Open your Bibles to John 15. John 15. It's good. We've been talking about John 15 as a community and diving deep into what does it look like to abide in Jesus?
What does it look like for us to be a people that find our home in Him? And in the transitions of our days in little moments, how can we actually find ourselves resting in Him, dwelling in Him, putting back our lazy boy in Him, and finding ourselves as a people that just kind of go back to Him at all times. And so that's what we're going after as a people. What does it look like to abide because the Lord has communicated there is so much joy, right?
There's so much joy when you live a life of fruitfulness. So I want fullness of joy. I know that all of us, we love fullness of joy. So it's like, yeah, I want that, right?
I want to experience that. And so that's why we're diving into this going, not just fullness of joy for me, but fullness of joy that the Father feels because I'm actually walking out my identity in Him. So we've been getting after it in John 15. But one of the things that we've been doing is we keep on overlooking a couple phrases in John 15.
And we keep on saying things like, we'll address that one. You know, we're like, we're going to kick the can down the road a little bit. That's a mis-translation. Just ignore that verse for a little bit.
We're going to get there. And so today is about us diving into John 15, 2, and John 15, 6, which as you look down at that passage, it can feel a little bit problematic. So we better just jump in right away so that we can bring clarity to what is being said here. What does Jesus mean?
So I want to pray real quick here. Lord, I ask that you would open up our ears to hear what your spirit is saying. Lord, I don't want to just be a hearer of the word. I want to be a doer of the word.
So Lord, would you help us here so that we can have a posture of obedience? Lord, we don't want just no information today. We don't want to fresh revelation just to tickle our ears. We actually want to walk as sons and daughters that obey you because we want fullness of joy.
We want fruitfulness. We want to actually live out our original design. So Lord, we just put ourselves, if you just want to put out your hands and to the Lord, Lord, we just say that we want whatever you have for us today. Thank you, Lord.
We love you. In Jesus' name, amen. John 15, 2, one talks about Jesus being the vine and then the Father is the vine dresser. In other words, He's the one that keeps the vineyard, right?
In verse 2 it says this, every branch, so that's us. We are the branches. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit.
Then I want you to look at verse 6. This is when I was growing up and I was reading John 15, I would read the whole passage and I would feel a tinge of anxiety when I read verse 2 because I knew what was coming in verse 6. Because in verse 6 it says, if anyone does not abide in me, He's thrown away like a branch and then He withers and then the branches are gathered up and what happens to them? They're thrown into the fire and burn.
Oh no. So you might see in verse 2, look back at verse 2, it says, every branch that doesn't bear fruit or that isn't bearing fruit, He takes away. And then in verse 6 it says that every branch that isn't abiding, He'll actually throw away. So He's going to take away, He's going to throw away.
It seems like the Father is a little upset. He's just throwing things into the fire like people and then taking people away or just because they're not bearing fruit. And that can kind of produce this like, uh oh moment. Because if I was to line all of you up and I take the scriptures and I go, all right, talk to me about your fruitfulness.
And you had to answer for how much fruit you're producing, spiritual fruit, kingdom fruit. And I lined you up that there might be like a, oh no moment. And some of you were like, no that's my moment. You just got it all, you're ready.
But the majority of us would try to come up with some things. And what I want to draw our attention to is a couple of differences between these verses. And then I want to talk about the mistranslation, okay. The first thing that I'm noticing here in verse 2 is that it says, every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit.
But look at the difference in verse 6, it says that if anyone does not abide in me, He's throwing. So verse 2 says they're not bearing fruit, but verse 6 says they don't even abide. Are you catching that? So what verse 6 is written about is people that are going, I don't need connection with God.
I don't need to submit to God. I don't need to surrender to God. I don't want to be a branch. I don't want to be connected to God.
In other words, I don't want to follow God. In other words, I'm not born again. And we know that the result of not being born again is fire. And so when they're talking about verse 6 and the withering and throwing in the fire, it's like, nobody wants that.
I don't want that. You don't want that. But that's not talking about born again believers that are saying, I want to submit to you. I want to surrender to you.
I want to follow you. You are my Lord. I'm going to submit to your leadership. But what if I fail?
What if I screw up? What if I sin? But when you respond to sin with going, God, I don't want that. It proves your salvation.
