God has blessed each of us immeasurably. There are blessings we couldn’t possibly enumerate or articulate, and these blessings converge upon us in such a way that we woke up this morning to see another day. We’ve got another opportunity to praise God and to thank Him for being so good to us. Most folks realize this, and we truly are thankful, but many of us are not satisfied. Some are unfulfilled. We feel like something is missing, and we can’t quite put our finger on where or why this feeling exists. We’d like to know the specific book, chapter, and verse where God addresses the ‘why’ of emptiness, loneliness, lack, numbness, sadness, and disappointment. We’ve been on this journey a while, and still can’t capture joy and stay in it the way we see others do. You might be asking, “Lord, what am I missing?”
Jesus Christ is the answer, we know this for sure. The piece of missing information is often about how to tap into God’s Word in a way that causes us to feel the wholeness and fulfillment that Christ gives us. Paul’s prayer and God’s desire for each of us in Ephesians 3:16-17(NLT) is, “16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” This verse leads us to any answer we seek about the condition of our souls. Roots deliver nourishment to the whole tree. God tells us that our roots are supposed to grow down into His love, but sometimes, they also grow down into other things. When this happens, God begins the process of pruning us, and sometimes we’re so distracted with those other things, we don’t realize we’re being pruned.
Moment by Moment
In John 15:2(NLT), Jesus Christ tells us, “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” God is a merciful and tender Father, and in this verse, Jesus Christ assures us that the pruning process is reserved for his branches that bear fruit. What does this mean for us? Our walk with God is a moment by moment reality. It’s a partnership based on the choices we make every moment of every day to be more like Jesus Christ and to be obedient to God’s Word. Sometimes, we make choices that are not based on God’s love but based on our own desire for pleasure. We nurture addictions and habit patterns that support our personal agenda rather than God’s agenda to grow us up in Christ.
When things that are harmful to our relationship with God sit too long without being addressed, they might become rooted in our hearts. God doesn’t want this to happen, so within His pruning process there are alarms that wake us up and warn us that it’s time to grow. He’s done this because you and I are very often blind to the things in our hearts that are keeping us from going higher. We give ourselves permission to continue behaviors that hinder us, and we don’t see how these things are preventing us from producing fruits. Understand that if something is preventing you from producing fruit, it’s preventing you from receiving the blessings that are tied to the fruit. Heavenly Father is extending help through His Holy Spirit, so that we will get rid of things that will not help us produce fruit.
The Alarms
We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. Not only are we taught by the world to ignore the reality of our inner spirit-man, but the world tries to get us to believe that Jesus Christ isn’t the answer and that God’s spiritual solutions do not work. This is not the truth! Our faith in God’s love and power will not fail. Feeling that something is missing, as well as feelings of emptiness, loneliness, lack, numbness, sadness, and disappointment are very often calling cards for change. They are alarms that something within needs to be addressed spiritually, through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so easy to label our soul’s alarm system as feeling bad, but we need to at least consider the possibility that it is a warning sign that promotion is near. If we begin to seek God for answers and have a willingness to obey His instruction and direction, we might find ourselves feeling more fulfilled and joyous than we ever thought possible.
God is the Master Gardener, and the pruning process is a necessary part of our walk as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. When a gardener prunes, they cut away the dead parts so the whole branch can have blooms. This happens every season, and many of us have already received the alarm that the pruning season is upon us. Some of the things we’ve been holding too tightly will need to be cut off. We will always have pruning seasons, and they will continue throughout our entire existences. Heavenly Father helps us to be better and walk more closely to the example of Christ every day. The feeling that something is missing is very likely a bloom waiting to happen.
It must be abundantly clear to us that God gives us blessings according to our capacity to be thankful for them, and our capacity to be thankful for the blessing is dependent on our faith to receive them and our ability to adequately value their worth. Faith dictates that we know the value of what God has accomplished through Christ for our benefit. Not recognizing the value of his sacrifice will leave a hole in our hearts, and we need to seek God to fill it. John 16:13 tells us that God’s Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. God’s Spirit will do this work within us, but we must give him permission. We must be willing to be led, and we must ask God to give us a heart for Jesus Christ. The Master said in John 15:5(NLT), “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” All that we need can be found in Jesus Christ. We must ask God to give us a revelation of the price paid for our sins, and have faith that Christ will fill our cups to overflowing. Then we will know the price of his sacrifice, and the healing we have because of it.●
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Lord, What Am I Missing” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!