see the grapevine?” he asked with a huge smile on his face. “Oh, it’s beautiful, earlier this year all of it’s leaves had fallen off and since it has been Spring nothing has happened and I gave up on it. Then the Holy Spirit told me to go and water it. I went and looked today and it has beautiful green leaves and there are little bunches of grapes now. You know there is no method in nature, spring doesn’t exactly start on one day and finish on another day.”
I almost burst into tears, although originally I thought Rodney was distracting me from hearing the Lord, He instead was my audible messenger. This year has been one of those where the Lord, gently stripped me of everything and it was not pretty. I was beginning to give up on myself but He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion. The Lord had just showed me through Scripture that He was the one who began this work in me and He’s not finished. Reading this in His Word would have been sufficient but He audibly spoke through Rodney and I got a visual when I went outside to look at the grapevine (pictured above) and fell deeper in love with my God who speaks to me J He was saying, ‘I see fruit in your life after this winter, it’s small but it’s there and just like Rodney, the vinedresser, I am rejoicing over you”. It was all I needed to hear. Even as I’m writing this the next morning, I’m tearing up.
One last thought, E.M. Bounds in his book, Power Through Prayer, says “God does not anoint plans he anoints man”. I wish I could get this through my head and not be so focused on the method. I got a picture and lesson this morning that just like, there’s not specific method for God and His work…
