Broken Off Branches

 BROKEN OFF BRANCHES

Here we see the severity and kindness of God.  

Then note and appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s gracious kindness to you—provided you continue in His grace and abide in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off (pruned away). (Romans 11:22, AMPC). 

Let us look at the Greek and Hebrew meaning of Kindness. 

Chrestotes in Greek and hesed in Hebrew are most frequently translated into the English word "kindness." Chrestotes, according to The Complete Word Study Dictionary by Spiros Zodhiates, p. 1482, means. benignity, kindness, usefulness

The Hebrew word hesed means loving kindness.  It is also similar to grace. 

Ḥeseḏ is a Hebrew word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity.

Kindness is the way God treats human beings.  Jesus said. "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish" (Luke 6:35). Kindness is the way God has always related to people. It involves choosing to do something to help others or yourself motivated by genuinely warm feelings. Kindness or doing good often involves putting other people's needs before our own. It could be something simple like offering to make a cup of tea or  coffee for someone at work or giving up your seat on a bus. It could be praying for someone.   I like to think of kindness as the selfless act of helping someone that cannot help themselves.  God is kind.  

In stark contrast there seems to be an increase of wickedness and total  selfishness in this world.  Murders and child abuse, child murders and all kinds of abuse are increasing at a rapid rate.  Instead of acts of kindness we see selfish people with narcissistic tendencies who lack the capacity to understand or care for others. Instead they are callous. They are loveless. They are arrogant.  They are brutal and they seek lots of attention.  They are haters of the good. Narcissistic people live in their own fake, delusional world. It is an illusion. It is deception.  Narcissism is definitely demonic in nature. It is an evil spirit of selfishness.  Consequently, this steady stream of bad news, evil doings  and hoplessness that is presented to us through the media on a daily basis is a negative energy.  It leaves us feeling depressed. Afterall, the devil is the 'prince of the power of the air' (Ephesians 2:2).  It seeks to erode and nullify our faith in a good God and His power to save.  The devil is a liar. It is also a spirit of unbelief that denies the very existence of God. This present darkness seems to be increasing.  But God’s light in his people (believers) will shine all the more brighter in these dark days.  

This world and it's love of money and selfish gain is passing away.   Timothy also warned of the dark, difficult days we are now living in:

For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, ³ [and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, ⁴ traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, (2 Timothy 3:4, AMP).

Therefore, be kind to the ungrateful, and love your enemies. That is challenging at times. I thank and praise God who is rich in patience and kindness towards the wicked and the ungrateful. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance. It is true that actions speak louder than words. Kindness is an affective way to reach others, especially when they are ignoring our words or responding poorly to us.  In todays world, words are pretty cheap but actions are far more costly. When we reach out in this way of kindness we are overcoming our emotions and sense of fairness.  It may feel uncomfortable and risky and  it may even bring rejection. But God's way is to let his kindness speak to them through us, despite how they are behaving towards us.  Keep your covenant with God toward them regardless of their behaviour.  God told me that once.  This is a selfless act of loving kindness.  A rarity in this world.  Although we may think we know what to say to reach someone, sometimes our words fall short. God knows how to reach their hearts and His kindness can move further than our words, because he bypasses defenses, wounds and lack of understanding in those we are hoping to reach. God is kind to the wicked.

Sin and selfishness is a disease that entered the human race through Adam and Eve when they fell into sin and were separated from God.  Sin is like a malignant cancer.  They disobeyed God's voice and listened to Satan. Jesus is the only cure.  The sinful nature is the badness, that is our fleshly nature that is corrupted by the evil one.  God came to redeem us and to take away the sin of the world through His son Jesus Christ.  That is why Jesus says you must be born again. That is a spiritual birth into the kingdom of God. Forever united with the Father.  He came to buy us back with his own blood sacrifice on the cross.   The blood of the Lamb, his only begotten Son, Jesus. A totally selfless Christ.  Out of his great hesed (loving kindness) He came to redeem fallen humanity and offers us His way out and to deliver us from destruction and corruption and the evil one and to save us from the realm of the dead, Hades.  That is hell.  Thus, out of His great kindness, God is on a mission to bring salvation to this hurting world. To restore and to redeem us.  His kindness towards us is his love in action and leads us toward repentance, just as the book of Romans tells us:

Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4). 

Therefore God's kindness can penetrate the most hardened sinner and bring them to repentence. God's goodness is not overcome by man's badness.  Good overcomes evil.  I pray God open your eyes to his kindness towards you. 

Now let us consider the severity of  God. Note,  Israel had provoked God's wrath with their unbelief. 

Unbelief will lead to spiritual ruin.  Selah.

I was studying Romans 11 recently about the Jews being broken off branches of the olive tree and learned this lesson: 

Continue to abide in God's free grace and goodness towards you.  Do not be proud. Do not abuse these privileges.  The Jew's rejection of the gospel offer through Christ opened up the way for the Gentiles to come in. The Jews were broken off by their own rebellion and unbelief.  Their rejection meant that I might be grafted in.  They lost their God-given privileges.  Such abuse of patience and privilege invokes God's wrath.  This is the severity of God.  God will rid Jacob of ungodliness in His mercy. 

