Withered Branches

Good morning dear friends. I hope this morning you will have time to sit and just be with God. May your morning be restful, even if you are in the midst of much activity. Note that the reading today is not talking about losing your salvation. It is rather, talking about what Jesus spoke of: the seed that falls on different soil. Seed that falls on good soil will root down and grow. The author is calling to attention the seed that never took root, even if it might have appeared to for a time.
 
Today’s reading is entitled Withered Branches and the verse is John 15:6
 
If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fires and they are burned. John 15:6
 
Here are some highlights:
 
There is such a thing as a withered branch, on in whom the initial union with Christ appears to have taken place, and in whom yet it is seen that his faith was but for a time. What a solemn call to look around and see if there be not withered branches in our churches, to look within and see whether we are indeed abiding and bearing fruit!
 
With some it is that they never understood how the Christian calling leads to holy obedience and to loving service.//  With others it was that the cares of the world, or its prosperity, choked the Word: they had never forsaken all to follow Christ. With still others it was that their religion and their faith was in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God.
 
Let us open our eyes and see if there be not withered branches all around us in the churches. //…. ask the Lord whether there is nothing to be done for branches that are beginning to wither. And let the word Abide ring through the Church until every believer has caught it – no safety but in a true abiding in Christ.//  …the secret of abiding will become even simpler, just the consciousness of the place in which He has put me: just the childlike resting in my union with Him, and the trustful assurance that He will keep me.
 
Oh do let us believe there is a life that knows of no withering, that is ever green; and that brings forth fruit abundantly! O my Father, watch over me, and keep me, and let nothing ever for a moment hinder the freshness that comes from a full abiding in the Vine. Let the very thought of a withered branch fill me with holy fear and watchfulness.
 
Abba, O give to us Your compassion for those who are withering – let us not cast them off, let us not do that to these whom You love. O let us, in Your power and at Your command, go to these precious ones, let us, send us, work through us to warn them of the disease that blocks their vital union with You. O to those who think they are attached to the Vine, but care nothing for fruit… O God, do what You will to save them, to wake them up to see their true condition. And forgive us Lord, for not caring enough to ask about other’s union with Christ, for just assuming that because they are in our church, they must have already placed their faith in Your finished work. O God, may we not be so busy that we don’t have time to listen. Forgive us again for being more concerned with our own agenda during the week, especially Sunday mornings. O let us take time with one another to know how we can encourage our union with You. Abba I am sure those who are reading this, are Your daughters, Your sons. I cannot imagine praying would be something one would do if they did not really know You. Yet O God, if there is one daughter, one son, who thinks they know You but has never really placed their faith in the finished work of Christ, would You even now, right now, reveal Your love to them, draw them to You, speak to them and adopt them as a son, as a daughter? Abba give us ears to hear and hearts to obey Your promptings to listen to one another, and pray for one another as we walk out this walk of faith, I ask in Jesus’ name, amen.