Without Me (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and once again it’s a joy and a pleasure to come to you today and spend a few moments with you and pray with you. We trust that this week as we have been mediating on the passage in John chapter 15, verses 1 through 8 - about the vine, the vinedresser, and the branches, that you are being encouraged in your walk with God. In John chapter 15, verses 5 and 6, the Lord Jesus said, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.’

The point that Jesus wants to bear on our hearts in these verses as He continues to use this illustration of the vine and the branches is this; He says ‘He is the vine, we are the branches’. He says, if we abide in Him/ stay connected to Him and He is us, that is, we have a connected, dynamic, living relationship with Him where the nourishments, the nutrients, the source of life is coming from Him and into us, then we will bear much fruit. So, the secret to fruitfulness one we saw earlier involves the pruning process which the vinedresser/ Father administers in our life, another secret is to abide in Him, living out of that dynamic relationship with Him- we will bear much fruit if we stay connected to Him. On the contrary, He does warn us that without Him, we can do nothing. Now, as we said yesterday, there is much activity we can do without Him, in our own natural strength, understanding and capacity, but all of that amounts to nothing. So, in our hearts we say ‘I need to stay connected to the vine because only in that place of connectedness/ out of that place of connectedness, comes fruitfulness and comes true activity that is fruitful for the Kingdom of God. So, our priority is that connectedness with Him, that place of fellowship/ relationship/ intimacy with Him.

What does this mean in everyday life? It means first of all we pursue relationship with Him, second it means we pursue doing His will, third it means we pursue drawing from His strength- our dependance on Him, the resources He provides for our lives. When we have this relationship/ dependence on Him, then there is a vital/ meaningful union with Christ and all activity has meaning and all activity flows out of that relationship and will bear much fruit. So whatever activity you are doing in life- as a student, as a professional, as a homemaker, follow this model- out of that place of union with Christ comes activity which bears fruit for His Kingdom and for His glory. Let’s pray, Lord we pray and ask that you will unveil to us the secret of fruitfulness comes out of abiding in you and yielding to the pruning the Father brings in our life. May we bear much fruit through you, in Jesus’s name, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week's theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week's devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.