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Friday 31 July 2015

New Life

Recently my husband accidently cut off a sprig from my Fragrant Cloud rose bush when mowing the lawn in the back garden.   There were two buds on it and there is a part of me which hates to see anything die, so I decided to replant it hoping that it would grow into another bush and the buds would flourish and open.
 
 
As I planted it in a pot of earth and gradually saw what was happening to it I was reminded of my life, and the gradual change in me over time as I am being taught by the Holy Spirit.   Very soon after I had transplanted the sprig new leaves started to grow from it. 
 
 
It reminded me of when I first came to the Lord and the Holy Spirit started to enlighten the Word of God as I read the Bible, teaching me gradually and renewing my mind in Christ.
 
As the days go by I can see  the buds lowering their heads as the branch bends over, the older leaves starting to die, and the new ones starting to increase and enlarge.
The new growth reminds me of what I would consider an initial instruction from the scriptures that is relevant when we are born again of God's Holy Spirit, as written in Colossians ch. 3 v. 1 - 3:- 'If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.   Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.'
In verse 10 we are told that our new self 'is being renewed in knowledge after the image of it's creator.'
 
The old leaves that are dying remind me of my on-going instruction from the Word of God to:- 'Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.'  Ephesians ch. 4 v. 31  and to:-
'put to death' what is earthly, such  as 'fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, '   Colossians ch. 3 v. 5, and the lowering of the old buds remind me of the instruction written in James ch. 4 v. 7:- 'Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.'
 
 
I have found God to be a very patient and loving God Who understands that we are flesh and, just like my rose twig is taking time for the old to die and the new to form, so too has it been, and still is, in my walk with the Lord.  However, the more I have come to know the Lord and experience His love the more I run to Him and desire for my mind to be renewed in Him through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the more I endeavour to, and want  to, 'put to death' what is earthly in me.
 
Paul the apostle said in Philippians ch. 3 v. 12 - 14, regarding attaining the resurrection from the dead:- 'Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.'
 
 I too say these words, and also acknowledge the words of James in James ch. 1 vs. 2-4 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' 
 
As I watch the transformation of my rose twig, and what it reflects in my life,  I speak these words from my heart to the Lord:-
 
 
You can make me whole Lord
 
You can make me whole Lord
and take away my fears
You've put laughter in my life
in place of all my tears
All I can say is 'Thank You'
and love You all the more
when I see how I am now
and think how I was before
My sickness You took years ago Lord
for me there was no price to pay
All You required was my trust in You
and that I look to You each day
I know that You see every sorrow
that is laying deep down in my heart
but know also that You are the Healer
and all pain from my past will depart
So as I grow up in You Jesus
let Your precious love open my eyes
Let my ears hear the voice of the Father
instead of this world and its lies
 
Lord I love You, Lord I praise You, Lord I honour Your Name
Lord I trust You, and believe You will make me like Jesus, the same.


 

14 comments:

Laurie Collett said...

Beautiful illustration, Brenda, of how we must die daily to self and mortify the flesh and our sin nature, yielding to the True Vine Who is our only source of true life. If we stay connected to Him He will grow us into what He desires us to be. May we grow more like our Rose of Sharon daily.
God bless you and your lovely writing,
Laurie

Brenda said...

Hi Laurie,
I love the words you have used to describe our growing more like Him. The more I come to know Him the more I see Him as He really is and want to be changed.
God bless you and thank you for your kind words of encouragement.

S. Knowles said...

This was great Brenda. It's always a pleasure to read your post, they always leave me with much to think about. God bless you. :-)

Brenda said...

Hi Sateigdra, how lovely to hear from you. I often think about you and many others I have met blogging who don't blog so often now.
I think we all go through similar trials in life, and I am glad that my past, and sometimes present, errors give me the connection with others that I meet while out in the streets. It also gives each of us the ability to share the love of the Lord with one another as we look to Him for truth.

