Mentoring Minutes

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”    John 15:16

Love and Lordship in Focus…Do you realize how important and powerful it is that God chose to partner with us to be the bearers of His Fruit for His Kingdom and Glory! Are you trying to produce your own fruit…or humbly willing to be pruned by The Father so you can bear His fruit?

Building on the significance that we have and are in Christ as God’s masterpiece and as a branch in The Vine (Christ), we find that we are specifically chosen by God and appointed to bear fruit. None of us was or is the last chosen as each of us were appointed and selected by God before we were born to abide in Christ as our Savior and Lord and to bear His fruit (John 15:16).

Our obedience to that calling and choosing makes us Kingdom and Holy Spirit fruit-bearers that will last for eternity and allow others to partake of that spiritual fruit and have the same opportunity to know and love Christ as Savior and Lord!

Isn’t that incredible…and a great relief! He’s the One Who produces all the fruit and as we are faithful to remain, endure and abide in Him, that fruit comes through us to help nourish and build up others for His Kingdom and Glory! That’s why Jesus could call us to take up His yoke and with confidence let us know that “His yoke is easy and His burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)…another awesome benefit of our identity in Christ!

He does the heavy lifting and we abide, walk and work, even while we wait for His return, and The Father as the Gardener (see John 15) provides, protects, prunes and prepares us so He can produce and prosper much fruit, His Fruit, in and through us as Christ’s disciples and bring glory to God The Father (John 15:8-9).

All of this done as we Love Him and others (John 15:17). Are you trying to produce fruit for Him or simply walking and abiding in Him so He can make much fruit and you can bear much…so more and more will partake of His fruit through you and know Him!

You’ve likely heard the following Scripture many times and even quoted it as an encouragement to others and even to yourself. But have you ever stopped and thought that the Truth found in this text is because of who you are in Christ and gives you tremendous power, confidence and value.

Philippians 4:13 tells all those who are in Christ that you can do all things because He is in you and gives you all the strength you need! Now before you immediately do what most do in today’s culture and churches and make this all about your selfish wish list and desires, remember this…Paul was probably writing this from a prison cell of some kind in Rome awaiting his imminent death by Caesar’s hand.

Yes, we have been given the strength to do whatever needs to be done but we must look at the preceding verses in Philippians 4:4-12 to see the context. Paul is telling us that this strength flows from never being anxious because we can always trust in The Lord. He exhorts us to rejoice and to pray with a heart of thanksgiving in all things (even the difficulties, pain and trials…that he certainly knew something about).

He reminds us to train our thinking to be focused on those things that are good, righteous, praiseworthy and excellent, among other good and positive thoughts, and finally he models it for us by proclaiming that this is not about a wish list from God. He has learned to be content and fulfilled in all things, whether with plenty or in need, well fed or hungry. He knew who he was in Christ…and so can you! This is the key!

God thinks so much of you and me that He even supplies every real need that we have out of His glorious riches in Christ (Philippians 4:19)!

One final thought on this passage to keep a Godly perspective… Philippians is often called “The Book of Joy” and we need to remember the circumstances that Paul found himself in (see above) as he reminded all of us of these great truths of all that God has done for us in Christ and just how significant we are to Him!

You see, my strength and my significance is not found in my wants, needs or circumstances…nor the outcomes related to these. It is totally found in Christ!

Do you know Him and recognize how valuable you are that He would give you exactly the strength that you need to handle any and everything that comes your way? I pray you do because He gave His life so you could. That’s how significant you are to Him!

As we continue to focus on, recognize and accept our significance and value to God in Christ think about this…

Because of what Christ has done in the Incarnation (taking on flesh and becoming human), His Life, Death, Burial and Resurrection…all who believe in Him are literally made a dwelling place or temple for His indwelling Presence (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). He dwells in us by His Holy Spirit because Christ has saved, sanctified and purified us to that He can. And we are to honor Him with our bodies and our lives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Notice the strong command from the verse nestled in between these 2 texts…1 Corinthians 6:18… “Flee porneia (sexual immorality of every kind)…” as it has wrecked so many people who’ve failed to live in their identity in Christ, as a dwelling place for His Holy Spirit! Thank The Lord for His grace and don’t abuse it.

God lives in you…how awesome is that!

Not only, as we have previously discussed, do we abide in Him as branches in The Vine (Christ), but he abides in us (John 15:1-11)! PTL!

Have you received His Presence by Christ’s sacrifice and grace through faith? Do you recognize how significant you are to Him and for His Glory? He chose to perform His will in this way and we are the recipients of His presence and glory! Live like it! 

Food for Thought…Have you received His Presence by Christ’s sacrifice and grace through faith? Do you recognize how significant you are to Him and for His Glory? He chose to perform His will in this way and we are the recipients of His presence and glory! Live like it!   

