Double Or Nothing

This Sunday (October 1st, 2000), during the evening service in church, I saw  the Lord standing before two trees. I sensed in my spirit, that these were  olive trees. The Lord was inspecting these olive trees. He peered at them  from all angles; from close up and also from far away.

One of the olive trees had the appearance of having been carefully tended and  cultivated. There were no protruding branches. The size and shape of the  foliage showed that it had been carefully pruned. It was a tree that appeared  quite pleasing to the eye.

The other olive tree appeared wild and unkempt. The branches protruded. The  foliage was untended and gave the tree a misshapen and lopsided appearance.

Both trees had olives on their branches, but the olives on the well tended,  cultivated tree were larger in size than the olives on the wild, unkempt tree.

I watched as the Lord took a small hatchet type ax in His hand and approached  the wild, unkempt olive tree. He began to lop off pieces of some of the  branches. Other branches, He completely removed and tossed aside. He seemed  to be thinning out the wild olive tree, and also cutting the branches down to  a uniform size so that there were no longer any branches which protruded.

The Lord took some of the cut off branches from the wild olive tree over to  the well cared for olive tree. Very carefully, with the hatchet in His hand,  He began to make several cuts in the well cared for olive tree's trunk. He  then very carefully inserted the cut off branches from the wild olive tree  into the cuts in the trunk of the well cared for olive tree. After a space of  time, there was no sign to betray where the wild olive tree branches had been  fit into the cultivated olive tree. The fit was perfect, and unnoticeable.

I then saw two people approach the cultivated olive tree. They each carried a  large basket. Very carefully, they began to pick the large, ripe olives from  the cultivated olive tree until both baskets were filled to overflowing with  olives.

Then, the vision ended.

During the day, I pondered the vision and sought the Lord in regard to it. As  I did so, I had a vision of a woman in labor.(I was viewing this scene as  from a distance, and saw no particulars during it. Having given birth to four  children of my own, is why I was so easily able to recognize that this woman  was giving birth.)

She was in the final stages of bearing down (or "pushing"). I watched as she  gave birth to a beautiful baby. But, she wasn't finished yet! I watched,  amazed, as she gave birth to another baby immediately after the birth of the  first baby.

I prayed during the day that the Lord would fully open my understanding to  these two visions.

Last night, my husband was discussing a situation with me that we needed to  pray about as a couple. As my husband was speaking to me, I felt the Lord say  to me, "Double or nothing." I waited for my husband to finish talking, then  shared with him what I felt the Lord had just said to me.

I felt what the Lord had just spoken to me, was twofold. I felt it was an  urging of the Lord for my husband and I to step out by faith, and claim a  double blessing for the situation in our life. I also felt these words were  for the Body of Christ, and pertained to the olive tree vision I had  experienced in church the previous night, and also the vision of the woman  who had given birth to twins.

I did a study on olive trees and on the grafting process. While very much of  it was beyond my understanding, the parts I found of particular interest are  the following:

Grafting means to set firmly or to implant. It was a practice in ancient  times, when a cultivated olive tree failed to yield, to graft in a slip of  wild olive to give the tree new vigor. It is a process of uniting two closely  related plants so that they grow as one.

Grafting is used to increase fruit tree productivity, to grow a plant in an  unfamiliar environment by using a stock (the rooted part of a tree or a  plant) adapted to that environment, and to combat diseases and pests by using  resistant stock.

Olive trees are very tenacious. They survive and fruit well even with  considerable neglect. They easily sprout back even when chopped to the  ground. They are wind tolerant and are able to survive even in extended dry  periods. Thinning the crop will give larger fruit size.

The trees are able to withstand radical pruning. Proper pruning regulates  production and shapes the tree for easier harvest. The olive never bears  fruit in the same place twice, and usually bears on the previous year's  growth. Ripe olives bruise easily and should be handled with care.

I read two major portions of Scripture which dealt with olive trees and the  grafting process.

John 15:1-8 ~~ (1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2)  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch  that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (3)  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (4) Abide in  me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide  in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (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. (6) If a man abide not in me,  he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast  them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words  abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8)  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my  disciples.

Romans 11:16-24 ~~ (16) For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy:  and if the root be holy, so are the branches. (17) And if some of the  branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in  among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive  tree; (18) Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest  not the root, but the root thee. (19) Thou wilt say then, The branches were  broken off, that I might be grafted in. (20) Well; because of unbelief they  were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:  (21) For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare  not thee. (22) Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them  which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his  goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (23) And they also, if they  abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft  them in again. (24) For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild  by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how  much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

As I continued to pray and ponder over these things, I was reminded of  Elisha's words to Elijah ~~ "...I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." (2 Kings  2:9). Elisha received this double portion, and did twice as much in and  through his ministry as Elijah had done.

We as individuals, and the Church as a whole, have endured many things. We  have been cut, chopped, lopped off, pruned, thinned, and bruised. We have  experienced times of dryness and heat, and have felt the storm winds of life  blowing fiercely upon us.

In our private lives, we have had loved ones leave (either us or the church).  We have suffered financial and health set backs. Many of our churches have  experienced times of dryness and drought and have seen little or no growth.  It has seemed that the little bit left to us (both privately and in our  churches), has been of seemingly poor quality.

But, a refreshing and a restoring has now been birthed. It is easily being  felt in the Spirit by many of us (again, not only in our private lives, but  in our churches and in our ministries). Not only has it been birthed once,  but by seeing it birthed twice, I feel the Lord is saying to us today that a  double portion, a double blessing, is now ours.

That which was unproductive, is now bringing forth twice as much as it did  formerly. That which was cut off is now reattached. That which was wounded,  is now healed. That which was taken away is now restored. That which was led  into captivity is now set free.

Joel 2 : 21-26 ~~ (21) Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord  will do great things. (22) Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the  pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig  tree and the vine do yield their strength. (23) Be glad then, ye children of  Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain  moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain,  and the latter rain in the first month. (24) And the floors shall be full of  wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. (25) And I will restore  to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the  caterpillar, and palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. (26) And  ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord  your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be  ashamed.

Double is now restored to us. It is "double or nothing" time.

In Him, ~~ Hollie L. Moody
 

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