{"id":25033,"date":"2015-03-23T00:20:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T04:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=25033"},"modified":"2015-03-22T23:05:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-23T03:05:35","slug":"god-the-gardener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/23\/god-the-gardener\/","title":{"rendered":"God the Gardener"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM<\/em><\/strong>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I AM<\/strong> The Light of the World
\nI AM<\/strong> The Bread of Life
\nI AM<\/strong> The Door <\/em><\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong> The Good Shepherd
\nI AM<\/strong> The True Vine <\/em><\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong> The Way, The Truth, and The Life<\/em><\/span>
\nI AM<\/strong> The Resurrection and The Life<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Each week during this season of Lent, here on the Seeking Him<\/em> blog, we will be focusing our devotionals on a different aspect of Jesus\u2019 revelation of Himself as I AM<\/em><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0 The aim of Lent should be to prepare our hearts for the remembrance of Jesus\u2019 sacrifice\u2014His trial and torture, the Crucifixion and His death\u2026and above all, the celebration of His Resurrection from the dead. \u00a0We pray that this will be a great encouragement to each of you who read them. \u00a0And that all of us will consider the significance of Jesus\u2019 words and, through them, be helped as we remember and are thankful for all Jesus went through during the last few weeks of His life on this earth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

I AM<\/strong><\/em> the True Vine<\/strong>, and my Father is the gardener.<\/span>
\n He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit,<\/span>
\n while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.<\/span>
\n You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.<\/span>
\n Remain in Me, as I also remain in you.<\/span>
\n No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.<\/span>
\n Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.<\/span>
\n I AM<\/strong><\/em> the Vine<\/strong>; you are the branches.<\/span>
\n If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;<\/span>
\n apart from Me you can do nothing.<\/span>
\n If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers;<\/span>
\n such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.<\/span>
\n If you remain in Me and My words remain in you,<\/span>
\n ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.<\/span>
\n This is to My Father\u2019s glory, that you bear much fruit,<\/span>
\n showing yourselves to be my disciples<\/span>
\n John 15:1-8<\/span><\/p>\n

Just reading these verses makes me think of everyone who is blessed with a green thumb. (I know I have not been blessed with one.) \u00a0I can\u2019t even get a potted plant to survive past a week. \u00a0It is usually dead in just a day or two. \u00a0I definitely do not have a green thumb.<\/p>\n

People who love to grow gardens know exactly what it takes to keep them growing. \u00a0They tend to it. \u00a0They water it. \u00a0They weed out the parts that are not growing. \u00a0They prune and trim it to keep their gardens growing beautifully among the rest of God\u2019s beautiful Creation.<\/p>\n

Just as a gardener works to keep their garden beautiful, so does God in His relationship with us. \u00a0He points out the things that we need to cut off and get rid of in order to strengthen our relationship with Him. \u00a0The stronger we are in God the more fruitful we are in His Spirit. \u00a0We are the branches of God\u2019s beautiful Creation\u2014His own garden. God makes us (the branches on His vine) stronger through our blessings and the hardships He guides us through.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Heavenly Father, we are part of Your spiritual garden. \u00a0We are the branches on Your vine that produce the fruit of Your Spirit. \u00a0Without remaining in You, we would snap off the vine and be forever lost. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recorded in the Gospel of John, our Lord made seven statements referring to Himself as I AM\u2026 I AM The Light of the World I AM The Bread of Life I AM The Door I AM The Good Shepherd I AM The True Vine I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life I AM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[8625,3367,1287,425,8610,8611,8624,3211,8626,3174],"class_list":["post-25033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-abide","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-i-am-the-true-vine","tag-jesus-is-the-true-vine","tag-john151-8","tag-laura-pattillo","tag-prune","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6vL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25033"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25035,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25033\/revisions\/25035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}