Vineyard Days – Horticulture of the Heart

Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.

  But as for that [seed] in the good soil, these are [the people] who,

hearing the Word, hold it fast in a just (noble, virtuous) 

and worthy heart, and steadily bring forth fruit with patience.

Luke 8:11&15 (AMP)

 ~ Jesus speaking

I love reading what Jesus had to say. He described the horticulture of the heart by talking like a farmer. Soil, seed, planting, tending. How to grow a life by telling the story of the vineyard simply and clearly.

He didn’t make it difficult, which is kind of Him when we grapenuts of His are given to mucking it up. His discourse to His closest friends then (who went on to change the world) remains His message for us today.

“Let Me spell it out again. Nothing has changed. Let’s take it from the top.” Then He points to His Father, the husbandman.

“It begins with Him. It ends with Him. “For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever!” (Jesus the Word speaking in Romans 11:36)

Paraphrased, for there to be a vine there has to be a planter; one who tends and cares for the vine; one who receives the fruit. One who hops in the winepress and rejoices in the harvest of the vine. Now back to Jesus…

“And in the middle? That’s where I come in for no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

“My Father is the husbandman. He planted Me, the true vine. You are the branches, grafted into Me.”

“Branches put forth leaves. If it is a healthy branch, the blossom forms and in its season, bears fruit.”

“Everything my Father did for Me (while I lived in the flesh), He does for you through Me. I was the Firstfruit; you come after Me, to also bring forth fruit. As carefully as He tended Me, He will tend you. He loves us.”

“In fact, as dependent as I was on Him for everything I did or said – for I only did or said what I saw and heard Him doing and saying – I was equally as confident that He would perform and accomplish His will. Why? Because I trusted that He could not and would not disappoint Me. I bear His Name.”

“See my Father? Look. I would not be here firmly planted for your attachment to Me if it had not been for Him. I, the Son, could do nothing of Myself. I had to learn to “live My life” just as you are doing. My life flowed right up through the valley of death, into the grave, and victoriously into resurrected, eternal life. How did I do it? All of it, ALL of it, came from my Father. Like sap rising, so did He rise within Me.”

“Now, here I am. A firmly planted, Life-giving planting of my Father; I, the True Vine. I lived because of and by my Father. Now, here you are. Planted of our Father, into Me. To steadily bring forth fruit with patience, even as I continue to do today through the ministry of my Holy Spirit. We work together.”

“Dependence and confidence. Reliance upon and trust in the fact that the Father is working all for a glorious end!”

“I have prayed for you, branch…but the choice is yours. To be brought to complete unity and much fruit by remaining in Me. Or relinquishing my life-giving flow by not remaining in Me, the end result like a thrown away and withered branch, gathered and tossed into the fire and burned.”

“I pray for that little word ‘in’ to explode its light upon your heart: abiding and remaining in the Vine”:

“I in them and you in me–so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved me.” John 17:23 ~ Jesus to His Father

“Remember, branch. Our Father the husbandman, is tending the vineyard. It starts with Him and it ends with Him…

…you and I are in the middle of His vineyard days.”

~ end paraphrasing Jesus’ teaching recorded in John 15 & 17 and Luke 8

Abiding Gracefully Free

 

Shammahs Field LLC/Shammah Ministries is the biblical counseling, life coaching, and spiritual growth ministry entrusted to Wayne & Nancy Bentz. You can learn more about the resources they have to offer at www.shammahsfield.com.

Photo: blue grape cluster with enhancements courtesy of PicMonkey.com