To be mindful of Me means to fill your being with only one desire . . . Me. Those who do not really want to be set free from their chains are not mindful of Me. As soon as their suffering eases a little, they fill their desires with interests, pleasures, connections, and plans of their old life that was without Me. Do not force them to drop all and follow Me. They are unripe berries. Unripe berries do not fall easily into the picker’s hand. They still cling to the branch of their old life. Ripe berries are happy to release that branch and fall into My Hand. Unripe berries have a sour taste to all who desire to eat of Me. Those who seek Me, but find and taste unripe berries in the church, then are misled and think all berries are sour. They do not want to be sour like them. Unripe berries are also infertile. They were harvested before they were ready and cannot bear more fruit from Me. Do not harvest a berry before it is fully ripe, eager to leave the old branch, happy to be falling into the unknown of My Hand, filled only with humble sweetness of surrender and desire for Me.
Berries which are ripe easily let go of the old branches they cling to. The slightest breeze from My Spirit will set them free. The unripe berries are harder to pull off their branches. Do not force an unripe berry to release that to which it is attached. If you do, its taste will be sour and it will not fully ripen. I Am the Lord of the harvest. I will ripen the berries in My perfect timing. Be patient. Follow My Voice. Trust Me.
Notice how unripe blueberries are sour and they still cling tightly to their current branch. They don’t want to let go. They just are not ripe enough to let go. The branch is the life they want, and the demands they have, and the past they don’t forget, and the future they desire.
When unripe berries come into the church, they become especially dangerous to the Kingdom of God. They are the Pharisees who spread religion and prevent true intimacy with Papa. They are the ones to whom Jesus says, “Depart from Me for I never knew you.” They are shocked because they went through the formulas of church life.
Wait until you are a ripe berry. You will know. Ask Papa to ripen you. You will know when. We wait. Ripe berries know how to stop clinging to their branch.
Storms don’t ripen berries. They may make unripe berries run away from their branch, but they don’t ripen them. Only Light will ripen berries. They have to want Papa more than they want the storm to stop.
A ripe berry wants to go Home to Papa – not to escape storms – but simply because she is Homesick.
- Mark 2:22 No one puts new wine into old wine skins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wine skins.
- Mark 8:35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
- John 12:25 He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.