God will provoke the Jews to jealousy through the Gentiles (the wild olive branches) who have received his mercy through accepting the gospel terms and have been grafted into the rich olive root of the tree of favor and blessings of God's covenant people that he made with Abraham.  The Gentiles that have come in now share the benefits of the root of the olive tree. The new covenant.  If the Jews do not persist in unbelief then God has the power to graft them back into the root of the olive tree again. They, after all, are the natural branches. 'The blessing of Abraham,' who is the root of the Jewish people (or church) has come upon the Gentiles.  (Galatians 3:14, NIV). Therefore, the blessing of Abraham has now come upon me!  Praise God. 👏 Amen. 

On that note, we are to pray for Israel to be saved (Romans 10:1). God has not rejected them.  He wants us to pray for their conversion.  They are like the prodigal son who on their return will be made alive (see, Luke 15:32). They became deadwood, and good for nothing, cast off, but they will come alive again in Christ. They will be reinstated.  They will be resurrected. They are His people. His beloved. They are the apple of his eye. I am also his beloved.  The apple of his eye.   So are you, His beloved, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.  That is awesome.  I love you my God my deliverer, my Saviour, my Lord and my delight, my lover, my husbandman. 

The hardening of the majority of the Jews will continue until the full number of Gentiles has come in.  They have to come on the same terms as the Gentiles and accept God's gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.  They have to repent of their unbelief.   Likewise, the hardening of a person's heart God will allow to bring glory to his name.  

We see this when He wrought powerful miracles through Moses because of the hardening of Pharoah's heart who refused to let God's people go.  And so will he do for you.  In Exodus, we read:

The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders (miracles) which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and make him stubborn so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21, AMP)

Similarly, God will display his glory and miracles in your life, the more the enemy taunts.  What miracles is God wanting to do through your hand?  The Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt by the Egyptian Pharoah and powers of witchcraft but God demonstrated his glory and power through it all to deliver his people. He proved he was their God with demonstrations of his power and glory and wonderful love to free his own people.  He brought those demonic powers to a full stop. He heard his people's cries for freedom and he delivered them completely and fully from the powers of darkness that had gripped them and enslaved them through Pharoah's rule.

The penultimate miracle was when He parted the Red Sea miraculously, through the staff of Moses for his people to pass through on dry land. In his passionate love for His people, God made a way where there was no way. Pharoah had to let go; he and all his army of chariots were drowned in the Red Sea chasing after the Israelites.  The Israelites passed over.  The enemy pursuing them was lured out to the Red Sea and fell right into God's trap. Gotcha!  God is our deliverer. No other God but Yahweh can save us from the grip of the powers of darkness.  No other name but Jesus can save.  Selah. 

On this note, I am prophetically struck by a word God gave me recently at a Healing Conference in Derby with Healing Rooms England and Wales.  I came home with such a wonderful peace. A calm in my storm washed over me.   I was being held in his loving arms; His presence was like a holy hush.  I was held like a baby. Comfort of God. The Holy Spirit is the comforter. I felt a sense of everything will be alright. Just stay in this place of peace. Abide in Him. We are the branches he is the vine.

Hence, with child- like anticipation I attended the prophetic booths, seeking a specific word from the Lord for some direction and encouragement.  God's word has creative power to transform us through the Holy Spirit and his spoken word.  I sat there waiting, as this gentle, godly man waited on the Lord to give me a word. The man prophesied over me (along with another lady) about a staff which meant eldership. It also speaks of maturity in God.  I was reminded of Moses and how God wrought  miracles through his staff.  I have the staff of eldership. Healing miracles are in your hand.  Go forth and show God’s healing love and power and in His might with  miracles and signs and wonders. Show forth his loving kindness to those around you who need the Lord.  They need a miracle.  Maybe I might even do a miracle healing service?  Selah. 

As I prayed into this a little more, on my return, I realised God was declaring leadership or eldership over me.  It was encouraging and empowering. You are who he says you are. Then you are free to  become it. No apology is needed for who you are or who God made you to be in Him.   He is our confidence.  God recognised who I am in His church even if no one else does.  It was like a commendation or a recommendation.  I was being anointed to another level.  I realised something else, that God's rod or staff is his word that guides us on the path of life.  We are to grow up in His word.  God's word is the staff!  And we are also in the year  2023, so it was a very poignant word.  Thus, Jesus is our Shepherd and our comforter.  So do not look to this world or to anyone or to anything else because there is no true comfort found in anyone else but God. He will heal your pain.

Trust in God alone. 

Outside of God it is all false. Are you in a battle?  Take heart. Psalm 23 says:

Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me (Psalm 23:4, AMP).

In conclusion, remember, that as a child of God, you are highly favoured by God and the apple of his eye.  Zechariah prophesied, '...for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.' (Zechariah 2:8).  To be the apple of someone's eye means you are cherished.  So take heart that you are cherished and valued by an almighty God. He is also the Good Shepherd to guide and comfort and protect you.  Therefore, continue in His gracious kindness and favour towards you that you may continue to be kind to the selfish and ungrateful.  Let your light shine in the dark.

Sharon