John 15:4-5 Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 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.” Many Christian brothers and sisters are struggling in living the Christian life. They read about the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control but that is not the story of the daily life. They lack the compassion for others that Christ demonstrates. There is no true lasting joy in their life, only occasional happiness, depending on the circumstances in their life. No real and lasting peace in their heart, only frustration. Too many of us struggle through this life because we have not really listened and applied the Lord Jesus’ teaching to our lives. Here in the book of John, Jesus tells us point blank, “without Me you can do nothing.” But “he who abides in Me (Jesus), and I (Jesus) in him, bears much fruit.” The Christian life is not for you to live because you cannot live it. The Christian life, with all its promises of joy and peace are only found and lived in Christ. He is our strength to live out the faith we profess to believe. It not about what we can do but it’s about allowing Jesus to have control over our lives, to control our thoughts and our attitudes. This is accomplished by spending time, real time in His Word and in prayer, listening to His Spirit speak to us. The Apostle Paul said it like this in Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then; Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Sometimes we struggle so much it is like we are two different people living in the same body. One minute desiring to live for the Lord and following Him and the next minute desiring to sin and acting out what we know is displeasing to our Lord. It is time to surrender it all to the Lord Jesus and develop dependence on Him, that He might live through us.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 11:45:38 +0000
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