By REV. TIMOTHY L. MELTON, PASTOR
(Transcribed by Myra D. Colgate)
Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Read: Isaiah 61:3, 2, 1, 4
Glory to God, He has called us to be Trees of Righteousness, meaning, “We’ve already been pruned and trained,” and that it all now begins to happen in the right way and timing. For a tree to end up being a beautiful tree it is essential to be pruned from time to time. As any farmer knows, for a tree to grow properly in the necessary sunlight, it probably will have grown a little crookedly at first, in searching for the right amount of sun it may end up needing a bit more pruning. It could have been a tree that got a little messed up because of some adverse event, which also may not have allowed it to produce much good fruit. To do so, the affected branch has to have a change in its growth pattern, and regarding the direction, it may be growing to be fully producing fruit, and with an established beauty everyone notices. It may take a bit more pruning and cutting away so that it can really flourish.
The Scripture tells us as the Bible declares, “Those Whom He loves, He prunes.” It is amazing what happens next, and, as a farmer, I’ve found that when I cut off whatever part of a branch is not producing fruit, another branch will grow back in its place and then finally begin to produce the fruit. Just like in nature, we begin to see and understand that when God takes away a situation or even a relationship from a person, it may feel like they’ve hit a wall, or a person has no clue about what to do next.
In times like that, a person can best begin simply by thanking Him, praising Him for the new fruit, and giving Him the honor of all our praise and glory to Him, for He does have the full Plan needed for our restoration and honors us who Love Him. We honor Him by giving Him our trust and worship. With understanding, we can now know that He has each person’s best interest and holds them in His Heart. It is in understanding that, all should realize that no person can solve a situation alone and on his own without Him. Only God can fully do what’s needed. He gives us His full and loving Attention to every detail within our lives which are forever in His Hands. He also holds our very next Breath…
God is the Pruner and knows what to do so one can become the tree He wants each one to be. Three more branches may come back to the place where the original branch was, and it now produces the fruit desired. So, lift those branches and begin to give Glory to the Lord. One will begin to grow more fruit than one has grown today. Why? A tree untrained can begin to do some crazy things. At the end of a mile-long driveway, I’ve got a cabin, which is more like a warehouse. Along the road are some spindly trees that have been blocked from much of the sunlight by bigger trees. So, these crazy things have bent themselves over and started growing like that instead of growing up straight and tall.
Here’s what is going to happen. I’m taking my chainsaw up there and plan to turn them into firewood and save myself some money to heat my house. They have always said “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” but here’s what I found out, sometimes one just must let the Lord train up a person or a tree.
These trees were just little sticks that grew straight up and were ugly. I pulled the branches down and stuck the plastic in. I left it there for a couple of weeks so they would grow in the right direction. After removing the plastic, with the branches now growing in the right direction, they now look like real trees and now they are laden with apples.
One can ask what has that to do with me? Sometimes God will put one into an uncomfortable situation, in a place a person really doesn’t want to be, in a place where one had hoped they would never find oneself. That place is doing nothing but training a person to be the Tree of Righteousness that God has called them to be. Thank God for some training in the Christian Realm. They are not stupid. They are not ignorant; they may just be people who’ve never learned there is a difference.