Ceil said...

Hi Brenda! What a beautiful lesson on transformation and rebirth in faith and in life. All from the rose bush that almost died! I'm sure your husband felt bad about cutting it, but look at all the things it taught you.

He does see our every sorrow, and all the things in our lives that need to be changed. I loved how you said that He is patient as we change and grow. Thanks be to Him... I need that!

Blessings,
Ceil

Brenda said...

Hi Ceil,
I never cease to be amazed at the patience and love of God, my carnal self certainly does not have those qualities. I thank God that after thirty two years of being in Him (I could not believe it was that many years I had been born again until I added it up) I can now recognize some of the changes He has brought about in me.
He loves us and wants all of us to be transformed, and there is nobody that could do this except Him.

God bless you Ceil as we continue having our minds renewed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Keith said...

"...There were two buds on it and there is a part of me which hates to see anything die, so I decided to replant it."

I smiled when I read this. Karrin, my wife, laughs at me when I see a tree, that has began to grow in with the vegetable garden, and I transplant it. She says, "You know you can't save them all?" To which I respond, "Why not?"

I kind of see God that way, when we are growing where we're not supposed to be. If we are his, then he transplants to where we belong and yes, he tries to save us all. :-)

Brenda said...

What a lovely way of describing God's way of changing us ND. I always wonder, because all things are possible with God and He wants all to be saved, if that is what will happen - all will be saved.

I have always loved happy endings.

Laurie Collett said...

Praise God that He alone can make us whole! Your poem is beautiful, Brenda, as is your reply to my comment. The more we learn about Him the more we want to be like Him, which is the purpose of our earthly journey through the process of sanctification. Still, I'm longing for that day when we actually shall be as He is in our glorified bodies.
Many blessings to you and your encouraging writing.
Laurie

Brenda said...

Amen to what you have said about 'He alone can make us whole' Laurie.
In my old ways I realize now that it was a broad gate that led to a very narrow place, but in the Lord it is a narrow gate that leads to a broad place where I am set free from my old ways.
I too look forward to being as He is.

I love the words of 1 John ch. 3 vs. 2 and 3 which say:-

'Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.…'

Laurie Collett said...

Dear Brenda,
1 John 3 is such a beautiful chapter, with this amazing promise that one day we will be like Him. And yet it has verses which show clearly that until we see Him in glory we have two distinct natures: the nature that comes from Him and cannot sin, and the nature that comes from the devil and does still sin:

9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Love in Him,
Laurie

Brenda said...

Hi Laurie,
It is a beautiful chapter, and I believe that it is verses like those that are in 1 John ch. 3, and many more, are there to help us to conform more and more to the image of God's Son as we grow up into Him. They are like a spiritual mirror for us to gaze into to see the image of how we are to be, and who would not want to be changed into that image? That is true beauty Laurie.
God bless you.

Sandi said...

I was drawn here today and have been reading through your posts. Many I have read before. They are hitting the mark.

"let Your precious love open my eyes
Let my ears hear the voice of the Father
instead of this world and its lies..."

This really meant a lot to me. I've been trying to be still and listen to His voice.

Brenda said...

Sandi,
sometimes the hardest thing can be to wait upon the Lord but knowing that His thoughts are for our welfare and not to harm us, it is the best thing that we can do.
Some of the first words He spoke into my life were 'Do not be anxious about tomorrow' and 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.'
There is no word that has a power like the rhema word spoken to us in a situation, and if we absolutely trust in it then it will prove itself true.

I think that I would probably not be alive now if I had trusted in what the enemy was trying to say through my carnal mind.
It is a spiritual battle that we are in and if we can hold fast to what the Holy Spirit is enlightening to us through that word, and bring each thought into obedience to it, then the battle will be won. All the promises of God are 'Yes' in Jesus, and God is not a man that He should lie. The trials actually strengthen us and enable us to trust in that word to prove itself true.