Desert Rain

Hebrew 10:24 & 25 came alive to me today. It was through the group of cell leader interns that I've been meeting with. Which has really been a joy! SIGnets, i call them... S.I.G. standing for Sunseeker Interns Group... with hopes that these cygnets will grow into beautiful swans in Christ! =) My week had been a spiritually-low one... felt quite disjointed from God. But meeting with the SIGnets somehow helped spur in me a need to quench my thirst for God's Word! Funny isn't it, how sometimes we refuse to drink even when our throats are like deserts?! I finally hit the oasis I had been circling for days.... Lord, it's truly amazing how You always seem to weave the verses planned for the day into whatever we end up discussing, no matter how off-tangent we go! It's like You're really there listening to us and You have something to say at the end of all our stumblings and mumblings! The topic we had wandered to was about giving people solutions to their problems versus pointing them to Jesus. And the difficulty sometimes in resisting the urge to give people fish instead of teaching & allowing them to fish. The scripture was John 15:7 to which I suddenly felt the Spirit prompt us to add verse 8. "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. The connection wasn't very clear at first but after a short time of corporate meditation, we were silenced by what was suddenly revealed to us. Later, the Spirit shed even more light on it as I processed it verbally with my good sparring partner. As we point people to Jesus & God's Word, many times both we and they don't fully realize the need of abiding in Him and letting His words soak in us. Maybe it's because we are living in a quick-fix era. And at that same-paced glance, what I had thought myself to be a personal gain formula: me+scripture=answered prayer, well... just wasn't. It's not about solutions to my gain, but a show of His glory. That "ask whatever you wish & it will be given you" phrase is really sandwiched by two slices of the same kind of "wholesome wheat bread" - the focus being on God. The first slice (in vs 7), needing to be grafted & so staying on as branches in the Great Vine and drawing the necessary nutrition we need from Him (through His Word), then secondly (in vs 8), bearing fruit that has in it those same nutrients and vitamins, maybe even multiplied! Again, the focus is on God (& not ourselves), as that fruit is to His glory and simply shows us as fruit-bearers of His planting and growing! "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up. This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD's name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love." (Isaiah 55:10-13, NLT)