Author: Charlie Brignac

Once we accept Jesus as our Savior, He promises to perfect His strength in our weakness.  He also promises to finish the good work in us that was started when we committed our lives to Him.

For these very reasons, we are in a continual process of pruning.  This pruning process will not stop until we are perfect.  Be ready, saints, perfection will not be reached until we get to heaven.  Our time on earth will be filled with perpetual pruning.  Rejoice in knowing that all the good work will be completed as promised according to God’s perfect timing for our lives.

For most Christians, God’s directions for our lives do not come in audible context.  They come in the faint internal whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  They come as gentle urgings of the spirit rather than anything of a more direct nature.

These urgings are designed to test our obedience.  If we are obedient to the calls, we will find that the urgings become clearer and extend over more and more of our activities.  We will begin to seek the direction of the Holy Spirit in all of our endeavors.  If we ignore the urgings, they will gradually cease.

Even the demons are profoundly knowledgeable about Jesus, but they do not know Him.  Full knowledge of Jesus means nothing unless He knows you.

The only way that Jesus knows us (as in accepts us into His kingdom) is if we have accepted Him as our Savior.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, then a living relationship springs forth for all eternity. The Master and the servant are in perfect knowledge of each other.

Consider the crabapple tree that the farmer grafts with a golden delicious apple tree in order to produce good fruit.  Before the grafting, the crabapple tree may have been in perfect health, but it was not capable of bearing good fruit.  After the grafting process, the farmer has created a new tree capable of bearing delicious fruit.

Unfortunately, the roots of the crabapple are still in the ground and are the life source for the new fruit bearing tree.  Throughout the life of the tree, these roots produce crabapple shoots that the farmer must constantly prune in order to keep the old, barren life of the tree from overcoming the new, fruitful life of the tree.

So it is when we receive our salvation.  The new life in Christ is grafted in over our natural sinful nature.  The sinful nature of our old life rises up constantly.  Only through the constant pruning of the Holy Spirit are we able to overcome the barrenness of the old life and stay in the abundant life of Christ within us. 

The process of stripping and re-finishing a piece of furniture makes a good illustration when thinking about how the Lord makes us worthy.  When the furniture re-finishing process begins, it starts with the main stripping which is relatively easy.  It is done with large strokes that take away most of the old finish.  

The work lies in getting down into the small crevices that hold much of the old stain that must be removed before the new finish can be applied.  The true craftsman would never begin to apply the final finish without removing every blemish left by the old stain, even the smallest blemishes that the average person would not see. 

So goes the work of the Lord on us.  Every sin in our lives, even those we may not recognize, are exposed by the Holy Spirit so that we may repent and be washed clean by the blood of Jesus.  Thus we are prepared to stand before the Father in perfected bodies, spotless of sin.  

The four seasons in nature a very easy to identify.  The different effects of each season on the growing process are clear to see and are easily related to earth’s nearness to the sun.  The new growth of the spring is a stark contrast to the dying out of the winter.

So it is in our own growth as Christians.  The Lord puts each of us through seasons.  He allows the circumstances in our lives to affect our nearness to Him.  He never moves away from us during any season in our lives, but He allows us to establish the nearness of our relationship with Him through our response to Him during our trials.

How we respond determines the size and the fragrance of our new growth.  The more we die to selves and draw on the Lord during our winters, the greater our produce will be in our spring times.

What a great statement the faithful Christian makes to the world when standing confidently and peacefully during major trials.  When the worldly see the calmness under stress and the utter lack of fear under uncertainty exhibited by the believing Christian, how can they not be moved?  

When God allows the Christian to be tried, He promises He will provide the strength to endure.  When the faithful Christian believes in God’s promise and stands on it, he or she turns this into a wonderful testimony for the rest of the world to see.

As Our Heavenly Father prepares each of us to be with Him for all eternity, He will, at certain times in our lives, allow us to be put in places and situations that require that we rely on Him.  Until we reach the point where we have put our entire faith into believing His Word and trusting Him for our provision, our trials will continue.  Not only will our trials continue, but they will intensify until we are in full submission to His authority and promise for our lives.  

With God, nothing is impossible.  We can stand strong in every circumstance for He is true to His Word 
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

If our journey through life is viewed in any way other than through the will of God for our lives, it is guaranteed that our journey will be like a roller coaster ride with many highs and lows.  On the other hand, if we keep our focus on Jesus throughout life’s journey, our journey will not only be a steady process toward completed sainthood in heaven for all eternity, but will also be filled with joy every step of the way.

We are able to love God only because He loved us first.  Our Heavenly Father is the essence and origin of everything that is good.

Even though we can come up with good, fruitful activities in our lives, we should never think that our good common sense even remotely approaches the supernatural sense of the Holy Spirit.   We must learn to lean on the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to determine the activities that we focus our lives on.  Then, not only will we be fruitful, but we will also manifest the life of Christ in all that we do.