Weaning (patience and faithfulness)

Psalm 131:2 But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.

"Weaning can be unpleasant for the 'weanee' and the 'weaner'-Joyce Meyer
In order for your soul to be weaned, somebody has got to suffer....God is willing to listen to you scream and cry all night long (like a parent taking a binky or bottle away).  What do I need to be weaned from?  Is it the good opinion of others, the kind words or encouragement that I seek especially from relationships where it's no longer there?? Is it a bad attitude, pity party, victim mentality, selfishness....hmmm...

Endure
Hebrews 12:2-3---endure=put up with a good attitude
We all want to be used by God...to bear fruit.  We can dress it up and make it look good on the outside, but what happens if you squeeze it??? Fruit may need to hang around on the vine for awhile so it's not bitter... Jesus is the vine...we need to ripen on the vine!  It took David 20 years to get ripe. One day we will ripen and be handpicked by God!   James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Sometimes we learn how to treat people by getting treated poorly ourselves-then knowing how not to treat others. 

These are my notes from today's broadcast-patience and faithfulness  http://www.joycemeyer.org/ourministries/broadcast/

fruitful garden

I read this in a weekly email devotion from James Robison and thought about the fruit post I made the other day...

"You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Have you ever seen a well-watered garden that didn’t produce fruit? Has an eternal spring ever left anyone thirsty? What an amazing promise! In the garden of God there is joy, satisfaction, bounty and life. This is what God wants for you; He wants to meet your needs so that you can help meet the needs of others. The world is hungry, both spiritually and physically, but we can extend this invitation to them when we experience it ourselves: Come and dine at His table and begin to live as His fruitful garden.
Isaiah 58:11

Blooming Fruit

I drive past some type of purple tree/bush each day...it was blooming one day and done the next. The flowers are the same way...here one minute gone the next. Made me think about John 15. How are we like fruit? Do we bear fruit just in season or should we always have the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22)? Obviously we can't bear fruit on our own, only as we remain in Christ... so does that mean He has a time for us to bear fruit? Is it a one time deal, like an annual, or a yearly thing like a perennial? Last year I remember the phlox in my front garden blooming early, freezing, then blooming again. I know I want to bear fruit that will last...so I better get to loving! Read all of John 15:1-17....it's good!
Eccl 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.