Many of us are feeling so anxious about our salvation. I wasn't planning on saying this, but I feel like it's a word for some of us. Some of us are feeling so much accusation from the enemy because you're actually believing a lie that when you sin or when you screw up, your salvation isn't jeopardy. And the Lord wants you to know Jesus' blood is greater than your sin.
And his blood washes our sins past, present, and future. So that means if you screw up, but you go, I hate that. I don't want that. And you walk in repentance, it proves that the Holy Spirit is inside of you.
Because if you didn't follow the Lord, if you weren't born again, guess what? You would make a mistake. You would sin. You wouldn't feel that bad about it.
You just keep on going on in selfish mode, in self. And that's just like the lifestyle that you live. But it proves your salvation and the Holy Spirit's inside of you. When you have this emergency, that's not what I was created for.
That's wrong. I know that's not who I am. You're a son. You're a branch, right?
Okay, so wither, thrown in the fire, does not want connection with the Lord. But verse two, what does it say? Every branch in me that does not bear fruit. So they're still abiding, but they're not bearing fruit.
What does he do? He doesn't take away and throw in the fire. That's not what he's saying. When he says, take away, he's not actually saying take away.
That word take away in Greek is aherae. Aherae. I'm going to say it. Aherae.
Okay? That Greek word is aherae. And it's all throughout the New Testament. And it's not translated in any of the verses that I'm going to read.
It's not translated, it takes away. It's translated lifts up. I want you to listen. I'm going to just read six or seven of them.
Matthew 6, if you want to write these down, you can. Matthew 1624, let him deny himself. This is Jesus talking. Let him deny himself and take up his cross.
Aherae. Take up his cross and follow me. Mark 1618, they will, Airee, pick up serpents. They will pick up serpents and not be stung or not be poisoned or I can, yeah, something like that.
Right? Mark 16, let's go for all the snake handlers out there. Luke 524, I say to you, arise. Airee, take up your bed, take up, lift up your bed and walk.
Luke 1713, and they lifted up their voices. It's the same word. And said, Jesus have mercy on us. John 1141 and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, thank you, Father, that you have heard me.
Acts 424, and when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord. Yeah, that's right. So it's not take away. It's lift up, right?
So what Jesus is communicating is that when you're not bearing fruit, he has a solution for you and he has a remedy for that. And it's not, cut him off, throw him in the fire. He is not a mad, sad, angry, frustrated, indifferent, mostly annoyed, Father, Vine Dresser. Instead, he is a caring, compassionate, loving, wise, smart, experienced leader, Vine Dresser, Father.
Okay? And he knows the best conditions for you to walk in fruitfulness. And so what he knows is that any good Vine Dresser knows that when a branch falls and it's in shaded, it's like shaded, and there's too much growth around the grapes that it's going to result in lack of fruitfulness and it can create disease. And so what he knows is that he's going to lift up that branch and put it on the trellis so that the sun can shine on it.
And it can burn away all of the disease that are trying to actually hinder the growth that the Vine Dresser has for the branch. And so as we're reading this, we need to understand, as a branch, you're going to be abiding. Sometimes you don't see fruitfulness. And sometimes that's because you're living in the dark and you actually need to get brought into the light.
And you need to experience exposure. Some of us need to take whatever is in the dark and then we need to bring it into the light. And we got to let Jesus shine on us. That might look like confession to a brother or a sister.
It might look like going, man, Lord, there's been this lie that I believe in. I'm going to actually break my agreement with it. And I'm going to let you shine on this thing that I don't actually want to face. Where there's exposure that comes and what it does, it starts moving health all throughout your branch.
Burning away the disease that was actually going to impact the fruitfulness. Burning away the disease that was actually going to hinder how much fruit and the taste of your fruit and the authenticity of your fruit. And so another thing that Jesus will do when he lifts up, it's like, man, I want the light to shine on them more. Sometimes that looks like promotion.
Some of you are self sabotaging your promotion because you're afraid of more responsibility. Some of you are afraid of what happens when you have more responsibility, when God actually puts you in a leadership position and you keep on self sabotaging. I don't know why I'm saying this either. There's somebody in here.
You keep on self sabotaging because you're afraid of the responsibility and you're afraid of failure. And the Lord is going, would you just let me promote you? I actually want you to have more influence because you're becoming love. And I want your influence and what you carry in the lives that you touch to be touched by me through you.
