Bearing fruit in God's Kingdom

Wednesday, April 19, 2017   Devotions: Ps 97, 99, 115; Mic 7:7-15; Acts 3:1-10; Jn 15:1-11

YHWH reigns!  Let the earth rejoice and the coastlands be glad.  He Is surrounded by clouds and thick darkness; His throne rests on righteousness and justice.  Fire goes before Him and consumes His adversaries.  His lightnings illumine the world; earth sees and trembles.  Mountains melt like wax before YHWH, Lord of all the earth.  The heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all peoples behold His glory. All are put to shame, who boast in worthless idols; all 'gods' bow before Him.  Zion hears and rejoices; the daughters of Judah are glad, because of Your judgments, O God!  You, YHWH, Are most high over all the earth, exalted far above all 'gods'.  YHWH loves those who hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints, delivering them from the hands of the wicked.  Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.  You righteous ones, rejoice in YHWH, and give thanks to His holy Name!
     YHWH reigns; let the peoples tremble!  He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!  YHWH Is great in Zion; exalted over all the peoples.  Let them praise Your great and terrible Name.  Holy Is He!  Mighty King, lover of justice, You have established equity and have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.  Let us extol YHWH our God; worship at His footstool.  Holy Is He!  Moses and Aaron were among His priests; Samuel, too.  They cried to YHWH and He answered them, speaking in the pillar of cloud; they kept His testimonies and the statutes He gave them.  O YHWH our God, You did answer them; You were a forgiving God to them, and Avenger of their wrongdoings.  Let us extol YHWH our God, and worship at His holy mountain: for YHWH our God Is holy!
     YHWH, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for the sake of Your steadfast love and faithfulness!  Why should the nations ask, 'Where is their God?'  Our God Is in the heavens; He does whatever pleases Him. Their idols are silver and gold, human workmanship.  They have mouths, but
cannot speak; eyes, but do not see.  They have ears, but cannot hear; noses, but no sense of smell.  They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but cannot walk.  They make no sound in their throats.  Those who make these idols are like them, and so also are all who trust in them.  O Israel: trust in YHWH!  He Is our Help and Shield.  House of Aaron: trust in YHWH, your Help and Shield!  All who fear YHWH, trust in Him, our Help and Shield.  YHWH has been mindful of us; He will bless us--and Israel--and the house of Aaron--and all who fear Him, small and great alike.  May YHWH give you increase, you and your children!  May you be blessed by YHWH, Who made heaven and earth!  The heavens remain His heavens; but He has given the earth to the sons of mortal humans.  The dead do not, cannot, praise YHWH, nor can any who go down into silence. But we will bless YHWH now and forever.  Praise YHWH!

Rather than trusting any other, I will look to YHWH; I will wait for the God of my salvation, Who will surely hear me.  Enemies, don't rejoice over me: for when I fall, I will rise; when I sit in darkness, YHWH will be Light to me.  I will bear the indignation of YHWH because I have sinned against Him, until He is pleased to plead my cause and execute judgment for me.  He will bring me forth into light, and I shall behold His deliverance.  Then my enemies will see; shame will cover her who said, 'Where is YHWH your God?'  My eyes will gloat over her, and she will be trodden down, like mire in the streets.  God brings a day for raising up walls--a day for extending boundaries. And God's people will stream in from Assyria and Egypt and the River, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.  The earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings.  Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your inheritance, who dwell alone in the forest amid a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in olden days.  Just as in the Exodus from Egypt, I will show them marvelous things!

Peter and John were going to the Jerusalem Temple at 3 PM, 'the hour of prayer.'  Near the Beautiful Gate (the eastern gate, from which God was said to come to His temple), they encountered a man crippled from birth, whose custom was to beg alms at this location.  Peter noticed the man, and said to him, 'Look at us!'  The man fixed his attention on the apostles, hoping for a contribution; he got something much greater:  'I have no silver or gold,' Peter told him, 'but what I have I give you: in the Name of Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth, walk.'  Peter took the man's right hand and raised him up; immediately, his feet and ankles became sound and strong.  Leaping up, the man stood, walked, and accompanied Peter and John into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.  The people around them witnessed all this; and recognizing him as the former cripple who habitually begged at the Beautiful Gate, they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. [This miracle drew a crowd, to whom Peter soon preached, following which he and John were arrested by the temple police at the behest of the Sadducees.]

Jesus shared these things with His inner circle in the Upper Room on the night before His crucifixion:
'I Am the true Vine; My Father is the Vinedresser.  Every branch of Mine that bears no fruit, He takes away; and every fruitful branch He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you. Now: abide in Me, and I in you.  Just as a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, neither can you be fruitful apart from abiding in Me.  Those people not abiding in Me are cast forth and wither; they will be gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be given you.  It is to My Father's glory that you bear much fruit, thus revealing yourselves as My disciples.  As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; now abide in My love.  You do this by keeping My commandments, as I have kept the Father's commandments and abide in  His love.  I have said these things to you, so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.'