Elisha Vision – Commentary

MY DAD’S LIFE VERSE: I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

From my earliest childhood I remember my Dad quoting this verse whenever he was asked his favorite Bible verse. Our church in rural Prophetstown, Illinois, often asked folks to share their favorite verse and Dad would always quote this verse. Even if he was at camp-meeting or a one-on-one conversation, that was his LIFE verse. I must admit, having a LIFE verse has taken on a whole new meaning for me, as I have been writing this book. My LIFE verse will be shared in a later chapter. But suffice it to say that Dad’s verse was not just the one he carried all through his life, but he LIVED it. It has now become the outline for this book dedicated in his honor. The greatest honor and accomplishment of his life, was the fact that his two sons were both in the ministry of the Gospel. He spoke often of his great joy in that solitary blessing. He lived to be ninety and was faithful to his love of Jesus and to his faithful love of my mother.

(A personal note to my grandchildren: If you want to know what your grandfather was like, watch the movie Fiddler On The Roof. Study Tevye, the milkman. Your great grandfather was a lot like him. Dad had that rare balanced personality embracing humor, sober reflection, hard work and family. But most of all, he loved God and talked to Him in his everyday life like a friend; because God was his friend, and he was God’s friend. Amazing, and it took me way too long to realize that I did not deserve that living example of fatherhood.)

I prayed much about the outline for this book on Jesus LIFE. It is all in Dad’s verse. First, Jesus is the VINE. Second, we are the BRANCHES. Finally, we will bear much FRUIT. I hope you see what I mean by the time we are finished with this book. (Excerpt from the third book in my GENERATION Series: Generation LIFE, introduction to Chapter One.)

A friend sent a transcription of several prophetic words for 2014-15 from Rabbi Jonathan Kahn’s New Jersey Messianic congregation. I believe this quote really hits the nail on the head for 2014.

This is a year of preparation and readiness for the time of what is ahead, for the greater things to come, for us, but linked to the world, preparing as a vessel, to ready ourselves for the use of the Lord, as the Scriptures says:

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.  Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21

This is also a year to prune.  The purpose of pruning a tree is to cut off the branches that are not bearing fruit that are wasting the tree’s energy, resources, and time.  We are to prune our own lives, prune off those things that are not bearing fruit for God.  Of course, sins, but other things as well, that wastes time and does not bear fruit, and also, those things you do to bear fruit and it hasn’t bore fruit for a while (not something that God says to wait on that).  The purpose is not to stop bearing fruit; the purpose is to bear more fruit.  Thus, the tree will stop wasting energy into the unfruitful branches, and put more energy into the fruitful branches.  We must spend time in God’s ministry.  There is no such thing as a congregation with ministers; we are a congregation of ministers.  Start serving in the Lord if you haven’t done so, in every area of our lives.  If we are already ministering in the Lord and it does not bear fruit, and we have prayed about it and God had not said to wait on this, then we need to serve God in another way, in new ways, seek Him for what He wants, praising God in new ways, walking, overcoming in new ways, get out of the rut, God does not want us to waste the time we have, be fruitful in everything.

As we enter a profound prophetic time zone of the next eighteen months of the blood moons, these words are timely reminders from our loving Heavenly Father: It is time to prune!

Les Lawrence, Voice of Christian Zionists      (READ MORE)