Abide in Me

"I am the vine and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

so that it will be even more fruitful.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

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.

If anyone does not remain in me,

he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;

such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,

showing yourself to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Now remain in my love.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you

and that your joy may be complete."

John 15:1-11

We are having a revival at our church this week. It has been a great reminder of where our faith should be and examining ourselves to see if we are living the way that Christ has called us to live. Last night's message really spoke to me, it was the reminder I needed about abiding or remaining in God. To be quiet honest that is an area where I have failed most recently, and this was the reminder I needed of where I need to be and what I should be doing about it. The speaker, Luke Garrett, said that we are only as close to God as we want to be. That is so true and it got me thinking about how close am I to my God, what am I letting get in the way. He also gave us a challenge about praying every hour, not a long prayer, but just something simple like Lord, help me abide in you this hour. I tried today to do this, in the morning I did well, but as calls came in this afternoon unfortuantly prayer went by the wayside. I am determined to try again later. I am working on being sure that I abide in Christ. It was exactly what God knew I needed to hear, and I heard it.