So it's okay if you get promoted. Some of you are like, bring the promotion on, brother. It's like, I'm ready for the management position. I have a bunch of you that aren't like that.
That word's for you. Okay? But I want to just name the Lord is kind and he's wise and he knows the conditions to create the most fruitfulness for you. Okay?
And so he's going to see that. And if you're not experiencing fruitfulness, your job, listen, your job is not. I'm going to lift myself up and I'm going to just squeeze out as much fruit as I can because I'm not being fruitful. So I'm just going to try, try, try.
I'm going to be more patient. Try to be more kind. Try to be more gentle. Try to be more self-control.
And I'm just going to work really hard at being disciplined. I mean, there's, there's, yeah, you can work on things like that. That's great. But you need to understand he's the one that's going to produce the kingdom fruit inside of you.
He's going to help you with the conditions so that you can, your job is to abide. Your job isn't to produce all the fruit. Fruit happens when you're abiding and resting and finding your home in him. Okay?
All right. So what happens? What happens when you start experiencing fruitfulness? Whoa.
There's like three conditions that every branch will experience in its lifetime, right? The three conditions are you're not producing any fruit. He needs to lift you up. Second is, you're producing fruit.
Everybody say, oh, yeah. You're producing fruit. You get the fullness of joy of experiencing fruit and fruit that remains. And it just is, there's like bliss there, right?
Because you're going, wow, my kid just yelled at me. And I was so patient, right? Fruit. You know, or you just have, you have these moments where you're going, wow, I'm actually walking out, God's original design for me.
And it just seems like there's grace on it. It just seems like I'm seeing God do all of this stuff. And you're experiencing fruitfulness. And you're just like, I'm right where I need to be.
I'm in alignment and God's doing so much right now. That's fruitfulness. Then after you've experienced fruitfulness, that's when pruning sets in. Everybody say, yes.
Pruning is when the Lord takes out the clippers. All right? And so pruning is when there's those moments where you go, wow, there's a transition that just happened and it resulted in me being humbled. Me becoming more aware that I can't do it in my own strength.
Me becoming more aware that when I try to do it in my own ability, it flops. And so one of the questions is like, why does God have to prune? Why doesn't he just just let me grow? Let me produce the fruit, Lord.
And he knows that if he doesn't prune for pruning doesn't happen, then you become a wild branch. And you just overreach. You reach beyond your strength. You reach beyond your maturity.
And so you expand. But then what happens is disease sets in similar to when you're not bearing fruit, right? Disease sets in, there's unhealth, there becomes like for grapes, they become less fruitful. There's less grapes that are produced over time.
If you don't prune, then the fruitfulness long term gets inhibited and then over time just dies. And how many of you know that all of our lives we've all got pruned? Can you imagine that person that just never experienced any hardship and all of life was just, oh, and it just continued into fruitfulness, bliss forever. And we're like, yeah, that never happens.
I know it doesn't happen. All of us have experienced these moments of pruning. And these moments of pruning look like things getting cut off, influence being cut off. It's like when, what's an example, things aren't working.
You know where it's like fruitfulness is happening? And then just all of a sudden it's like, why isn't this working? This is supposed to work and this is supposed to happen the way it always happened. And it's broken.
It's not working, right? Your influence is shrunk. You may become aware of your dependence, like I was talking about earlier. Fruitful seasons come with the temptation to get infatuated with the fruit.
So what happens is, you start looking at all this fruitfulness and you're thinking about how amazing it is. And then you start believing that you're responsible for the majority of that, right? And then the Lord's like, man, you don't think you need me at all, do you? And then he knows what's best for you is for you to come home.
But you're like, well, look at me. I've got a 10-year-old boy and some of you have these young men, these young, strapping men, they're teenagers. And there's this culture that young teenage men have. And it's this kind of like this arrogance.
It's usually in like jock culture. And it's like, this is the phrase. Some of you are like, I have no idea what you're talking about. But some of you know what I'm talking about.
And it's this phrase where they always say, I'm him. I'm him. And it's this arrogance of like, I'm the guy, right? Yeah, like four foot four.
And it's like, I'm him. And I'm like, yeah, you are. That is really a picture of what we are like. But we had never said it.
We're like, I fixed that. You know, like, I replaced that flat tire. Yeah, you know, I don't know what. Okay.
