Result-Oriented

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." (John 15:7-8)

Our God is result-oriented. His Will acted out in our lives, always has a purpose. God does not purposely call us to take action, without having a result in mind.

Turning back in the text a little, we read:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:1-2)

Alright, so He sees something good in our lives - which He obviously created in us, for His purposes - but He wants to enrich it, to make it vastly effective and even more fruitful. So, be prepared to maybe be shaken up a little bit ... But, hang in there! It's for a PURPOSE. There is an end result. Reading on:

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)

Ok, so in these 3 passages we learn the following:
1. It is God's desire for us to be vastly effective and fruitful.
2. In order for us to be vastly effective and even more fruitful, God reorganizes our lives to get our attention on Him.
3. When our attention is on Him, He can fully use us.

Are you ready for this? It's so not about us. It's not about me, and it's not about you. It's about Him using us to accomplish His purposes. The purposes of our Creator God. If we want vastly effective and more fruitful lives, then may I make a recommendation? Let's allow God to reorganize our lives, so that we may in turn be more fruitful for His purposes.

When we reorganize our closet at the beginning of 2009, what is our goal? Our goal is that the organization will result in more effective living, right? That we may more effectively be able to find that pair of shoes, or that sweater with the tags still attached that we received Christmas 2007. Our intent is that the de-cluttering may make life a little more ... focused.

God's intent is the same. His de-cluttering, His reorganization, too, will make life more focused. One of my favorite scriptures so far this year is from Proverbs 4. It says: "Let your eyes look straight ahead; Fix your gaze directly before you" (Prov. 4:25). It's reminding me to stay focused - to stay focused on the goal of accomplishing the purpose of God in my life - because a result-oriented God, always has an end result in mind.

Like ok, the whole fact that by abiding in Christ, I am going to be in tune to knowing God's plan for my personal life - that I am going to be working with God to accomplish His purpose ... The whole fact that apart from Him, I cannot accomplish any of this - OK, that just totally blows my tiny MIND. That gets me FIRED UP!

Our Creator God wants you and I, to be vastly effective for His Kingdom. He wants you and I to bear much fruit, for His glory. My advice to all of us, myself included, is that we allow Him to make the adjustments in our lives. Just go with it. Submit and obey. Because girls, it is for a PURPOSE. There is an end result. Oh, and hey - the end result, it's good. Psalm 139 tells us that God doesn't make less than wonderful. And if you're questioning whether or not God's end result is better than your end result ... Have you looked around? Could you have done any of this? You know, like let's see ... laid the foundations of the earth, set the stars in motion, created the intricate human body ... ?? Yeah, I didn't think so. Enough said.

Trust your Result-Oriented God. He's got plans. I just know it ...