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And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Ah, Lord, as I look out here upon this land that we live on, there are no big trees anywhere except on the edges of the property and down by the creek - down by the "rivers of water".. And I'm amazed by the trees that are right on the edge whose roots are visible. The roots are so long and spread out and strong and deep! Lord, I want my "roots" in Thee to be deep, deep, deep! I want to be like the tree that is planted by the rivers of water! In the place we lived awhile back, many times I looked out while I was praying toward the creek we had then and marveled at the really, tall, straight trees that You had planted there. I often thought of this verse. Lord, make me like a tree planted by the rivers of water - firmly rooted in You!... ...Rivers of living water = Holy Spirit! (Jn. 7:38-39a) So I am the "tree" that YOU have planted, and as I "drink" of You at Your beautiful rivers, I shall be satisfied and filled with Your Holy Spirit. Then I will bring forth fruits of the Spirit in my life -"love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance..." (Gal 5:22-23) ... Lord, as I look here at these "fruits" of the Spirit, my heart is convicted. I know I need to ask myself some serious questions, and I pray that You will give me more and more victory in these things - to walk in the power of Your Spirit as I "drink" of You - to be firmly rooted like the tree that is planted by the rivers of water. LOVE: 1) Do I show love to my husband and children by giving them genuinepraise regulary? 2) Do I hug them often? 3) Do I speak patiently and kindly to them (even when I feel "rotten")? 4)Do I take time to read to them and meet their real needs (even when I'd rather be doing my own thing)?... 5)Do I show love by remaining quiet and not complaining so as not to make them feel miserable even when I do?... JOY: 1)Do I joyfully sing Your praises each day from the Psalms? 2) Do I smile a lot? 3)Am I becoming more and more "positive" instead of negative? 4) Do I meditate on Your presence? Do I meditate on Your Word? Do I know that You are holding me in Your arms of love? This will give me true joy in spite of circumstances, problems, or bad health! 5) Do I especailly meditate on Proverbs 17:22 - "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine...Lord, surely this is a verse I need to meditate on every day whenever I take my supplements. It should be one of my vitamins. Remind me to write this verse on my vitamin/supplement box. LONGSUFFERING: Lord, may I be willing to suffer long, patiently waiting...without a word. I see that You are in the process, Lord, of teaching me PATIENCE. In your divine sovereignty, You have brought about things in my life for which I have no control over. Please give me grace to suffer long in full surrender to You, and please don't give me more than I can bear.... MEEKNESS: Ah, Lord, You've spoken to my heart about "meekness" over and over again, and I guess it shall be Your "theme" for me till the end of my days! Surely this is part of the reason why You have allowed me to be sick so much. For when I have been so sick, nothing matters ...things are beyond my control, and I begin to learn meekneses. Lord, there is still too much SELF in me... SELFISHNESS ... SELFISHNESS and DESIRE TO CONTROL ... May I have MEEKNESS, Lord---"not my will, but thine be done"--totallly surrendered with NO SELF-INTEREST or SELF-SEEKING of my own! "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and DIE, it abideth alone: but if it DIE, it bringeth forth much fruit."(Jn. 12:24) "Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (Jn. 15:2) ...Ah Lord, You are reminding me this morning that a dead person cannot SEE or FEEL or SPEAK. If I am truly "dead" as You would have me to be, I will close my eyes to the sins of others until I first see and deal with my own sins. Also, NOTHING that anybody else does or doesn't do will be able to hurt me!(Lord, I will always have feelings, and I know it is not wrong to grieve, especially in grieving over other's sins (just as You wept over Jerusalem)-for then it causes me to REALLY PRAY.... But..what I mean is.. NOTHING that anybody else does or doesn't do will be able to hurt me in the final analysis, because You have Your arms of love around me, and everything will be alll right. You will heal my hurts as I abide in You! And now, Lord, in thinking about DEATH, I realize that a dead person cannot speak or control things either. Surely I need to meditate on this hard and long today! What a wonderful opportunity I have today to DIE TO SELF in this way--especially since I'm so hoarse that I can hardly speak anyway. (You must be speaking to me!) PEACE: 1)Do I have a deep, inner peace that comes with a gentle, quiet spirit?
2) Do I have peace in spite of circumstances--knowing that "...all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..."(Surely Lord,
every problem, every trial, every sickness--everything TODAY that seems
bad has been allowed in my life to CONFORM me to the IMAGE of YOUR SON! Yes,
Lord, I want to be like Christ and to "know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto
his death."(Phil.3:10)."
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