more about the indwelling Christ, that enables me to be fruitful and powerful for God. It is what the Lord can do through you. You know about the vine and that the branches actually don’t produce fruit, they rather that they bear the grapes. The fruit is produced by the life of the vine. Therefore, to be fruitful means that there’s nothing you can try for beneficial results. This only comes as the indwelling Christ abounds in your life. He wants to take your life and by His Holy Spirit speak through you as an instrument for His glory. T h e n things begin to happen. This can be illustrated in the case of an artist painting a picture; with the canvas before him, he picks up his brush to dip it into the color. Now, who really painted the picture? You say, “The artist did.” But actu ally the brushes painted it. That’s a pretty fine point, but the artist held the brush to make the picture. You and I are brushes in the Lord’s hands. We are His tools. When you see yourself this way, you don’t need to worry about being barren or un fruitful. Just simply thank the Lord, for it is His business as long as we are faithful to His Word. Here is God’s wonderful answer to your bar renness. * * * The minutes you put in at the table don't make you fat; it's actually the sec onds. * * * MEAN WHAT YOU SING Have you ever been singing a hymn and all at once realized that while the melody was familiar, the words were not actually true in your heart? Let me give you an example of the forth right way this affected the well-known theologian and Bible teacher, Dr. Louis Sperry Chafer. As he entered a church on a Sunday morning, the congregation was singing heartily, “For you I am praying, for you I am praying, for you I am praying, I am praying for you!” Quietly he nudged the man next to
him, asking seriously, “Tell me, who is it you’re praying for?” The man stopped singing, looked in bewilderment at his questioner as though he might be mentally unbalanced, and responded, “What do you mean?” Dr. Chafer very kindly explained, “Well, I heard you singing that you were praying for someone, and I wondered just who it was and what his need might be.” The fellow soon got the point. He had to admit he really wasn’t currently pray ing for anyone, except for himself. The real message of the song was just so many words. Think about this in the light of the hymns we sing in church. There’s nothing wrong with the songs. The real trouble comes with the practical application to our own hearts. Help us, Lord, to live the way we pray, as well as the way we sing! * If you keep your heart full of the oil of the Holy Spirit, you'll soon have a faith to "match" it. * * * LOOK WHO'S LOOKING A s parents, we may sometimes for get that our children a/re constantly watching us. They want to see signs of our approval as well as to observe a pattern of life which they may fol low. Once a father and son, riding along a country road, crossed through a watermelon patch just off the high way. Pulling his car to the side, the dad looked around to see if anyone was in the field, or coming along the road from either way. When the coast seemed clear, he said, “Son, you watch here and if anyone comes, you honk the horn. I’m going to get us some melons." Hurrying into the field, he eagerly searched for the best looking fruit. It wasn’t long before he had a prize beauty. He shouted to his boy, “How about it, Son, is anyone coming? Be sure to look both ways.” The little fellow replied with wisdom beyond his years, “You mean, Daddy, I should look up, too?” So often we fail to real ize the Lord’s eyes are never taken from us. He sees not only everything we say and do, but also that which we even think. What kind of actions and re-actions are yours? How do you be have when you know no one else is looking except God? * *
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