The Branch

(We are out of order, but after this we are in sync with the devotional that is being sent in other places... thanks for bearing with me:) )

Good morning dear sisters. I hope you are beginning to look forward to the devotional. I have been so moved by the insights our brother Andrew Murray has, and at how the Spirit has already been affirming many of the truths I read in Mr. Murray’s writings with what He has been teaching me over the past few years through His Word. I pray the devotional will encourage your own meditation on God’s Word.
 
Day 3 is entitled The Branch, and the Scripture is John 15:2, and the reading can be found on pages 3-4 of the link below.

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away... John 15:2

 Here are some highlights:
A branch is simply a bit of wood, brought forth by the vine for the one purpose of serving it in bearing its fruit.  It is of the very same nature as the vine and has one life and one spirit with it. //The branch has but one object for which it exists, one purpose to which it is entirely give up. That is, to bear the fruit the vine wishes to bring forth. //The branch is exactly like the vine in every aspect – the same nature, the same life, the same place, the same work. And so the believer needs to know…. that his one calling is to yield himself to a perfect conformity to Christ. //The branch is a perfect likeness of the vine; the only difference is, the one is great and strong, and the source of strength; the other little an feeble, ever needing and receiving strength.//The vine has its stores of life and sap and strength, not for itself, but for the branches. The branches are and have nothing but what the vine provides and imparts. 
 
What a life would come to us if we only consented to be branches! Dear child of God, learn the lesson. You have but one thing to do: Only be a branch, nothing more, nothing less!  Just be a branch; Christ will be the Vine that gives all. And the Husbandman, the mighty God, who made the Vine what it is, will as surely make the branch what it ought to be.
 
Lord Jesus, I pray thee, reveal to me the heavenly mystery of the branch, in its living union with the Vine, in its claim on all its fullness. And let Thy all-sufficiency, holding and filling Thy branches, lead me to the rest of faith that knows that Thou workest all.
 
Prayer for you
Abba, may we cease striving and know You are God. May You show us, day by day, the time You have set aside for each of us to come to You and be with You, to listen to You speak to us through the gift of Your Spirit. It is He who comforts and speaks to us Your agenda, as we, by faith, rest in our connection with the true Vine, Jesus. Oh we would see Jesus! He is our heart’s desire! Forgive us Abba, forgive us for thinking our agenda is of greater importance than Yours. Forgive us that even in ministry… we “do” for You and are more focused on what is to be done, than sitting at Your feet and receiving all You would want to give us that day. It is from relationship with You that we have anything to pour out. Oh forgive us for pouring out onto others from our self-life… may today be a day where we are still and know You are God. May today be a day where each of us goes with You where You are, that we may see Your glory Jesus. (John 17:24) And may this holy sight of You so fill us, that joy overflows from us onto everyone in our sphere, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our agenda. May being with You truly make the things of this earth “grow strangely dim.” This is the cry of our heart of hearts. Oh make this the cry of our waking minds today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The True Vine