In the Vine

Bible in a Year : Ecclesiastes 4–6; 2 Corinthians 12

No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:4

One spring after a particularly dreary winter during which she helped a family member through a long illness, Emma found encouragement each time she walked past a cherry tree near her home in Cambridge, England. Bursting out at the top of the pink blossoms grew blossoms of white. A clever gardener had grafted into the tree a branch of white flowers. When Emma passed the unusual tree, she thought of Jesus’s words about being the Vine and His followers the branches (John 15:1–8).

By calling Himself the Vine, Jesus was speaking of an image familiar to the Israelites in the Old Testament, for there the vine symbolized God’s people (Psalm 80:8–9; Hosea 10:1). Jesus extended this symbolism to Himself, saying He was the Vine and that His followers were grafted into Him as branches. And as they remained in Him, receiving His nourishment and strength, they would bear fruit (John 15:5).

As Emma supported her family member, she needed the reminder that she was connected to Jesus. Seeing the white flowers among the pink ones gave her a visual prompt of the truth that as she remained in the Vine, she gained nourishment through Him.

When we who believe in Jesus embrace the idea of being as close to Him as a branch is to a vine, our faith is strengthened and enriched.

By: Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

How are you receiving spiritual nourishment from Jesus? What will help you remain in the Vine?

Jesus, thank You for helping me to remain in You. May I find the peace, hope, and strength I need today.

OVERTURN THE PROSECUTION OF GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-throw-out-general-michael-flynns-prose

To everyone who gets this.

General Michael Flynn’s prosecution should be...must be...thrown out.

I believe it will be.

But we also need to let the American people know what these enemies of the country and the constitution are willing to do...what lengths they will go to.

This was not a weak, or resourceless man.

He was a high ranking officer and at the time had been chosen as the NSA. And they took him out of play and are still trying to destroy him.

If they can do that to him...they can do it to anyone of us.

But not to a couple of hundred million of us.

And that is exactly what we have to start thinking in terms of.

If enough Americans can become aware of this type of treason, and travesty...then they cannot fight us all.

Sooner or later we will get deep enough that their officers and worker bees will refuse to do their work for them. Just like the Russian soldiers ultimately would not do the bidding of the Communist leaders who thought they had all power in Moscow.

We have to work to get to that stage...things like this make it very clear that we need to...we just have to get enough people to get active...to get fired up mad and get out and beat the streets, send the hundreds and hundreds of emails, visit the forums, and do EVERYTHING we can to get the word out, asking others and praying to God in Heaven that they will be moved to do the same.

If enough people become that involved, we will get a snow ball rolling down hill, gathering speed, and most importantly, MASS, as it moves along.

God bless General Flynn...but God bless us even more to get enough peopled outraged enough to help him...and ultimately to help and restore our country.

It will take a lot of work and time...but we have to do so...the alternative is horrific to contemplate, but it is coming closer upn us each day.

We saw this happen at Klamath. We got literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people writing to, emailing, and calling their reps...all of them...and they ultimately HAD TO DO SOMETHING TO TURN IT OFF...and we ended up getting the farmers water back because even Bush saw that what was happening had to stop.

But we had to work hard...for months...to do it. We face a lot of opposition. Several of us almost lost our jobs. I was blessed at the time with a President of the company I wan working with who listened to me...and made up the difference in my work so I would have a job when I got back. What a blessing that was. I went in his office when I realized I had to go...I had to help, knowing that if I and other did not help those people, who would help us should it come on us in Idaho?

That’s how this is.ANyhow, this man listened and realized what was happening to those farmers was a dangerous violation of the law...BY THE LAW! Just like this is.

We have to help General Flynn...the time may soon come when any one of us will need the same help.

But if we can turn it around HARD, and have these criminals get their comeuppance and themselves go to jail where they belong, perhaps we can begin to turn this around in our country...and for the ke of our grandkids we have to turn it around.

May we help do the same here...may God help us to so, and in fact get people to the point where they sustain their watchfulness and their guard.

OVERTURN THE PROSECUTION OF GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-throw-out-general-michael-flynns-prose