Thursday, January 24, 2008

He be the vine, we be the branches

Some of you might know about the International House of Prayer. It is a ministry that started in Kansas City and has exploded in the USA and in many cities around the world. Basically, it is a place where you can go pretty much any time, any day and pray, listen to music and worship God. It is great for those times when you just sense in your gut that you need to spend some unrushed, undistracted time with God.

Well praise God there is a Casa Internacional de OraciĆ³n here in La Paz…about 12 blocks from my house…a little under a $1 taxi ride.

This past Tuesday I was done with my few meetings in the morning and I decided to pay the Casa a visit. I called my friend Grover (who is a Bolivian missionary to the USA by the way) and he was on his way to the house as well so we met up.

It was great. All in all, I spent about 3-4 hours at the house just reading the Word and listening to what God had to say to me. It was some much needed soul care time. And of course one verse just threw me for a complete loop. How does God know exactly what I need to hear at any given time? Oh, He’s God.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

This is exactly what I needed to hear.

I want to bear much fruit for Christ here in La Paz but I cannot do it without Him. I really feel like God is pruning me right now so that I will ready and able to bear fruit for Him. He has stopped me in my tracks a little over three weeks into this whole missionary thing to remind me that I can’t do this without Him. An extremely well-timed reminder I might add. Why do I keep thinking that all I need is my own strength? I try sometimes to do all this without Him but it never works. I can’t quite seem to learn this lesson so God keeps refining me.

And what does it mean to “remain in Him”? Whatever it is, I want it. I know that God will keep his end of the bargain and “remain in me.”

Thanks Papito for this reminder. You always know the right thing to say whenever I actually stop to listen. Thank you for the blessing of this House of Prayer in La Paz. Please reveal more of yourself to me in this house.

Please?

Pretty Please?

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