“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”
John 15:5
- Intimacy with Jesus involves both an invitation (“remain in me”) and a promise (“I will remain in you”).
- By the Holy Spirit, acknowledge his presence.
- The sole responsibility is to stay connected and to nurture the relationship with Jesus.
- Intimacy is a reality through the Holy Spirit. Maintain that intimacy, and our lives will reveal the evidence of it – we will bear fruit.
As we consider these truths for our own lives, we need to appreciate the simple fact that fruit grows on branches that are connected to the vine.
- So often we assume that bearing fruit is, somehow, our own responsibility.
- We strive to produce the evidence of our faith. We worry about proving to others that we are worthy. We compete and we perform.
- But all the while we are distracted from the very thing that allows for fruit in our lives – intimacy with Jesus.
In some ways it is a mystery that large, luscious fruit appear on skinny dry branches. In the same way it may be surprising to us and others that beautiful things emerge from our lives.
- But the source of life is not in the branch itself. It only passes through the branch from the vine. Just as the branch receives its life from the vine, so we receive life from Jesus.
- With him we have such incredible potential.
Re-source: Recenter
To center again; to restore to the center
“There is nothing in the world more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”
“The Practice of the Presence of God” written by Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth-century monk
- His goal was to continually acknowledge God’s presence with him in the midst of whatever he was doing; he would maintain a silent and secret conversation with God.
Seek to keep our whole lives centered on him.
- We tend to leave God behind. We begin to view certain daily activities as secular, and so we don’t invite God to be a part of them.
- When we don’t allow God to be in control, we try to run our own lives and only fitting in God where we can, or where we really feel we need to.
Everything we do needs to be influenced by our center, our relationship with God.
- Think about our solar system, with the sun as its center. Everything revolves around the sun and is affected in some way by the light of the sun.
- We need to think of God as the sun in our lives. He is at the center, and his light shines into every part of our lives.
We don’t just enter God’s presence during our personal devotions; he is always with us.
- We need to appreciate times of solitude, but we also need to learn to practice his presence throughout the day, no matter what tasks we are involved in. Our personal devotions are only part of each entire day spent with Jesus.
It’s about doing the next thing God has told us to do. Keep asking, “Lord, what do you want?” It helps us keep focused.
- The more your center your mind and heart on Jesus, the more you will have his mind and his heart for the situations you encounter throughout your day.
- We don’t have a formula, a guaranteed strategy, or a how-to manual. We have what the disciples had – Jesus himself. What could be better than that?
Jesus is with you and longs for relationship with you. This is what life is all about. Words cannot express how amazing this reality is.
craving and resource from “A Beautiful Way” – An Invitation to a Jesus-Centered Life by Dan Baumann with Mark Klassen
