Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home–a guest post by author Edie Melson
FIGHTING FEAR: WINNING THE WAR AT HOME When Your Soldier Leaves for Battle Today, war is a part of life. It touches every family, as more and more have someone they care about serving in the military. Saying goodbye to a loved one...
The Discipline of an Abiding Life: Part 2
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “–John 15:7
My soul wants to go the way of the weed.
My soul is often lazy and does not want to change.
My soul often gets things backwards and chases after the wrong thing…
Hence the importance of learning to abide in Christ rather than just talk about it.
Abiding in Christ doesn’t just happen. We have a direct role to play, even if we are branches.
The discipline of an abiding life is to hang on to Christ–to stay connected to the vine and to continue to receive the power of the Spirit who enables me to bear fruit in what I have received. Taking hold of and not letting go of truth enables me to grow in it.
As I am connected with Christ and I take hold of His words, I begin to ask for the kinds of things that God plants in my heart.
My desires begin to line up with the truth. Requests in prayer grow from a heart connected to truth. Organic. Fusion.
The desires of my heart and the prayers of my soul begin to reflect that which pleases God. My wishes are transformed, changed by the grace of Christ.
Inspecting the Fruit
Another discipline of an abiding life is to resist the temptation to be a fruit inspector, to pass judgment on what I am learning and how well I am keeping what has been learned. Have you ever wished that your fruit looked different? That you had a different gift? Have you ever struggled with the blight of inspecting your fruit and seeing what is lacking rather than what is blossoming? This is our need to rest in the vine and let God bring forth what pleases Him.
When I am abiding, my focus is on what Christ is doing, what He is saying. This is key to avoiding the fruit inspector’s dilemma.
[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#abidinginchrist”]An abiding life trusts that the fruit God desires will grow.[/tweetthis]
Some days this hits hard on my heart that longs to see the completion of fruit now growing. Confidence that God will finish every good thing that He starts is a discipline that I sometimes struggle with.
It’s so easy to look at what is growing today and compare myself with a branch more mature. I see the gap and pass judgement…
I will never be this…
I could never do that so well…
All the while losing the perspective of Paul when he writes,
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”–Philippians 1:6
What God is growing in and through my life is unique to me. Just as no two snowflakes or two fingerprints are the same, each work that God is doing in each of us is unique.
[tweetthis]Comparison is a useless tool when it comes to bearing God’s fruit.[/tweetthis]
Indeed it takes discipline of faith to let go of the temptation to be a fruit inspector.
An abiding life continues in the Word and grows little by little into the vision God has for the vine—this is the unforced rhythm of Grace.
It is the discipline of an abiding life that enables me to…
” walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…”
Colossians 1:10
The Power of Pruning: Life on the Vine
…and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2b Has this ever happened to you? Just when things seem to come together and your grape-bearing life is growing gangbusters…SNIP. “Ouch!...
Waiting for the Harvest: Life on the Vine
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5 Life on the vine is not always an easy place to live. Certain challenges come with vine living. Fruit...
Remembering I am the Branch: Life on the Vine, Part 2
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser.
John 15:1
My son is helping me put together some new furniture for our porch. We hauled the heavy box out of the car, opened it up, and began taking out the pieces. Lots of pieces. Too many pieces!
Nothing comes assembled anymore, does it?
My son starts putting pieces together, looking for the parts that fit. Before I know it, we are looking at the instructions, deciding which ones we can skip in order to get it done faster. Surely we don’t need all of those steps?
Wrong.
Instructions Matter
Basically, John 15 contains an important set of instructions for abiding in Christ, living life on the vine. Covering both the hows and the whys, there is a lot to chew on in these verses. As I read John 15:1, I am reminded of my tendency to want to skip the obvious. Truth is, the most basic part of life on the vine is understanding who does what. Before my grape-groove can flourish, I have to get one thing straight in my head.
I am not the vine dresser, and I am not the vine.
[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#abidinginchrist”]God is God, and I am not. Simple.[/tweetthis]
Why is it so easy to forget this obvious truth?
