Abiding Grace

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

Abiding is an idea many of us are simply not familiar with. It means to dwell with, or to continue with, and I like the sense we get from both these descriptions. In light of our text, however, abide paints a picture I believe Jesus wants us to have. To dwell with comes the closest, but the picture of a branch (me or you) abiding in the Vine (Jesus) has a constancy that speaks of an intimate relationship.
I love that Jesus tells us so much in just this one verse. The vine and its branches make up something living. Jesus tells us that being in this relationship will produce fruit in our lives, and not just a little but much fruit.
Then He says something that I think may be offensive to our natural self or old nature who is now by the grace of God powerless. Prior to coming to Jesus in faith, many of us work so hard on being self-reliant. Some by necessity, and some by living disciplined lives. Yet here Jesus tells us straight out that we can do nothing of ourselves that is of any eternal significance.
I love that this section of scripture is telling us that this intimacy, this closeness we are to have is God’s idea for us all. God wants to be in this relationship with us that is loving and intimate. The context of this verse ends with Jesus saying that if we walk in His Word we will be abiding in love and later tells us that His joy will be in us and that our joy will be full.
For many believers what this all looks like in our daily lives is a mystery and that should not be. We have gotten so far from discipleship where we as believers can learn how to apply God’s Truths to our lives as we learn from one another. It is my hope these devotionals will help in a small way, but I encourage you to find a spiritual mentor who is walking in the truth of God’s word and walk with them.
Being dependent on God is not weakness. It is to acknowledge God is greater. He is our Creator and He wants to be in relationship with us, the work of His hands. This is amazing to sit and think about.
Being in the word of God and prayer are our way of fellowshipping with God and a powerful way of drawing close to God is to pray the word of God back to him. Open to a Psalm or one of the letters and as you prayerfully read, stop, and make it personal or just tell God this is what I want to be true in my life. As you read stop and sing to the Lord and in doing this it will deepen the time you spend in your devotions.
When Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he tells them this as he is telling them how to walk out their faith: 1 Thess 5:16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
What is amazing about these verses is they are all about our relationship with the Lord, and if we can make a practice of this, what a game changer! Yet, even here with this we need His help to be able to do this daily which brings us back to abiding in Him.