Breaking Out

06 May, 2011
Today's Free Devotional from Ellel Ministries International
Breaking Out
" And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."
Philippians 1:9-11, NIV
On a recent family spring walk I took some time to examine the emerging buds on a nearby ash tree. Some of the buds had fully burst through to a fullness of lush, green, leaves. Others were still not breaking through in all their fullness, and yet others were still tightly shut, awaiting their time to open up.
Even though its full potential exists a bud is not performing the fullness of what it is created to do. It must break through its protective cover to open up. Then it must allow the sunshine to shine on to its leaves and bring nourishment to the tree.
And so it is with our lives. We all need a time of protection to grow. Then we can develop enough inner strength to break through, into openness and vulnerability. It’s then that real growth can take place. We can then fulfil our calling and nourish the whole Body of Christ.
There were many buds on the tree that hadn’t broken through into all their fullness, and I was touched with a tinge of sadness for the Church. Many of us live in a state of half-growth, preferring to stay in the little cocoon of the familiar, rather than venture into the unknown openness. We believe the lies of the enemy who is constantly whispering into our ears, “Is it really safe? Will you really be happy? What about all the nice things you are used to?”
Such words can hold us back and prevent us from breaking out and being fruitful. But if we don’t burst into full growth, we’ll never feel fulfilled, because we can never be fulfilled living in a restricted place.
The tree itself wasn’t displaying its full glory. Its continued life and fruitfulness would depend upon each individual bud breaking forth. And we all need to break out fully so that we can nourish the Body, and continue growing in fruitfulness daily – for the glory and praise of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Prayer: ‘And this is my prayer: that my love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that I may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God’.
Today's Writer : Lindsey Hanekom Lindsey Hanekom has worked at all of our UK centres over the years and is now settled at Ellel Scotland with her husband, Johann and their young son, Kyle. She is part of the Ellel 365 Team as well as being responsible for the marketing and publicity for Blairmore. Alongside these roles, Lindsey is a valued teacher who has a real heart to see people move into the fullness of life and to discover their full and true identity in God.

Copyright © 2011 Ellel Ministries International.
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