Tag: wild

Chosen, Planted, Rooted, Living Water

“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.”

Psalms 92:12  The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.  They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Isaiah 65:22     They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Romans 11:17     But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,

Isaiah 61:3    to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

2 Peter 3:18    But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Psalms 71:18    So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

Job 17:9    Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger

Proverbs 4:18     But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

Isaiah 46:4    even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

Jeremiah 17:8    He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Psalms 1:3    He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Galatians 5:22-23     But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Philippians 1:11    filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Chosen by God and planted and rooted by living water bearing fruit into an old age.  Being planted and rooted by living water does not secure us.  Scripture also says that the axe is laid to the root of the trees that does not bear fruit. God has planted but how do we get watered?  Through His word.  If there is little to no fruit there is a very good chance there is little to no Living Water.  Notice, in the scripture above, all of that which is an outcome of being planted, rooted and supplied living water for growth.  Fruit in our lives.  We see purpose in our lives.  This living water gives us hope, joy, patience, gladness, kindness, peace and gentleness.   This living water still nourishes us during times of heat and drought.  When Christ met and spoke with the Samaritan woman by the well he said “I will give you living water from which you will never thirst again”.  We need to be mindful of the fact that when eyes to heart and mind thirst for things of this world more than this living water we will always be thirsty for more.  Drink daily from the Living Water.

The Vineyard

“Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?”

John 15:1  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Psalms 80:8     You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.  You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.  The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.  It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.  Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?  The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.  Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,  the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.  They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!  But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!  Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Isaiah 5:1     Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.  What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

Jeremiah 12:10     Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Do you see the image of Christ and those who believe and those who don’t?  See the question, “What more was there to do, that I have not done? ”  Put this into context with these verses;  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”  The choice vine is Christ.  What more could He do to redeem and give people new life, eternal hope, lasting peace, courage, peace, and strength for life this side of eternity?  It seems as though we choose to live in the vineyard but want nothing to do with producing fruit worthy of the vine to which it is planted.  To live like this is a lie to ourselves.  This lie is fueled by neglect and complacency and almost total void of God’s word applied in the heart and mind of the grapes it is intended to produce.   Living this side of eternity is not a game to something to be taken lightly.  God want’s all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul for the purpose of humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying Him.