Yield

A couple days ago, I went to a Brandon Lake and Phil Whickam concert live. It was awesome to say the least! I would highly recommend going to one! It was a taste of heaven being there, being able to worship among the capital C church and to see people even at a christian concert be ushered into new life!

While they were singing, their huge emphasis was on victory. The battle that Jesus already won over sin and death and emphasized so many verses that it is God who goes before you and will conquer and defeat every foe.

Referencing verses like 2 Chronicles 2: 15-17

“And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

Or Deuteronomy 20:1-4

“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

Oh what that did for my soul- it shifted my perspective. And before they sang the song “ Battle Belongs” they kept repeating this quote “Don’t sing about the battle but song about your God” and I was like yes- this IS IT! When you are in a storm, in a trial, when life seems to be upside down- not to dismiss the hardship or pain, but to sing about our God and not our battle is so key. Why? Because it shifts our gaze on Who we believe in and not just what we see.

Following that, I got a word and it felt like a word for this season: YIELD

I was like, okay during worship, this is SO random! But as I sat on it for a while and even continued to meditate and pray about it in prayer meeting I thought it was so cool!

Definition:

(a)produce or provide (a natural, agricultural, or industrial product).

"the land yields grapes and tobacco"

(b)give way to arguments, demands, or pressure.

"the Western powers now yielded when they should have resisted"

It’s a paradoxical word. On one hand it means to produce and the other it means to surrender, a very active yet passive word. And in some fancy way God led me to the passage in John about abiding and producing fruit. It displayed to me this heart posture and life posture that I want to take into my future and my current transitions, into ministry, into my desires of dating and community - surrender/ abide in order to produce God’s fruit. In other words, in order to yield the fruit of Jesus, I need to yield to him and trust his care and trust his word completely! In close, I end with this:

John 15: 1-5

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”