I hope I can make the following clear. Many of you are probably getting the same message from the Holy Spirit. That’s exciting. ☺
The more we’re distracted we are by this world, the more time we spend focused on the things of earth, the less aware of and prepared we’ll be for God’s pruning and spiritual battles.
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Ephesians 5:19
A few days ago, Annie and I were having to fight some more intense and longer-lasting spiritual battles. We kept encouraging each other and stayed focused on the new spiritual insights and victory we knew the Lord would bring to us at the end of these current battles.
We could even tell that God was pruning us more so we could take in more of His incredible life-giving and life-sustaining fruit.
We both sensed God was prompting us to be even closer to Him on a daily, and moment by moment, basis. He was pointing out the fact, again, that we must abide under the shadow of the Most High if we are to conquer what He has in store for us.
We could feel His love and desire for us to live more dedicated to Him. That’s when Annie said, “I bet the Apostle Paul wrote Ephesians 5:19 because he was realizing that we must be speaking, singing and making melody in our hearts more and more if we’re (Paul included – His trials must have made him realize he had to focused on Jesus more and more) to be victorious in the days ahead. God didn’t want us sharing our time with other things. No, He wants us more and more close to Him, to His wonderful, liberating Word, Life, and Love.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:2
Surely God knows the beauty, mercy, grace, power, adventure and wonder of setting our affections on things above more and more as we come closer to Jesus in our relationship with Him. This is the reward for setting our affections above.
I saw the following while writing this email and thought it would be good to include Alannah’s insight below.
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What Jesus says in John 15:1-4 is a great reminder of the positivity and purpose of pruning. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit (like time we spend on things other than Jesus that make less and less sense to us as we follow Jesus more), while every branch that does bear fruit (Ephesians 5:19), he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me (Jesus), as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Essentially, the things which don’t lead to Jesus cannot remain in our lives if we chose to remain in Jesus.
Taken from Christian Today, written by Alannah Francis
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Spending more time in His company, in His Presence will change us in so many glorious ways we’re not even yet aware of. Time with Him assures us of His deep Love for us and will give us a foundation of knowing that He’s always working all things together for our good. What joy.
He’s our Father. Of course He wants us to spend more time with Him – Above…
Thanking and praising God in all things,
Mark