A Principle of God that aligns His joy with His children’s joy
Mark 1:27
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."
John 15:1-4
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit 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, 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.
Pruning
God casts out the enemy and goes even further making the enemy uphold His will. This is not done by letting him “attack us”, but instead he uses the enemy to refine and prune the Bride of His Beloved Son. We saw that pruning occur in Jesus’ life, when at the age of 30, just beginning his ministry, His Father allowed Satan to tempt Jesus. The temptations revolved around Satan’s attempt to get Jesus to “take matters in his own hands”. With each temptation that Jesus overcame, the Father “disciplined” or pruned the Son of Man for Ministry (to execute judgement and show mercy). The world’s unbelief had to be pruned away (and burned) in order for the full fruitfulness (glory) of God could be revealed in the Son of Man.
PURPOSE
an excerpt from “the Object of Pruning” by T. Austin Sparks
The work of the Husbandman, the Father, with His pruning knife, has as its object the preserving of true character. That is true in all pruning, as you know.You go along the path there in the garden. You will see some grafted rose bushes which once beautiful roses. They were not pruned. Now they have run wild: the wild stocks have been allowed to suppliant the beautiful grafted forms, and they are only bearing what we call dog-roses. They may be pretty, but we know that the plant has run wild for want of the knife. the result is not the real thing - it is a wild thing; it is something inferior; it is not what it might have been.
It is so easy for us, if the Lord spares the knife and leaves us alone, to lose distinctive character. Just let us get out of the Lord and run free, take away our own way for a bit, and we lose distinctiveness of character. There is a wilderness, a foreign element that comes in, and the real pleasure of the Lord is lost. It is not until that knife comes back and does some pretty hard work, saying, ‘No, no, not that way; not that way’, that the Lord recovers the thing which He first intended as His own satisfaction. But what is the result? “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” We have to admit, after all, that it was not in that independent way that we really found our joy’ our joy is being in the way of the Lords;s first appointment and choice, and our joy is restored very often by the knife. “That my joy may be in you.”
If you go to Hebrews 12, you will see the fuller interpretation and explanation. It is the Father’s hand that is upon us to get that which, firstly, justifies our existence - the satisfaction of His nature, the fulfillment of His purpose - and in so doing brings His joy into our hearts. It is not our joy in the first place, but His. Then our joy is His joy - and our joy is fulfilled.
APPLICATION
“Productive” truth, leads to wisdom and needs to be measured by the following standard, his Name is Jesus. A personal connection (and nothing else!) with Jesus Christ is what it’s ALL about.
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