Personally, I have never been to a cherry orchard and picked cherries, so I can only imagine what that must be like. I wonder if I could resist the temptation of what I pick. How about you? Oh well, that is a nice fantasy, but that isn’t the cherry pickin’ that I’m thinking about anyway.
I’m really thinking about how we cherry pick the Word of God! What we accept from the word and from what we reject and ignore. Obviously, we will accept Scripture that supports our belief and understanding at any given time and reject and/or ignore Scripture that threatens us in some way. Have you noticed that as your sanctification continues (that’s assuming that your sanctification is continuing) your perspective on some Scripture changes. With maturity and Holy Spirit’s help by bringing revelation we get closer and closer to Father’s truth and less and less bound by our flesh and worldly desires. That’s freedom folks! Our flesh and our sin represent bondage and when we reject Father’s invitations and ignore His warnings we are in trouble! In case you haven’t notices, our sin and our self-inflicted trouble always bring negative consequences to us and to others in our lives. Sin always separates us from others, including God! It’s difficult to have true loving relationships when the darkness of sin is present! Father designed humanity to flourish on the fuel of His love! Human love cannot and will not bring us to the pinnacle of life experience that Father planned for us! Only His love can do that because that’s the way He designed us! He is the essential element that must be present to bring Heaven to earth if we are to live our lives victoriously according to His plan for each one of us.
So how is our cherry pickin’ going? What kind of spiritual fruit has it produced? Do we still reject living totally in Father’s Kingdom? Do our worldly desires and priorities still cause us trouble and separation from our rightful place in Father’s arms? Do you realize that when we reject Father’s invitation and ignore His warnings we are in rebellion to Him? He says that is the same as witchcraft and that invites satan to participate and cause more trouble and deeper separation from Father! (See I Samuel 15:23).
You know if we would get rid of our self-inflicted trouble we would all be a lot happier and much more successful at bringing the loving Gospel of God’s Kingdom to a lost and dying world! Do you see that our cherry pickin’ represents fear, rebellion, stubbornness, self-centeredness and possibly hardness of heart? I also hope you see that to the degree we walk in these things we cut ourselves off from the wonderful, supernatural gifts of love and healing that Father has made available to all who will come to Him! That includes you!
Do you have favorite Scriptures? What are they? What do they support? Maybe it’s time to review and ask the Holy Spirit to judge for you! One of my favorite Scriptures is II Corinthians 5:15 which says, “And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him who died and was raised again for their sake.” So, do I live for Jesus or do I live for myself? Do I cherry pick this verse and ignore the invitation to this depth of commitment or do I surrender to Kingdom living and pursue Father’s plan and purpose for my life? I hope you understand that our cherry pickin’ can have a dramatic impact on our life experience either positive or negative. We are each responsible for ourselves! No one else can make choices for us with God! There is no time like the present to seize the opportunity to repent if necessary and ask for Father’s forgiveness. He is always faithful to forgive when we are truly repentant and He will empower us to turn away from our sin and live righteously in commitment to Him!
Our cherry pickin’ can bring us the sweetest and greatest pleasure when we chose righteously and live for Him and not ourselves. If fear of losing holds you back, tell the devil to kiss off and be gone. His lies will defeat you if you allow it! Fear will keep you separate from Father’s love and that is the greatest loss of all. Living in Father’s love makes our life complete. It is the cherry on top of all blessing this life has to offer.
I’m really thinking about how we cherry pick the Word of God! What we accept from the word and from what we reject and ignore. Obviously, we will accept Scripture that supports our belief and understanding at any given time and reject and/or ignore Scripture that threatens us in some way. Have you noticed that as your sanctification continues (that’s assuming that your sanctification is continuing) your perspective on some Scripture changes. With maturity and Holy Spirit’s help by bringing revelation we get closer and closer to Father’s truth and less and less bound by our flesh and worldly desires. That’s freedom folks! Our flesh and our sin represent bondage and when we reject Father’s invitations and ignore His warnings we are in trouble! In case you haven’t notices, our sin and our self-inflicted trouble always bring negative consequences to us and to others in our lives. Sin always separates us from others, including God! It’s difficult to have true loving relationships when the darkness of sin is present! Father designed humanity to flourish on the fuel of His love! Human love cannot and will not bring us to the pinnacle of life experience that Father planned for us! Only His love can do that because that’s the way He designed us! He is the essential element that must be present to bring Heaven to earth if we are to live our lives victoriously according to His plan for each one of us.
So how is our cherry pickin’ going? What kind of spiritual fruit has it produced? Do we still reject living totally in Father’s Kingdom? Do our worldly desires and priorities still cause us trouble and separation from our rightful place in Father’s arms? Do you realize that when we reject Father’s invitation and ignore His warnings we are in rebellion to Him? He says that is the same as witchcraft and that invites satan to participate and cause more trouble and deeper separation from Father! (See I Samuel 15:23).
You know if we would get rid of our self-inflicted trouble we would all be a lot happier and much more successful at bringing the loving Gospel of God’s Kingdom to a lost and dying world! Do you see that our cherry pickin’ represents fear, rebellion, stubbornness, self-centeredness and possibly hardness of heart? I also hope you see that to the degree we walk in these things we cut ourselves off from the wonderful, supernatural gifts of love and healing that Father has made available to all who will come to Him! That includes you!
Do you have favorite Scriptures? What are they? What do they support? Maybe it’s time to review and ask the Holy Spirit to judge for you! One of my favorite Scriptures is II Corinthians 5:15 which says, “And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him who died and was raised again for their sake.” So, do I live for Jesus or do I live for myself? Do I cherry pick this verse and ignore the invitation to this depth of commitment or do I surrender to Kingdom living and pursue Father’s plan and purpose for my life? I hope you understand that our cherry pickin’ can have a dramatic impact on our life experience either positive or negative. We are each responsible for ourselves! No one else can make choices for us with God! There is no time like the present to seize the opportunity to repent if necessary and ask for Father’s forgiveness. He is always faithful to forgive when we are truly repentant and He will empower us to turn away from our sin and live righteously in commitment to Him!
Our cherry pickin’ can bring us the sweetest and greatest pleasure when we chose righteously and live for Him and not ourselves. If fear of losing holds you back, tell the devil to kiss off and be gone. His lies will defeat you if you allow it! Fear will keep you separate from Father’s love and that is the greatest loss of all. Living in Father’s love makes our life complete. It is the cherry on top of all blessing this life has to offer.
Here are a few more Scriptures to support II Corinthians 5:15:
Luke 6:46-49
Luke 9:23-26
Luke 14:33
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 14:7-9
I Corinthians 7:17
Ephesians 2:10
Ephesians Chapters 4, 5 and 6 – great opportunities to cherry pick Christian conduct!*
Colossians 1:10-12
Colossians 2:6-7
Colossians 2:20-22
I Peter 2:16
I Peter 4:1-2
I John 2:3-6
Happy pickin’!
Blessings,
Roger
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