But what happens is there's a little tinge of arrogance and pride when we are experiencing that fruitfulness. And if the Lord left us to our own devices, and he just said, I'm never going to prune you. I'm never going to correct that you're strong in your own eyes, AKA the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden. Of you can I can do my own thing.
I can be the God unto myself because I'm strong enough. And I know better. Are you hearing that? If there's not pruning, that's what happens.
And the Lord's going, I'm going to trim for your health and for your fruitfulness because I know it's best for you. It's that moment when you're getting pruned. It's that moment where you realize I have nothing to offer and you're brought to this place of I'm just a little twig on the side of a vine. And I had all of this fruitfulness.
And then you start looking around at all of your brothers and sisters. And you're like, Lord, why aren't you pruning him? Right? Do you not see that guy?
Look at that Zach Wallen over there. Why aren't you pruning him? You've been spending so much time on me. Why don't you take your scissors out with him?
Right? Don't do that. Okay? Don't do that.
But you start comparing yourself, man, I'm more miserable than everybody in this room. And you wear it on as a badge. Man, my life is so miserable. Don't do that.
The Lord wants to deliver you out of self-pity and bring you into abiding. It's like, hey, stop being sorry for yourself. You get God. Yeah, your circumstances are difficult.
Guess what? Everybody has their own circumstances are difficult. And we want to measure our difficulty compared to everybody else's and go, well, mine is harder. My pain is worse.
And that might be, but guess what? In that place, you get to meet him. You go, man, I feel like my life is harder than everybody's. And the Lord's like, really, let's talk about it.
Let's process that. Abide. Okay? What happens when you get pruned?
When there's something that ends and your influence isn't as much as it was, when you feel like you don't have as much grace as you thought you had, when you're like, man, that person, once that person got hired and I saw him walk in the office, I thought I was patient until the new hire. I thought I was loving and patient and not selfish until I got married. I thought I was patient and sacrificial in my love until I had a child. And they just wake up whenever they want to.
I don't know why they do that, right? And you start getting confronted with, wow, I need the every hour. I need to abide. I need to abide.
I can't do it. And when myself and you experience this poor and spirit thing, and you start experiencing the kingdom of God, what happens when you get pruned is you have nothing to offer God. Remember that your fruit is not for you. You need to remember that.
Who's the one that gets the grapes? The Lord, the vine dresser, the one that harvests the grapes. They're not for you anyways. They're for him.
So all of your second commandment stuff and all the things that you do to love people in your life, it's so beautiful, but that love is for him. It's an offering of worship to him. It's not for you, right? And so you're like, man, why are you taking away my influence?
Your influence was for him anyways. Your identity and you actually becoming love is for him. And so you're like, okay, you've taken away my influence. I don't know what's going on.
And then you're like, well, is this Satan or is this God? Right? We have to ask that question. Right?
Is this the enemy or is this the Lord? I don't know. So pastor has no answers for you today other than I have a key for you in that moment when you're like, I'm just trying to figure it out. Is this God or is this the enemy?
Because I'm feeling like it's probably the enemy. Most of the time we think it's the enemy, right? Bad things are happening. We're like in the name of Jesus, right?
The Lord's like, that one was me. And you're like, no, it was not. Right? But what you can do, if you're like, man, I don't know, I can't discern it.
Guess what? James 4 says, submit to God and resist the devil and help me from you. So what you do is all you have to do is abide. I'm just going to go submit to God.
I'm just going to submit to his leadership. Lord, what do you think I should do? And as you go to him, instead of trying to figure it out and Shavadabi or whatever, you get to literally just go, I'm going to abide and submit. And I'm going to find my home in you.
And you're going to give me clarity. You're going to help me. And then I'm going to bring it to the light with people that love him too, that I'm running with. So I'm not isolated in it.
If I can't discern what's going on and I bring it to the collective that I'm rolling with and running with. So I'm not in isolation if I'm feeling this way. In your pruning, you shouldn't be pruning by yourself. I want you to know that you are a part of a collective of people that have been so loved by God that we've all been pruned.
Can you imagine, can you just pause and go? Every single person in here has had the privilege of being disciplined by the Lord and corrected or experienced pruning. You are part of a select group that's so loved by God that he would take unique attention with each one of you to go, hey, we're going to cut this lie off. Hey, you've been finding your identity in this, but it's not where you need to find your identity.
