Abide in the Vine

Abide in the Vine

“I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

I need to be reminded of this truth often. Be a person who is a doer and a people pleaser, I need to remember that it isn’t about me. It is all about HIM. I can do lots of things in my own strength and blow it big time. OR I can choose to abide in HIM and allow HIM to work through me. That’s what Dr. Henry Blackaby shares in Experiencing God – The Devotional:

       There are those who feel that they must be constantly laboring for the Lord in order to meet God’s high standards.  Jesus gave a clear picture of what our relationship to Him ought to be like.  He is the vine, the source of our life.  We are the branches, the place where fruit is produced.  As we receive life from Christ, the natural, inevitable result is that fruit is produced in our lives.

       In our zeal to produce “results” for our Lord, we sometimes become so intent on fruit production that we neglect abiding in Christ.  We may feel that “abiding” is not as productive or that it takes too much time away from our fruit production.  Yet Jesus said that it is not our activity that produces fruit, it is our relationship with Him.

       Jesus gave an important warning to His disciples.  He cautioned that if they ever attempted to live their Christian life apart from an intimate relationship with Him, they would discover that they ceased to produce any significant results.  They might exert great effort for the kingdom of God, yet when they stopped to account for their lives, they would find only barrenness.  One of the most dramatic acts Jesus ever performed was cursing a fig tree that had failed to produce fruit (Mark 11:14).  Are you comfortable in abiding, or are you impatient to be engaged in activity?  If you will remain steadfastly in fellowship with Jesus, a great harvest will be the natural by-product.

I need to make ABIDING IN CHRIST a non-negotiable priority in my life. Let’s partner together to abide in Him! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick

Team YOU: 1 Kings 16-18; Proverbs 4; Luke 22:47-71

Motivations: “A Gospel-empowered believer rests his or her identity in Christ. In his Epistles, the Apostle Paul often used the expression “in Christ.” We can’t come close to addressing the breadth of this phrase, but to be “in Christ” means to share in Christ’s death and resurrection, and to be placed under the headship of Christ rather than under the curse of Adam. It means that we now live with a completely different relationship with God. Christ’s death and resurrection are the foundations of the Gospel-driven life. Dying with Christ means finding no life in the things that used to run our lives and it means living under a new dominion and a new King. For instance, while self and success are the central motivations in a performance-driven life (expressed in varied ways), Christ calls us to do everything for his glory and not for our own. Being raised with Christ means rising to a new way of living under his Kingship… Rather than being driven by a selfish desire to be successful for our own glory, we’re moved by a passion and calling by God upon our lives to be image-bearers and missionaries in obedience to Christ and for the glory of God.” Graced Again

Practice to Remember: Level 1:Ephesians 6:2-3; Level 2: Ephesians 5:15-21

Powered Up:  I have lived to thank God that all my prayers have not been answered. Jean Ingelow