Love in Action –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Journal what you’ve learned about your identity in Christ in this post. 
3. In your relationship with Christ, who’s been doing the heavy lifting? If you’re not in a relationship with Him what do you need to do?
4. Describe what it means knowing that you have His strength in all things because He dwells in you.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and we’ll walk through them together in The Lord and His Spirit.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com to find out more about how you can know God the Father, Christ His Son and The Holy Spirit.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, You are doing an incredible work in the earth and have been from the beginning. Thank You that You have called and chosen me to join You for eternity and to co-labor with You in Christ and Your Holy Spirit to help others enter into this calling and coworker status with You and into eternity with You in Christ. In His Name. Amen.

“I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.”    John 15:5-6

Love and Lordship in Focus…How often do we mix the independent individualism of the American Dream with The Word and claim how we are producing for God’s Kingdom. According to His Word, we are called to bear His Kingdom fruit…The Vine (Christ) produces the fruit that makes all the difference. We simply abide in Him and bear His fruit!

We have explored and revealed that we are fully accepted in Christ and we’ve been working through the reality that we are secure in Him.

As we wrap up this Truth of our security and safety in Christ we look at the fact that, as a wholehearted believer and follower of Jesus Christ, we are a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20). This is not just that we are assured of eternity with God but we presently belong to the citizenry of heaven. We have all the security of protection as a citizen here and now as we walk by faith in Christ.

The struggle comes when we look around and see the struggles, frustrations and temptations of the world and our flesh and then choose to be a citizen of this fallen world (the old natural man or woman of the flesh) rather than choosing by grace through faith, to be a citizen of heaven (the new man or woman in The Spirit). While we must live in this world and flesh at this time, we have all we need in Christ, His Word and Spirit to walk out this citizenship in heaven…here and now (John 17:11, 14-15).

Will you choose by faith and in His grace the decisions in line with His Truth and will that reflect heavenly citizenship or will you continue to choose the emotions, the fleshly desires and the trappings of this world? You can daily and moment-by-moment choose to walk as a citizen of heaven in loving obedience to God because you’ve been given all of this in Christ!

Do you know Him and are you walking as a citizen of heaven today?

Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at our identity in Christ as being fully accepted by God in Him in numerous ways as well as being completely secure in Him. It truly is incredible and very assuring and comfortable when we walk in faith.

Continuing to add to our identity we now begin to look at our value in Christ…that we are extremely significant in God’s eyes through Christ and all that He is doing and desires to do in and through us!

We begin with one we’ve talked about numerous times in other contexts but none more important than our significance in Christ. We are God’s workmanship in Christ (Ephesians 2:10).

Of course this verse is preceded by what God has done for us by His free gift of grace in Christ’s sacrifice and not by our own works of the flesh (Ephesians 2:8-9). We must understand this or it becomes more about our prideful works done, thinking this is what save us (which can never happen) rather than who and what we are by Christ’s death, burial and resurrection to make us a new masterpiece (the Greek word is “poemia” where we get our word poem from and is translated as “a work done by a craftsman,” in this case literally by the God, The Master Craftsman), creating each of us as His specific masterpiece!

How does that make you feel? Valued, accepted, secure, significant? It should encourage you in all of these as God does not make any junk! We may mess it up ourselves but even then He remembers us as the workmanship of His hands and is always lovingly waiting for us to return to Him.

We can also rest assured that if we will walk with Him and seek Him above all else that He will show us what He has created us for and recreated us in Christ as His masterpiece to do those things He purposed for us to do for His Kingdom and Glory!

Even when you struggle…remember that You are His Masterpiece in Christ!

Do you know Christ as Savior and Lord? Do you know you are God’s masterpiece in Christ? Are you living accordingly?

What a powerful reminder that we are Your workmanship, Lord God, recreated in Christ for Your good will and purposes (Philippians 2:12-13). May we walk in them and submit to You in obedience for You to accomplish all that You desire and all for Your Glory.

I am/We are significant in God’s eyes so may we be assured of this by faith and not live our lives based on the way the world and the enemy would deceive us to believe.

I pray that The Holy Spirit reminds you constantly, and that you will hear, that  am a branch in The Vine of Christ (John 15:1, 5). Instead of trying to prove our worth by producing fruit for You, let us abide in Christ, The Vine, and allow Your Spirit to bring fruit in and through me that I can bear it and others can partake and come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. 

Food for Thought…May we lose our desire to produce any fruit of our own but simply bear all the fruit that He desires for us, and knows we can handle, for His Kingdom and Glory. Thank You for valuing each of us so much that You would graft us into Christ by His sacrifice so that we can be branches of Your love, bearing Your fruit to help others know Jesus. Do you know Him? Are you abiding in Him and bearing His fruit… or are you trying to produce fruit for Him?

Love in Action –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Journal what you’ve learned about your identity in Christ in this post. 
3. Give some thought and write out what it means for you to be a citizen of Heaven.
4. Discuss with a fellow Christian what it means to abide in Christ and bear fruit for God’s Kingdom rather than trying to produce fruit.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and we’ll walk through them together in The Lord and His Spirit.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com to find out more about how you can know God the Father, Christ His Son and The Holy Spirit.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, I am valued and worthy to bear Your fruit in Christ because of Your great Love for me in His life, death, burial and resurrection. Forgive me for trying to produce fruit, even for You, and may I abide in Christ, The Vine, so that You can bring forth Your Kingdom and Spirit fruit to touch other lives to know Christ as Savior and Lord. In His Name. Amen.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline (sound mind).”       2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)

Love and Lordship in Focus…When you believe in and submit to Christ as Savior and Lord you receive His Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not invoke or tolerate fear and timidity but gives us…check out these 3 words together…power, love and self-discipline (or control or a sound mind). Do you display these as evidence of The Holy Spirit in you?