The vine dresser doesn't do blanket pruning. What he does is he knows your age. Oh, man, I should go on that, Danjan. Vines, sorry, I'll finish my thought.
He knows your age. He knows your personality. He knows what you can handle and what you can't handle. He is a gracious vine dresser that knows how you're uniquely built.
Okay, so that's good. Some of us are like, I want fruit now and I want it to be microwaved, but you need to understand that vines take time to grow and branches take time to produce fruit. So some of us are like, you know what? I'm ready.
God encountered me last week and I don't even know why the fruit's not showing up. I don't know why I'm not completely different than I was last week because I should experience all of the transformation. I don't know why this fruit isn't coming. It's not hurting.
And then you start studying vineyards and it takes five years for grapes to get produced to be excellent grapes. Some of you are like, I got saved last week and I'm producing fruit. And it's like, yes, you're going to produce fruit. But how many of you know that when you're like young in the Lord or maybe right now, it's like you produce some fruit in the kingdom and it's like, man, I'm feeling like kingdom is happening in my life.
And then the Lord just like takes his shears off. You got like, I produce two grapes and the Lord's like, right? And then the next time you like, it's usually times four to times six, right? So then it's like, wow, I produce it now.
I got to do math. I produce 16 grapes, four times four, right? And you're like, whoa, 16 grapes. And then the Lord's like, snip.
He's like, I'm after much fruit. I want more. I want this multiplied. And so, I was like, oh, what we going to talk about?
Oh, okay. So what happens when you get pruned in life and this dead end happens or it feels like things aren't the way that they're supposed to be. And you feel like, man, where did the grace go? And where did the glory of producing fruit go?
And you're like, man, what is going on? This feels like it shouldn't be this way. And then you have to find yourself finding abiding in him. When you're just that little twig off the vine and there's no fruit in sight, you are confronted with how you've been maybe believing that you have to earn love.
And earn approval from God and trying to be good enough for him to love you. And when you have nothing to offer him, there is nothing that you can do or produce, nothing to show for being a branch on the vine. All you are is a little twig. You got nothing.
And then he goes, you're like, why? He just keeps on, you're my little branch. You're my little son. I love you.
And it breaks the brain because that's not how love works in our world. But that place is what produces all of the fruit of the next season. Because you begin to realize, he's loving me when I can't do anything for him. I'm not producing anything for him.
I can't love him back even. I just feel like I'm nothing. It's like Psalm 73. Psalm 73 down.
There's 20 and on. And it's like, it's what Katie talked about a couple of weeks ago. I'm a brute from Psalm 73. I'm a brute beast before you.
That's how that's what pruning feels like. I'm a brute beast before God. I got nothing. And then it says, but you're continually with me and you hold my right hand.
In other words, he's loving you when you're at your worst. And when you get loved like that and you rest in that and you dwell in that type of love, what happens is that love changes you so that when you start growing and that love starts moving through you, you love people in the way that you were loved and the way that you were loved with was with no strings attached. So now you're a little the love of the second commandment where you're like, you popped out four grapes of love. And it was kind of laced with, I'm doing this for you because I love you, but I really want something from you.
The Lord is like, we're hacking that thing off. Now you need to be loved by me where you can't offer me anything and you need to receive that type of love. So then when you continue to grow those 16 grapes, man, those are starting to taste better. There's more sweetness on them because you're loving with no self.
You're not to perform. It's not performative love. It's not love to get because it's love with expecting nothing in return. Jesus loved you before you knew him even when you were his enemy as an Ephesians 2.
So now how is it possible to actually love your enemies? Well, when you experience being the enemy of God in him showering you with love, then you can love in the same way. This is what it means to abide and bear much fruit. God is calling us as a people to abide in him.
Whether you're getting lifted up and you're not experiencing any fruitfulness or whether you're in fruitfulness and it's like fullness of joy time or whether you're getting pruned and the Lord's going, I'm pruning you because of the more. Everybody say more, more fruit. That's what God has for you. In all of the scenarios, he has more.
How many of you love the word more? I love the word more. I was joking last service about Scott Vanderwerp, my brother-in-law. Man, everybody comes up to him at a restaurant and a waitress or a waiter and says, would you like more Diet Coke with lime?