Some days I live like I am the one in charge, the one that can make things grow. I confuse my decision making and my effort with the ability to create life, forge character, and guide destinies. I only see what I can see, the view from the vine. I look at the fruit growing off my branches, puff up with the pleasure of my fruit, and begin to think that I am the one who made it grow.
Silly me.
Abiding is the position from which fruit grows. If I am not connected, nothing God-good is going to bloom in my life.
Perspective is Needed
I know this sounds so basic, but sometimes we need the reminder that we are branches–the ones created by God to live in relationship through Christ, the Vine. The whole point of living the branch-life is to stay connected, to remain in a living relationship with Christ–the true vine and the One who saves from the trash-heaps of life. I love this passage from Hebrews that helps me keep my vine-life-perspective straight:
“May God, who puts all things together,
makes all things whole…
Now put you together, provide you
with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.”—Hebrews 13:20-21 MSG, portions
How has God shown Himself as the vine dresser in your life today?
Life on the Vine: Lessons in Abiding Part 1
“Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine,
neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit.
However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.”
–John 15:4-5 Amplified
Have you noticed how easy it is to sign up, to get involved with all kinds of worthy activities? Work, home, family, ministry… Overloaded, we are busy, but not fruitful. Life can be like water rushing downhill, and the the current is increasingly fast.
We are learning to place boulders in the rush of life; those solid, immovable, non-negotiable bed-rocks that force the water to go around. We need to build margin and enforce boundaries, protecting that God place, that space of time, heart, and relationship that we call abiding.
3 Reasons Why Balance is Not the Goal
I often catch myself striving for balance–it is an enticing goal. However, looking at what Christ has to say about life, abiding isn’t about balance.
Abiding is about the position, the God-ward orientation of my heart that is connected to Christ.
Everything else in life–my attitude, actions, relationships, work, goals, and desires grows because of that vital relationship with Christ.
[tweetthis]Balance is good, but abiding isn’t about fitting God into our schedule, along with everything else.[/tweetthis]
In relationship to ministry, here are a few thoughts to consider:
- Who you are in Christ is the most important thing that you bring to ministry—whether you are a participant or a leader. The power of God at work in and through you is far more important than the specifics of what you do. Ministry that grows forth from women who are abiding in Christ blossoms with the richness of what the Holy Spirit is doing through each one of us.
- The bottom line is this; if we are too busy to abide in Christ, to have personal fellowship with Christ through the Word, then we are too busy. Period.
- We often end up substituting one for the other, but we cannot accomplish the work of God when we are running on our own limited strength and resource.
- You may be sitting there thinking, “Yeah yeah, I know I need to abide”—yet at the same time, we are running around trying to fit everything in and we are shriveling on the vine.
First Fruits
The first benefits that grow from our relationship with Christ is the fruit of the spirit blossoming forth in my character–who I am, what I do, how I think:
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.This fruit comes from a mind that is renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is the result of abiding in Christ and in his word.”–Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
Then there is Kingdom fruit—the fruit that grows forth from ministry, out of our relationships others.
Fruit of the spirit growing in my life must come before I can focus on kingdom fruit. Fruit grows from a continuous, abiding relationship with God. Kingdom fruit grows from a character that is growing and evidencing the fruit of the Spirit. As fruit of the Spirit, fruit of submission, and fruit of obedience is developed in our lives, an awareness, concern, and passion for kingdom fruit grows.
It is the mind of Christ, His Spirit within us that plants the desire for kingdom fruit. As we seek God and seek to stay in an abiding relationship with Him, we begin to learn to keep our mind fixed on Him. (Heb.. 12:2)
Somewhere in the midst of this process and relationship, fruit begins to grow.
Bottom Line
Understanding where our spiritual energy, vision, and energy (all parts of fruit) comes from will help us not to find ourselves overwhelmed by the business of ministry. Many aspects of ministry require time and effort. How easy it is for my focus to shift from staying attached—abiding—in relationship with God to the activity, the results or success of ministry.
Where’s the JOY?
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.-The outcome of Abiding in the love of Christ and bearing the fruit of His presence within us is JOY. “–John 15:11
By the way, if you are missing a little joy in your life…do an Abiding Check!
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