If last week’s post didn’t light a fire in you, then your woods all wet (as Brother Wayne B. Smith used to say). How awesome is it that God has recreated us in Christ for specific purposes that align with His Kingdom will and that He will finish what He started. However, we must remember that He will never force the issue but graciously and lovingly teach, guide, correct and even punish to move us toward that end as long as we will listen and submit.

With this in mind we look at our identity today found in another incredibly reassuring and comforting passage, and yet it is one that is so often manipulated by our flesh for our own selfish ends.

Romans 8:28 tells us that in every situation, circumstance and outcome, God is working for good in and through and to all those who love Him and are called for what…according to His purpose (look back at yesterday’s devo). This is when we are most fulfilled, content and confident when we are finding our purpose not in what we desire but in Him and His desires for they are always selfless, perfect and loving, and far above our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-11)!

Ultimately this is found in our eternal salvation but it must be lived out in the here and now…for now. This means that my hardship may work in and through me as one who loves God to challenge, encourage and/or bless another, or others, who love God as we are all called according to His purpose and love Him. While it may certainly work out on the individual level it is also much greater than this as it includes the influence and impact that He has through every situation on all who love Him and walk in His will.

Are you seeing His work in your life in every situation and calling it good according to His Word, even when it’s difficult. Are you trusting in His Word or in your emotions and circumstances?

Christ has made it so we can walk in His Love, love for Him and in line with His Kingdom will and purpose as we put our faith in Him. Will you trust Him…no matter what? Do you know Christ as Savior and Lord?

As we continue to thank The Lord for all that He has given us and recreated us to walk in, knowing that we are secure in Him, we look today at the reality, the Truth, that we have been given a spirit of love, power and a sound mind (or discipline). We’ve not been given a spirit of fear or timidity (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT).

By faith this should assure us that no matter what we face, what others say about us, or how the world and culture may look at us, we can walk in confidence, boldness and contentment because we know who we are in Christ. No fear of man, only fear and reverence of God which gives us the wisdom (Proverbs 9:10) to walk out the love and power that He has placed within us and upon us…and the discipline of a sound mind to do so.

What is your confidence and assurance found in? Is it fleeting and shallow because it is rooted in your flesh, the world and its deceptions and ever-changing standards? Or is it in the Way, the Truth and the Life that is Jesus Christ and the Spirit that He has given us?

All those who know Christ as Savior and Lord are no longer slaves to fear because you are a child of God!

We’ve looked at all the ways we are accepted in Christ and have been working through all the ways we are secure in Him. We have a couple more to explore regarding the reality of our security in Him. We are love, forgiven, free, not condemned, always in His Love and many more.

Today we look at the fact that as we receive Christ and are recreated in Him, we are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:2-3). This means that no matter what our trials and struggles, no matter how the enemy may come after us we are assured that we can count on Christ to hide us from anything that would destroy us.

This does not mean that we can live as we please and claim this promise or assurance. The next few verses in Colossians 3:4-17 to on to state how we are to die to the old self of our own natural flesh (selfish, sinful desires) and how we are now to put on the new person in Christ. This is how we are hidden and secure in Him.

It also means that no matter what we face, as we turn to Him by grace in faith, we can know that there will be nothing that can come against us that He doesn’t already know and that He has not already overcome. He will provide the protection as we go through it and a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13)! Through His Word and Spirit He has already provided a way out but we must choose, being hidden in Christ to do so and not choose to satisfy our sinful desires and then wonder why He didn’t “pull us out of” our own selfish choices and actions.

Food for Thought…When you choose the Truth that He has provided you will always be able to walk away from that struggle or temptation and/or be strengthened to endure through it because you are hidden with God in Christ! By His Spirit in you, you can choose the power, love and discipline needed to make the decisions in keeping with His Truth…this is the walk of faith that you can have when you are in Christ! Are you secure in your relationship with and in Christ? You can be!

Love and Lordship…Action Items –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
2. Journal what you’ve learned about your identity in Christ in this post. 
3. Reflect on and write about what it means for you to have a spirit of power, love and self-discipline as you are hidden with God in Christ.
4. What does it mean for you to know that He is working all things for good as you love Him and walk according to His purpose? How does this give you confidence to know you can face all struggles and temptations and He provides a way out for you?

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and we’ll walk through them together in The Lord and His Spirit.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com to find out more about how you can know God the Father, Christ His Son and The Holy Spirit.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, thank You for the Spirit of love, power and self-discipline that You have given me in Christ. May I walk in it humbly, boldly, confidently and contentedly, knowing and loving who I am in Him and pointing others to Him. Thank You for working good in all things, even the difficult things and always providing a way out when I struggle and am tempted. Help me to believe who I am in Christ. In His Name. Amen.