And Scott says, yes, I want more. And that's how we like, as Americans, we like more. And that's right in line with the Bible in John 15 because God wants more for you too. He wants more kingdom fruit.
One of the only times I'll ever say that, that American culture lines up with the kingdom. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Turn your Bible to Hebrews 12 and I'm going to close with this.
Hebrews 12. How many of you know, against the backdrop of pain God is providing for what's coming? In the backdrop of pain, in the backdrop of pruning, there's actually a promise for more fruit. Hebrews 12 says this.
Verse 5, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. The Lord disciplines the one that he loves. He chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure.
God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline. If you are left without discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respect them.
Shall we not mourn, my goodness? I feel like there needs to be a greater level of respect for the Lord. We have preached a lot of grace over the years and I believe that the Lord, there is a wadiness of greatness and trembling that we are to feel as those not afraid of the Lord, but aware of his greatness and an honor that is the fear of the Lord. It's not fear that he is going to strike me dead.
It's a trembling of there is no one that is this mighty and awesome that could snap and everything would be gone, but he loves me. And there is an honorine and a respect. Shall we not be much more of a subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them.
He is talking about earthly fathers. So they disciplined us and how many of you know most of the time fathers discipline. They are trying to keep their kids in line so that their life can be peaceful. But look at the posture of the Lord.
He disciplines us for our good. Did you hear that? It's not for his good. It's for your good that you're getting disciplined that we may share in his holiness and be just like him.
For the moment all disciplines seems painful rather than pleasant, but later guess what it does? It yields peaceful fruit. It's the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. First Peter 412 says this beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange was happening to you.
Instead, entrust your souls to the faithful creator while doing good. How many of you know that you don't need to enter in to worry? Because tomorrow has enough worry for itself. Enough trouble for itself is tomorrow, but your call today is to go, I'm going to abide in you.
No matter if I'm getting lifted up, fruitful, or getting pruned, all I have to do is abide. I know I'm making it really simple, but that's just what the way that Jesus wanted He wanted more fruit and a lot of fruit and fullness of joy to not be too complicated. He's going, we're trying to crack the code on how to be happy and how to live the American dream and how to experience joy and the Lord's over here going, hello? Dwell with me, connect with me, bring everything to me, be in constant communion, in constant conversation.
Let's talk about it. Some of you are just silent in your breath. Stop being silent. Stop getting caught in between your ears and going, I'm going to pray.
But then like 30 minutes later, you didn't talk to him. Open up your mouth, talk to him, and be with him. Whisper with him. Whisper with God.
It will change your life. Whisper with him. Dwell with him. Be with him.
Abide in him. Rest in him. Come back to him. He is home.
That's all Stan. It's like Abraham and Sarah in their 80s getting pruned, like Joseph in the palace prison, like the disciples the morning after the crucifixion, like Elijah after the fire fell from heaven and then he went to the cave, like Jesus going into the wilderness after the sky was split open and you declared it, you're delight over him. Then he like went to the wilderness, like John the beloved on the island of Patmos after he lived a glorious fruitful life and then he was found in a prison on an island in the middle of the water. It's David's victory over Goliath and then hunted by Saul for seven more years.
Pruning prepares us for the greater. I want to pray this over you. If you want to, you can put out your hands just to receive these truths over you if you agree with them. The Father is a good vine-dresser that loves you.
He loves you when you feel like you're fruitful and he loves you when you feel like you have nothing to offer him. He loves you when you feel like you're a brute beast before him and he loves you when you feel like you are on cloud nine experiencing the kingdom of heaven. He knows just what you need. He's a very experienced leader.
He has all the wisdom that you've been looking for. There is fullness of joy in being connected to him and he is home. He was the one that was always meant to be your refuge. He's the home that was always meant to be safe.
You're understood. You're known. You're seen. You're loved with him.
You're forgiven with him. He keeps no record of wrongs. He doesn't rejoice with evil but he rejoices with the truth. He's patient.
He's kind. If you want to, you can repeat after me. And as you repeat after me, if it feels authentic to you, you can put it in your own words or you can just say the same words. Lord, I want to obey you.
I want to dwell with you. I want to abide in you and make you my home. I want to be at rest in you and I have nothing to give. I want to whisper with you more and I want to bear much fruit.
I want fullness of joy. I don't want to be surprised by pruning but I want to always come home to you. I love you.