As I toss and turn in bed, my mind is busy thinking of what it means to be grafted. Why is it so important for a vinedresser to graft vines into the roots of an established plant. We have already discussed that the ancient vine acts as a defense for the new grafted branch against pestilence. But beside that, why graft braches into a different root system?
World Wide Web info: The best way to graft grapes is to use a "T" bud. It can be used on both old as well as young vines. The key to making the technique work is to make a "bleed cut" about one to two inches below the "T" cut. In this way the vine bleeds at this cut.
The picture of grafting is very detailed and displays how the root system is cut down to just a few inches above the ground. No growth or to show what it is. All of its worth, work and value is hidden underground. There is nothing attractive about the root system. In fact, it is the branch that is being grafted, that gets all the attention. The roots main job is to create a history and growth in the young branch that never would have been, without the grafting.
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. - Isa 53:2 NIV
NKJV) Psalms 18:35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.
To be grafted is to be held. To be anchored to be sustained and in this instance to be lifted up and made great.
For a moment, think of a time you did something out of the will of God. Your intentions may have been good, but you knew you were going out on a limb and outside of His plan. Maybe it was a purchase, a new job, starting a ministry. There will be time in your life you will be taking a risk and will totally be in the perfect will of God. I am talking about going rogue, taking matters into your own hands and hoping for success outside of Him
Apart from him we are nothing. All that we have, care for or watch over must be grafted, anchored, held by almighty God. The danger of not being grafted is clear: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. -
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. -
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. -John 15:4-6 NIV
The field you are called to care for must remain in Him. It must be grafted in Him. It must be dedicated to Him, or it is not of Him. When we marry and submit our lives to our God and our husband we are grafting our future to Him. When we dedicate our children we are grafting our parental choices to Him. When we answer the call of ministry, and we follow Him into unknown territory we have anchored ourselves to Him. Every day you wake up and decided to abide in Him, you are choosing to be held by Him, Anchored to Him, led by Him and part of His life. Doing nothing outside of His will. A branch that is not grafted may produce for a while but it will not produce for a lifetime. Grafting is about longevity, inheritance, future fruit and future generations.
If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Romans 11:16-19 NIV
(KJV) John 15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Abide means-to remain, to be held, kept, continually, to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure
Hebrews 6:19 KJV - Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the veil
Greek meaning of an anchor- to stay but it comes from the Root word meaning- the curve or inner angle of the arm, the bent arm
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Imagine a mothers arms wrapped around her child, nothing is aloud to get in, and that child is most certainly not getting out. The little one is grafted into the mothers arms. He might as well be glued there. This is what it means to be grafted.
Being Grafted means we are anchored to hope the way Zec 9:12 so poetically describes it,. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. - NIV
What do you need to place in the roots of your Savior. Have you been crying out to God for growth but are seeing little fruit? What pestilence have been harassing you? What have you been trying to achieve on your own? Do you need to heal from hurt and failure and return to your fortress and become a prisoner of hope, once again?
As I put this message together there is the song that continues to play through my heart and head, Natalie Grants Held. I had a substitute teach my messagelast week because I am on my way to see my son in Fort Bliss, Texas. My heart has been longing to see him for nearly a year. He has recently returned from Afghanistan with a head injury. As medical situations continue to rise, I cry out to God to hold him and to hold my heart. I plead for healing and for favor on his life. I praise God that my sons life has been spared and that he is home and on the road to recovery. However during the times of worry, fear, anxiety and stress I could feel my Saviors arms around me. I could see the crook of His arms wrapped around my son. Holding him, keeping him, guarding him.
As I pray for my other son still fighting in the war, I see Almighty Gods arms as shield, protecting him, covering him, securing him. This is what it means to be grafted, to be anchored to be held.
