Contemplation (2)

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for being my source of life. Thank You for Your hand of blessing that is leading and guiding me. There are many difficult areas and bumps and bruises in my life, but I choose to make You the number-one priority in my life. My heart hungers only for You.

John 15:4-8 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. 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. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

This type of verse is what would confuse the crap out of me when I was young. Why on earth is the bible talking about vegitation? I avoided church plain and simply because I NEVER understood what they were saying. I thought they were saying that Jesus is the Son of God, the Saviour of man and if you bring him his favorite fruit, grapes in this case, He would like you.

This went on until the fall of 2008 when a friend of mine gave me a book written by a man I met some years before who I always refered to as "coach". Well at least the confusion about the verbiage and parables, and I'm sure Jesus does like grapes.

Anyway the book was written by a man named Toney Dungy. I guess you could say it was his explanation, plain and simply put, of how the bible guides his life.

Now when I think about what the bible says about the relationship between the branch and the vine I realize these are descriptive picture words that Jesus used that aren't really used much these days, but think about it for a minute.

If the branch is not attached to the vine, it withers and dies. The very life of the branch depends on being attached to the vine. The same thing happens if we try to operate in this life without Jesus.

Without Him, we can do nothing. We are cut from our life source. But when you remain in Him by daily connecting with Him through prayer, worship and study of the Word, then your life will be fruitful.

The part that stands out for me is where He says,“much fruit,” which means basically the more you let Jesus into your life, the bigger your harvest.

There isn't one person on this planet that God doesnt want to be successful. It's all up tou you and you alone. It won't be easy but it will be worth it.