Beauty from the Ugly

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Take a few seconds and look at the photo of the vine. What do you see? During our time with the students meditating on John 15 in the vineyard I captured this picture. It looked so much like a cross, in fact I observed rows and rows of crosses all over the hilly landscape.

Not much beauty in this gnarly, rutty looking vine.  It appears dry and dead with no sign of life. Yet, I am reminded in Isaiah 53, of the prophetic portrait of the suffering servant Jesus:

“My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected…we turned our back on Him and looked the other way,” (vs. 2-3).

 

In the midst of this vineyard the beautiful work of an ugly cross preached powerfully to my soul. My life emerges from the most ugly, unjust, event in history. A perfect Savior who took on the full flood of evil and damning sin to break its curse and bring life to the spiritually dead. Listen again to Isaiah 53:

“Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down…He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed.  All of us strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all,” (vs. 4-6).

As I focused on the cross like vine and Isaiah 53 I sensed the Spirit say “This is it, this is the one thing My world needs!”  There is no life apart from the cross, all true life comes through being united to Christ in His death (Gal. 2:20). As you look again at the pictures you’ll notice that the branches come out of the cross like a vine. Apart from the vine the branch does not exist (John 15:4).

In these turbulent times our greatest need is to return to an ugly cross and find the beauty of true life. Adam and Eve walked away from the Father’s love by listening to the lie of satan and eating from the forbidden tree in the beautiful garden. The Father offers you and me a way back into His beautiful love through an ugly tree stained with the blood of His Son.

One tree brought fear, hate, disunity, jealously, every form of evil and spiritual and physical death. The cross brings abundant life and fruit that will bring healing to the nations. The fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

In the middle of the vineyard that day I felt the Father call me back to the Vine, to make the vine, my One Thing, to remain in His beautiful perfect love given to me at the Cross. And to live the Cross and share the message of Cross as the only hope for our world.

 

Remaining in the Vine

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Written by Mike Verkaik

As I sat in the beauty of Groot Constantia vineyard I soon became overwhelmed with the visual picture of Jesus’s words that were before me. My view of choice was a hillside patch of vines that overlooked much of the entire vineyard. As I looked at row after row of pruned vines, my focus slowly went to the single vine located five feet in front of me.

The words I read the day before from True Vine, by Andrew Murray were still echoing in my mind. “The believer has but one reason for being a branch – but one reason for their existence on earth – that the heavenly Vine may through them bring forth His fruit. Happy the soul that knows this, that has consented to it, and that says, I have been redeemed for one thing.”

With the resurrected understanding of my calling as a branch, I saw myself on that hillside as a cutback, seemingly lifeless branch. I was solely connected to the larger vine that contained all the life giving sap that I needed. In that instance the beautiful scenery surrounding me changed into His holy ground as I began to read John 15.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (vs. 5)

While continuing to read the verses, tears began to flood my eyes, and I was not sure why. So I began to write in my journal and pray. “Abba, why am I crying? Is it the duplication of the moment you had with your disciples and the awe of your presence and closeness in this moment? Is it the sad conviction and realization that I don’t remain in You as much as I should, nor do I love the way you call me to love? Maybe it’s the understanding Jesus, that You aren’t going anywhere and your promise to remain in me is constant, despite my failure in reciprocating that commitment? Or is it the overwhelming realization once again that You have actually chosen me and appointed me so that I might go and bear fruit?”

Focusing again on the pruned vine in front of me the Holy Spirit began to reveal the pruning He was doing and that I needed in my life. Shortcomings, prideful tendencies and self-centeredness continued to be revealed as I wrote the list of items that had crept back into my life. A reminder of the constant journey we are on to just be the branch and to live our life in total dependence on the sap we get from the Vine, and loving care of the gardener.

When my time in front of the vine ended I packed my bag and looked up to head down the path. The rainbow picture I saw brought to life the words of John 15:9

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

What a gift the team was given to spend time in a vineyard, and see the visual of the vine and what it means to be a branch. The time spent reading, writing and dwelling was a healthy cleansing of the heart and soul, and a new revelation of His desires for relationship with us.

Moving forward into this week may we choose to dwell in His spiritual vineyard, and give him our time, our listening ear and our eyes fixed upon Him.
As we live into being His branch, He will be faithful, and through the power of the Holy Spirit reveal to us the true meaning of remaining in Him.

Father Please Cut!

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Driving back from dropping the team off at Cape Town airport I was thanking God for such a beautiful sunny day after so much rain. I was also recalling the chill in the air a few days earlier at vineyard and how the time spent there seemed way too short. As I was nearing the exit to the vineyard I sensed an inner call to go back and dwell some more.

Beginning  my climb up a slope to the steeper part of the vineyard I noticed several crews out pruning the rows of vines. The sound of the shears was rhythmic as the team looped off branch after branch. Before you knew it several branches had been cut and discarded to the ground. The whole process seemed like my last haircut where the barber kept buzzing away until I had only a few hairs left.

When the pruners had cut off most of the branches-leaving just two or three good canes attached to the vine-they moved on and repeated the same process. Without this winter pruning the grapes would be tiny and the harvest would become unproductive. This tedious work of the farmer is vital for the success of his vineyard.

As I watched these skilled workers cut away at the branches the text of John 15:1-2 took on living color:

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more fruit.”

 As I kept walking up the steep hill to get a better view of the vineyard I asked the Father, “what are you pruning in my life? What are you cutting away so that I can bear much fruit to bring you glory?” My list was long but at the core of it was self. Self must die daily in order to live in the rich sap of Jesus the vine. If I try to branch out on my own and not live daily in dependence on Jesus my branch will wither and die.

