I wake up every day and thank God for a new day and I spend some time with Him in prayer. I then do my bible study, devotion or what ever form of study into God’s word I am doing at the time. I ask myself most every day what my relationship with Jesus Christ is really like. It is my way to self examine where I am in my own Christian life. It is so easy to get off course in our relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ, I have done it in my own life. It happened so gradual and yet it spiraled out of control so quickly and before I knew it, I was living in such a way that I didn’t even look like a Christian, I looked just like the sinful world. I am so thankful that God is long suffering and that when I came to the realization that God’s way is the only way and I ran back to Him that He welcomed me home with His arms open wide. When I re-dedicated my life to Jesus Christ I knew that it was up to me to keep myself on the narrow path (Matthew 7:13-14). I am the only one that can make sure that I focus on God’s way and not my way. It is me who must study His word with a servant’s heart and to follow Him with that same mindset. I must be the one to put forth the effort to keep my relationship with Jesus Christ where it needs to be.
What is my relationship with Him supposed to be like? I am given a clear example in John Chapter 15 verses 1-17. “I am the true vine, you are the branches” Grape orchards were quite common in the hills and valleys of Israel back in biblical days. I gave this some thought for a moment and I hope as you read this that you will apply this thought to your own life. Jesus Christ is the source of what I need as nutrients. He is The Vine and he sinks his roots into the ground to gather all I need. Water, nutrients, minerals etc and then all that I need is channeled through the vine till it reaches the branches, which is me as a Christian believer and follower. I receive all I need from Jesus and then I blossom. I am not just any old branch but I am pruned, ready to grow, pruned by Jesus. John 15:3 “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” I am pruned by Jesus, ready to grow and become a fruit bearing branch of The Living God.
As a branch I must remain connected to the vine in order to produce fruit. I can’t decide to just go off on my own doing things my way. John 15:5 “He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing” If there’s no abiding with The Lord then there will be no fruit. Let’s study for a moment what “abiding” means. In this passage the word means to stay, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand. It is very simple, don’t go anywhere. Stay close in my relationship with Jesus. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ I will not be a bearer of fruit. I will not grow as a Christian. I will not blossom.
I must live my life as if I have taken up residence with Jesus and live with Him every day ‘abiding’ with him in all I do, all I say and all that I am. I can’t when my life gets tough run off and do it my way. I must seek God’s way. I must remain with Jesus. In the book of John, Chapter 15 Verse 11 tells us the result of ‘abiding’ with him. “that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full”. That is one of the things I seek most in life? Joy, just simple joy in my life? That special on top of this world, pure happiness, peace with myself and those around me? Jesus is saying that full joy, is what I will enjoy if I ‘abide’ in HIM. There is no other way to have that total peace, no way to experience that pure joy, no way for this without Jesus. It will only be available to me when I ‘abide’, stay, remain, camp out with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I want that joy for my life, that inner peace, that happiness where no matter what I face I can do it with love in my heart and a smile on my face. So I must choose to ‘dwell’ daily with Jesus. I must choose to abide with Him in every walk of life I take. I must choose to remain in a close relationship with Jesus Christ forever. I must choose to stand for God in all I say and do. I must choose to pitch my tent and camp out for the rest of my life with Jesus Christ. I want to wake up and make a point to choose that every day. How about you?
Shared with love as I join beside my brothers and sisters in service of our Mighty, Powerful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him belongs all the honor, glory and every single praise. Amen.
Rolling Through Life Ministries 