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Summary: A Must-Read!!
Review: My words can't do this book justice. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you liked The Prayer of Jabez, this book will knock your socks off.
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Summary: How to Prepare to Receive from The Prayer of Jabez
Review: I enjoy hearing what others have to say about the Bible, especially those who have a knowledge of Hebrew. They can gather meanings that are not apparent to me from the plain words in the English translation. I was delighted to find that The Secrets of the Vine focuses on one of the most puzzling Bible stories I have ever read, and expanded my knowledge of what that story means. Through a combination of this new understanding and reflecting on The Prayer of Jabez, I have come to appreciate new choices concerning my relationship to God. That's a great gift, and I feel deeply moved by the experience. I think you will be, too.After the Last Supper, Jesus took His disciples outside to visit a vineyard in order to teach a lesson. Obviously, this was a most important lesson because it came as the last ordinary conversation they could have together in person. The story is told in John 15. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." John 15:1 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away . . . ." ". . . and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." "I am the vine, you are the branches." "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit." "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit." Bruce Wilkinson does a good job of explaining about viticulture as a way of expanding the meaning of these passages. The vine itself is the bulky gnarly trunk that comes up from the ground and is kept pruned into just a few branches. The branches are tied up to keep them in the air. If they are not tied up, they fall to the ground where dirt and disease will keep them from bearing fruit. The branches must be cut back in order that the vine will produce fruit rather than leaves and new growth. The older the vine gets, the more it has to be cut back to be productive. But the older it gets, the better the grapes can be. If you have fallen off the wires, God will tie you back up so that you can once again bear fruit. Once there, He will keep you pruned. The book argues then that much of the time we will feel like we are being disciplined (in a loving way) when we sin or pruned (to become more productive) when we are doing God's work. The book describes how to tell when you are receiving the one versus the other. Both may be painful, but each provides a different lesson. What I got from this interpretation is that we should focus on how we can better do God's will. Mr. Wilkinson makes a fine point when he says that "we don't really believe God likes us." I often find it hard to imagine why God would be willing to put up with our tiny and incomplete lives. When we overcome that feeling though, we can realize that God wants us to strengthen our relationship with Him first to "deepen the quality of my devoted time with God" and then to "broaden my devoted time" until it is "all the time." A particular point that was revealing to me was that this means we should spend more time abiding with God and less time doing works. Most of us try to do more and more works. The final pruning causes us to bear more fruit. "If your life bears a lot of fruit, God will invite you to abide more deeply with Him." I also see this as an invocation to narrow our focus onto God, so that His will permeates our thoughts and actions more thoroughly. Obviously, one action taken through God's will accomplishes much more than all of our actions taken without His will. As a test of the validity of these thoughts, I was pleased to see that they made my experiences with the prayer of Jabez more vivid and moving. Thinking about this Bible lesson from John 15 also served to expand and sharpen my mental and visual focus. I took these experiences to mean that these messages were redirecting my life. I am very grateful for the experience. After you have read and prayed upon what you learn from this book, may you find ways to abide more and more deeply with God. God bless you!
Rating:
Summary: Simple, yet profound
Review: The most profound lessons are most often the simplest. That's true of these lessons/secrets of the vine. Discipline, chastening, and pruning are things we try to avoid, no matter how often God tells us it's for our own good. Are you are follower of Christ? Is there sin in your life? Then pay attention because God wants to change you.
An excellent follow up to the Prayer of Jabez.
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Summary: A worthy follow up
Review: Not a sequel, but truly the next step. The Prayer of Jabez had opened my life to God's blessings in unexpected and inconceived ways. The Secrets of the Vine provides us with direct teaching and scriptural references on how to open our lives up so that we can be ever more able to expand our reach, be prepared, and not to block God's work in our lives. I'm thinking of planting a grapevine in my yard as a physical reminder of the powerful lessons in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A spiritual eye opener
Review: This book is a gift! As wonderful as Prayer of Jabez was, this one surpasses it. The part about abiding was a particular eye-opener for me as I was always under the misconception that I wasn't truly abiding unless I experienced some kind of supernatural feeling. This book truly inspires and opens my mind to a better understanding of what Jesus meant for each of us in John 15. I highly recommend it!
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Summary: Wonderful look at John 15
Review: This book is based on John 15 and Wilkinson's interpretation. I found it insightful and spiritually helpful.
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Summary: They are Family Secrets
Review: The book is wonderful, fully and easliy explaning John chapter 15. I will never read it the same way again. The Lord wants us all to understand how He loves us and Wilkinson does a very good job explaining the parable.
We will all be pruned, we ought to welcome it. I encourage anyone to welcome this little book.
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Summary: Wilkinson brutalizes scripture
Review: If you want a feel good book that exemplifies eisegesis, you found it her. The man who is the master of missing the point and imposing an agenda into the Word of God has once again accomplished his purpose. To his credit he makes some good suggestions for abiding in Christ at the end of the book, but he spends the majority of the book ignoring most credible scholars, while affirming that those who don't produce fruit are okay, just wait and the Lord will lift you up. Maybe he won't. Don't allow you salvation to rest or be lost on the teachings in this book
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Summary: A life altering book
Review: If someone were to ask me to name a book that truly changed my way of thinking about my Christian walk, it would definately be this one. I love the whole book how it shows God as the person in charge of the grapevines, and how he either prunes us, lets us grow or how our life can be filled with abundance. It may be a small book, but it packs a punch. Very easy to read, and the Bible is definately a reference that Bruce refers to often. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to figure out where they are in their Christian walk, and how to draw nearer to the Lord.
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