Daily, yes daily I must let the Father cut away anything that does not keep me dependent on Him. What is the shears that He uses to do this? His Word!

 “You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you.” (vs. 3)

 I love how the author of Hebrews describes Jesus the Word:

“For the Word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are…” (4:12).

 For me daily being in His Word reveals to me my absolute need to constantly abide in the finished work of Jesus Christ for me. Apart from Christ I am nothing!

Maybe the best prayer we can pray is “Father please cut that I may abide fully in your Son Jesus!”

 

 

 

Trusting the Gardner in the winter seasons

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What is our world in desperate need of?  Fruit! Yes, spiritual fruit that flows from the heart of a follower of Christ. We had a chance to spend several days with a high school team from the US talking about John 15, Jesus’ illustration of the Vine and the Branches.

You can imagine Jesus and his motley crew of disciples passing by a local vineyard and Jesus taking them on a detour in order to emphasize the patterns in creation and present a tangible visualization of the essence of true discipleship.

So towards the end of Oceans’ Kingdom Encounter a drive to the oldest vineyard in South Africa dating back to 1685 called Groot Constantia was a must. We challenged the students to spend time walking through this beautiful historic place meditating on John 15 and listening to what the Spirit may be saying to each one of them.

It was a profound time for the students and we pray the visual of the vineyard and the text will forever be etched in their mind.  For us leaders it had an incredible in pact as well and we hope to share some of what we encountered in the next few blogs.

As I was walking through the rows of the vines one of the thoughts which grabbed me was how dead the vine and branches looked. Here in the Southern Hemisphere it’s winter and and the vines have gone dormant. I have to be honest I enjoyed strolling through the vineyard during the summer season when the branches were bending under the weight of clusters of ripe red grapes.

But winter is a vital season for the vine as it is nourished by the winter rains and rests from a season of heavy production. It is also a busy season for the Gardner as Jesus points out in John 15:1,2, “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more fruit.” In many ways the winter season is just a busy for the Gardner as the harvest time.

As I slowly strolled along I thought about how important spiritual winters are for followers of Christ. Yes, it seems dead and dormant and doesn’t look pleasing to the eye, but it is vital for our spiritual growth. The Bible and history gives us plenty of examples of Christ followers who experienced spiritual winters. It can be painful, dark and extremely lonely as the spiritual winter blows in and overtakes the soul.

Yet, these times are when our faith can be strengthened as we are called to trust the loving hand of the Gardner to faithfully care for our fragile branches. As I looked over the expansive vineyard that has been around for over 300 years it testifies to the faithful change of seasons where spring breaks forth and leads to budding new branches which will in time bring forth an abundant harvest.

Maybe you are in the midst of a winter season, it can be tough and unpleasant, but as you wait keep your focus on your Father, the Gardner. Trust that He knows what He is doing and is preparing you for an abundant harvest that will bless many and bring the Father Glory.

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines…yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength…”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

 

“This is how I fight my battles”

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Written by Mike Verkaik

What has God used to prune you in your handling of adversity? For me it has been my many trips to South Africa. As prepared, as I believe I am for every trip, the airlines seem to always create a new scenario to grow my capacity to surrender circumstances out of my control.

Last week as the team pulled into O’Hare airport, about 3 1⁄2 hours before our flight, I felt overly prepared for a smooth check in and entry through customs. We finished the preliminary check in process, and now waited for an attendant to come and finalize it. Passport? Check! Negative Covid test 72 hours prior? Check! Negative Covid test 48 hours before for Germany? What? Sir, we don’t need that, we are just flying through Germany. “Sorry, this is Covid, and things change, you will have to go across the street and get a rapid test. It takes a while to get the results, so it is going to be tight to make your flight,” said the attendant.

As I swallowed hard, my problem-solving mind revved into full motion as panic began to set in. My first reaction was, “We have got to go!” However, as I gathered the students and their bags altogether, pruning from past experiences were triggered as a song entering my mind.

In the valley I know your there with me and surely your goodness and your mercy follow me, so my weapons are praise and thanksgiving – this is how I fight my battles. And I believe you’ve overcome and I will lift my song of praise for what you’ve done. This how I fight my battles. (Upper Room)

Those are some of the unknown lyrics to the song Surrounded (Fight My Battles). Over the last few weeks I have been referencing and singing them quite a bit. The memories came from a conference at Bethel Church in Redding, California. What a revelation and pruning time it was for me as I listened to the words, so my weapons are praise and thanksgiving, for the first time. There in the midst of five thousand people God gave me a breakthrough into how to handle a personal storm, which I knew was spiritual battle that I was unequipped to fight.

Worrying was not the answer, neither was lashing out or getting angry. Believing that my Father has prepared a table for me, tells me He loves me, and has me in the palm of His hands was where I needed to go; where I desired to go as my small world came crashing in on me.

So, in the moment at the airport, instead of taking off to the testing center, I paused with the group, acknowledged our King, thanked Him for who He was and surrendered this situation to Him. Then, we took off at a fast pace to the testing sight.

Our difficulties were far from over after receiving our negative tests. The trials continued as the next agent required a South African health questionnaire we didn’t need, our bag tags did not print out, there was a strike at the airport in Paris and

they lost six of our seven bags, taking eight days for Ashley and Elijah to receive their bags.

Talk about experiencing some turbulence – put your seat belt on! Or just sing, praise, thank and trust a Father who is the good shepherd. Who will refresh your soul, guide you on the right path, tell you not to fear because He is with you, anoints you so your cup overflows and reminds you that His goodness and love will follow you, even through unpredictable airports.

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him. (Psalm 40: 1-3)